There are undoubtedly several high schools in Southeast Kansas using some kind of entrepreneurship curriculum.  The best programs concentrate as much or more on the way entrepreneurs solve problems than the technical aspects of running a business.  While we’re not familiar with all the various high school entrepreneurship programs, we are familiar with one of the best of the best.   Formerly known as Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas, YE has now become just Youth Entrepreneurs.  Based in Wichita since 1991, YE has grown to provide curriculum and support for about 40 high schools in Kansas and another 16 in border states.  Currently launching the high school program in several markets across the Unites States, YE is poised for growth. 

YE offers week-long entrepreneurship camps as an introduction to their program about helping high school students to learn about “business, markets, and solving problems for profit”.  We have the (day) camp available at Fab Lab ICC next week, Monday – Friday from 8:30am to 1:30pm.  We’re adding time in the Fab Lab at the beginning of each day.  The facilitators (one from Wichita and one—fresh out of YE facilitator training) will start the YE part of the program at 10:30 each day.  We’ll feed these students lunch for a camp fee of $39.  The registration link is posted on our Facebook page “Fab Lab ICC”. 

The great thing is that we’re all involved in “business, markets and solving problems for profit” whether we work for someone else or we go out on our own.  The YE program is not just about business, but about the business of solving problems, whether in a professional or personal context.  Hence, it’s a very good way to introduce and develop life skills in our young people.  Some people would call it a curriculum to inspire the elusive “soft skills” we always complain to be lacking in our young people. 

Until this fall, there were no high schools in Southeast Kansas offering YE.  All 40 active high school programs were in the other quadrants of Kansas.  This fall Independence, Field Kindley (Coffeyville), Elk Valley (Longton) and Fredonia high schools will initiate YE into their schedules as a regular elective course.  We are happy to have been of some assistance in the implementation of Independence and Field Kindley.  Elk Valley and Fredonia have come into the light on their own accord. 

Two years ago, we hosted about 25 YE students from around the state on the ICC campus for a tour of Fab Lab ICC and some of our other innovative programs.  During the visit, we all noticed that these students were different than the average high school student.  Alert, positive, curious and self-confident is how most of us described them.  It was at that point that we stepped up our efforts to be a catalyst for initiating YE in our area high schools.  It is very satisfying to see us establish a foot-hold for YE in Southeast Kansas. 

Entrepreneurship training and the design of entrepreneurship programs is not easy, especially for the benefit of existing small business owners struggling to grapple with all aspects of running their businesses. Few have time, money or inclination to get business degrees. Training has to cut to the chase, be affordable and not take a long time. 

Early Business Programs Were Not About Starting Businesses 

In the 20^th century up until the 1980’s there wasn’t much thought given to entrepreneurship and small business start-ups. The prevailing thoughts, in between stock market crashes, wars and depressions was that big business and government would care for us, providing jobs and pensions for a comfortable retirement. Generally, the education system was changed to develop workers for manufacturing and industry. This included business programs in higher education that had everything to do with training to become a mid-level manager in a corporation and nothing to do with how to start and run a small business. The ongoing mantra of big business, and these business education programs was “profit is the number one goal.” That largely remains today, and we still see plenty of instances of greed and corruption in big business due to the excessive emphasis on profit. Plenty of the “entrepreneurship” programs at 4-year schools are just repurposed mid-management business curriculum with a few “entrepreneurial” aspects mixed in. 

Top Business Goal Is Not Profit 

Thanks to Gary Schoeniger founder of the Ice House Entrepreneurship program, in 2011 I changed my whole way of thinking about entrepreneurship education. Primarily I learned that the number one goal of business should be to provide unique and innovative solutions to the marketplace, letting profits take care of themselves through business management techniques as customers gladly pay for solutions to their problems. 

