Fostering an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Entrepreneurship, and the mindset that drives it, has benefits beyond the world of business: it’s a wider way of thinking that can help children approach and solve challenges in creative and unexpected ways while building resiliency in the face of adversity.
So, what is an entrepreneurial mindset? It’s a way of thinking that takes key elements of entrepreneurship—making the most of opportunities, balancing risk and reward, organizing, collaborating with others and learning from failure—and applies them in any situation. Children are natural entrepreneurs whose ideas are rarely encumbered by real-world circumstances. They don’t need to be taught to think outside the box; they don’t have a box yet! So, by fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, we can help them maintain and grow their innate creativity, spirit of innovation, leadership skills and confidence to turn ideas into action.
We’ve created our Lemonade Stand class with this in mind, designing interactive and engaging courses, like our popular Lemonade Stand and Startup series to introduce entrepreneurial concepts while integrating math, arts, and critical thinking and having students apply them in tangible ways.
As educators looking to enhance and deepen the educational experiences available to children, we believe fostering an entrepreneurial mindset will be key to setting up the next generation for success as they become the business, civic and social impact-driven leaders of tomorrow.
There are so many great and inspiring examples of entrepreneurs, so for this month’s reading recommendation, we’re highlighting two great books that are perfect for kicking off summer reading:
From an Idea to Lego: The Building Bricks Behind the World's Largest Toy Company is part of a nonfiction series great for 2nd grade and up that gives kids a look into how some of the world’s most recognizable companies came to be. For 5th grade and up, check out Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition. In it, Nike founder Phil Knight tells his entrepreneurial journey from track athlete to founder of one of the most successful brands in the world, and the triumphs and setbacks he encountered along the way.
