Rooted in my Heritage: An Entrepreneurial Journal

This week we evaluated what it means to be change makers in the world of entrepreneurship.  Overwhelmingly, being a change maker is more than just making a profit in the financial sector. Being a changemaker means that the businesses we create exist to solve a problem, fill a need, or make something better and easier for mankind. This was a key point in the article "What's a Business For?" written by Charles Handy.  Mr. Handy first recounted the problems created from an over emphasis on the bottom line that led to the erosion of trust within the capitalist sector of the United States and Britain.  With this over emphasis on an over inflated wealth system that produced no real new wealth, many companies were concerned only with how their numbers looked to their shareholders and resorted to dishonestly reporting earnings in order to keep numbers high.  However, without integrity in an economy, the system eventually comes crashing down as the unethical details come to l...

This week we read an interesting lecture delivered by Stephen W. Gibson titled, "Attitude on Money." In this article he makes the case that money is neither bad nor good. However, it does wield tremendous power.  Money provides the ability to accomplish great things for good or evil. Mr. Gibson says, "The possession of excess money often reveals or exposes what kind of a person the individual is." In essence, "money can make good men better...[and] bad men worse." When tempered through the stewardship principle of the gospel where everything belongs to the Lord and we are simply stewards who have been charged to make good use of and care for the possessions that have been entrusted to us, money can be a tremendous blessing in our lives and the lives of countless individuals.  However, when generating money becomes the sole focus and obsession of our lives, then lives of countless individuals are damaged including our own.  So in light of Mr. Gibson's a...

This week as I reflect upon the study material for my entrepreneurship class, I keep coming back to the ideas set forth in chapter four of A Field Guide for the Hero's Journey  by Jeff Sandefer and Reverend Robert Sirico. This chapter is all about the companions that we travel with on our journey.  In every epic adventure, the hero never goes through the entire journey alone.  There are always trusty sidekicks, helpful people who coincidentally happen to be in the right place at the right time to help, and usually wise sages to offer advice. The same is true for our lives and the adventures that we embark on.  Man was not meant to be alone. We are sent to earth in families with numerous individuals who impact our lives for good or ill along the way.  The people we choose to surround ourself with really do make an enormous impact on what we will or will not be able to achieve.  While we may not be able to choose the members of the family we are born into, or...

Disciple leadership.  What is that? It's certainly not a term thrown around in everyday society, but it is the exact type of leadership that I have always attempted to use. A disciple leader is who I know I am supposed to become. A disciple leader is someone who leads by serving others.  They lead by example, never asking someone else to do a task that they are unwilling to do themselves. A disciple leader seeks to lift those they are leading to higher ground.  A disciple leader wants to build and enable others to not only someday take their place, but to perform the task even better than they could.  A disciple leader has a vision of excellence and they tease out that excellence from those under their leadership, not because they demand it, but because they recognize it as untapped potential and cultivate it in the lives of those in their stewardship. A disciple leader loves each person within their sphere of influence and treats them accordingly with utmost dignity...

This week we studied about overcoming the obstacles that we may face in our path to entrepreneurship and also in our life in general.  No one escapes this life without going through major challenges and struggles so I appreciated the wisdom gleaned from our readings.  As I have written about before, this semester in particular has been one of great struggle for my family.  My mom has been suffering from major health challenges that will completely alter her as person, that is if she is even able to survive this experience.  In addition to my mom's health, my husband has been facing deep challenges at work and faces a possible job furlough within the next year or two.  To put it simply, 2024 has started out with a dragon.  In the book A Field's Guide for the Hero Journey  by Jeff Sandefer and Reverend Robert Sirico, chapter 8 was titled, "Fighting The Dragon." The chapter begins with the following passage:   "If you are pursuing a hero's quest...