Training Students to Think Like Entrepreneurs

Have you ever asked your students, "What do you want to do when you graduate?” maybe you’ve put forth the following, "Have you ever considered becoming an entrepreneur?"

"An entrepre-what?" may be the response.

Perhaps you are teaching entrepreneurship in your marketing program, or maybe you're not. Either way, here are some reasons why you should.

Successful entrepreneurs often share similar traits and skills which serve them well in their pursuits. While traits are characteristics students inherently possess (risk-taking, organization, creative thinking, etc.) they can still benefit from chances to improve them. Skills (problem-solving, communication, leadership, etc.) on the other hand can be learned with practice. The marketing classroom is the ideal place for students to work on both which will benefit them both personally and professionally.

According to a recent BusinessWeek article by Marshall Goldsmith, author of the recent book What Got You Here Won't Get You There, the changing global economy has altered the career landscape our students will enter. (We're All Entrepreneurs BusinessWeek August 14, 2008 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_34/b4097046759335.htm) Our students must be prepared with more than the typical “hard and soft skills” recommended by career counselors; what do they need to know to succeed? Goldsmith offers two main thoughts:

Students Must Learn to Compete
*People around the world will be competing for jobs in the U.S.; they speak fluent English and are well educated.
*The world may be more equalized than ever, but the advantages students in our country took for granted may not be around (loans, acceptance to universities, etc.)

Students Must Act Like Survivors
*Earning a degree or certification won’t be enough, students must be proactive in updating their skills, even as their free time may become more scarce.
*Students may not want to “settle” for a job they don’t consider glamorous, but they need to honestly look at the probability of success in those fields.

As marketing teachers, we are in a position to highlight the dynamics of an ever changing field, but we could do students a disservice if we don’t paint an accurate picture of the world they will be entering. Our free market system (as rocky as it appears at the moment), allows for endless opportunity to those willing to explore the possibilities and take the necessary risks.

Whether students pursue entrepreneurial business ventures or not, they need to see themselves as an “enterprise”, selling and presenting themselves as such. Teaching the foundations of entrepreneurship will help them do so.