The Five Dimensions of an Entrepreneurial Mindset
May 18, 2021
Our brains receive millions of pieces of information every second. That’s why we often fall back on our mental default settings to make sense of the world around us. Imagine how little you would get done every day if you had to rediscover what pants are and how they work every time you got dressed. Our mindset keeps our brain from becoming overwhelmed. We have these sets of interrelated beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge about…
Read moreDeveloping an Entrepreneurial Mindset on the Path to Recovery
May 14, 2021
Judy Raper never saw herself as someone whose entrepreneurial mindset would make an impact on her community. She might have pointed to her younger sister, a CEO, as the mover and shaker in the family. Then Raper learned a new definition of entrepreneurship as the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to create value for others. She realized that by creating value for others, we empower ourselves. She realized that the Ice House training she…
Read moreGraduating as an Underdog Can Be a Good Thing
May 11, 2021
Students earning their college diplomas this year face a sea of uncertainty. While hiring predictions are up from where they were in 2020, they are still not back to pre-pandemic levels. Hands-on internships were (and still are) limited. Job searches and interviews are virtual. It’s enough to make a new college graduate feel like an underdog — and that can be a powerful secret weapon. Over the past 25 years, ELI Founder & CEO, Gary…
Read morePulling Students Off the Conveyor Belt Ride Through Life
May 6, 2021
Throughout the past eight years, Professor Lisa Banks has used the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program with more than 800 students at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan. They always come away from her courses with information they will use in their lives. Even if they discover that they’re not a good fit for a career running their own business. Banks herself has lived out the definition of entrepreneurship as the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to…
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Five Ways an Entrepreneurial Mindset Addresses Interrupted Learning
April 28, 2021
Students who disengage from school tend to feel discouraged about their futures. They begin to lack hope. And without hope, they disengage further. This spiral impacts their academic performance, their learning, and their sense of self-direction. At The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, we’ve been concerned about this pattern for years—it’s one of the reasons that we’re so passionate about offering the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program to middle, high school, and college students. We believe that…
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