SAIL

So this is it, huh? The life of a college student- wake up ten minutes before class with just enough time to decide if brushing your teeth is more important than taking a shower. Breakfast? Forget breakfast… I’m in a sprint to get to class! Ahh, throw in the fact I have a seven p.m. Entrepreneur Club meeting on top of midterms, and I have to meet with coders to plan our execution of how to create a more effective database system for the company. The life of a college entrepreneur- a decision between the present and future.

I am sure many have heard of the movie “The Social Network” or even log in to Facebook often times while procrastinating on writing a paper; however, do many people really understand the significance of college to an entrepreneur’s life? The answer is slim to none. College students all over the world are now more so than ever creating positive change in the world in addition to helping grow our nation’s economy. These students are putting their brains, bodies, and innovation to the test… not to mention their own education on the line to excel their own company.

College students following the paths of Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates are not just an anomaly but the majority. It is not uncommon for college students, like these successful entrepreneurs, to become college dropouts. According to an article published on Forbes- College becomes non-essential to an entrepreneur who knows he or she has the IQ of Einstein and the “next big thing.” College loses its’ appeal and assurance to the business-minded individual that knows in the back of their mind… Just because I have a degree does not necessarily mean I will become anymore successful than what I have created in right front of me. Higher academia adds a certain pressure of conforming these “mis-fits” hopes and dreams stemmed from their creativity and individualistic abilities. From skipping class to take a phone call with a venture capitalist, creating a better business prototype, and prepping for the next sales pitch… College students as entrepreneurs have the ambition to change the world fueled by the potential to produce their own fame and fortune.

At Mason, our motto is- “Where Innovation is Tradition.” We have the Center for Social Entrepreneurship that focuses on teaching college students about the research, practice and education about how to solve the next generation’s world problems through empowerment. The Center serves as a capstone to the Phoenix Project. On other college campuses, various Entrepreneur Clubs are created to promote entrepreneurship and innovative thinking among higher education as an extra-curricular activity.

By integrating these various entrepreneurship opportunities into our higher education systems, we are never able to breakeven. There is a constant fight between a set curriculum, abstaining from limiting the abilities of others, coordinating with the campus, and trying to preserve the true definition of entrepreneurship. It is often times difficult to gauge the objectives of the group. Whether the student has a goal to learn the ethos and culture of entrepreneurship, how to create a business model, or even if the student wants to network with others interested in possibly forming a start-up, the details of the club or course can be hard to uniform without breaking the ethics of entrepreneurship.

Drop in on the next big thing or drop out of the degree? Take the risk and the reward; that is up to you. Geeks are the new rock stars becoming “America’s Most Wanted.” College is a personal journey, a chance for hope to seize the future one day. Each route may have its own challenges and obstacles. The way I see it, college entrepreneurs are leaders inspiring others within this generation and the next to take risks, dream big, and leave the world better than it was before.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngreathouse/2012/06/05/business-tips-from-college-dropouts-zuckerberg-jobs-gates-dell-ellison-branson-and-disney/2/

by Lori Lawson

Upon taking the Myers-Briggs test for class last week, I couldn’t help to question its reliability. Though we addressed the problem of having a different answer based on your mood while taking the test, I still couldn’t help but to think that there is more room for error. As I carefully read the questions and filled out the bubbles, it hit me – am I choosing these answers because it is what I want to be or is it because of who I am currently?

Having an idea of how the test works from taking it before, I knew I had certain results in mind that I valued over others. Due to this, I spent almost the entire test battling with myself to rid myself of the internal bias that threatened to skew my results. This struggle between reality and wishful thinking brought to mind a point I made in class several weeks ago: do people aim for positions and responsibilities that they know they are capable of at the time or do they aim for who they want to do or to be in the future?

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“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.  This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

-Martin Luther King Jr.  (Norway, 1964)

Sometimes what is right doesn’t win.  This is why, as a leader especially in non-profit settings, it can be discouraging to try to make change.

The summer approaching my senior year in high school I began an internship at a local Christian non-profit in my area called Orphan Helpers.  This tiny non-profit began through a local real-estate salesman and pulled its support mostly from wealthy patrons in the Virginia peninsula.  It struggled monthly with finding the funding it needed to pay staff, help the kids, and increase awareness.  Many times, Roma, the event coordinator I worked with, would throw up her hands in frustration over the vast need that Orphan Helpers was struggling to provide for.

