Our intro course, ENTR 201 “Entrepreneurial Mindset and Innovation,” kicked off last night, with\u00a0Professors Larry Schuffman and Yanli Zhang\u00a0teaching this semester.<\/p>\n
The class got off to a fun start with Schuffman and Zhang throwing candy to students who answered questions. Talk about a sweet class–that’s one way to reward class participation, huh? Although free candy won’t happen\u00a0every class, it was still a nice touch for the first class.<\/p>\n
One feature of ENTR 201 is that\u00a0entrepreneurs visit the class to tell students about their journey, including overcoming failures. But last night, there were already entrepreneurs in the room: the students themselves. A quick survey of the room revealed at least five students who\u00a0already have a business, including\u00a0website design, fragrance sales, photography, fitness training, T-shirt design and healthier coffee sales.<\/p>\n
But ENTR 201 is not just for students who want to own a business someday. Far from it. In fact, many of our ENTR students\u00a0won’t, or don’t want to, own a business.\u00a0“Entrepreneur”\u00a0has a much, much wider definition than simply owning\u00a0a business.\u00a0That’s why ENTR 201 is called “Entrepreneurial Mindset and Innovation” — it teaches students how to develop the mindset of an entrepreneur, a valuable skill and talent that can be used in any career, whether you are working in a company with thousands of employees or a small accounting firm, or–yes–owning your own business. With so many industries–really, all industries–changing at such a fast pace, employees need to be innovative, creative and able to pivot. The same-old, same-old doesn’t work anymore. ENTR 201 teaches students how to be those desirable employees that companies want today.<\/p>\n