For a long time now I have had real\u00a0concerns\u00a0about the focus of policy makers, and the projects that they spawn, on ‘enterprise’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ as being just too business oriented. \u00a0It is as if the only fields of human endeavour that matter are commerce of some kind. \u00a0Making money or fixing societies ills.<\/p>\n
This is especially un-nerving when you see it played out in our primary schools as 6 year olds are encouraged to wear badges that proclaim them be a ‘Sales Director’, an ‘Operations Manager’ or a ‘Brand Executive’. Yuk!<\/p>\n
What about all of those other great fields of human endeavour?<\/p>\n
Climbing mountains, making art, having fun, playing sport, writing, cooking and so on.<\/p>\n
What if we encouraged our 6 year olds to wear badges that proclaimed them to be ‘Footballer in Training’, ‘Ballet Dancer under Construction’, ‘Surgeon to Be’ or ‘The Next Michael McIntyre’? \u00a0OK, so perhaps we don’t need another Michael McIntyre…. but you get my point?<\/p>\n
Because what really matters is not exposing more people to the world of business and entrepreneurship. \u00a0It is to get them imagining possible futures, and\u00a0learning\u00a0how best to navigate towards them. \u00a0It is about developing people with a sense of agency and influence over their own futures. \u00a0It is about building a generation with both power and compassion. And a generation who really understand how to use the tools of collaboration, association and cooperation in pursuit of mutual progress.<\/p>\n
Does it really only matter if their chosen endeavour contributes to GVA? \u00a0Or is there more to our humanity that we need to recognise and encourage through both our policy and practice?<\/p>\n
And this is not just an issue in schools. \u00a0It runs like a plague through our communities from\u00a0cradle\u00a0to grave.<\/p>\n
I think this is important because we lose so many who are\u00a0completely\u00a0turned off by the thought of a world of commerce (and let’s face it we don’t all want to dive headlong into a world of Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice).<\/p>\n
So what about if instead of focussing on enterprise and\u00a0entrepreneurship\u00a0we attempted to throw our net wider and to encourage and support people to build their power and compassion in whatever they choose to be their particular fields of human endeavour?<\/p>\n