How to be an Intrapraneur within Government

”Corporate Rebel: How to be an Intrapraneur within Government”
Carmen Medina, Former CIA Director of Intelligence, author of series “Corporate

Next Generation of Government

Carmen Medina “The good thing abour beauracracy is they make so many rules, they forget them.” Carmen highlighted the history behind Intellipedia, and her current work at Deloitte. Carmen also created a website, Rebels at Work. Carmen’s presentation focused on three areas, rebel, a manager trying to help rebels, a rebel manager.

Carmen used an example of Billy Mitchell, who was trying to push the power of airpower after WWI. Carmen then had a series of questions to engage the audience, challenging participants to think through how they became rebels in the office. Carmen then provided a list of the difference between a good rebel, and a bad rebel.

Carmen then had some thoughts about how to be a rebel. Her first tip was to enjoy being uncomfortable. A rebel needs to learn how to enjoy being uncomfortable and learn to balance interest. The second piece of advice was to “Take good care of yourself,” Carmen stated that it’s stressful to be a rebel, and you need to be conscious and learn to balance the stress. The final piece of advice was optimisim is the greatest act of rebellion. Carmen advises you need to have inner optimism. So, to recap, the tips are:

• Enjoy Being Uncomfortable
• Take Good Care of Yourself
• Optimism is the Greatest Act of Rebellion

For a manager, some tips that Carmen states are:

• Pick Good Rebels, Not Narcissists
• Find people randomly and talk to them
• Give rebels real work to do
• Put rebels in Key Support Positions

Rebel Manager

Once a successful rebel, and have advanced your career and are in a position to make change happen, what’s next?

• Befriend Bureaucratic Black Belts
• Sequence, Sequence, Sequence: Announce change agenda, give warning to change to allow people to respond.
• Does it fit your wagon: scale correctly, make sure it fits the agency
• Don’t Fall for the Athena Trap: Make the agreement about iteration, start small
• Your Calendar Reflects Priorities
• Don’t Avoid Conflict
• Avoid the Consensus Trap
• React Like a Running Back

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