In 2006, ICC president Terry Hetrick recognized that traditional business curriculum did not provide a good training solution for existing small business owners. He and the administrators at the time created a vision for a new training program they named the “Successful Entrepreneur Program” (SEP) and then hired me, a non-academic with small business experience, to develop it. From the beginning, we offered a two-year, non-transfer, degree program in small business management for entrepreneurs. I developed most of the curriculum myself as I never met a business textbook that I liked. In the two-year program, I covered most of the major topics; marketing, value creation, sales techniques, practical legal issues, financial management for owners, and developing a niche in the marketplace. In the first four years of SEP, I had maybe 12 – 16 people go through the program. To this day, several have done well in business and have told me what they learned in the program was helpful. There were two problems; 1. Hardly any small business owners care about getting a degree, and 2. A two-year program is perceived as taking too long, making recruiting difficult. 

After discovering Ice House in 2011, I shifted away from the two-year program and offered just one class beginning in the fall of 2012, Entrepreneurial Mindset featuring the Ice House Entrepreneurship program. The objective of Ice House is exclusively to change peoples’ thinking to realize that to have a successful business, the emphasis has to change from profit as a primary motive to providing great market solutions. It turns out that this change in thinking is good for everyone, whether employer, employee and in business, personal or academic lives. Today, more than 100 people have had their mindset changed by this class and it is still offered twice each year. 

Providing a Small Business Management Training Solution 

The Mindset class is very good at changing mindset and helping people become better problem solvers and even validate whether or not a solution they want to provide is going to be useful. What has been missing since 2012 is the actual business management training covering the topics I’ve mentioned earlier. Developing an abbreviated version of the original 2-year program has been on my list for 8-years, but the development activities of Fab Lab ICC starting in 2013 have prevented much progress. Now, the Center for Entrepreneurship at Wichita State University (WSU) has provided a solution and Montgomery County E-Community is bringing small business management training, called “Growing Rural Business” GRB to our county this fall starting September 10. 

The folks at WSU have been facilitating this series around Kansas for a couple of years. The content is different and non-academic. Reviews from participants is always positive. Network Kansas is making a substantial investment in our local E-Community organization to make this training possible at a very reasonable registration cost for small business owners. 

With Entrepreneurial Mindset and Ice House covering the front end of a business start-up idea through product launch, the GRB training series provides much needed training in the specific management needs of small business owners. 

I think I've underestimated the potential of entrepreneurship (now, I call it entrepreneurial mindset) since 2006 when I learned how to spell the word after accepting the position of facilitator/business coach of the Successful Entrepreneur Program at Independence Community College. 

For many people, the term "entrepreneurship" implies business ownership or business "start-up". Certainly, that is true sometimes, but entrepreneurship can be interpreted as a way of thinking of new ways to solve problems for others, many times with limited resources.  Successful entrepreneurship includes continuous innovation as successful entrepreneurs knowing they always have to be looking for the next greatest way to serve their customers or coworkers.  Innovation sometimes means new inventions and/or new technology but many times it means a new twist on an existing idea. 

Today I'm starting to realize that a goal of developing the "Mindset" among everyone in a region has a great potential—indeed, the only hope--to provide economic prosperity and overall satisfaction with life. 

The overarching objective the Entrepreneurial Mindset class, featuring the Ice House Entrepreneurship curriculum is to learn how successful entrepreneurs recognize problems as opportunities and figure out creative ways to solve them. Pretty much, no matter what any of us do with our lives, we are involved in solving problems for others, or at least we should be.  This can be as a self-employed business person, or as an employee in someone else's company or organization.  Entrepreneurial Mindset should go far beyond that; our social, civic and government programs should seek to solve problems for others with Entrepreneurial Mindset. 

The eight life's lessons in the Ice House curriculum provide the central themes of the "Mindset".  They are timeless and really have more to do with a way of looking at life and interacting with others than they do with specifically starting or running a business.   

 So, while we do talk about business start-ups in this class, what we really emphasize is how to learn to become better problem solvers.  Entrepreneurs can be at work both within other companies and organizations as well as within their own businesses.  Employees that understand the "Mindset" will do a much better job at taking care of customers whether they are external to the company or internal customers within the same organization. 

As more and more companies strive to be more innovative in our current entrepreneurial economy, look for more and more employees to come to the "Entrepreneurial Mindset" class and sitting down beside those with a goal to open their own businesses.  All are looking for a new mindset to better view problems as opportunities and find innovative solutions. 

