The Intrapreneur Mindset
Dr Alison Edgar MBE’s framework for helping employees think and act like owners. The high performers she worked with all had one thing in common: they acted like it was their name on the door.
What is The Intrapreneur Mindset?
The Intrapreneur Mindset is Dr Alison Edgar MBE’s framework for helping employees think and act like owners. An intrapreneur behaves as if the business were their own: making decisions in its best interests, staying aligned with the mission, and owning their part in its success. That isn’t about overstepping or acting like the boss.
The name comes from Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot, whose research coined the intrapreneur: an innovator working inside a big company. Alison’s methodology takes the same ownership principles and applies them to everyday work: how people decide, speak up and act, at every level.
The idea began with a question from Alison’s corporate years: why did a handful of people consistently outperform everyone around them, whatever the product or the pitch? She conducted qualitative research into what set those top performers apart, and the answer was remarkably consistent: every one of them felt like they were running their own business. What their companies needed was not more entrepreneurs. It was intrapreneurs.
Alison explains The Intrapreneur Mindset
When the whole business started thinking like owners…
£54,000,000
more converted from the same pipeline, after one keynote.
“We received roughly the same opportunities in H2 as H1, but converted £54 million more into paid deals. Alison’s session played a huge part in this by getting the whole team to come together and think like owners.”
Why don’t teams already think like owners?
Most people are never given the room to. Alison had a front-row seat to what happens without it at Yellow Pages, where talented people watched the internet coming and a culture with no psychological safety meant nobody further down the ladder could force a change while there was still time. The share price fell off a cliff and the brand collapsed.
Ownership is not a personality type you are born with. It is a mindset you can build, given the safety to speak up and a practical way to think and act like an owner. That is what the methodology gives a team.
The Intrapreneur Mindset
Three questions that change how a team decides
What would I do if it were my first day?
What would I say if it were my best friend?
What would I do if it were my business?
How it works
Each question closes a gap that stops teams acting like owners.
What would I do if it were my first day?
On day one you see everything, and say nothing. Ten years in, it’s reversed: you can say anything, and you’ve stopped seeing. Psychologists call it habituation. The framework brings first-day eyes back, at every level.
What would I say if it were my best friend?
If your best friend was about to make a huge mistake, you’d tell them. You wouldn’t think twice. At work, staying quiet feels safer. Psychological safety closes that gap, so people say what they see.
What would I do if it were my business?
Opinions are easy: they’re free. An owner’s ideas cost their own money and time. So run every “we should” through the owner’s test: if you’d spend your own money on it, make the case.
What changes afterwards
A methodology is worth what a team still does differently once the day is over.
Ownership you can measure
Teams connect their daily actions to results they can see. After one keynote, Haydock Finance converted £54 million more from the same sales pipeline.
Fewer silos
A shared language for behaviour helps people collaborate across departments instead of guarding their own patch.
Resilience to change
People stop bracing against change and start getting ahead of it, which is where high performance comes from.
What clients say
Alison delivered an outstanding keynote on intrapreneurship and high-performing teams. Her energy, professionalism, and ability to tailor content on the fly made a lasting impact. It resonated across all levels of our organisation.
Alison delivered an exceptional keynote session, The Intrapreneur Mindset, at my National Conference. Her messaging aligned perfectly to my brief, and most importantly it was relevant to the entire audience.
Julian, Schwarzkopf Alison delivered a well-structured and thoughtfully prepared keynote at our recent International Sales Meeting. In her preparation she was keen to understand the needs of our business and the challenges our team faces in order to create an impactful session. Her insights on intrapreneurship really resonated with the audience and her core messages aligned well with our meeting objectives. Her session provided valuable takeaways about business, teamwork, communication and time management.
Olivia, Nevro
Frequently asked questions about The Intrapreneur Mindset
What is The Intrapreneur Mindset?
The Intrapreneur Mindset is Dr Alison Edgar MBE’s framework for helping employees think and act like owners. An intrapreneur behaves as if the business were their own, while staying aligned with its mission and owning their part in its success. Alison teaches it through keynotes and workshops, drawing on 30 years in business and behavioural psychology.
What is the difference between an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur?
An entrepreneur owns and runs their own business. An intrapreneur brings that same sense of ownership to a job inside someone else’s organisation. You cannot clone a founder, but you can teach a whole team to think like one, and that is what the methodology does.
Is the methodology based on established models?
Yes. It began with Alison’s own qualitative research into top performers, which found that every one of them felt like they were running their own business. It also draws on behavioural psychology to understand how people are wired and communicate, alongside principles from cognitive behavioural therapy, combined with 30 years of first-hand business experience rather than theory alone.
How is The Intrapreneur Mindset delivered?
As a keynote of roughly 30 to 60 minutes, or an interactive workshop of 60 to 120 minutes, tailored to your audience and goals. Sessions run in person or virtually and often include interactive exercises such as Alison’s Big Balls® workload demonstration.
Does it work for large or international teams?
Yes. The ideas are built to land across cultures and first languages. Alison has delivered the methodology as a one-hour hybrid keynote for LVMH, broadcast live to offices across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and to audiences from a dozen leaders to several thousand.
Bring The Intrapreneur Mindset to your team
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