Thursday, December 9, 2010

Another Awesome Word I Didn't Create

Intrapreneurship. Know what it is? I didn't think so. It's another awesome word I didn't come up with myself. Like 'bromance', 'bootylicious', and 'staycation'. It is defined as follows:

While an entrepreneur ventures out on their own to pursue an idea, an intrapreneur does this within the organization in which they already work. It could be creating a new product, coming up with an innovative idea, or improving a service.

I'm an intrapreneur right now and I didn't even realize it! Here's what i'm up to. As part of an academic hospitalist division, I felt that we needed to do more...academic things. So, I am in the midst of trying to drum up enthusiasm for starting a divisional journal club. That's important right? We are responsible for teaching and modeling for medical students and residents so we should attempt to uphold the academic standards on which our profession was built. Here's my issue, albeit a minor one. I'm not sure that everyone is quite as passionate about reading journal articles as I am. So let's say that only half of our division wants to participate and the other half aren't that interested. Should I make it totally voluntary? I foresee that becoming pushed by the wayside when other 'mandatory' things come up. Soon enough it might be a club of 2 members. And that's sort of sad. But, if I make a schedule with everyone assigned to a month in which they are responsible for journal club, I'm afraid I will make some enemies. And they will whisper "who the hell does she think she is?!", preferably to my back and not to my face. Yes, I worry about these things.

So, the concept I am "intrapreneuring" is a division journal club. But really maybe I should be inventing a way to make learning a passionate endeavor for all.

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