Update/Context: I originally wrote the following just before the 2020 election. We’ve had nearly four years with emphasis on equal outcomes, instead of equal opportunity and I’m not sure our situation is much better.

Over the last few years, I’ve watched people struggle with poverty (and self-worth) not only around the world and across this nation, but also in our own back yard. Governments and politicians have tried to help, but generally get it wrong. The answer is not to make everyone the same, but rather to make sure opportunities are available to everyone. I’ve come to realize that entrepreneurship and/or entrepreneurial thinking are the essential ingredients in individuals. Governments and politicians should be concerned, and involved, with removing barriers to opportunity.

In the Entrepreneurial Mindset class, we meet Rodney Walker. Rodney grew up in thirteen different foster homes on the south side of Chicago in the 2000’s. When he was younger, he thought there were those on the prosperous side of life, and those not on the prosperous side of life. He was in the latter group. In high school, meeting a good mentor and getting involved in the entrepreneurship program is what changed his thinking to realize that he had the opportunity to make his own way and move to the prosperous side of life.

I originally wrote the following just before the 2020 election. We’ve had nearly four years with emphasis on equal outcomes, instead of equal opportunity and I’m not sure our situation is much better.

We Need Opportunity Not Ice Cream

The story has been around for years. A teacher somewhere in America, generally somewhere between 5^th and 7^th grade helps her students conduct an election for class president. Class members came up with two nominees, taking turns stating their plans and vision for the class if elected. Candidate #1 laid out specific ideas about ways to improve the class and would work very hard to make the ideas come to life. Candidate #2 said “If you vote for me, I will give you ice cream.” Discussion followed about who would pay for the ice cream. Would parents or the school pay for it? Candidate #2 couldn’t say for sure who would pay but the class didn’t care, they wanted free ice cream. Candidate #2 won the election.

Free Ice Cream if Elected

In every election I can remember there are candidates that promise free ice cream if elected. The notion seems to be more prevalent with every passing election. Some challenges with free ice cream are that it doesn’t always get to everyone, the overall cost is way more than if people just bought their own ice cream and much of it is wasted. The main problem is that, while many people desire the free ice cream, it’s not really healthy and does nothing to promote the physical and emotional well-being of the recipients.

Humans Made to Work

Human beings, as well as most of the animal kingdom, are made to be self-sufficient, “making a living” by working. In earlier eras, choices were limited to hunting (game), gathering (fruits, vegetables and grains) and building shelter from the elements. For those of us with Judeo-Christian religious backgrounds, we believe this started when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden and told they would now have to work hard to make a living. Over time, commerce evolved into marketplaces where people could choose from a wide variety of ways to make a living besides hunting and gathering. We get to choose our way of becoming self-sufficient, productive members of society, serving others as employees or entrepreneurs in exchange for a means to have a fulfilling life with enough money to have food to eat and a roof over our heads.

Kids Want Opportunity

The need to work to be productive is innate. When we take that away by giving free ice cream, we do a disservice. We saw this in the Lab (or at least we did before the pandemic) all the time. Kids want to learn and do for themselves. Many have been programmed to be dependent on teachers or parents for answers, but when we give them an opportunity to learn, grow and work on their own, we see a transformation take place. If everyone, not only in America, but around the world was given equal opportunity to learn, grow and work on their own, the world would be a very different place.

Opportunity, not free ice cream, is what we need to make America work better. America was founded as a land of opportunity where people could escape tyranny and make their own way in a new world. It needs to be equal opportunity for all, not free ice cream for all. All of us, the politicians, educators, government officials, everyone in society have a responsibility to do everything we can to provide equal opportunity to everyone; a hand up, not a handout.

Update/Context Introduction: As industries evolve, technical expertise alone is no longer enough to ensure long-term success in the workforce. Employers increasingly seek individuals who can think critically, solve problems, and adapt to new challenges. Recognizing this need, Life Skills Academy (LSA) will introduce the Applied Entrepreneurial Mindset (AEM) program in Fall 2025. This initiative builds on more than a decade of experience with the Entrepreneurial Mindset class, now expanding to include hands-on, project-based learning across multiple technical and fabrication disciplines.

