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Enterprise does not mean Business, stupid!

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‘Enterprise education is about the next generation of entrepreneurs’ claimed one of the speakers at the LEGI conference in Leeds yesterday.  And judging from most of the contributions that is a widely shared belief.

Which is bad news for me – because I think it profoundly wrong.  And it is bad news for our economy too because it needs people with enterprising minds in every conceivable area of life.

And by an enterprising mind I don’t mean one that can put a price on the school  magazine and sell advertising (and we wonder why proper educators fail to engage?) but one that is always looking at opportunities to improve, to innovate, to push boundaries and challenge limitations.  A mind that believes it can help it’s owner to take some control over their future.  To make good things happen.

Not a mind that thinks if I just keep my head down, do as I am told, be a good ‘team player’ (few entrepreneurs are good team players – this something they often have to work at) and work hard, the teacher will give me an ‘A’.

Enterprise education is NOT about the next generation of entrepreneurs.  It is about the next generation of active, engaged, committed, creative and passionate citizens.

I love enterprise.

I love entrepreneurship too!

I am also passionate about education. (I taught  secondary Science and Outdoor Ed for years).

But if you tried to engage me in enterprise education on the basis that it is about running businesses and selling the school magazine you would get short shrift from me too.

No wonder so many bleat about how hard it is to embed ‘enterprise’ in the curriculum.  Surely few teachers want to be utilitarian agents of the employers, economists, politicians and The Treasury?

So let us offer a broader conception of enterprise.  One that is about helping students to find their future and helping them to gain the powers that they need to make it a reality.

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Never Discourage Anyone…But Don’t Motivate Them Either

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Never discourage anyone … who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. – Plato (427 BC – 347 BC)

Never.  NEVER!  NEVER!

I wish the judges of enterprise competitions would understand the importance of this.

At the grand finals of a recent dragon’s den type event (which included the usual cocktail of local business people, ‘would have been’ apprentices and celebrity millionaires on the judging panel) 6 finalists were asked to pitch their ideas.

The setting was the enormous stage in the Main Hall of a local University.  Powerpoint, radio mics, lapel mics, comperes.  It had the lot.

The audience?  A couple of hundred family and friends, enterprise professionals and housing types.  Some of the finalists took to this platform like a duck to water.  For others it was more like lambs to the slaughter.  I suspect for none of them was this a situation that could REALLY be justified as a legitimate and essential part of their ‘enterprise education’.  For most it was certainly not timely.

The task?  Deliver a 6 minute pitch about your business/start up idea and then face 6 minutes of questionning, while dealing with problems with both sound and AV systems of farcical proportions.  These were so acute I began to think they were deliberatley staged to test participants’ ability to think on their feet.  I am still not sure if the computer maintenance business sabotaged their own powerpoint to make some sort of point?

And the judges seemed to have available to them one of two responses.  The first were variations of  ‘You have something’, ‘You will make this work’, ‘Whatever you try you will find a way’.  At least one of the judges seemed to be able form this response based on just what people looked like!

The second was ‘You have got a problem’, ‘You have got nothing’, ‘It is terribly confused’, ‘Your name doesn’t work’.

It is hard to know which of these is responses is more dangerous.

I am sure the event and the competition that led upto it was a great success for funders.  Lots of PR, a big dinner etc.  But can we really say this is community engagement in enterprise?

I suspect that some of the competitors found the whole process deeply discouraging.

Interestingly the winner and runner up were both graduates.  Another wonderful example of enterprise skimming?

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My Favourite Enterprise Podcast…ever

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While many businesses pay lip service to the idea of environmentally responsible practices, Patagonia has defined itself by “inspiring and implementing solutions to the environmental crisis,” says Chouinard.

The company has pledged that by 2010, it will to make all of its clothing from recycled and recyclable materials. Chouinard says that he would exit the clothing business altogether rather than compromise his standards.

Patagonia takes many steps to control its growth, such as drastically limiting its catalog distribution and not taking the company public in an IPO.

Chouinard even encourages his customers to buy less and focus on their needs rather than their wants. He insists that every time Patagonia invests in the environment, he sees an increase in the company’s bottom line.

Check out the full podcast here it is well worth the effort.

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An Enterprising Council?

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Leeds City Council is holding a plant sale this week-end to get rid of its surplus plants.

At first site this a great example of an entrepreneurial council hopefully raising some cash from surplus production that might just reduce our council tax by a fraction.

But on the other hand it is an example of a council leveraging enormous buying power and resources to take market share from local growers and no doubt business rate payers.

Is a public plant sale the best route for a council to take or could they do something more productive?

Suggestions?

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Challenging hearts, minds and communities through enterprise

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Challenging hearts, minds and communities through enterprise

Challenging Hearts, Minds and Communities
Yorkshire and Humber LEGI conference
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Shine, Harehills Road, Leeds LS8 5HS
£25 plus VAT per person

Two years into the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) the Leeds programme, Sharing the Success, plays host to the first and only UK conference in 2009 to showcase the successes, issues and challenges faced by those delivering regeneration and enterprise programmes in some of the most deprived communities across Yorkshire.

I think it is especially important that the voices of service users are heard too!

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