As university professors, we try to guide and help our students towards a productive future, which we hope will motivate and inspire them. However, given the modern issue of information overload, their future might seem daunting, perhaps almost impossible and, depending on their geographic and socioeconomic context, prosperity could feel out of reach. At the same time, the competition for jobs or a disconnect with their perception of what businesses stand for might also leave them with a sense of helplessness. This is where helping them to develop a sense of empowerment becomes vital – guiding them to develop the skills and the conviction that they can do it themselves, that they can solve problems and create solutions. In essence, fostering a “start-up mindset”.
A start-up mindset is a mental framework, a paradigm, a belief system that you have the power to create and construct. It stems from, builds on and integrates social values, self-awareness and the opportunity to develop empathy. This sense of empowerment comes from increasing risk-tolerance, flexibility, resilience and, simultaneously, patience as well as a sense of urgency. This character and these traits can be enhanced with insights and methods provided by teachers and mentors – tools to understand the environment, to use creativity for designing and innovating, to plan for the long view and to optimise available resources.
Passion/purpose
The motivation to act, take risks and sacrifice short-term benefits comes from purpose. Understanding your environment and having the ability to see the unmet needs of people, their challenges and their desires is the starting point for building purpose. As teachers, we can provide the tools and opportunity for students to observe, feel and build empathy. This can ignite a sense of mission and the passion to solve problems and create solutions. Only a burning passion for solving a problem will lead to action and sacrifice.
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We can also help students develop the skills to analyse their local environment from an endogenous perspective, as well as how to project to a global context, understanding macro trends in the social, economic and political spheres. We can help students understand that local action can indeed grow into global solutions, that they can lead and inspire others to collaborate based on a clear mission, the desire to make a difference and to do whatever it takes.
Method
Students who have awakened their empathy and ignited a passion to act might still be overwhelmed by the scale of what they want to fix. But as teachers we can help them understand how to apply method to the madness. Drawing from methodologies such as design thinking (also known as systems thinking), project management and “agile principles”, we can help them understand the “how to”.
Begin with building understanding that creating a solution can be incremental – that they don’t have to solve everything at once. Teach students the ability to prioritise, optimise available resources and that taking one step at a time will get them there as long as they don’t lose sight of the end game – as Uri Levine, the founder of Waze, would say: “Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.” Second, emphasise that they don’t have to do it alone, that they can and should collaborate with others. At this stage, we can teach them how to share their passion with others, how to organise, communicate effectively and lead.
In addition to these foundational principles, try to help students develop their skills in creative problem-solving. To understand the innovation process, start by designing models, prototypes, pilot projects, testing-validating, evaluating, learning and building upon that knowledge. Help them to realise that change is an ongoing process and that, even if their proposed solution is disruptive, progress can be incremental. Teach them to be flexible, to think outside the box, to expect the unexpected and not be afraid to test new approaches to solving the problem. Perhaps most of all, teach them to not be afraid to fail (the quicker the better).
Context
Building and strengthening a start-up mindset requires practice. As teachers, what we can provide are opportunities to apply the skills, values and knowledge required to foster this mindset. Try adopting a “glocal” approach, assigning projects to students to find and propose solutions for local challenges based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Teach them how to identify and leverage local resources depending on their socio-economic context.
For example, the context for my students is a developing economy based on an exogenous growth model, with high and growing inequality, decreasing quality of life, overpopulation in relation to the resources available (developable land, water, energy, environmental infrastructure) and an increasing cost of living. Culturally, individualism is very present, failure is frowned upon and, at the same time, entrepreneurship is common and resilience and a pioneering spirit are still predominant. Due to its proximity to a large and wealthy market, opportunities abound.
Within this context, students need to identify and prioritise opportunities, plus work out how to overcome the lack of collaboration, low risk-tolerance and scarce resources. Being aware of the contextual challenges can help to scope projects in increments so that failure can be overcome while small, early successes can be achieved, both of which reaffirm the start-up mindset.
In summary, if students are helped to understand and “love” their local context, they can start to build empathy and find purpose to establish an inspiring mission. They can then learn to share their passion with others and collaborate in creative, innovative and incremental solutions, learning quickly from manageable failures and persisting by trying again and again until they have solutions that can go global. Fostering such a start-up mindset in students is an excellent way to set them up for the challenges ahead.
Flavio Olivieri Sangiacomo is a research professor and liaison for the Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence at CETYS University, Mexico.
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