Stretching Your Innovation Dollar Series: How intrapreneurship is changing the game in corporate culture with Melissa Witheriff [Podcast]
Listen to Episode 5
Show Summary
Being entrepreneurial no longer means having to leave the corporate life behind. It can be done with the backing of an organisation.
Organisations know that in order to survive they need to innovate and more and more organisations are recognising the benefits of fostering intrapreneurship to this end.
It’s a win win. Organisations take on the risk and the rewards and employees get to play in the innovation sandpit and shift the dial on what’s possible with support.
In this episode, we talk intrapreneurship with Melissa Witheriff, Head of Digital Innovation at Credit Union Australia (CUA).
This is the second episode in a series on Stretching Your Innovation Dollar, where we explore how water utilities can partner with, co-create with and empower innovators both from within their organisations and externally.
While not from a water utility, Melissa lays out the steps to create a culture of innovation in large highly-regulated organisations, as well as what it takes for entrepreneurial individuals in the corporate landscape to go the distance. Regardless of what side of the fence you’re on, this episode has tons of value for any entrepreneur or organisation looking to transform how innovation is done from within.
Meet this week’s expert
Melissa Witheriff
Head of Digital Innovation
Credit Union of Australia (CUA)
Melissa is Head of Digital Innovation at CUA, Australia’s largest member-owned financial services provider and describes herself as a curious innovator. Melissa has extensive experience in commercial, government, non-profit and start-up sectors acting as a catalyst for innovation and change. Her approach to intrapreneurship involves having the right mix of experimentation and managed risk along with a clear vision.
Connect with Melissa Witheriff on LinkedIn
Show Highlights
- The key difference [of an intrapreneur] from an entrepreneur is that these people need to work within the business risk appetite of an often large corporate organisation. And so there’s a need for experimentation and digital transformation, but it’s working within the constraints and budget of large organisations and often with regulatory constraints.
- These game-changers are able to take ideas through to commercially viable outcomes and also look at how to test viability, desirability and feasibility of ideas right through to commercial products at a market.
- The benefits for our organisation is about how do you create value exchange? And we call it a three-way value exchange shots for ourselves, so CUA, for our members or customers and then for the partners that we work with.
- For me, it’s very much about how might people, regardless of where they sit within an organisation, engage with intrapreneurship.
- It’s really critical to understand the risk environment. And for me, intrapreneurship is all about engaging with risk because if you don’t have an appetite for that, you actually won’t step forward into anything new and different and potentially exciting.
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Hear from water innovation and digital transformation leaders from across the globe and discover the technology and innovations that are shaping the digital future of water. Proudly hosted by AquaLAB, powered by GHD Digital.
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