While looking into entrepreneurship education, the most-cited piece of evidence that keeps coming up is one that educators might not like to hear in as much as it requires we think differently than what we’re doing now.
Paul, I agree with you on the diagnosis. Schools spent years training out the creativity underneath entrepreneurship, then bolted on one class that's a startup course wearing an entrepreneurship name tag.
We can't wait on academia. It moves slowly, there's little incentive to change, and many people running these programs see AI as a threat—banning it is the easy move.
Parents, coaches, teachers and advisors are the adults who show up. They can start this week. No curriculum committee required.
Look at what a young person is already building: a side hustle, a Discord community they moderate, or a weird collab with no clear finish line. Ask what problem it's solving. Then score it against four things: does it build relationships, reputation, knowledge or leverage? Most of what they're already doing passes both tests. Most adults have just never been taught to ask.
This is the same shift Christopher Lochhead (@lochhead), Eddie Yoon (@eddiewouldgrow), and the Category Pirates (@categorypirates) are naming in Creator Capitalism: capital that isn't tied to a job title. If you're looking for a framework on how to guide young people through this shift before they even have a career, I explore that every Wednesday in The New Playbook.
Spending some time in north Idaho, and I’m beautifully reminded that success is not determined by what we earn, achieve, or have, but by accomplishing a life that meets our expectations.
That's why the first thing I talk about with the young people in my life is the life they want to live. Not the physical things. What actually matters to them. If everything is about what they want to earn or own, I ask what they're willing to sacrifice. If it's about lifestyle, relationships or values, I ask the same question. Once they're clear on that, the real work starts: building relational, reputational, intellectual and financial capital. That's the difference between a life that meets your expectations and one that just meets everyone else's.
Right on! Well said. Could we start in elementary school please - as so many of us have been asking/arguing for years. We are not looking for perfection.
I don't have any sense for how to get it get something going there... And don't have the patience to work at a school board pace. But yes!! This curriculum, age suited, is exactly what could be in elementary schools (and it's NOT running a lemonade stand! That's teaching how a business works). Suggestions??
Sorry. It has all turned into a major exercise & disrupted everything else. Briefly, redesigning education, no longer fit for purpose, along with redesigning regulation and tax, the civil service, and much more is now screamingly urgent. Generally, we know what to do. It will not happen overnight and there is no magic wand, but we must start and iterate forward. Mostly, we aren't.
So many people have written about how to deal with all aspects of present big issues. Much has become repetitive, what Greta Thunberg has called blah blah blah, going back at least 30 years. Kari Levitt anyone? I'll stop there since I am well aware that remarks like these just add to the blah blah.
But please keep investigating and writing. You are adding something new.
Paul, I agree with you on the diagnosis. Schools spent years training out the creativity underneath entrepreneurship, then bolted on one class that's a startup course wearing an entrepreneurship name tag.
We can't wait on academia. It moves slowly, there's little incentive to change, and many people running these programs see AI as a threat—banning it is the easy move.
Parents, coaches, teachers and advisors are the adults who show up. They can start this week. No curriculum committee required.
Look at what a young person is already building: a side hustle, a Discord community they moderate, or a weird collab with no clear finish line. Ask what problem it's solving. Then score it against four things: does it build relationships, reputation, knowledge or leverage? Most of what they're already doing passes both tests. Most adults have just never been taught to ask.
This is the same shift Christopher Lochhead (@lochhead), Eddie Yoon (@eddiewouldgrow), and the Category Pirates (@categorypirates) are naming in Creator Capitalism: capital that isn't tied to a job title. If you're looking for a framework on how to guide young people through this shift before they even have a career, I explore that every Wednesday in The New Playbook.
Spending some time in north Idaho, and I’m beautifully reminded that success is not determined by what we earn, achieve, or have, but by accomplishing a life that meets our expectations.
That's why the first thing I talk about with the young people in my life is the life they want to live. Not the physical things. What actually matters to them. If everything is about what they want to earn or own, I ask what they're willing to sacrifice. If it's about lifestyle, relationships or values, I ask the same question. Once they're clear on that, the real work starts: building relational, reputational, intellectual and financial capital. That's the difference between a life that meets your expectations and one that just meets everyone else's.
Right on! Well said. Could we start in elementary school please - as so many of us have been asking/arguing for years. We are not looking for perfection.
I don't have any sense for how to get it get something going there... And don't have the patience to work at a school board pace. But yes!! This curriculum, age suited, is exactly what could be in elementary schools (and it's NOT running a lemonade stand! That's teaching how a business works). Suggestions??
After being caught up in the drama of my elderly neighbour being hauled off to the hospital, I'm knackered, but will have a think about this tomorrow.
Sorry. It has all turned into a major exercise & disrupted everything else. Briefly, redesigning education, no longer fit for purpose, along with redesigning regulation and tax, the civil service, and much more is now screamingly urgent. Generally, we know what to do. It will not happen overnight and there is no magic wand, but we must start and iterate forward. Mostly, we aren't.
So many people have written about how to deal with all aspects of present big issues. Much has become repetitive, what Greta Thunberg has called blah blah blah, going back at least 30 years. Kari Levitt anyone? I'll stop there since I am well aware that remarks like these just add to the blah blah.
But please keep investigating and writing. You are adding something new.