Something about the Global Entrepreneurship Congress

Carla and I attended two weeks ago the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Milan. It has been a powerful and exciting experience, because we waited a long to finally meet directly someone of the KaufmanFoundation, that we consider one of the best international institutions involved and aimed to entrepreneurship education at different levels.

What we saw exceeded our expectations, because we attended very helpful sessions; we heard very high profiles speeches and perspectives; we had the chance to meet Ms Wendy Torrance, director of Entrepreneurship at the Foundation, that has been so kind to listen to Carla and me about our work on training entrepreneurial attitudes in Italy. Thanks a lot Wendy!

In the exhibition area we also met Henrik Scheel, founder and CEO of Startup Experience, the great course that brings in the world the Silicon Valley entrepreneurship culture. We already knew him thanks to LinkedIn but to meet him in person it has been a lovely experience and we found very interesting talking with him about the importance of mindset. Because we share the same vision: the entrepreneurial attitudes are the very basis, non just if you want to open a new business but, more generally, if you want to change your life or the world around you.

So we would like to share the TedTalk that Henrik hold in Sacramento in 2012, because we consider it very illuminating. And we hope to start collaborating in the next future to empower Italy with a more entrepreneurial mindset!

Entrepreneurial attitudes and education

On the old question - entrepreneurs are born or made? - economists and cognitive psychologists have contributed over the past two decades, claiming that the “entrepreneurship gene” does not exist and that the attitudes of behavior that lead to entrepreneurial thinking are, in fact, influenced by exogenous factors.

They therefore speaks of the importance of the family, the society in which a person is born and the schools that he/she attended and, later, the models that he/she meets in the course of his/her lives or that are, in some way, proposed.

It is however necessary to give a further clarification saying that, in reality, at birth everyone has a business potential. This can be seen in children; in fact, any parent face every day their stubbornness, their enthusiasm, their desire to learn and to do, their inclination towards new worlds, new adventures, their imagination, their curiosity and their desire to experiment. These are behavioral attitudes typical of the entrepreneurial mindset. What happens then, growing up?

In high school, many times we find guys and girls with very poor motivation, disenchanted by life, from the future, who do not chase their dreams but only more tranquility and serenity. The only possible explanation is that the entire educational system (meaning, with this term, inside and outside schools) tifle these attitudes instead of cultivating them. By doing so, it damage both individuals and the society.

Actually, we should accompany the new generations towards their personal entrepreneurial style, letting them know what they want in order to get to grow in a more conscious and sharp way to achieve their goals. Only in this way they will be more satisfied and happier, because they will have built something that closely represents their values, their beliefs.

There are a lot of tools to do it. We only have to use them.

Something is changing in entrepreneurship education

“Enterprise for All is about motivating young people to learn and excel in their education and to see the relevance of their studies. Enterprise is more than the creation of entrepreneurs, it is about a can-do and positive attitude and equipping people with the confidence to develop a career and vocational interests. Enterprise therefore supports the development of a wide range of work and professional skills and capabilities, including resilience, risk taking, creativity and innovation, as well as a self-belief that starting a business is a viable career choice and one of the most exciting and challenging things a person will ever do”.

These are the opening sentences of the document “Entrprise for All” of Lord David Young, the “czar of advisers” to the UK Prime Minister on small business and enterprise. It is the third report after “Make Business Your Business” published in May 2012 and “Growing Your Business” in May 2013.

Carla and I think that there isn't a better way that the one used by Lord Young to clearly describe what is at the moment one of the most important challenge in education and culture: to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

Lord David Young

It is a huge challenge, we know. Because it involves not just individuals but the entire society, how this attitude is perceived, what are the main role models, the idea of success (so often confused with fame). For decades, in Europe entrepreneurs have been seen as devils: they were taken for exploiters, leaded only by greed and personal interests, without any benefit for the community. Yes, they are not all angels, we know. As in every aspect of life, there are the goods and the bads. We have to choose the good examples, non the bad ones. We would like to talk (and to spread) about the positive attitudes of entrepreneurial mindset.

