In today’s competitive job market, it is crucial to encourage students to think for themselves, act autonomously, and have faith in their professional futures.
To appreciate this idea, we must first grasp its meaning. The term is most commonly found in economics, describing an endeavor that takes a financial risk to capitalize on an emerging market. The essence of entrepreneurship is the ability to see a project through, armed with nothing but a good idea, a window of opportunity, and the fortitude to persevere in the face of setbacks.
Promoting entrepreneurship in children, youth and adults is important to promote their autonomy and improvement in life. The benefits of this practice are multiple: creativity, assertiveness, confidence, and positive thinking are developed. On the other hand, it’s also about improving the ability to resolve conflicts and make decisions.
The current European, state, and regional regulations dictate that the entrepreneurial spirit is a key competence that should be integrated into the curriculum, maintained, and reinforced over the years.
Are entrepreneurs born or made?
Although some people are born with ideal qualities to be great entrepreneurs, most of these qualities are acquired. That is why implementing entrepreneurship in education is the key for future entrepreneurs to innovate, create and adapt to change.
Some of the most important attitudes of an entrepreneurial person are:
Initiative: the basis of an entrepreneur. The initiative consists of jumping into the pool and transforming ideas into actions. Did you know that Steve Jobs did not finish his degree, but he was able to get his own company afloat?
Creativity: It is not necessary to invent what has already been invented, but we have to be creative when solving problems or identifying new possibilities for doing things.
Confidence: The entrepreneur needs to be self-confident and optimistic. There is no doubt that sometimes you lose and sometimes you win, but maintaining a positive attitude is the key to facing problems and attracting success.
Responsibility: Both with oneself and with the rest. We must be able to assess the consequences of each decision.
Passion: Successful entrepreneurs dedicate themselves to their projects with total commitment and passion for achieving the objectives set.
How to stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit in children?
This argument takes us to the example of Darius Lahoutifard. The Why and How of Qualifying Business Prospects is a book written by Lahoutifard.
For Lahoutifard, success means ensuring that as many salespeople as possible have access to innovative methods. For twenty years, MEDDIC was only taught the old way, with inexpensive private conference rooms to select sales teams. Darius, a pioneering PTC sales leader, played a crucial role in creating the MEDDIC sales process, and he’s helping to change that at MEDDIC Academy.
In addition, he founded MEDDIC Academy, the industry’s first online education platform for B2B sales. Always Be Qualifying, the book, contains comprehensive details about the M.E.D.D.I.C. (also known as MEDDPICC) sales approach. Not a tome of abstract ideas or scholarly research, but rather a cookbook of tasty-sounding implementation strategies.
In recent years, companies of varying sizes have sought Lahoutifard’s help to boost the effectiveness of their underperforming sales teams. Nonetheless, the signs listed by these companies differ greatly from one another. Some people are struggling to make ends meet due to a lack of income. Others have voiced worries over the estimates’ lack of consistency, pointing to situations where talks were postponed from one quarter to the next, then lost or abandoned in the periods that followed.
The bottom lines of many companies have been severely impacted by inefficient sales teams consisting of an abnormally high number of personnel in the sales force who are not responsible for achieving their quotas. Darius claims that all of these symptoms stem from the same underlying illness: an inability to qualify. Always Be Qualifying, also known as MEDDIC-The-Book, is a resource written to aid sales teams in qualifying potential clients. The first two weeks after its release, Always Be Qualifying was an “AMAZON Best-Selling New Release,” also known as a “Hot New Release,” in a number of different categories.
Teach values from childhood
It is important to create an innovative and creative learning environment through games, activities, groups, organizations, etc. The creative development of children through art allows them to give abstract solutions to different problems. For this reason, it is very positive to dedicate time and space to free expression since it will help them reflect, create ideas, and know their motivations.
Self-esteem, dreams and failures
Strengthening self-esteem is paramount. Teaching the child to think that he can achieve anything he sets his mind to with effort is just as important as knowing that mistakes and failures are not defeated. We have to promote a positive attitude and create an environment where making mistakes is allowed, being receptive to constructive criticism.
Decisions and consequences
Fear often paralyzes kids and they don’t know what to do. To encourage entrepreneurship, it is important that, little by little, they can decide for themselves and face the consequences of their decisions. Letting the child decide on the things that matter or affect him and facing the consequences is a step towards his autonomy.
The collaboration
More and more exercises, activities and teamwork are proposed. Without a doubt, two minds work better than one. Teaching children to communicate with their peers will reinforce many positive aspects (respect, trust, security, etc.) that they can later apply to their projects. Forging tools for smooth and successful communication will be a key step in effectively getting your ideas out there later.
Reinforcement and support
Helping children discover themselves is a step for them to know what they can do better, what they like the most, and what their strengths are. If the child likes to draw, it is better to reinforce and support that activity instead of trying to instill something that creates negative feelings.
In short, reinforcing emotional intelligence, self-confidence and the ability to create and achieve goals is the first step in fostering an entrepreneurial spirit in students. The second is to teach them self-control, effort, and optimism to become self-sufficient people capable of facing difficulties and keeping an open and creative mind. Remember that being creative implies thinking differently and being innovative implies taking risks and putting ideas into practice.
It is not surprising that entrepreneurship in education is gaining more and more strength. The fact of training more active young people, capable of creating projects and carrying them out, not only benefits their success but also helps to create a more entrepreneurial and innovative society.
At this point, it is widely understood that educators in society are at a standpoint where they are being constantly playing the role of influencers. They ought to be the bridge and connection which offers students agency. Educators must take a step forward and be an example of this entrepreneurial mentality to inspire our students because, in a future where automation and globalization are here to stay, the only way to ensure that young people can secure a job of work is that they can create it.
