(2017-07-07) Spencer Seven Ways To Help Students Embrace An Entrepreneurial Mindset

John Spencer on Seven Ways to Help Students Embrace an Entrepreneurial Mindset

cf How To Raise Reality Hackers

This post is loosely based on a chapter from my latest book

The corporate ladder is gone and in its place, is a complex maze.

There is a hidden opportunity in all of it. True, the rules of have changed. But that also means students can rewrite the rules.

Every single one of them will need to think like an entrepreneur in order to thrive in a changing world

I’ve started asking, “What does it mean to think like an entrepreneur?”

The most common answer is, “you have to be a self-starter.”

It doesn’t end there. Starting something is one thing. Many great ideas fizzle out within a few months when people lose interest

Students need to be self-managers

We often use the expression “self-directed learners” to describe a similar mindset. That phrase encompasses being both a self-starter and a self-manager.

Here are seven ways to help students think like entrepreneurs

#1: Embrace Design Thinking

Sometimes you need a framework for your creative work or a road map to help you along the way. You still get to make the decisions but the structure actually amplifies the creative work. This is why I’m passionate about design thinking.

#2: Create Opportunities for Self-Starting and Self-Managing

Students will take initiative when something matters to them. This sounds simple, but it’s actually a challenge. It requires teachers to tap into students’ interests and passions. It involves making the subject accessible enough that students feel that they can take charge.

#3: Provide the Tools . . . But Let Them Choose What Works Best

So, when doing research, they might use notecards or a spreadsheet. When managing their project, they might keep their tasks on a shared document or on a shared calendar

#4: Encourage Creative Risk-Taking and Flexible Thinking

Fear is the biggest barrier to self-starting.

So, students end up having an idea of something they want to learn, but they never pursue it.

Creative risk-taking means students will experience some level of failure.

In these moments, students will need to solve problems and deal with issues as they arise. Things will break. Plans will change. This is the frustrating side of student-centered learning.

#5: Model the thinking process

Show your students how you are self-starting in your own life

I’ve tried using project management framework and handouts but eventually, I realized that each student had a different style of managing details

#6: Affirm It.

celebrate it.

#7: Help Them Find a Community.

At an older age, this might mean a shadowing opportunity or the introduction of a guest speaker. At a younger age, it might mean helping parents or guardians find venues where students can pursue these interests on their own.

This is part of why we included the “Launch to the world” piece of the LAUNCH Cycle. If we want students to think like entrepreneurs, we need them to know what it means to design things for a real audience.

This Requires Real Projects

they need to make things

The kinds of projects that matter to them. The kind where they are in the driver’s seat.