The AEM program is designed to equip participants—not just with technical skills, but with the confidence and problem-solving abilities that make them more competitive in today’s job market. Local employers emphasize the value of hiring individuals who bring both mindset and versatility to the workplace, increasing engagement and adaptability across different roles.

This approach aligns with national conversations on workforce development, reinforcing that technical training must go beyond job-specific skills to cultivate a proactive, engaged workforce.

Technical Programs Need to Offer More Than the Technical Specifics 

It turns out, others are making the same discovery. The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative (ELI) is the company that developed the "Ice House Entrepreneurship Program" I've used since August of 2012 to instill this kind of thinking in our Entrepreneurial Mindset classes. I was honored in October of 2017 to share a break-out presentation with Bree Langemo, then ELI president, about how our workforce development programs should include training to instill this kind of thinking, along with the technical training in the particular disciplines.  The presentation took place during the annual conference of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE). The audience consisted of work force educators from community colleges around the country and was focused on making work force programs more competitive. This really was not only about helping schools distinguish their work force programs from one another, but also about making the students more competitive as they enter the work force. My part of the presentation had to do with how a project-based maker experience could add to more engaging work forces. 

Engaged, Not Engaged and Actively Disengaged 

Bree presented a startling statistic from the Gallup people about the state of current engagement of the work force. Only 13% of the employees in the work force are actively engaged in their work, involved and enthusiastic, and taking positive action toward the missions of their organizations. Sixty-three percent are not engaged. They lack passion for their job and tend to look at the job as punching a time clock in exchange for a paycheck. Twenty-four percent are disengaged, unhappy and disconnected, bringing negativity to the workplace and jeopardizing team performance. Think about this for a minute. It means that if you had 20 employees in a rowboat, three are enthusiastically rowing in a forward direction; twelve are not really doing anything except maybe slapping their oars in the water while five are actually rowing backwards. This is what employers are faced with in trying to be competitive in their markets.

Applied Entrepreneurial Mindset Offers Mindset and Versatility 

We believe strongly in this idea and are developing a program we call "Applied Entrepreneurial Mindset (AEM.)" It will involve the Entrepreneurial Mindset class to instill problem solving skills and self-confidence.  The program also includes a "buffet" of projects involving introductions to several technical and fabrication disciplines. Local employers have told us they like the idea of having someone show up for work with a problem-solving attitude and a variety of knowledge and skills. The employers say this makes them more competitive by having employees that are versatile and able to work in different areas of the company while interested and engaged in the company mission. AEM will be available in the fall of this year, 2025.

Participants in our work force programs as well as nearly any of our more traditional academic programs would benefit from having an entrepreneurial mindset and introduction to a wide variety of digital and hands-on making experiences. The combination of these disciplines tend to make people much better problems solvers, more curious and much more engaged when they enter the marketplace, either as small business owners serving customers or workers enthusiastically engaged in a competitive business. 

 

Update/Context:

I first wrote about Empathetic Design in 2018, and it was a core principle at Fab Lab ICC for the time I was the director—even displayed on our wall as a banner outlining its five steps. Closely tied to the entrepreneurial mindset, Empathetic Design helps us create meaningful innovations by deeply understanding the needs of others. As we launch Life Skills Academy, it will be another essential tool in our toolbox, shaping how we approach learning and problem-solving.

 Empathetic Design is a powerful method for driving innovation and improvement across business, career, education, and personal growth. In the article, we highlight David Kelley, founder of the design firm Ideo and Stanford’s d.school. In 2013, he and his brother Tom co-authored Creative Confidence, a book that remains as relevant today as ever—offering timeless insights into creativity, innovation, and human-centered design. If you haven’t read it, it’s well worth your time.

