As an intrapreneur you’ll need your GSD available all the time, and often it involves acting like an owner of the business. Harold, a procurement manager at a manufacturing company, wanted real-time quotes from suppliers in order to reduce costs, avoid overpaying, and improve operational efficiency. He repeatedly cost-justified the company’s need for this system, and eventually management considered it by hiring a pricey consulting firm to do a four-month assessment! Harold was mortified—four months to render an opinion? He convinced his boss to let him do an experiment, which would require a few hours a day from his team for a few weeks. The initial progress was so positive that his boss gave him more time, and in three months his team had built a real-time quote system. Management realized their error, increased their faith in the expertise of their staff, and let the consultants go. GSDs in hand, Harold’s team has saved the company over $300 million to date.

Got your own GSD Degree story? Send it to me as a comment and get featured in an upcoming blog.

Christine Comaford