Political Agility and Managing Entrepreneurial Vision

Several researchers have studied what competencies are required of entrepreneurs vs. managers. The results are not surprising that managers need to master competencies that focus on relationships and the organizational setting. Entrepreneurs that start-up companies ex-nihilo need to look more at managing external relations, stakeholders etc.

The entrepreneurial leader in the organisation is a mix of the two. At EMLYON we've developed model composed of 24 key competencies for the intrapreneur. While I won't take time here to present all 24, there are two that are often considered among areas for personal development.

Political Agility : Entrepreneurial leaders need to be able to move along the sepctrum of using power of "ideas" to using power of "people". Many refer to this capacity to use the appropriate poltical power as 'political savviness'. Being overly political can create enemies and being underly political does not help advance the intrepreneur's project nor reward his or her team. The effective entrepreneurial leader must balance influence, impact and integrity.

Managing Entrepreneurial Vision: This goes way beyond being able to communicate a vision. It also includes being able to sustain temporal tension that emerges with long innovation projects. To get people to believe in your vision you must 'seduce' them, getting them to say "it's so obvious...why didn't I think of that". In addition you must make sure they hold on to the vision of what 'could be' over long period of time. This is easier said than done.