Making Your

Impact at Work
A Practical Guide to Changing the World from Inside Any Company

in partnership with
 Contents
Making Your Impact at Work: A Practical Guide to Changing the World
From Inside any Company
Introduction......................................................................................................................2
Meet the Social Intrapreneurs....................................................................................3
Setting the Stage.............................................................................................................8
Connect with Business Objectives...............................................................8
Build a Team..........................................................................................................9
Gather Preliminary Data...................................................................................10
Delivering Results...........................................................................................................11
Engage and Educate Stakeholders...............................................................11
    Assemble Resources.........................................................................................13
Scale a Project.....................................................................................................13
Intrapreneurship and Professional Development............................................15
The Company’s Role: Enabling Social Intrapreneurship.................................16
How Net Impact Can Help You Get Started.........................................................17
Acknowledgements��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
...................................................................................................18
Additional Reading.......................................................................................................19

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 Introduction
A global network of more than 10,000 business changemakers, Net Impact’s members are
committed to using business skills to create a better, more sustainable future. Net Impact,
through a portfolio of programs and initiatives, strives to educate, equip, and inspire these
members to make a tangible difference through business. Spanning six continents, Net
Impact’s membership is one of the most influential networks of students and professionals
in existence today, and includes current and emerging leaders in corporate social
responsibility, social entrepreneurship, nonprofit management, international development,
and environmental sustainability.

While some of Net Impact’s members work in corporate, public sector, or nonprofit positions
with clear ties to corporate social responsibility, many others occupy traditional corporate
job functions. And while the words “sustainability” or “corporate responsibility” may not
appear in their formal job descriptions, these social intrapreneurs leverage their business
skills and ideals to change their organizations one project and one department at a time.

Net Impact created Making Your Impact at Work to inspire and empower these social
intrapreneurs — individuals working within organizations who find ways to integrate
sustainability into their day jobs — to create positive social and environmental change.
Making Your Impact at Work builds upon Net Impact’s successful Impact at Work program,
which cultivates a network of social intrapreneurs and provides them with support and
resources to change their workplace. The Impact at Work program engages thousands
of committed professional members in workplace change programs. To learn more about
Impact at Work and to join Net Impact, visit www.netimpact.org/impactatwork.

Making Your Impact at Work is based on the stories of innovative and inspiring social
intrapreneurs in the Net Impact network. The first section of the guide summarizes themes
Net Impact identified in the experiences of the intrapreneurs profiled and provides a
framework and model for other changemakers to follow. The second section includes
individual case studies of 13 corporate changemakers and contains details on the planning
and execution of their initiatives. While many of the individuals interviewed focus on
environmentally-themed projects, the strategies and approaches can apply to a variety of
corporate responsibility initiatives, including topics like diversity, human rights, nonprofit
partnerships, and more.

In addition to reading this guide, current and aspiring intrapreneurs are encouraged to
join Net Impact and utilize our Impact at Work resources to become part of an ongoing
dialogue on corporate social and environmental change initiatives. Through the Impact at
Work Program, professional Net Impact members can pose questions to the intrapreneurs
profiled in Making Your Impact at Work via an online forum and call series, as well as access
resources and templates for corporate change projects. The closing section of Making Your
Impact at Work presents a call to action for our readers to become social intrapreneurs
and provides more detailed information on resources offered by Net Impact. Net Impact
encourages readers to share their own stories and feedback on Making Your Impact at
Work by emailing impact@netimpact.org.

Net Impact would like to thank eBay Inc. for its contributions and support in the development
of Making Your Impact at Work. Drawing from its long history and deeply ingrained spirit
of entrepreneurism and innovation, eBay Inc. empowers its 15,000 employees to make
change inside the organization every day. Through the employee Green Team, more than
2,000 employees work together to make eBay a greener company. eBay Inc. believes that
harnessing the power of employees’ great ideas will create a stronger and more vibrant
company and workplace. Thank you to eBay Inc., the Levi Strauss Foundation, and to the
individuals profiled in this guide for their support of the Impact at Work program, this
project, and Net Impact.

2
 Meet the Social Intrapreneurs
The individuals profiled in Making Your Impact at Work represent a range of industries, projects, and
backgrounds. They pursue both environmental and social change with varying levels of leadership
support, in a variety of functional positions and industries. The intrapreneurs share a common belief that
individuals at any level can create change that is valuable for the world and for the company, no matter
how large or how daunting the task may seem. Brief profiles of the individuals interviewed appear below,
and their stories appear in greater detail in the “In-Depth Case Study” section of this guide.

