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In recent years I have dedicated myself to developing actions that promote entrepreneurship in the country. Convinced that the creation of more and better companies that generate more and better jobs is the most viable way for Mexico to grow, I have voluntarily collaborated with Coparmex and, together with magnificent minds, I have fought for the conditions and the ecosystem to exist. ideal for anyone to undertake.
Promoting entrepreneurship and the qualities of the entrepreneur in the earliest stages has always caught my attention. Can you imagine everything we could do as a country if our children had the entrepreneurial chip ? That chip of leaders that teaches them not to give up when seeking economic and social wealth.
We have taken some actions such as the creation of the Law on Entrepreneurship , which is applied at the state level and which, among other things, focuses on the teaching in public schools of the subjects of entrepreneurship, leadership and finance at the elementary level.
Personally, this is a topic that I am passionate about and that I have sought to bring to international forums as a public policy priority for countries, but in recent days, while I was updated on the latest actions around business education for children , I came across a presentation entitled “What entrepreneurs can learn from children” which in Spanish we could translate as “What can entrepreneurs learn from children?”.
I believe that although there is much that we can teach children, there are even more things that we can learn from them.
Although I am not fortunate enough to be a father, I went to my friends with children, to my cousin Viviana Moreno who is an educator and to my experience of living with my nephews in recent years and I came to the conclusion of these 10 things:
Lesson # 1: I’m not afraid, it’s just caution. One of the attitudes of children that surprises me the most is their ability to take risks . As long as they don’t have an adult telling them how dangerous or impossible something is, they’ll be up in a tree in a few minutes, wanting to drive your vehicle or exploring a risky way to have fun.
Although accidents happen often, children are very good at getting up and trying again. They are not afraid to do it again, but if they learn the lesson they will be more cautious. I wish we would all forget the times we were told that something was impossible or that we couldn’t do it, maybe we could have fun taking risks one more time.
Lesson # 2: I can, I am already grown up. For a child nothing is impossible and you just need to challenge him so that, without hesitation, he begins to show you that he is already a big boy. Characterizing yourself as someone else is an action that successful entrepreneurs have identified as fundamental to achieving their goals. When we need to sell, we put on the seller’s suit; when we want to be bosses we change our attitude; when we need to get down to work and work we put on the yellow helmet and we just do it.
Challenge yourself , have fun and play at being great, let’s play what we can. The histrionic skills of entrepreneurs are typical of children and are skills that you must work on every day.
Lesson # 3: I don’t want to do that, I just want to play. Do not make a child do something that is not fun because in moments you will lose it. If, on the contrary, you find a way to do something fun, it will smile, learn and accompany you throughout the process.
Challenge yourself, have fun and play at being great, let’s play what we can / Image: Depositphotos.com
When entrepreneurs feel that we are about to give up, because circumstances have not been favorable or there is a worldwide conspiracy to make our project not work, the reality is that we are not having fun .
What does it matter if your project is not meeting the objectives? If it was fun would you give it up? That for me is the true spirit of the entrepreneur . He who, regardless of the circumstances, pursues his dream to the last consequences and who, having to cross abysses and mountains, keeps going because he finds enormous satisfaction in his work. Every day, try to make your work fun, try to find what attracted you in the beginning and play entrepreneurship every day.
Lesson # 4: Look what I made up. How many ideas do you think go through a child’s mind in a few minutes? They are capable of seeing elephants inside a boa or imagining the most unlikely adventure with their toys, like that famous Little Prince.
This creative capacity leads them to discover and train. Without prejudice and without fear of making a fool of themselves, they express themselves and discover themselves in the same way that you discovered yourself as an entrepreneur. That same process that led you to build companies is the same that we must follow every day to improve our products or invent new ones.
Lesson # 5: What is it? Oh he bit me! Children (just like successful entrepreneurs) don’t mind consequences as long as they can satisfy their curiosity . Knowing how it works, wondering what it is and wanting to know more about something is a quality that we must protect and never lose.
That’s what leads a child to ask 1,000 questions and an entrepreneur to develop a comprehensive business plan . Shouldn’t we all be just as curious no matter if we have to take apart something that we can’t put back together later?
Lesson # 6: I caught a fish this big! A few days ago I went camping with some friends and their children. It was an excellent opportunity to see how great we all were when we were little. On many occasions it made me wonder what happened to me to currently live with so many ties.
I remember that the six-year-old son of one of my friends had the audacity to be one of those who fished the most on this trip with a rod and a hook. Although in general we all take ‘small’ fish, this little friend when he got home he bragged to his mother that he had caught a fish that is THAT BIG!, Exaggerating about three times the size of any fish obtained in this adventure.
How many times as entrepreneurs do we forget how important it is to congratulate ourselves on our triumphs and that sometimes magnifying them is a natural result of our joie de vivre? Dare to tell people what you do, it does not matter if sometimes you have to infect them with your way of seeing things.
Lesson # 7: That is my favorite superhero. Children have many superheroes, these can be from the traditional ones with masks and capes to their own parents. Having role models worthy of imitation is essential for children, as they learn the values of these people they admire.
For entrepreneurs it is not much different. As my friend Patrick Devlyn says, “We all need to find at least one role model for ourselves and one for our companies.”
Who is your role model? What other company do you want yours to be? By learning more about the habits and qualities of those you admire, you will shorten the learning curve and rise to the top.
Lesson # 8: I made a new friend. Kids are great at networking . After a few minutes in the park, any other child can be approached and without question they now have a new best friend. Without prejudice, with kindness, honesty and charisma, they are capable of being accomplices, companions of adventure and partners.
This is one of the qualities that we most easily lose as we grow and that, as entrepreneurs, we urgently need to return to. If you start to analyze the latest successes of your company you will realize that many of these are caused by the public relations you have. Directly or indirectly, someone helped you. Can you imagine that we had the capacity of a child to make friends, partners and accomplices? It would be just amazing what success we could achieve.
Lesson # 9: This is magic. Being convinced that magic does exist and that formidable and inexplicable things can happen is magnificent. More than innocence, it is a different way of looking at life. I believe in magic. I believe that perseverance, optimism, irreverence and joy can cause inexplicable things to happen. And you, do you believe in magic?
Lesson # 10: I am a well behaved child. Discipline, respecting order, and obeying are qualities that we lose as we grow older.
We lose it because we believe that “it is great” to be disorderly or disobedient. A child or a well-behaved entrepreneur, who plays by rules, respects and is polite, will surely be a child or entrepreneur who has more fun and who will do better in life.
From now on I will try to be more like a child every day in order to be a better entrepreneur.