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mother and volunteer at a school my daughter attended, pulled me aside when
she saw I was discouraged about recent setbacks I had with my job. She had
been in education and had dealt with many situations of stifling bureaucracy,
uninspired leadership, limited resources and passive teaching staff. She told
me never to accept what may look like insurmountable obstacles, unattainable
solutions or poor results. Instead, she challenged me to think in terms of
entrepreneurial spirit. I asked, “What are you talking about? I work in an
oppressive corporate environment where optimism is hard to come by.”
She kindly responded, “Nonsense, you can take control of your career,
your programs and leadership if you take an entrepreneurial approach. Even
though you work in what appears to be a negative situation, you can turn it
around for yourself and those who you work with.”
My friend had been trained as a teacher but was not able to find a teaching
job after graduation. She did not lament her failure to obtain employment in
her chosen field of work but rather decided to apply entrepreneurial principles
to her career plan. She listed a few examples of
entrepreneurial thinking:
• You don’t have to run your own business
to think and act like an entrepreneur
• Entrepreneurs are driven to produce
measureable results
• They hold themselves accountable
• They don’t spend time protesting, it takes
too much time, they just work around it
• They are able to see the big picture while
giving attention to detail
• They love the people around them, they
encourage their teams to constantly
improve
• They collaborate on problems and seek
diverse opinions
• They are convinced problems are
opportunities with solutions to be
discovered and they don’t give up until
they find a good solution
She was right. Everything she did was
successful, she built great teams, had happy
clients, and retained a never-ending positive
I would like to
summarize by
encouraging you to
embrace problemsolving, lead by
example and
show unbridled
enthusiasm in
everything you
do. You will find
enthusiasm for
good uses is
contagious and
will mark you as
a positive thinker
and leader.
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