Functional Area

Employee Events Process Product Project Research and

Consulting Training Management Finance Marketing Improvement Development Management Real Estate Development

Jason
Michael
Apparel McBriarty
Levi Strauss &
Fischer
Timberland
Co.

Ajay
Chemicals Badhwar
Dow

Lisa
Neuberger -
Fernandez
Accenture
Industry

Consulting Shoshannah
Lenski
Boston
Consulting
Group
Suzanne
Consumer Henricksen
Goods The Clorox
Company

Consumer Hamlin
Electronic Metzger
Goods Best Buy

Hilary
eCommerce Sinclair
eBay

Joel
Financial Carignan
Services Wachovia

John
Food Rockwell
McDonald’s

Mike Norelli
Manufacturing Ingersoll Rand

Seth Marbin Betsy Hansen Ramin Jen Chin

Technology Sun Taleghani
Google Google
Microsystems Google

3
Meet the Social Intrapreneurs

Lisa Neuberger - Accenture Hamlin Metzger Best Buy

Fernandez

After Lisa’s volunteer team won first Hamlin started an informal group
place in the 2007 Net Impact focusing on ways Best Buy could
Challenge competition, Lisa became become a more socially responsible
Accenture’s U.S. Eco Lead and company, which grew to a network
spearheaded the company’s U.S. Eco of over 200 individuals.
Program.

Shoshannah The Boston Suzanne The Clorox

Lenski Consulting Group Henricksen Company

Building on momentum from a pro - Suzanne developed and launched

bono project with the City of Chicago, an employee community outreach
Shoshannah led a team that assessed program with quarterly volunteer
and developed a strategy for reducing events for employees in the
her office’s carbon footprint. Marketing Insights Department.

4
 Meet the Social Intrapreneurs

Ajay Badhwar Dow Chemical Hilary Sinclair eBay

Ajay helped coordinate an effort to Hilary launched and supported a

design a product and process to Green Team Chapter that actively
capture carbon dioxide from flue gas pursues projects around commuting,
using advanced amine scrubbing consumables, energy efficiency, and
technology. community impact.

Jen Chin, Seth Marbin, Ramin Taleghani Google

The team planned and implemented the first “GoogleServe,” a
week-long international event that engaged nearly 3,000
Google employees in community service projects focused on
environmental impact.

5
 “I feel like I grew up
on this project. It
increased my ability
Meet the Social Intrapreneurs

to lead teams,”
-- Mike Norelli, Inger-
soll Rand
Michael Norelli Ingersoll Rand Jason McBriarty Levi Strauss
& Co.
Two volunteer teams calculated the Jason helped lead a campaign of the
company’s carbon footprint, Environment Community Involvement
developed emissions reduction Team called “Boot the Bottle” that
recommendations, and mapped a eliminated bottled water from the
strategy to help customers meet Levi Strauss corporate campus.
their environmental goals.

John Rockwell McDonald’s Betsy Hansen Sun Microsystems

From his position as a Lead Quality Betsy developed a program to

Manager in U.S. Restaurant Design, reduce the environmental impact of
John developed McDonald’s first U.S. the JavaOne conference, the
Green Building Strategy. company’s largest annual
conference.


6
 “I feel like I grew up
on this project. It
increased my ability

Meet the Social Intrapreneurs

to lead teams,”
-- Mike Norelli, Inger-
soll Rand
Michael Fischer Timberland Joel Carignan Wachovia

Michael developed a spreadsheet tool Joel initiated a green team within his
to measure and track Timberland’s division at Wachovia and helped lead
carbon emissions from their global the group’s first grassroots efforts,
transportation. hosting a green fair and implementing
several greening initiatives.