There seem to be several definitions and methodologies for "empathetic design." When I was at Fab Lab ICC, we used a model developed by the dSchool (Design School) at Stanford University. The dSchool was founded by a former engineer named David Kelley. David grew up in small Barberton, Ohio and while working as a Boeing engineer, decided he didn't really like the kind of work he was doing. He became friends with Steve Jobs and left Boeing to start a design company called Ideo. It was Ideo that developed the first computer mouse. As Ideo flourished, David ended up with an opportunity to teach at Stanford and eventually came the opportunity to create the dSchool. At the dSchool, design teams are made up of graduate students from all kinds of backgrounds and disciplines. The diversity leads to great innovation since everyone on the teams thinks differently. 

Over the years, they've come up with a 5-step design process to find new and innovative ways to solve problems. New and innovative ways to solve problems is what we will strive to instill in everyone involved with Life Skills Academy. 

Empathize 

The first step is to observe people going about various aspects in life and the problems they face. It could be someone struggling with a device that doesn't work right, a young mother at an airport struggling with all the stuff needed to travel with young children or people in a third-world country struggling to find fresh water. 

Ideo once designed a new ice cream dipper. They observed people using existing dippers and tried to empathize with the challenges they observed. One thing they noticed was the nearly everyone licked the dipper when serving was finished. Even though our mothers would be horrified, that was the observation so one of the design criteria as to make sure there were no sharp edges or pinch points on any new device. 

Define 

After considerable observation, the team works to define what problem they will solve. Sometimes the problem is discreet and straightforward to define, other times it's more complicated. Defining the problems people face when dipping ice cream is straightforward. Defining the problems people face when going to a medical appointments can be a little more complex. 

Ideate 

Some people would call this brainstorming, but after defining the problem to be solved, the problem solver or team goes about coming up with "new and innovative" ways to solve the problem. The ability to come up with new solutions is like a muscle. The ability is weak and challenging at first, but the more we practice, the better we get. As we saw with people come to the Fab Lab in camps, classes and member visits, we watched their problem-solving abilities grow with each project. We know we'll see similar growth as we work with people of all ages in the Life Skills Academy.

Prototype 

After one or a few possible solutions are created in "Ideation" the prototype helps demonstrate the solution in a low cost way. After all, at the point after Ideation, we don't really know which of the solutions, if any, work. For tangible products, the prototype starts out "low-fidelity," rough but produced quickly and at a low cost. For intangible solutions, like services or concepts the prototypes can be artifacts that help share the ideas. 

Test 

Once the prototype(s) are completed, not perfected, it's time to show them to the people having the problem and test them as much as possible. During the testing stage we listen carefully to the observations and reactions of those with the problem to gain insight into improvements and changes that can be made. 

Step and Repeat 

After the test phase, the process is repeated; sometimes back to the Empathize stage or one of the others. This can go on from one to several times until there is a minimum viable product (MVP.) The MVP is robust enough that early adopters, those with the problem that are willing to try, even if not perfect. In the case of a commercial solution, this means the early adopters are willing to pay for the MVP. 

None of us are very good at predicting what new products or solutions are going to be used and accepted in the marketplace. We get good feedback from what people say and the opinions they give, but the true test is when people "buy" the MVP, either through the exchange of money or the implementation of a new process. 

Update/Context: Five years after this article was first published, downtown Independence continues to thrive with a dynamic cycle of business turnover. This 'churn' is a natural part of economic growth and helps foster a strong, resilient community. Let’s embrace this evolution by supporting and exploring the new businesses that emerge, as they are essential to keeping our downtown vibrant.

A few years ago, one of our area Main Street program directors was lamenting the fact that one or two of the fairly recent businesses in the downtown area had closed. “It just seems like some businesses close as fast as others open.” I told her that we should be celebrating the fact that when spaces open up there are people ready and willing to open another retail establishment; we should be celebrating the churn and always inviting people to come and see what is new. This surprised her as she said she’d never thought about it that way. 

In our area of Southeast Kansas, I’ve always thought there were a surprising number of businesses more than 100 years old. It would easily take more than two hands to count those businesses in Montgomery County alone. I’ve not seen any studies on this, comparing the number of 100 year old companies per capita, but it seems like we have a large number for a county of around 35,000 people. 