Luckily, we are not alone in this attempt. There are a lot of people that enjoy to share what it means; for example Martin Zwilling with this article on some key mentality attributes he believes an entrepreneur should have: Do you have the mentality to be an entrepreneur?. Few days ago, on the Wall Street Journal, Ruth Simon wrote a very interesting article about what is changing in entrepreneurship education in the U.S. (here you find it). Dawn Bowlus, director of the University of Iowa's Jacobson Institute for Youth Entrepreneurship, declared to the journalist: “We are trying to influence the conversation so that entrepreneurship is not all about writing a business plan”.

As you see, something is moving. And we are proud to be part of this movement!

We are all part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem

Carla and I would like to thank Tim Mazzarol for his article on the Entrepreneurial ecosystems and the role of government policy because it has been of great inspiration during the last days of Christmas leave. 

We meditated on the importance of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and how much pervading it is in all our lives. Just try to imagine what could succeed if, one day, all the entrepreneurs decide to go on strike. You can do nothing. No electricity, no home heating, no Internet, no signal for your phone, no newspapers, no shops, bars and restaurants open, no tv and radio, no refuelling for your car... We would fall instantly into the Middle Ages. Think about it for a moment. Entrepreneurship is all around us. Without entrepreneurs there couldn't be innovation and progress.

Ok, what about scientists and researchers? We think that they are similar to entrepreneurs: they work to turn ideas into action, to discover new products and services, both working for public bodies of private companies. And turning ideas into action is exactly the definition that the European Union gives of entrepreneurship. It is not just something referred to one opening its own activity but it is much more: entrepreneurship is a state of mind, that can be used in every aspect of life from family to business, hobbies, work, passions...

Entrepreneurial ecosystem, Mazzarol 2014

That's why is so important to nurture the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In the imagine of Tim Mazzarol designing it, we think that two of the most important parts are those regarding culture and education&training.

The entrepreneurship culture must be spread because it can inspire, it can provide positive examples of resilience, courage, creativity, motivation and other attitudes that can be helpful for everyone, not just for aspiring entrepreneurs. It is true that not all the entrepreneurs are good: we don't live in a fairytale. But there are more good examples than we imagine. Even among those who are not strictly entrepreneurs but that have been entrepreneurial in their life: just think to Andre Agassi, which story has been told in a magnificent way in the book Open (that not for a case became a worldwide bestseller).

Carla and I are working with this aim: spreading as much as possible the good entrepreneurial attitudes. Yes, the link between entrepreneurs and work is true, without entrepreneurs there aren't jobs, so this is the first reason why it is important to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem. But we think that working on the diffusion of entrepreneurial mindset has positive effects on the whole society, because even the ones that are employed can be more enterprising. Becoming more happy and satisfied. And happiness is not one of the final life goals?

Why stay low with your aims?

During our sessions of entrepreneurship training in highschools and postgraduate schools in Italy, in the last two years, Carla and I gave to our students an exercise on vision: they had to write what they imagine to do in their life in a typical day of 2035. Our students had to describe how could be their usual activities in that day, what kind of job they have, where they could live, if they have a family or not, and so on. They had to use their imagination to see theirselves in the future.

The replies of the boys and the girls attending our seminars were very different, while most of them specified that they would like to work in the field they are studying at the moment. But what striked us the most is the conscious lowering of the aims of these guys. For example, one of them wrote: “I hope to work few kilometres away from my home”. Another one said “I hope that the economic crisis let me find a job”.

We think that these thoughts are an effect of the continuos bombing of bad news that we are living at the moment in Italy. In a certain sense, we are experimenting a sense of crushing of our lives and this is particularly true among the youngest generations.

The crisis gave to our students a perfect alibi: we do nothing because the economic conditions don't let us doing something. It's all worthless. There's no excape from our conditions. So we put our aims at the lowest possible level, to avoid disappointments. We are afraid of the future.

Terrible, isn't it?