7
 Setting the Stage
Although each intrapreneur’s situation and approach was different, there
are several common strategies that helped lead them to success. The social
intrapreneurs profiled in Making Your Impact at Work:
• Connected their project to their organization’s core business
objectives and identified specific ways to create business value.
• Built a team of colleagues to help execute the work.
• Gathered significant preliminary data by which to measure their
progress. “I feel like I grew up
on this project. It
1. Connect with Business Objectives increased
“It has tomy ability
make
The social intrapreneurs profiled in Making Your Impact at Work found ways sense
to from
lead teams,”
to add value to their company with employee-driven projects by a business
-- Mike Norelli, Inger-
perspective.
soll Rand
• Reducing waste, costs, and environmental impact. By After you figure
eliminating one printed direct mail piece from the JavaOne that out, you
Conference marketing materials, Sun Microsystems’ Betsy just need to put
Hansen saved 4.63 tons of paper, equivalent to 111 trees. it on paper and
After posting these results, Betsy and her organization were start presenting
motivated to find new environmental and economic savings. the idea.”
• Increasing employee engagement, attraction, and retention. At
John Rockwell,
BCG’s Chicago office, Shoshannah Lenski conducted a survey
McDonald’s
and found that 75% of employees thought greening the office
was important to morale, retention, and recruiting. “People
from all levels were thrilled we were focusing on this,” said
Shoshannah.

• Providing opportunities for employee professional

development. Clorox’s Suzanne Henricksen called her
experience in managing a workplace change project
instrumental to her development of leadership skills. “My
project played a big role in developing my leadership skills in
general,” said Suzanne. “It has helped me learn about taking
and mitigating risk, forging ahead, and engaging corporate
leadership.”

• Furthering priorities of senior management. At Levi Strauss
& Co., CEO John Anderson and Chairman Bob Haas discussed
eliminating bottled water from the corporate campus with San
Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Mr. Anderson asked a volunteer
employee team, co-led by Net Impact member Jason McBriarty,
to develop a plan that became the “Boot the Bottle” Campaign.

• Creating new business opportunities. At Accenture, Lisa

Neuberger-Fernandez built a company sustainability initiative
that would ”help us build our credibility as a leader in
sustainability consulting and better understand implementation
challenges our clients face from our own experience.”

By creating initiatives that offer a clear business case, intrapreneurs

helped ensure that their projects would be sustainable even in challenging
economic times.
10

8
 2. Build a Team

The social intrapreneurs in Making Your Impact at Work consistently

emphasize the role of employee teams in creating change. To build
effective teams they suggest that budding intrapreneurs:

• Start conversations and find allies. The intrapreneurs

engaged in both formal and informal dialogue with
colleagues to raise interest in their initiatives. Many
made formal presentations to groups of coworkers. This
helped ensure that by the time the project was ready to
“Find people who start, there were ambassadors and allies throughout the
are like-minded organization to answer questions and spread the message.
and let them run
with it.” • Be credible. Often, intrapreneurs spent time researching
topics of interest, which built their reputation as credible
project leaders and “local subject matter experts.”
Mike Norelli,
Ingersoll Rand • Be inclusive. During initial meetings and brainstorming
sessions, intrapreneurs found it useful to invite anyone
who might be interested to contribute ideas or provide
feedback.

• But be strategic too. As they formed teams, intrapreneurs

recruited cross-functional, cross-hierarchical groups to
ensure that the right people were on board to drive results.

• Recruit core leaders. To ensure the sustainability of the

team, most intrapreneurs recruited at least two core
leaders who were supported by a broader network of
interested coworkers. The leaders served as points of
contact for managers and set strategic direction for the
team.

• Build enthusiasm with kick-off events. Several

intrapreneurs used engaging kick-off events to recruit
coworkers to their teams. For example, Hilary Sinclair
at eBay held a day-long open house in one of eBay’s
conference rooms, where she showed sustainability-
themed videos and asked staff to contribute ideas about
company greening.

Effective teams consistently played an important role in ensuring the

success of intrapreneurial initiatives.

11

9
3. Gather Preliminary Data
Often, social intrapreneurs started by evaluating the status quo and
setting specific goals. Establishing a baseline enabled intrapreneurs
to develop a concrete business case and demonstrate the
quantifiable results of their work.

Some suggested strategies for establishing a baseline include:

• Surveying coworkers. Almost all of the intrapreneurs reached

out to coworkers early in planning their project to gather
data. Working with the HR department, they secured access
to listservs and office email groups, and surveyed colleagues “Take the time to
to find interest areas and potential team members, as well understand what
as build support for project ideas. “We used the information
from our survey as a powerful reference when planning out
people are inter-
our initiatives,” said Joel Carignan of Wachovia. “We asked ested in and where
ourselves: ‘How do we address the needs of these employees? your company
What do they care about most?’”
stands before you
• Researching both internally and externally. Understanding start. It will be a lot
both the past efforts of their company and the work of other
companies allowed intrapreneurs to identify the key impact
easier to get buy-
areas of their firms. Intrapreneurs accomplished this by in down the road.”
reading their company’s annual reports and speaking with
colleagues who were involved in similar efforts. In addition, Shoshannah Lenski,
intrapreneurs often found useful information through
BCG
researching competitor and industry best practices and
standards.

