Entrepreneurs are often touted as exceptional individuals born with unique, inherent traits or skills to drive successful business creation. But, Entrepreneurship reaches far beyond the concept of traditional business creation… in its fuller sense it is simply a frame-work for thinking and acting that can empower even ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things in seemingly ordinary contexts.
Everyone has a mindset orientation. Our mindset is the underlying mechanism by which we weigh all our experiences and prospects. Often we are not consciously aware of our predispositions or the profound effect they can have on our lives. While our mindset can enable us to surface opportunities, igniting ambition and persistence, engaging our faculties enabling us to flourish and thrive, it can also blind us to opportunities, hindering our ability to learn and grow, tethering us instead to familiar, yet unproductive patterns of thought and action. The challenge before educators is how to foster a great awareness and practice of an “Entrepreneurial” mindset featured in this video by Kauffman Sketchbook.
An Entrepreneurial Mindset can be fostered, developed or enhanced through entrepreneurial experiences and training. Starting September 24th, the Central Valley/Mother Lode (CVML) region is being offered a four week Facilitator Training in the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program developed by the Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (ELI). This training, sponsored by the Retail, Hospitality, Business & Entrepreneurship, and Global Trade sectors is for CVML faculty champions and program directors. Specifically designed for future facilitators around experiential, problem-based learning, facilitators need not be subject matter experts, but rather are equipped to facilitate learning by supporting, guiding, and monitoring the learning process. Rather than providing specific directives, the facilitator are trained to encourage participants to solve identified problems, find and apply new knowledge, take action, and cope with uncertainty and challenges they confront.
While this particular training is offered to CVML partners only, other training will take place in other regions of California in the months to come. Be on the lookout for other announcements.