Unrealistic expectation 

Several of these businesses are in downtown districts and many people long for a stable group of businesses in a downtown area, all successful for 100 years that fill all the empty buildings and available spaces. In today’s world of increasing competition from the vast selection of the Internet and the “box stores” starting businesses that will last for 100 years will be challenging to say the least. We should be celebrating and encouraging business churn in our downtown districts. One definition I found for churn is “To produce something in an abundant and automatic manner.” We should be working to develop and encourage new entrepreneurs, willing to try new businesses in our downtown districts, in an abundant and automatic manner. 

Start small and grow 

The key is for the entrepreneur to start small, growing the business while tweaking the products and services offered to minimize the risk on the way to opening a retail store in a downtown district. Danielle Passauer, dba Platinum Designs, is growing her business in just such a manner. She came to Fab Lab ICC about one and one-half years ago, with a very small, fledgling business. She used our lasers for several months to grow her business into what she calls a “serious part time venture.” Now she has her own laser and other customization equipment at her home and during this last holiday season, she operated a pop-up retail store on certain occasions. She once told me that her goal was to have a full-time retail business in downtown Independence. She is reaching her goal in a measured series of small steps, reducing her financial risk every step of the way. 

We should be replicating Danielle’s story all over Southeast Kansas, encouraging small start-ups that can grow into full-time businesses many even needing to hire employees to help serve customers.

Start with a change in mindset 

This is a different approach than starting big with big financing and it all starts with a change in mindset to that of what we call an entrepreneurial mindset. Before we get to cash flow projections and nuts and bolts business management disciplines, we need to learn to think in terms of solving problems for customers and starting small so corrections in our offerings are easily made as we learn what our customers really want. Watch for future offerings of the Entrepreneurial Mindset class, featuring the Ice House Entrepreneurship program  This is where we learn to think about solving problems in the marketplace and starting out small.

Celebrate the churn 

There will always be a churning of businesses in our downtown areas and indeed in our region with businesses coming and going as the market changes. With the right mindset, we can always have new (or reinvented) entrepreneurial ventures to fill the openings in our buildings and in our marketplace. The churn is what makes an economy vibrant and exciting. Let’s celebrate the churn. 

Update/Context: Since its original publication nearly three years ago, the need for young people to engage in self-exploration has only grown. In response, we have launched the Life Skills Academy (LSA) through the Innovative Business Resource Center (www.ibrcenter.org/About-Us). LSA (www.ibrcenter.org/Life-Skills-Academy) is a learning hub centered around the Entrepreneurial Mindset, offering project-based learning in a maker space environment. This space empowers both young and old to explore new interests, potentially leading to exciting new careers or even business ownership.

Our society dictates that our youth begin to think about and even decide “what they want to be when they grow up” even at the 6

^th or 7^th grade level. This dictate is paired up with the dictate to start working on what college to go to and that the best grades in K – 12, will yield the best college offers. For a small percentage (the tip of an iceberg,) the path of choosing college and career early works well. For the rest, the massive iceberg under the surface, not so much. Fifty percent who do attend and graduate from college don’t find the jobs and careers that were implied to them. Some find they don’t like the chosen career as much as they thought they would. So, they finish college, many saddled with college debt, having to set out to find something to do with their lives that has little to do with their degree. 

Many of these young students, under the surface, don’t do well with textbook learning and don’t want to go to college. They are subtly branded as “not college material” and relegated to being lucky to work for someone else the rest of their lives. Some go to various kinds of trade schools. There is certainly nothing wrong with trade school, but every implication, from the commercials on television to the way the politicians and policy makers speak is all about getting a job working for someone else. It’s never that they could own a trade business. Indeed, the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle message from American society is that if you don’t go to college, you won’t be successful, and you’ll have to settle for some low paying job your whole life. This message is not true, and we need to change it. College can be a valuable tool for those who engage to learn things, but those who think the degree guarantees success have a 50% chance of being very disappointed.

