Entrepreneurial Mindset for Transformative Education with Stephen Carter

Ivan Pavlov's famous quote, "If you want new ideas, read old books" is truer today than ever before--we have a treasure trove of advice available to us in the pages of the past. Such is the case with Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman in the World where we are exhorted to "persist until we succeed" and "avoid with fury the killers of time." These principles are central to the entrepreneurial mindset.

Look, it's both simple and profound: we have to start by knowing where we are going. We don't get into a car and drive aimlessly around; we have a destination in mind. Yet often we go through our lives with purposeless movement. It's time to connect our movement to a vision so that our time is invested. Let's Go!

Coach K has famously said, "Everyone wants to win but not everyone wants to prepare to win." This preparation to win requires behaviors and those behaviors stem from beliefs. If we want to win, we have to start with our beliefs which will guide our behaviors and ultimately drive results.

The popular acronym VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) best describes life in the next ten years. And yet, armed with an entrepreneurial mindset, we can see the realities of VUCA through the lens of problem solving and other durable skills. With increased communication and collaboration, we can thrive in uncertainty because we think like entrepreneurs. Let's Go! 

A conversation with Dr. Tim Holcomb, the Director of the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship in the Farmer School of Business at Miami University, yielded some fascinating insights. 

Dr. Holcomb began by saying that much of their work, in college-level entrepreneurial studies, is undoing the methods that schools have taught students to adopt.

“We don’t use textbooks and we don’t do tests,” said Holcomb while explaining their approach to “learning by doing.” He explained that often students come in with a standardized test mindset and see everything as multiple choice, but life doesn’t package problems with “A, B, C, D, and E” answers. 

“It comes down to giving students more opportunities for shots on the goal,” he said. The first time they take a shot, they miss. The second time, they get closer. The third time, they get closer still. The fourth time, they make it, and by the time the fifth time comes around, they approach the shot with the confidence that comes from experience.

In the end, Holcomb explained, there are two things that all students must learn. First is how to solve problems—and these should be real-world problems, not just case studies. They need to see how problem-solving works and how it can be applied to every area of life. 

Second is “getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.” When students get out of their comfort zone, they get into situations where failure is more common and this leads to faster learning and adapting, skills which will serve them well in an uncertain future.

Having a curious mindset is key to developing empathy which leads to emotional intelligence. If we want to be better communicators, collaborators, parents, and coaches, we need to learn to ask better questions. 

This is the final episode in a three part series that explores the importance of mindset. From knowing what you want to choosing how to think to desiring your purpose, training one's mindset is central to the path to success. Here we go!

This is the second episode in a three part series that explores the importance of mindset. From knowing what you want to choosing how to think to desiring your purpose, training one's mindset is central to the path to success. Here we go!

This is the first episode in a three part series that explores the importance of mindset. From knowing what you want to choosing how to think to desiring your purpose, training one's mindset is central to the path to success. Here we go!

Two of the most important skills we can ever develop in life include understanding how to set meaningful goals and then creating systems to accomplish those goals. Goal setting is central to the entrepreneurial mindset and we need to ensure that we are setting goals to bring our life into balance by focusing on growth in all areas of importance: intellectual, relational, spiritual, vocational, physical, financial.