Entrepreneurship vs. Art History: A "Real Education"

[SlitheyTove]

<p>Regardless of whether or not entrepreneurship is teachable, one great thing about being at college is that it offers great entrepreneurial opportunities. There aren’t many places which will allow an 18 or 19 year old with absolutely no experience to design, implement and run a small business’s accounting system, and take over management and operations of a housing facility. In the real world, most bright-eyed and bushy-tailed kids would get smacked down just for asking, no matter how talented and hardworking they are. But colleges are set up to give young people just these opportunities.</p>

<p>Which isn’t to say that a young entrepreneur can only gain experience at college. Just that we want to remind our kids that college learning isn’t restricted to the classroom. </p>

<p>My favorite part of the article was Adams’ description of how you add value:</p>

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Combine Skills. The first thing you should learn in a course on entrepreneurship is how to make yourself valuable. It’s unlikely that any average student can develop a world-class skill in one particular area. But it’s easy to learn how to do several different things fairly well. I succeeded as a cartoonist with negligible art talent, some basic writing skills, an ordinary sense of humor and a bit of experience in the business world. The “Dilbert” comic is a combination of all four skills. The world has plenty of better artists, smarter writers, funnier humorists and more experienced business people. The rare part is that each of those modest skills is collected in one person. That’s how value is created.

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<p>So, so, so true. And this isn’t just about business, or being wealthy. This is great advice for any career.</p>