What we are trying to do with our training is to change the perception lens they use to watch the reality. Yes, we are currently living a strong and long economic crisis. But behind every great economic boom there is a previous downturn. This is the moment to start seeing opportunities where others just see problems. This is the time to adopt and train the entrepreneurial attitudes. To start the game. To put ourselves to the test. Yes, it will not be all roses. There will be difficulties and obstacles to overcome. But... what is the alternative? To keep still and complain? This is the perfect recipe for failure. For something that isn't really life.

We live in exponential times, with incredible tools to communicate, to exchange ideas, to build relationships with people all over the world. This is the perfect moment to keep high our aims and work hard to reach them. Or to arrive nearby them as much as possible. And even if we will not succeed, it's worth it. We will have learnt something. We will have lived. Because we are alive, not zombies!

When we stop dreaming

When we stop dreaming?

Doing lessons in different classes in different tipology of schools, we realized that most students dream less as they grow up.

Why? Because we are surrounded by so-called “dreams wreckers”.

They are everywhere: at home, among friends, at school, on the street, hidden between the lines of newspaper articles, in the tv news. People who provide advice based on their personal experience, done at other times, ways and places. We are invaded by the armies of dreams demolition. They teach us to walk on known and safe paths, but these paths do not lead to our very personal dreams, to our idea of success.

If we let our dreams fade under the blows of hammers, we may no longer see them and then not being able to turn on all those attitudes to achieve, with the effect of changing road and reach the safe path of others.

People tend to emulate, to follow the example and the history of the record for the mile explains it very well. For years, many athletes have tried to break down the record for the mile race trying to get under four minutes without succeeding, even increasing the conviction of improvised gurus who claimed that it was impossible for the human physique to exceed that record. Roger Bannister, however, changed the path, he was convinced he could do it and the belief turned into concrete behaviour, that is, the search for new means of training to achieve the goal. In 1954 he obtained the record. But the most surprising thing is what happened after: in the following year were made by other athletes over three hundred repetitions of the record. Among these not only great players like Kip Keino, but also college students. This means that when an extraordinary performance proves to be feasible, it increases in all the people the belief that they can achieve the desired result. It removea a barrier and opens the door to commitment.

Too many times we claim commitment by young people without giving them a perspective. It is always useful to tie the present, the effort for a goal, to a dream. This method inspires a person to a deliberate practice, making him or her able to achieve a goal, trying to break down the mental barriers as much as possible. This is the absolute power of dreaming.

Change is inevitable

There is a more powerful, diffused and dangerous fear than failure in our society, and it's the fear of change. It's a very human habit, because change is perceived as something that can “steal” what we have, what we achieved. Moreover, our brain, especially the left hemisphere, encourage routines to save energy. Just pay attention, for example, on the rituals that everyone has in the bathroom in the morning, or what we buy every week at the supermarket, or the route to the office that very often we drive automatically while we are thinking to something else.

Well, there is nothing bad in that. That's true, but habits are dangerous because they make lazy the rest of our brain. And we start to fear for every kind of changes, from the smallest to the biggest one.

There are some students that if they don't find free their usual seat in their classroom become nervous. There are workers that get angry if a new machinery (or a new software to elaborate data) is introduced to produce differently a good or a service, breaking previous rules. There is people that take to the streets to shout against gay marriage or the “sinful Western lifestyle”. What they have in common is fear of change, they feel threatened by innovations, by something unknown, sometimes they also refuse to watch the evidence because change requests an act of commitment, responsabilities, energy to understand and to learn.

But change is inevitable. British artist Charlie Jeffery designed it clearly in his artwork that lays on the external wall of a wool mill in Biella, in Italy, showing three eras of the continental drift with the claim “Change is inevitable”. And it's really significant that this work is on that wall. Because economy is the place where innovations are more rapid and they affect us all.

 We think that is better to accept changes (if they are really improving, of course), instead of fighting them.We know that it's not easy to do that. The only tip we have is to try to change starting from the most little things. For example, move from your usual seat at your kitchen table where you have dinner every day. Or change your furniture arrangement. It is not difficult and it will also help you to see your room from a different perspective. Think about how many problems could be solved adopting a different perception len, in your kitchen and, maybe, in the world.

Good change to everyone!