The Cable Center unveiled its five-year plan Jan. 19, including the expansion of its Intrapreneurship Academy, in an effort to bolster its brand and role as members evolve into connectivity companies.
The Cable Center said its team has been working for the past year with 34 industry leaders and experts on all facets of its business plan -- from brand to finance to program development -- and now is focused on implementation, including continuing to host industry conferences, panel discussions, events like the Cable Hall of Fame and maintaining a strong link with academia.
“Through this detailed work, we know affinity for The Cable Center runs deep among cable veterans and there is continued desire to modernize and advance our industry innovation story,” The Cable Center CEO Jana Henthorn said in a press release. “We take our responsibility to uphold and preserve our industry’s legacy seriously. By drawing on our depth of knowledge around the achievements of the original entrepreneurs, we enable and inspire a new generation of connectivity industry innovators.”
The Cable Center is addressing that shift toward connectivity, especially amid the COVID-19 crisis, through the expansion of the Intrapreneurship Academy. Citing a 2020 McKinsey Survey of corporate executives, where 85% of those asked said they were concerned that the pandemic would have a lasting impact on customer needs, but only 21% had the expertise, resources, and commitment to successfully pursue new growth -- the Center believes a beefed up academy can help.
The Cable Center said it will relaunch the Intrapreneurship Academy brand and its website, while also expanding its course offerings. The Center also will provide a community to share resources and ideas, publish data and information on intrapreneurship, agility, and the customer experience (CX); and tap top industry leaders as course speakers and mentors.
“The connectivity industry is ever-expanding. As our industry evolves, so does The Cable Center,” said Chris Lammers, chief operating officer of CableLabs and member for The Cable Center Board of Directors Executive Committee, in a press release. “They are making the right choices to keep pace with change and to develop our greatest source of innovation – our people.”
Formerly known as one stand-alone course, Intrapreneurship Academy now includes two courses, with more on the horizon. According to The Cable Center, 164 leaders have graduated from the flagship course Driving Intrapreneurship (formerly known as Intrapreneurship Academy) and this spring will launch Leading With Agility, a course designed to help seasoned and emerging leaders develop skills during a period of unplanned change and unexpected opportunity. Their premier CX course is also scheduled to launch in late 2021.
Liberty Global has been an enthusiastic backer of the Intrapreneurship program and also helped shape the Center’s five-year plan. In a press release, Liberty Global SVP and chief people officer Amy Blair, also a member of the Center’s board of directors, said the company has invested in the Academy since its inception in 2017, and looks forward to the future.
“We have seen firsthand the extraordinary benefits of Intrapreneurship Academy for our participants and how the approach complements what we do at Liberty Global,” Blair said in the release. “Our people have honed their skills to think more innovatively and to contribute in new ways. We are excited to continue our partnership.”
