How to lead innovative minds
Turning your workplace into a hub for talent
If your team includes people who act like entrepreneurs—always eager to learn, innovate, and take risks—you have an incredibly valuable asset. But you also face a challenge: this type of talent is not easy to retain.
They are creative, autonomous, and capable of making decisions in uncertain environments. And in today’s fast-changing job market, intrapreneurs are in high demand. The question is: how can you make them want to stay and give their best within your project?
You can identify this type of talent by some key traits:
Entrepreneurial mindset: They see their career as their own business.
High tolerance for change: They seek meaningful projects and continuous learning.
Adaptability: They thrive in uncertain and competitive environments.
As you might imagine, these professionals don’t work well in environments with micromanagement or cultures that penalize mistakes. They need autonomy, real challenges, and room to experiment. They are outsiders who don’t require supervision but guidance.
However, some organizations make the mistake of hiring disruptive profiles under an old work paradigm: they track tasks through dashboards, lack external openness, and have no structures to reward initiative. The result? These are precisely the dynamics that create the most frustration for high-value talent—and speed up their departure.
That’s why leading these profiles requires a different approach:
Purposeful autonomy: Define the “what” (clear and measurable objectives) but allow freedom in the “how.” Avoid unnecessary controls and encourage experimentation.
Culture of learning: Replace fear of failure with curiosity to learn fast. Publicly recognize attempts, even when they don’t deliver the expected result.
Guidance over supervision: Shift the leader’s role from boss to mentor or strategic partner. Spend time understanding their motivations and aligning their personal goals with the company’s.
Ultimately, entrepreneurial talent is not retained with a contract or a title, but with a value proposition that combines impact, growth, and freedom. Intrapreneurs are not just looking for a paycheck—they want a place where they can grow, experiment, and make an impact.
In a market where the most valuable professionals choose where to invest their energy, effective leadership is not about keeping them inside, but about creating a place they want to come back to every day