It is time that we taught our children how to operate like real entrepreneurs

Education is a big of bugbear of mine. I have written regularly on how our education system is NOT preparing children for the future.

I’m largely informed by Ken Robinson. (Watch him on TED.com.) In his view, we are not preparing our kids for the new world.

This requires imagination and innovation, not commodity academics.

Ken thinks that the key competency of the future will be creativity. In the new world, we will need talent that can deal with complexity, have entrepreneurial skills, be technologically literate and have global acumen. Does our education system deliver that? No it does not.

The general level of entrepreneurship education is very poor. Most academics teaching the subject have NEVER run a business. You have to have been there to understand. For example, selling is not part of entrepreneurship courses (no academic merit). Talk about ‘a boat without a paddle’.

So you have to take control. Watch Ken. Read Poke The Box by Seth Godin. Get them into youth entrepreneurship programmes. Get them an apprenticeship. Get them to sell something.

I firmly believe that the only way to survive and be successful in what will be a very different (labour) (I put that in brackets on purpose) market in future, is for your kids to operate like entrepreneurs.

Different, passionate, happy and in control of their own destiny.

Ron Immink, co-founder of Small Business Can (www.smallbusinesscan.com)

Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk