Enterprise for All was a one day conference organised on behalf of emda by Unleashing Enterprise with a mixture of key note presentations and workshop sessions.<\/p>\n
A few things really struck me about it. \u00a0From the key note speakers\u00a0and a tour of the exhibition hall it was clear just how much of a grip business and economic development interests have on the enterprise agenda. \u00a0 Enterprise really IS all about business. \u00a0Business start ups, business growth and business education.<\/p>\n
Except of course\u00a0enterprise\u00a0has\u00a0relevance\u00a0in\u00a0many, perhaps all, spheres of life. \u00a0It relates to parenting, cello playing, footballing and planning. \u00a0To mathematics, politics and dance. \u00a0An enterprising\u00a0approach\u00a0helps with business, yes, but it helps with so much more as well. \u00a0Because\u00a0an\u00a0enterprising\u00a0person is someone who has a theory about the direction ‘in\u00a0which\u00a0progress lies’, and has the confidence,\u00a0strategies\u00a0and skills that they need to pursue it. \u00a0By conflating\u00a0enterprise\u00a0with business we do it a disservice. \u00a0We alienate many who should be our natural allies, and we repel some who we should attract.<\/p>\n
Business is a great vehicle for teaching enterprise – but so too is sport, art,\u00a0history\u00a0and drama. \u00a0In Bolivia, enterprise education has been conducted largely through the power of\u00a0classical\u00a0music<\/a>.<\/p>\n I was deeply surprised when another \u00a0speaker said that ‘Business is Easy’. \u00a0This has not been my experience. \u00a0Business is hard. \u00a0And small business is really hard. \u00a0 There have been times when it has been so difficult that I have though\u00a0it\u00a0must be me doing it wrong. \u00a0And I talk with some of my closest confidantes about my fears and they tell me ‘No – it’s not you, it IS hard’. \u00a0One mistake and your reputation is shot. \u00a0It\u00a0can\u00a0take\u00a0over your life and ruin your\u00a0relationships with\u00a0friends\u00a0and family. \u00a0It can leave you depressed and in debt. \u00a0It can also be the most wonderful platform for personal development and a fulfilled life. \u00a0It really is a double-edged sword!<\/p>\n I have never met an entrepreneur, until yesterday, who has told me that business is easy. \u00a0This is the ‘Enterprise Fairytale’. \u00a0I would agree that it is\u00a0relatively\u00a0easy to\u00a0theorise <\/em><\/strong>about business. \u00a0To develop ideas, to refine them and to think about business plans. To get advice from business experts and to act on it, or not. \u00a0All\u00a0this\u00a0is quite easy. \u00a0On paper, it certainly isn’t\u00a0differential\u00a0calculus. But in practice it is something else. \u00a0It is easy to imagine\u00a0yourself\u00a0juggling, or being an\u00a0astronaut or a pop star. \u00a0Actually doing it is another thing. \u00a0It is NEVER easy! \u00a0 Good enterprise education needs to help learners to recognise the ‘double edged’ nature of the sword and recognise that a career in\u00a0business\u00a0will \u00a0not be a glorious extension of a 2 day facilitated workshop held in the comfort of the \u00a0college hall. \u00a0It just won’t be. \u00a0Good enterprise education nurtures the resilience, character, determination and commitment that is required to\u00a0succeed\u00a0in business or any other challenge that life throws our way. \u00a0It teaches the\u00a0importance\u00a0of craft and skill, of persistence and commitment. \u00a0And knowing when might be the right time to give up.<\/p>\n And the\u00a0strange\u00a0thing is that in my experience, the more honest we are about the challenges of entrepreneurship, the emotional, analytical, physical and financial challenges involved the more\u00a0likely\u00a0we are to get good, enduring entrepreneurs. \u00a0The more we\u00a0help\u00a0people to recognise how hard it is to leave the comfort zones and try something different the more\u00a0likely\u00a0they are risk it.<\/p>\n I was very struck when another keynote speaker told us about a primary school class that\u00a0wanted\u00a0to sell him a\u00a0presentation. \u00a0An 8-year-old offered to sell \u00a0him the copyright! \u00a0Now I am all for educating young people about the importance of intellectual property, but at 8? \u00a0Is\u00a0this\u00a0really\u00a0what\u00a0enterprise\u00a0education should be for such young children? \u00a0A Primary Business Curriculum?<\/p>\n Now this is a contested area. \u00a0No-one holds the truth on this. \u00a0In\u00a0enterprise\u00a0education we have little consensus on curriculum, assessment or methodology. \u00a0But I know that if my 8-year-old had come home from school telling me that\u00a0they\u00a0had been learning about copyright I would be\u00a0seriously\u00a0questioning\u00a0the schools priorities for primary education. \u00a0I have witnessed primary classes being taught the difference between tangible and intangible brands. And I was once approached in a \u00a0Leeds\u00a0hotel\u00a0by a girl of 6 or 7 wearing a\u00a0badge\u00a0that said ‘Sales Executive’<\/a>. \u00a0She knew\u00a0exactly\u00a0what margin she would make if she could sell me the beetroot plant that she was brandishing. \u00a0Are we really\u00a0introducing\u00a0appropriate\u00a0content at the right time into the classroom? \u00a0Do we deserve the\u00a0respect\u00a0of our colleagues as educators when we teach\u00a0this in the primary school? \u00a0I am not so sure.<\/p>\n Throughout the day I was\u00a0approached\u00a0by a number of people who made very similar comments. \u00a0‘Mike, I agree with you wholeheartedly, but we only get paid for outcomes related to business. \u00a0I know it isn’t right, but if that is what the funders are paying for that is what we have to provide. It is what the system demands’. \u00a0 I love the irony of this. \u00a0‘We teach\u00a0enterprise\u00a0by following instructions’. \u00a0But I\u00a0think\u00a0it points to a wider challenge for the policy makers and the funders. \u00a0Does this ‘head on’<\/a> approach to\u00a0entrepreneurship really work?<\/p>\n The title of the conference was also telling – Unleashing Enterprise. \u00a0Much of the socialisation of young people is all about putting the leash on them. \u00a0We\u00a0value\u00a0compliance, academic achievement, team playing and conforming. \u00a0 Those that dare to see things differently, to do things differently, to paddle their own canoe, tend to be bought back into line, or expelled. \u00a0 And it is not only enterprise that we struggle to unleash. \u00a0Creativity, leadership, innovation, potential…all of\u00a0these\u00a0have been subject to the leash fetish<\/a>.<\/p>\n I have not done much on the\u00a0enterprise\u00a0conference\u00a0circuit. \u00a0I have worked in community centres, village halls and at kitchen tables helping individuals and communities to develop their own approach to a more enterprising future. \u00a0 \u00a0It was a new\u00a0experience\u00a0for me. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone – and as always happened I learned a lot!<\/p>\n