20 Nov Embracing New Entrepreneurs
I was lucky enough to hear Matthew Fletcher, President of Entrepreneurs Geelong, speak this week at the Book Launch of Digitally Enhanced, a new book by author, trainer and web guru, James Crook.
Fletcher reminded us all that entrepreneurs are pro-active leaders, explorers, employers and problem solvers. He quoted Bernard Salt who is regarded as one of Australia’s leading social commentators and a high-profile Melbourne-based Partner with the global advisory firm KPMG where he founded the specialist advisory business, KPMG Demographics.
Salt claims, “…we need to be more embracing of new ideas, new enterprise and entrepreneurialism. As a society we need to admire, celebrate and encourage people who can create a business that employs people.”
Fletcher also spoke about opportunities in biotechnology, healthcare, education, Nano engineering and sustainability. He encouraged us to think about tomorrow and suggested that Geelong could be the new Silicon Bay!
However, “In terms of entrepreneurialism, the Americans are light-years ahead of Australia. If you look at the top 10 businesses in the US, three or four have been created in the last 20 years. If you look at the Australian top 10 businesses the most recent entry into the top 10 was formed in 1955,” says Salt.
Interestingly only this week I heard that ‘entrepreneur’ is becoming a top choice for many Grade 12’s as their future career option.
What are you doing to foster enterprise and entrepreneurship at your school? If we are to seize the opportunities presented by globalization and the rapid growth of technology, to learn and work with international partners we will be required to develop expertise in languages and cultures, mutual respect, empathy and develop a deep appreciation for each other’s situations and demands. Yong Zhao calls these skills and knowledge entrepreneurial global competencies – that is having the perspective, attitude, knowledge and skills to discover opportunities, identify needs, secure investment, seek ideas, and build partners across national borders. Schools need to create opportunities for students to develop global competencies by becoming global enterprises.
Zhou has developed a set of elements of entrepreneurial global competency and suggests how schools can cultivate these competencies. He sees Entrepreneurial Global Competencies as:
- Seeing global problems as enterprising opportunities
- Understanding relative strengths and weaknesses of different groups
- Having a global network of friends
- Developing a high level of cultural intelligence.
He suggests that schools can cultivate Entrepreneurial Global Competencies by:
- Developing schools as global enterprises
- Make products and create services for others
- Build a global network of partners
- Provide foreign experiences and study/work abroad
- Teach foreign languages
Zhao’s work opens up a “world of ideas and solutions” for schools, solutions that are no-blame and require an “open mind and an understanding of the global nature of our world together with the ability to interact with people cross-culturally.” His ideas link directly with the International Baccalaureate and the work of the United Nations and UNESCO in addressing the millennium goals and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
If you would like to learn more about the challenges schools are facing download the Think Strategic White Paper by completing the form below.
If you would like to learn more about Leadership for the 21st Century why not attend the Leadership for the 21st Century 2-day workshop in Melbourne on 25 & 26 February 2016.
By the way Digitally Enhanced is already a best seller and a great read if you want to learn how to digitally enhance your enterprise.