The career guidance counselors present lists of the “top (paying)” careers. The lists change slightly from year to year. Politicians and policy makers make educational funding decisions based on these lists. The only problem is that these lists represent the tip of another iceberg. Under the surface are the thousands of careers, occupations, and businesses that it takes to make the world work. The list below the surface is more fluid than the list above in the tip. New technologies render many on the list obsolete while creating many new ones. No one can make an accurate list of everything. No guidance counselor, no politician, no policy maker. Not only can we not grasp the opportunities under the surface at any given time, but we’re also absolutely no good at predicting, and responding to, the constant churn of obsolescence of certain opportunities while new ones are emerging.

How do we change this messaging and show young people how to self-discover the vast and fast-changing opportunities in the massive iceberg under the surface? First, we need to quit asking kids what they want to do or be when they grow up. Instead, we need to ask what kinds of problems they would like to solve. This changes the whole dynamic of their thinking leaving their mindset open for all the various ways they might be able to work on the solutions for which they are interested. Second, we need to quit pressuring them to figure out their career paths at such an early age. Grades K – 12 should be a time to learn a variety of knowledge that will, perhaps, uncover new interests and change the way they think about the kinds of problems they want to solve. Even for those that choose college, there should be some flexibility in the academic schedule to explore learning that is outside of the “major.” Third, we need to incorporate more project-based learning and entrepreneurial thinking in our children’s education, if not at school at home and at places like a community maker space. Project based learning makes for a better problem solver. Entrepreneurs are the ones that can look at all the problems in the mass of the iceberg and discover for themselves which to leverage into opportunities for solutions in the marketplace, that can also provide for a beneficial and fulfilling way to be successful.

For our restored and continued success in a competitive world marketplace, it is critical that we figure out how to engage and support the youth that are not flourishing in our current educational models. We have to stop showing them limited lists of the “top careers” and show them instead how to look at the world in a new way and discover for themselves what problems they would like to solve.

Update/Context: Since this article was first published in late 2020, the conversation around education and the importance of fostering agency in learners has only intensified. Too often, traditional education limits the ability for self-directed exploration and growth. To address this, the Life Skills Academy (LSA), is creating a model of learning by doing. By integrating an Entrepreneurial Mindset and project-based learning within a maker space, LSA provides an environment where individuals are empowered to take control of their own learning journeys, fostering the skills and independence needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

 Youth Not Good At Working With Hand Tools 

There are several characteristics shared by many of the young people we met through various youth camps and activities over the years at Fab Lab ICC. First, most are not very good at working with hand tools and in general, working with their hands. With hands-on shop classes all but gone from many of our nation’s school districts, learning to work with our hands has taken a back seat to standardized testing. Some early adopter school districts are starting to incorporate hands-on, (also known as experiential) learning. Perhaps we are moving in the right direction. 

We also see a fixed mindset in many of these young people. The emphasis has been on final results rather than the learning that takes place during the process. Many have not learned about the great knowledge available by learning from failure. Some students are hesitant to try anything new or try to make anything for fear it might not turn out well. Finally, we see students that when they get stuck on knowing what to do next, they raise their hands and stop working until a teacher or advisor can get to them and give them the answer they need to continue. 

Education Without Agency 

All of this combined can be thought of as education without agency. In this case, “agency” means self-confidence, self-reliance, self-efficacy and initiative all rolled into one. Without agency, many young people enter the work force (afraid to start a business on their own) looking for a job in the one area of study for which they went to school. Many go about their workdays waiting for the next instruction from their bosses or the company instruction manuals. They have a hard time looking around to see what needs to be done, and doing it, rather than waiting for the next instruction. 

We observed this regularly in the work-study students and other young people we used at Fab Lab ICC to help us keep the place in shape; cleaned up and ready for our members’ use. We'd give them a tour and try to point out the things we didn’t want to see; excess dust, clutter, dirty floors, etc. We used cleaning check lists and yet it always took a while for most to learn to take initiative and take care of the items needing attention without waiting for use to tell them. Some were never able to make the transition to a “self-starter” with initiative to do what needed to be done. 