• Developing benchmarks. Many intrapreneurs found it useful

to establish benchmarks to track their project’s impact.
By using metrics like carbon emissions for environmental
projects or employee engagement metrics for volunteerism
projects, intrapreneurs could compare their baseline results to
other similar organizations and industry leaders. For example,
at Sun, Betsy Hansen employed an online paper calculator
and JavaOne conference attendee survey to establish
benchmarks for her paper reduction project. Her analysis of
the project’s environmental impact from the paper calculator
and the feedback she collected from the conference
attendees’ survey enabled her to build a credible case for
paper reduction at the company’s annual event.

By establishing benchmarks through research and surveys, many

intrapreneurs were able to build powerful and credible cases for
starting their corporate change projects, and report out positive data
upon completion of key project milestones.

For more details on how these intrapreneurs applied these principles

to their particular project, please read the “In-Depth Case Study”
section at the end of Making Your Impact at Work, which is available
to paid Net Impact members.

10
 Delivering Results
While the intrapreneurs profiled embarked on a wide range of projects,
they consistently focused on three major strategies for implementing
projects with measurable results:

• Stakeholder engagement
• Resource development
• Project scaling
“Campaigning for
resources within 1. Engage and Educate Stakeholders
a large company     
Social intrapreneurs cultivated support at every level of their
requires the same organizations by placing a priority on stakeholder engagement.
level of communica- By identifying the needs of each stakeholder group and creating a
communications strategy that articulated the value-add of the initiative
tion and effort as a to each stakeholder segment, they secured widespread organizational
political campaign. support for their initiatives. “When talking to our Corporate
You need to articu- Responsibility Leadership Team, we discussed sustainability as it pertains
to risk and reputation; with our functional leads, we highlighted the
late what you stand impact on employee engagement; and with our grassroots employees,
for, how it adds we talked about how they could do well by doing good,” said Best Buy’s
Hamlin Metzger.
value, and how you
can move forward Coworker engagement
together in a way Net Impact intrapreneurs did not complete their work alone; they
relied on strong teams for success. Coworkers willingly dedicated time
that benefits your to initiatives as a result of a deep understanding of the project value.
constituents.” Hamlin Metzger of Best Buy suggested that intrapreneurs “serve as a
consultant and a resource. Avoid being a ‘boss’ or ‘teacher’ and focus on
presenting the case.”
Ajay Badhwar,
Dow Chemical • Recruit ambassadors. Intrapreneurs relied heavily on advocates
to spread the message about their project throughout the
organization. Said Suzanne Henricksen of Clorox: “I just needed
ambassadors to help me spread awareness of the project.  It is
not much of a time commitment for them, but it is a huge help to
me in terms of program participation and overall success.”

• Communicate often. Concise, regular communications helped all

intrapreneurs present consistent messages and keep their project
at the top of coworker’s minds.

• Keep it simple. Effective communications and clear messages

made projects easy for everyone in the company to understand.
As Ajay Badhwar of Dow highlighted, “Keep it very simple and
celebrate your success using standard tools. Imagine that people
are reading your communications on their Blackberry; keep
your messages short and without complex files, fancy font, or
graphics.”

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 • Recognize contributors. Intrapreneurs recognized their
teams in emails and newsletters, on company websites, and
in presentations. Several intrapreneurs motivated their teams
with goals of external recognition as well, such as the Net
Impact Challenge, an annual environmental and social impact
competition.

