Tapping into the Human Spirit at GEC 2025
June 10, 2025
The 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Indianapolis brought together over 3,000 people from across the globe who are passionate about building thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems. Hosted by the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), the event was buzzing with energy, from deep conversations and fresh ideas to shared stories and bold visions for the future of entrepreneurship. What’s Mindset Got to Do With It? ELI’s Gary Schoeniger (Founder & CEO) and Nic Houle (Director of Community Partnerships)…
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Dreams for the New School Year – Choosing Persistence
August 5, 2024
I really love sports. Sports brings out the best in us. Teamwork, communication, dedication, persistence, and excellence become the norm when you play them. Dealing with failure and overcoming increasing challenges are just part of the experience. The valuable lessons that are taught stick with you over time, especially those related to choosing persistence. What a summer it has been for sporting events. For a sports lover like me, this summer has been a…
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Seventy-Five Summers
July 3, 2024
Talk to anyone in my family, and they’ll tell you that I’m wild about the 4th of July. Not in a decorate the house in bunting kind of way, but in being part of the quintessential American Independence Day celebration. I have lots of options in my hometown since both Williamsburg and Yorktown, Virginia, hold huge fireworks displays attended by tens of thousands each year. One in the colonial capital and one on the…
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Life Lessons from Leading Girl Scouts at NextGen Workshops in North Carolina
May 9, 2024
Setting the stage When Christina Williams-Debrew signed on to facilitate a new series of one-day workshops for young women, she went in with plenty of entrepreneurial mindset knowledge thanks to her certification as an Entrepreneurial Mindset Program facilitator. She was familiar with one of the organizers, NC IDEA, a private foundation committed to supporting North Carolinians in achieving their entrepreneurial ambitions to start and grow high-potential companies, but she had less background with the other,…
Read more“Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy,” Or, Optimal Engagement in the Workplace
April 10, 2024
When I first heard Michael Stipe cry out that line from the R.E.M. song What’s the Frequency Kenneth? something about it stuck with me. And it still resonates with me today. I was relatively new to the workforce, and that one line said a lot about what I saw every day in my workplace. I was surrounded by incredibly bright, capable people who, on the surface, seemed at best apathetic. Were they really apathetic,…
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