By Robin Madell

While we read plenty about women leaving corporate jobs for entrepreneurial ventures, much less discussed is the option of female intrapreneurship. Being an intrapreneur simply means acting like an entrepreneur in terms of risk-taking and innovation while working within a large corporation.

The potential pros of entrepreneurship are often touted and well-known: the opportunity to be your own boss, to work more flexibly on your own schedule, and to have the chance to do meaningful work of your own choosing. A 2013 report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) found that where personal satisfaction is concerned, those who start their own businesses rank the highest in the world in happiness scores. The report also stated that female entrepreneurs rated themselves even higher in their sense of well-being than male entrepreneurs.

While these stats are compelling, a 2012 report by GEM noted that the relatively small number of women launching new businesses worldwide—and fewer still who are running mature businesses—suggests a conundrum. This may stem from the fact that female entrepreneurs are less likely to receive funding to grow their businesses, which is a problem in itself. But what it also means is that women more often than not are failing to wield powerful resources and reach larger audiences at the entrepreneurial level.

As any basic business textbook confirms, the pros of larger companies generally include financial, labor, and audience advantages over smaller companies, whose main benefits are being nimble and reactive. When women leave the corporate arena, they aren’t just leaving behind their jobs; they are abandoning ample resources that could be used to enact change on the largest level. They just need to know how to access these resources.

Enter intrapreneurs. Unlike with entrepreneurship, intrapreneurs have a built-in corporate support system to help them reach their goals, if they know how to use it. Three companies that have strong intrapreneurial cultures are Google, LinkedIn, and Dreamworks. While intrapreneurship has traditionally been the purview of a limited number of people within a company, the trend is growing to extend this domain throughout entire organizations. Google and other tech companies, for example, have used “20 Percent Time” to give employees an allocated percentage of hours in their daily work schedule to tinker and innovate. This has led to some incredible discoveries, like Gmail and Google Earth, which affect hundreds of millions of users.

Here are some ideas on how to become an intrapreneur no matter which company you work for:

• Look for problems to solve. Whether it’s a process that’s broken or you envision a way to build a better mousetrap, keep your finger on the pulse of the marketplace and your customers. Use your unique role as an industry insider to recognize new trends coming down the pike, and grab opportunities early to think outside the usual boundaries.

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By Nneka Orji

Within the women at work discussion, there is a lack of diversity considering the fact that African-American, Asian and Latina women make up only one eighth of all women holding management and professional positions in the US.

Recently, President Obama, in his State of the Union address, supported the case for pay parity and ethnicity, citing that women generally make 77 cents on the dollar for the same job (and with the same education). There is an added nuance here as African-American and Latina women generally make 64 cents and 55 cents respectively. These numbers reflect the wage gap across all industries and classes of people in America, but how do these statistics impact those who identify as minorities on Wall Street or in Fortune 500 companies?

Changing perceptions
Being a minority can be a challenge. We all want to belong and when we feel like an outsider it can have a direct impact on how we shape our careers. According to a study conducted by Catalyst, women who feel ethnically/racially diverse – different to the majority – are also less likely to be mentored by C-suite and senior executives; 58 percent of those women who feel ethnically/racially different are mentored by this group, compared to 71 percent of women who do not feel different, 72 percent of men who feel different, and 77 percent of men who do not feel different. In addition to less access to senior level mentoring, ethnically (when manifested as race), the study suggests that women who identify with non-dominant groups in the workplace are more likely to lower their aspirations.

These diminished aspirations coupled with fewer mentoring opportunities can have a tacit impact in the initiatives aimed to increase this group’s representation at the executive and board levels.

Aspirations are linked to self-perception, so in order to achieve more notable progress women must change their self-perceptions. GEM’s 2012 Women’s Report showed that in all economies within their study sample, women perceived themselves to be less capable than men. While current corporate environments are likely not to offer the role models who look like “outsiders,” women do not need to look too far to find the reference points which support high aspirations as there are successful women all around them.

Business leaders must also work on shifting their mind-set as the real impact of misguided perceptions can still be seen throughout business. In a study run by the University of Utah, investors found IPOs led by female founders or female CEOs less attractive because they perceived women to be less capable than their male counterparts. While this study excluded race and ethnicity as a factor, a separate 2007 study found that over three quarters of the minority ethnic women surveyed felt that the leadership style of white women was more positively received. The image of competence and ability is changing, yet there seems to be slow acceptance of this fact.

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By Kayla Turo

In a recent article published by The Guardian, Chris Sullivan, Chief Executive of UK corporate banking at RBS, pressed his belief that in 15-years, gender parity will not be an issue. Sullivan assured readers that talent is what should— and will— be the deciding factor of who wins executive roles in big business, and that it is merely a bad cultural habit preventing women from reaching these positions.

Considered a “diversity champion” and supporter of the organization Focused Women, Sullivan recognizes that the issue lie in what’s been considered a “leaky pipeline” system of advancement in corporate businesses. While most companies seem to hire recent graduates on a 50:50 basis to fill junior level positions, the number of women begins to dwindle higher up the ladder, according to Fiona Hathorn, Managing Director of Women on Boards, a UK-wide organization dedicated to providing resources and programs to support women on their path to the boardroom. Nothing reflected in recent research makes Sullivan’s ill-informed opinion even slightly plausible. It is overly optimistic at best and many, including Hathorn, do not view gender parity as a realistic option by 2029.

Reports Say Otherwise
“Too many companies do not even know their gender employment data at various managerial levels, which shows that many are not managing their talent let alone taking gender talent management seriously,” Hathorn said. “In fact, Cranfield School of Management’s November 2013 interim Women on Boards update reviewed 50 FTSE 250 companies, revealing that only 2 percent had clear policies or goals for ensuring an increase in female management.”

Research released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) reported that Britain in particular has gone from 9th place in 2006 to 18th in 2013 in terms of gender equality. Britain continued to rank low in other WEF statistics, including helping women find professional positions (71st), getting women into parliament (54th), and healthy life expectancy of women (97th).

Are Quotas the Answer?
It’s not all doom and gloom, however. The UK is taking steps to rectify the situation. In 2011 The Lord Davies Commission began supervising the number of female board directors, raising the number from 17.4 percent in 2011 to 19 percent. Yet much of this progress is a result of boards merely increasing the number of female non-executives within their company.

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