• Address complaints. Intrapreneurs sought to address negative

feedback and push-back from coworkers before launching their
initiative. It was also helpful to keep lines of communication
open during the program launch in order to stay on top of any
emerging issues that might threaten a project’s success. “Start small and
• Be creative. Intrapreneurs defined projects and processes that bounce ideas off
worked well within their unique corporate culture. At Clorox, of friends, then
employees participated in half-day community service projects
and wore volunteer t-shirts and jeans throughout the day of the
smaller groups and
event. In a company where business casual dress is the norm, then larger groups.
these dressed-down employees drew attention to their work, and This helps to attain
sparked conversations with interested coworkers and potential
future volunteers. buy-in while
improving your
Management engagement
In addition to the strategies above, intrapreneurs found that several
understanding of
tactics were helpful in gaining buy-in and support from their the employees and
management teams. They advised others to the organization.”
• Reach out to senior managers early and often in the change
initiative Mike Norelli,
• Focus on how the project adds value to management goals Ingersoll Rand
• Use traditional company templates or frameworks for ongoing
progress reports
• Recruit managers to communicate with other senior leaders in
the company on the project’s behalf

External stakeholder engagement

Several of Net Impact’s intrapreneurs successfully leveraged the
input and resources of external stakeholders to help drive a project’s
success. Other changemakers connected their internal work to
the goals of their clients. Intrapreneurs recommend that corporate
changemakers:
   
• Leverage external resources. As part of his work to develop the
first corporate Green Building Strategy for McDonald’s, John
Rockwell persuaded the company to become a member of the
United States Green Building Council (USGBC). In addition to the
symbolic value of becoming an active corporate member of the
USGBC, membership allowed John to access valuable resources
and expertise that helped in developing his project plan. Many
of the intrapreneurs Net Impact interviewed also benefited from
resources and contacts available through Net Impact’s Impact at
Work Program.

12
 • Connect with client goals. Several intrapreneurs connected
their internal efforts with their clients’ goals. Mike Norelli at
Ingersoll Rand mapped out the sustainability goals of a group of
his company’s clients and used their goals to make the case for
changing internal processes.
 

2. Assemble Resources
While the intrapreneurs interviewed did not start their projects with
funding or designated time within the work week, they were able to secure
“Having an excited necessary resources to keep projects moving.
and engaged staff    
gave us most of • Funding. Intrapreneurs were able to obtain corporate funds
after making a business case that showed a positive return on
the resources we investment. For example, the facilities director at Levi’s purchased
needed.” 600 reusable water bottles for the employee environment team
after the team identified $40,000 in cost savings per year from
eliminating bottled water on the corporate campus.
Shoshannah Lenski,
   
BCG • Time constraints. Intrapreneurs suggested that others should “start
small” and “not neglect your regular job.” Projects focused on “low-
hanging fruit” helped intrapreneurs gain buy-in and better manage
their new work, while maintaining focus on their core job. After
demonstrating success, they built the teams and support necessary
to roll out larger projects in the future.

Although it was difficult at times for passionate intrapreneurs to limit

their time spent on these initiatives, they realized that long-term success
depended on maintaining a balance between pushing forward with
“extracurricular work” and keeping focus on their core job functions.

3. Scale a Project
The social intrapreneurs profiled in Making Your Impact at Work designed
their projects with lofty goals in mind. Through trial and error, they
identified four key takeaways for their peers to keep in mind when scaling
projects into company-wide initiatives:
 
• Achieve quick wins. By showcasing their teams’ ability to create
value for the company on smaller projects with tangible outcomes,
intrapreneurs built recognition for their contributions, trust from
their peers, and the capacity of their teams to achieve success in
broader initiatives, creating valuable momentum.
 
• Build team capacity. Empowering project team members and
coworkers to create change ensured the long-term viability of
intrapreneurial projects. Hilary Sinclair cultivated the capacity
of her team through the principles of participative leadership at
eBay: “From the beginning I wanted to make this project about the
employees. It was to be their team and something that made them
feel empowered to make their company more green.”
 

13
 • Build guiding templates and frameworks. The large-scale projects
profiled in the case studies (Google, Best Buy, and Accenture)
relied on the use of centrally-created templates and frameworks
that offices across the world utilized to execute local projects. By
creating a template for local offices to implement volunteer projects
during the week-long GoogleServe event, the team of intrapreneurs
helped involve over 3,000 employees from 45 Google offices
around the world.
   
• Share information. After completing a successful stage of
the project, intrapreneurs leveraged their impact by sharing “You get a lot of
information internally with other departments, offices, and small changes that
teams, and externally with industry groups and the public. Through
a Business for Social Responsibility working group, Timberland’s
add up rather than
Michael Fischer shared the modifications he made to a tool one big change.
designed to track transport-related carbon emissions with other In a big company
companies.
this is important
For more details on how these intrapreneurs applied these principles in because small
their particular project, please read the “In-Depth Case Study” section at
the end of Making Your Impact at Work, which is available for paid Net
changes can
Impact members. continually happen
over time, which
makes it easier for
people to buy-in
and allows you to
prove the concept
as you go.”

