Planting Seeds of Entrepreneurial Thinking—With a Homegrown Twist
October 13, 2021
One of the preeminent entrepreneurial thinkers in higher education lives and works in an unlikely place: a metro area of 246,000 residents just a couple of hours south of the Canadian border. Bree Langemo, lawyer and educator, exemplifies ELI’s definition of entrepreneurship. That is the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to create value for others, whatever the field or location. Langemo directs the Entrepreneurship Center at Concordia College’s Offutt School of Business in Moorhead, Minnesota. It’s…
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A Managerial vs. Entrepreneurial Approach to Leadership
August 31, 2021
You might have seen the recent Inside Higher Ed article published in March of 2021 titled “Colleges a ‘Juicy Target” for Cyberextortion.” As if mask mandates (or lack thereof), vaccination hesitancy, the Delta Variant, and all the other disruptions that we’ve seen over the last 18 months aren’t enough, now cybercriminals have our schools in their crosshairs. And it’s not just higher ed institutions that are at risk. Someone could soon find my 5-year-old niece’s…
Read moreShaping Schools’ Futures Through an Entrepreneurial Mindset
August 13, 2021
Dr. Jacob Pittroff teaches at two historic schools in eastern Missouri, both of which face similar recruitment challenges—and both of which have an entrepreneurial mindset that starts at the top. Christian Brothers College High School (CBC), founded in 1850, is an all-male, Catholic college preparatory high school with more than 800 students. A few miles to the north lies the main campus of Lindenwood University, founded in 1827. Lindenwood has nearly 7,400 undergraduate and…
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How Do You Find ‘Your’ Problem to Solve?
July 19, 2021
Albert Edward Foreman, a humble clergyman who cannot read or write, has spent 16 years in a comfortable position at his local church when we meet him in the opening lines of the short story The Verger by W. Somerset Maugham. But there’s a shakeup in his peaceful world. The parish comes under new management, and Foreman is fired from his job because of his illiteracy. On his walk home, the disheartened former verger accidentally…
Read moreApplying an Entrepreneurial Approach in Our Daily Lives
June 28, 2021
The Ice House program takes its name from an everyday problem facing the residents of Mississippi: summer heat. Today, getting ice is as easy as walking over to the dispenser in our kitchens. In the early 1900s though, customers made frequent trips to their local ice houses to buy ice in 25- or 50-pound blocks. Solving the problem of keeping food cold during sweltering Southern summers didn’t take a degree in rocket science—or much formal…
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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 moreAn Entrepreneurial Mindset Blossoms Among Cleveland-Area Students
April 15, 2021
When homeowners look for outdoor improvements in Gates Mills, Ohio, they might choose Cutting Edge Landscaping, a company run by student entrepreneurs. A vendor looking for a product video or an athlete who needs a recruiting film might turn to Dunlevy Productions, a company founded by another high schooler. Or a nonprofit like the Cleveland Food Bank or Special Olympics might receive a monetary donation from a student donating proceeds from their business.…
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The Time Is Now, Read Our New White Paper, “Entrepreneurial Mindset Imperative”
April 13, 2021
Download the White Paper Here Im-per-a-tive (Noun): An essential or urgent thing; of vital importance Life today is filled with imperatives. Everything seems urgent and critically important in vying for our attention daily. As such, when we sat down to write our new white paper, we did not decide to call it the Entrepreneurial Mindset Imperative lightly. Between the pandemic, political strife, social strain, and massive changes in education and the workplace, the world…
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Tips for Conveying Your Brand to the World
April 8, 2021
Many years ago, a young boy named Clifton Taulbert had a rare opportunity to go to a circus in Jackson, Mississippi. It was a two-man road trip, just the boy and his relative and mentor, Cleve Mormon. As Taulbert shares in the book Who Owns the Ice House? Eight Life Lessons from an Unlikely Entrepreneur, the two bought their tickets, found their seats near the front of the circus tent, and dug into hot,…
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