Resuming the Path to Agency 

We believe experiential learning—learning by doing while learning from our mistakes-- at all levels of school would greatly help give these young people agency to go along with their education. In previous youth Boot Camps, we found that the young campers could learn about tools like Google and YouTube to answer their questions when there was not a teacher available. This discovery proved to be very empowering and helped them begin to see that they could figure many things out on their own. During those camps, we aimed to give all young people a taste of this “agency” to help enrich all aspects of their future lives; academic, personal and professional. 

School administrators and teachers have a lot on their plates right now trying to figure out how to bring students back up to speed. Let’s all strive to create a path that includes experiential learning.

My two years of hard time at the now defunct Amazon Fulfillment Center in Coffeyville, 2001 – 2003, were, well, hard, but I did learn a lot. I managed what was called the “Rambo” receive team responsible for receiving and stowing boxes of odd-lot quantities of books, CD’s, and DVD’s; less than case quantities requiring a different methodology than putting away full cases and pallets of like products. The workload varied wildly from day to day. The company forecasts of upcoming workload were worthless, yet one of the things I learned was that I could develop a sixth sense in predicting seemingly unpredictable workload conditions. The workload required a variable crew that could be adjusted from 16 to 45 people with 24 hours’ notice.

My crew was a mix of 16 – 18 full-time employees and up to 22 - 27 part-time employees we called “flexies.” Flexies had agreed to be available to come in on short notice, 12 to 24 hours, at my discretion, in exchange for higher pay than available for most other part-time work in the area.

Several people on my full-time crew were nearing retirement age. Several on my flexy crew were retired people wanting to augment their income. Even in an environment where you could be let go if your productivity numbers weren’t high enough, I learned one thing; even if their speed wasn’t quite up to that of the younger ones, the seniors were among the most reliable, consistent, and productive employees of the whole bunch. They did not possess an old way of thinking “I’m old and I just want to sit around in my retirement.”

Employment Agency for Seniors

If I wasn’t the director of Fab Lab ICC, I think I would consider launching an agency specializing in placements of seniors, those 50 and older, selling potential employers on the reliability and work ethic of this generation.  The agency would also provide equal effort to the idea of starting a business as an option to working for someone else. Finally, such agency would provide support for those who have retired, discovering that sitting around in retirement doing nothing is not what they want. People are not made to sit around and the idea that you work until retirement only to sit in a rocking chair is an old way of thinking.

One of our region’s most prolific serial entrepreneurs, Curtis Lavine, started his first company at age 59 after retiring early because he grew tired of his corporate bosses “breathing down his neck.” He went on to create 8 or 9 businesses after retirement. There are many ways to serve others in retirement, whether working, creating businesses or volunteering.

Old Thinking Doesn’t Have to Come With Age

Mindset, not chronological age, determines young or old thinking. Fixed mindset is the idea that a certain amount of knowledge is “enough,” and that when you retire, you’re through with your contributions to a better community. Growth mindset is a realization that the learning is a continuous, life-long process and that one can always figure out new ways to serve others, whether as an employee in a company, an entrepreneur serving customers or a volunteer serving constituents. The kind of mindset we possess is a matter of choice, not a matter of age.

We should be helping youth choose to have a growth mindset starting at home and continuing through school. This would increase the ratio of curious people, always seeking new knowledge and wisdom to the “know-it-alls” thinking they’ve learned enough needing no further knowledge.

Young People Lack Experience But Can Have Fresh Ideas

I had someone, Richard, on my Amazon crew. He was young and although somewhat immature, he was intelligent and on good days a pretty good employee.  On his 30^th birthday, we had some cupcakes and I said, “At 30, you don’t even know how much you don’t know.” Looking back, I see now how much I didn’t know when I was 30, yet, like Richard, in spite of my lack of knowledge and wisdom, I made some positive contributions when younger whether as an employee or as a business owner.

It Takes All Ages From All Generations

Curtis Lavine told me that it takes people from all generations to make a company or organization be the best it can be. If everyone, young or old, has a growth mindset the inexperienced youth can work beside the older, wise ones, all contributing new ideas to help the organization be better. Curtis said, “I don’t understand the new technology like the younger ones do, but I can look at a deal on paper and tell whether or not it’s a good one.”