Kalani McClain Shares Her Insight as a Growth Board Intrapreneur

The Growth Board drives disruptive innovation centered on solving critical customer needs. It’s a team of innovators and start-up intrapreneurs participating in high profile, high impact and agile programs. The Growth Board is not only working to build a pipeline of new businesses, it’s working to train and support customer-focused, entrepreneurial talent for Johnson Controls, called intrapreneurs, to leverage across all of our businesses.

Kalani McClain, Entrepreneur in Residence, has been with Johnson Controls for several years. In March 2021, she joined the Growth Board as an intrapreneur. Read the Q&A with Kalani below to learn more about her thoughts on the Growth Board and her experience as an intrapreneur for Johnson Controls.

1. Tell us about your background.
I have always had a passion for innovation and creating value for others. I enjoy identifying and solving problems.

I started out at ShopperTrak as the sales leader for the West region. In 2016, my team won a big, strategic deal with T-Mobile. This was an example of how our team innovated to meet customer needs. We created a whole new solution for T-Mobile called Time in Motion. Using existing technology, we were able to create a brand new data set that the company leveraged for their labor model.

I’ve dreamed about starting my own business, but starting a business as a side hustle is difficult with a full-time role. Last year, I met Robert Locke, senior vice president, Corporate Development, and appreciated his background. Robert knows the ins and outs of start-ups and is a mentor at Stanford.

I keep a running list of ideas on my phone, and after meeting Robert, there was one idea that I wanted to get his take on. He liked the idea, but realized it had nothing to do with our existing business. However, he was looking for that kind of creativity for the Growth Board and he suggested I join.

I had the chance to discuss the opportunity with David Kirubi, who is one of the first employees to have his idea funded by the Growth Board. After discussing with David and Robert, I decided to take on this new role.

In this role, I get to build a business from the ground up and create something new.

2. This is a unique role in our organization. What kind of mindset and/or skills are required to do well in this role?
There are two mindsets that are critical to anyone’s success in this role: (1) I believe in myself and my capabilities. I can make this happen and the right level of support will come when I need it. (2) I am not afraid to fail. Failure is a part of the success path and should be viewed as a learning opportunity.

Many entrepreneurs with their own businesses embody these key values.

3. The Growth Board is new for Johnson Controls. Do you think this new way of working is here to stay?
I hope so, because it fosters creativity for our company culture. With the resources Johnson Controls has, we have the ability to outperform any start-up. What gets in our way is relying only on our current business model. If we embody the Growth Board, learn what works and what doesn’t through the Growth Board’s approach to innovation, take those lessons learned and apply them to the way the rest of the company works, we can adapt our business model and drive growth, sustaining the success of the company.

4. How does this approach drive customer experience and customer focus?
Focusing on our customers’ needs and listening to the Voice of the Customer is a foundational part of the Growth Board’s approach. We are focused on leveraging the right team internally to deliver on our customers’ needs and driving innovation with their feedback in mind.

5. You mentioned that failing is part of the success path – what do you do when a customer doesn’t like an idea you are presenting?
We ask our customers why they don’t like it. What is and isn’t valuable about the offering? When we can get our customers to share this information, we can identify trends and innovate to meet their needs and desires.

6. Why do we need a Growth Board for our business?
In our existing business models, there is rarely room to explore, create, test and fail. Creating an avenue for ideas to be tested and for them to fail so we can learn from those failures enables us to create new business opportunities we wouldn’t have identified otherwise. The Growth Board is not about competing internally for resources or replacing existing business models. The Growth Board is about strengthening our capabilities and innovation internally.

If you are interested in becoming an Intrapreneur, email JCIGrowthBoard@onbionic.com.