I caught an interesting BusinessWeek VIDEO: “Being Entrepreneurial in Hard Times- Thinking out of the box isn’t enough”. In it, John Byrne, Executive Editor of BusinessWeek Magazine sat down with executive coaches, Marshall Goldsmith and Steven Berglas to talk about entrepreneurs and how they can make a difference within corporations.

Well worth watching, their discussion got me thinking. As a consultant I have worked with large clients, members of the Fortune 500, on their pain points around creating and/or maintaining an entrepreneurial mind set within a large organization. The idea of creating such a mindset within a giant corporation presents a tremendous challenge- dinosaurs of the industrial era are most often lacking that piece of corporate DNA and the culture to sustain such efforts- at first the very nature and design of each seems at odds with the other.

One way of creating a new entrepreneurial mindset within a storied corporation [dinosaur] can be found in cases of Mergers & Acquisitions. Not a new story to be sure- Large, Old, Industry Standard, [dinosaur] buys Young, Cutting Edge, Entrepreneurial, Start-up and some how they lose the “secret sauce”. The challenge in such cases, as one client put it:

“We acquire smaller, younger companies not only for their talent and technology, but for their entrepreneurship. How do we keep [our company], the 500 Lb. Gorilla from imposing it’s will and wiping out their culture? We would actually like to infuse their entrepreneurial spirit within our larger organization.”

Goldsmith and Berglas point to Silicon Valley as a place bursting with technical talent, much of which is lacking basic leadership skills such as how to communicate and influence people in a larger organization. Dr. Berglas suggests they “accept that often people in leadership aren’t real bright, relative to you, but that is not a factor that should preclude them from being leaders”. Dr. Goldsmith picks up on the point advising that they should “accept it and move forward”.

Great advice for individual executives, but what can an organization do to supplement such executive coaching? I submit the answer may be found in leadership/executive development following comprehensive on-boarding. Dr. Berglas points to Dell Computer as a great example of a company that creates and fosters the entrepreneurial mentality. Dell, he notes, takes people off projects when they succeed- not when they fail- so that they can excel and grow. He believes “They know they have talent that needs preserving, as opposed to, a producer who needs to up his volume or his output. Then you can allow people to be entrepreneurial because then they can show-off in another realm”.

“Welcome NEW LEADER! Here’s your office- I’ll let you get settled in and come back to take you to lunch to talk about how you’re going to take us to the next level in the marketplace and what you had done with the rest of this morning to get us there.”

If you haven’t experienced this sentiment yet- brace yourself! Our global knowledge economy demands leaders who hit the ground running- at a full sprint. Wall Street analysts’ seem to expect the mere announcement of new leadership to have a direct impact on a company’s stock valuation. This expectation of superhuman productivity is not only myopic it can set a new leader up for failure.

Too many companies who bring leaders in from the outside or even promote from within seem to seek measurable results within an increasingly shrinking timeline. Often to ensure successful leadership transitions executive or leadership coaches are engaged to support the newly appointed. While such coaching is a powerful and effective tool (more in future posts) it is one of many tools that can facilitate success in assuming a new leadership role. In his most recent blog posting, Marshall Goldsmith, identifies three factors that have the greatest impact on the efficacy of leadership coaching. One of the factors Dr. Goldsmith identifies resonates to leadership transitions in general – Is this leader going to be given a fair chance?

An excellent question to be sure.  In a world of global organizations and virtual teams with work flows that never stop, thanks to new and collaborative technology- how can we ensure that we are giving our leaders a fair chance ? New leaders weather they are new to the organization or just the role, require the proper On-boarding or In-boarding to set the stage for sustained success.

I recently moderated an intriguing HCI Leadership Community Webcast: Gaming: The On-boarding System in which Sun Microsystems CTO- Charles Beckham and Senior Director, Partner & Employee Learning- George Selix, Ph.D. shared with us the innovative ways they are leveraging technology to ensure such success. The Comprehensive On-boarding Track presentation described how Sun uses their on-boarding process to aid enculturation and assimilation of new and prospective employees, including their most senior leaders, using a highly collaborative video game which engages and informs candidates and new hires about corporate culture, organizational structure and work flow.

Sun’s is among the most innovative, comprehensive and integrated initiatives I have seen an organization employing to ensure success of new leaders! Truly COOL!