Joel Carignan,
Wachovia

14
 Intrapreneurship and
Professional Development
In addition to the social, environmental, and financial impact of these
projects, the intrapreneurs profiled reaped significant professional
development gains as well.

“This project has • Examples of intrapreneurs whose projects led to new internal
positions:
played a big role o Hamlin Metzger began a social responsibility network as an
in developing my all-volunteer project. After two years, he pitched the idea
leadership skills of creating a full-time position to Best Buy’s leadership and
became the first Senior Manager of Corporate Responsibility at
in general. It has the company.
helped me learn o John Rockwell’s volunteer work composing the first U.S. Green
Building Strategy for McDonald’s led to his job as Sustainability
about taking and Manager for U.S. Development.
mitigating risk, o Jason McBriarty cites his volunteer experience with Levi’s
forging ahead, and environment team as a critical factor in the company offering
him a job as the Director of Strategic Finance for Sustainability
engaging corpo- and Citizenship.
rate leadership.”

Suzanne Henricksen, • Examples of intrapreneurs whose projects built leadership and

Clorox management skills:
o “I can’t say enough how this project has helped me develop.
It increased my ability to lead teams and to think through
big projects and big ideas. It taught me how difficult and
challenging it is to carry out a large change initiative within a
company. You read the books about it, you hear lectures, and
you talk about it in meetings, but until you do it, you don’t
understand what it takes,” Mike Norelli, Ingersoll Rand
o “This project exposed me to many different companies
and gave me a chance to connect with others who share
Timberland’s environmental goals,” Michael Fischer,
Timberland
o “This project allowed me to take a leadership position early
in my career. I had the chance to present to many different
groups. People recognize the role of leading a project like this
in developing a different, broader skill set. It has enhanced my
career and makes me really happy to be at BCG,” Shoshannah
Lenski, BCG

15
The Company’s Role: Enabling
Social Intrapreneurship
Net Impact was not only interested in understanding social
intrapreneurs, but also the unique aspects of their organization’s
structure, management, and culture that enabled their projects to
thrive. Intrapreneurial initiatives around social and environmental
change occurred in large and small companies, and in both
bureaucratic and entrepreneurial cultures. Across the stories of Net
Impact’s intrapreneurs, there were a number of commonalities to
their companies’ cultures that enabled the individuals to drive project
success. Key points included openness and trust, leadership support or
organizational commitment, recognition, and an organizational focus on
performance.

First and foremost, intrapreneurs cited management support of

employee innovation as crucial. Supportive leadership cultivated an
active culture of intrapreneurship. “The key is for management to be
open to ideas from all employees,” said Mike Norelli from Ingersoll Rand.
“Employees have so many ideas they can inject into an organization.
Ingersoll Rand was extremely conducive to that, which you can see
in the fact that a 20-some year-old junior staff member received
permission to present for an hour at our annual symposium. Our VP
said ‘Cool idea, go make it happen.’”

Intrapreneurs suggested that corporate changemakers may thrive

even if a company’s top management does not explicitly promote
active employee involvement in sustainability. Good companies
rewarded performance and provided recognition for team members
that went above and beyond. Said Ajay Badhwar of Dow Chemical, “A
company focus on rewarding effective projects will inherently support
intrapreneurship.”

16
 How Net Impact Can Help
You Get Started
As emerging social intrapreneurs consider projects similar to the
ones detailed in the “In-Depth Case Study” section, Net Impact can
help support these efforts. Through Net Impact’s Impact at Work
program, members can connect to fellow intrapreneurs and resources
that support the development of their employee-driven initiatives in
Visit Net Impact’s organizations around the world. Annual membership fees ($55 for US
website for more professionals / $30 for international professionals) include not only
resources and ways Impact at Work resources, but also educational and career resources,
networking tools, discounts for Net Impact’s annual conference, local
to connect with chapter events, and much more.
other social
For a limited time, members of Net Impact will also have the
intrapreneurs opportunity to pose questions to the social intrapreneurs featured
www.netimpact.org/ in Making Your Impact at Work in the Impact at Work Forum. In
impactatwork addition to this forum, Net Impact members can connect with other
intrapreneurs and corporate change experts each month in our
Impact at Work Calls.

To learn more about the resources provided through the Impact at

Work program or to connect with the social intrapreneurs profiled
in Making Your Impact at Work, please visit www.netimpact.org/
impactatwork. To join Net Impact please visit www.netimpact.org/join.

In addition to supporting individuals, Net Impact also works with

companies and organizations to help them engage with our network,
recruit outstanding talent, and speak at our conference and other
events. To find out more about how we work with companies,
check out www.netimpact.org/sponsorship, or e-mail sponsorship@
netimpact.org.

17
 Acknowledgements
First, Net Impact would like to thank all the teams of intrapreneurs in
our network and especially those featured in Making Your Impact at
Work. Their work inspired this resource and will continue to inspire
others who seek to change the way their companies do business.

Many thanks to Net Impact’s partner, eBay, who helped support this
project from start to finish. The Global Citizenship team in particular
was instrumental in sharing ideas and providing the financial support
necessary to allow Net Impact to create and disseminate Making Your
Impact at Work.

Net Impact is grateful to the Levi Strauss Foundation for their continued
commitment to the Impact at Work Program. This ongoing partnership
helped Net Impact to produce Making Your Impact at Work and
continues to give the organization the ability to develop new resources
for the Impact at Work program.

In addition to the social intrepreneurs profiled in the accompanying

case studies, Net Impact interviewed a number of other friends and
colleagues who provided their insight and guidance for this project.
Net Impact also thanks Bob Willard and the Innovation Network for
Communities for their support during the planning phases of Making
Your Impact at Work and in producing the finished product.

Net Impact relies on dozens of committed corporate, foundation, and

individual donors for supporting the organization and programs. Net
Impact would like to thank the organization’s funders, thousands of
dedicated members, and staff and Board for supporting both Impact
at Work and other programs and initiatives. To learn more about Net
Impact and how to get involved, please visit www.netimpact.org.

18
 Additional Reading
Since Gilford Pinchot first coined the term in 1978, the concept of “social
intrapreneurship” has been revived recently by a number of people and
organizations. A few key thought leaders in the dialogue include:

• Net Impact is a global organization of students and

Share your questions
and advice for other
social intrapreneurs
online in Net
Impact’s Impact at • Bob Willard, leading expert on the business value of corporate
Work Forum Advantage, The Next Sustainability Wave, and the forthcoming
www.netimpact.org/
impactatworkforum
professionals using business to improve the world. Net Impact’s
Impact at Work program inspires, educates, and equips social
intrapreneurs in creating and implementing workplace change
initiatives. Impact at Work supports these professionals by
providing project support, access to resources, and networking
opportunities to help employees who want bring their social and
environmental values to work.
www.netimpact.org/impactatwork
sustainability strategies, and author of The Sustainability
Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook, uses the term
“sustainability champions.” “They have a passion about
sustainability and they aspire to persuade their companies
to become model sustainable enterprises. They want their
companies to be more positive forces in the world. Often they
are not senior enough in their organizations to have sufficient
positional authority to affect the necessary changes. They
are changemakers. They use strategies and tactics in the
arsenal of effective organizational development practitioners,
social marketers, team builders, and learning organization
leaders. They transform their companies into more sustainable
corporate citizens with better products, more responsible
services, and more inclusive governance approaches.” www.
sustainabilityadvantage.com

• Professor Debra Meyerson of Stanford University, coined the

term “tempered radicals.” “They occupy all sorts of jobs and
stand up for a variety of ideals…By pushing back on conventions,
they create opportunities for change within their organizations.
They are not heroic leaders of revolutionary action; rather, they
are cautious and committed catalysts that keep going and who
slowly make a difference.”
www.ssireview.org/pdf/2004FA_feature_meyerson.pdf

• SustainAbility, defined “corporate changemakers” or “social

intrapreneurs” in a 2008 report titled “The Social Intrapreneur: A
Field Guide for Corporate Changemakers.”
“1) Someone who works inside major corporations or
organizations to develop and promote practical solutions to
social or environmental challenges where progress is currently
stalled by market failures; 2) Someone who applies the principles
of social entrepreneurship inside a major organization; 3) One
characterized by an ‘insider-outsider’ mindset and approach.”
www.sustainability.com/downloads_public/
TheSocialIntrapreneur.pdf

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