In these moments of frustration, I was able to remind the staff of their ultimate mission and to show them the bigger picture of the work they were doing-be it grant-writing, or sending letters.  As a fresh, young face in the office I was able to provide a bit of energy and excitement when the going got tough.

In the end though, I do believe that right with triumph.  What are ways, as leaders, that we are called to help in the frustrating time between evil’s reign and right’s conquer?

Okay, so everyone has heard the phrase, “innovation is tradition,” right? Of course you have! It’s our motto here at GMU! Well, an important aspect of being a leader is being an innovator. This may may not be an easy thing to do, but it’s quite important in the way that we show ourselves to be leaders. It’s easy to mimick what we have seen other people do, in a way a lot of who we are today has probably came about from mimicking parents, older siblings or relatives, friends, celebrities, etc. But it’s important to make a path of your own. I think a common misunderstanding is that leaders have to be perfect all the time, or that they just automatically arrived at success from birth, which we all know is not the case. I mean, look at National Basketball Association World Champion, Michael Jordan. This guy failed to make his high school Varsity basketball team. Did that stop him? NO! In the course of adversity, we define ourselves as leaders. One mistake, bad judgement or even failed attempt should not destroy us as leaders. In fact, it should make us stronger, wiser, and more determined. Just look at it this way, what if Thomas Edison gave up? what if Robert Ledley just decided to call it quits? Or better yet, Mary Anderson? In case you are unfamiliar with these people, I’ll just show you…

1. Every time you go to turn on that lovely light switch in your dorm, nothing would happen.. Thanks for the light bulb Edison!
2. When the sick are experiencing symptoms but don’t know the origin, they can get a CAT scan! Thanks Ledley
3. When you’re driving in the pouring rain and flip that finger for those windshield wipers, yup, you guessed it. We have Anderson to thank for those!

Essentially, these innovators are responsible for very important inventions that we use in everyday life. But do you think they succeeded their first time? Of course not! Just remember to NEVER GIVE UP!

See you later,

Re’Necia Coda

Success is something we all strive for, whether it be in school, in our hobbies or both, we all want it. When we aren’t achieving it we all do our best to figure our way around whatever obstacle is holding us back from it. Well, according to Terry Starbucker, writer of How Leaders Can Quickly Take A Team From Worst To First our problem isn’t the situation we’re in or what kind of troubles we face to reach success it’s how we react to a situation. We all have the potential to get to our goal, what we need to do is change our thinking. It helps to think in an individualistic sort of way in order to really take responsibility for your own actions to help the rest of your team out , instead of pointing out all the problems at once  with the entire team- the “ain’t good enoughs” (as Starbucker states Coach Showalter says). This will help you to think positive and from there spread the positivity to others around you, it will change everyone’s perspective of the situation, success will follow naturally.

By Emily Barnhill

             At first glance this article about New York City’s ban on large sugary soft drinks seems completely irrelevant to a class based on the ideas behind leadership. However when I stumbled across this while idly scrolling through the Huffington Post and read through it leadership actually does come to my mind. This whole situation brings to mind the limits to which leadership should or should not go to. On one hand a policy like this could be quite beneficial to people who otherwise would out of habit order a Coke the size of a small dog. On the other hand however, it can be viewed as Mayor Bloomberg, the leader of NYC, as overstepping the bounds of his leadership position and interfering with people’s personal life choices. Which is something that goes against the dominant ideology of complete personal freedom that is dominant in the United States.

            I believe that this is a case of leadership gone awry. Yes, the policy is well intentioned but as the author of the article I linked said: it is not entirely practical because the sugary “juice drinks” and diet sodas (which could be argued are just as bad or worse for you) are left out of the equation of the obesity epidemic entirely. That fact in mind, his leadership role and abilities would be better suited to a large educational campaign or even go so far as a higher tax on those drinks (the same concept behind the high costs of tobacco and alcohol) so that there will be lowered incentive to buy them. Leaders in the type of position he is in should be helping to guide people’s personal decisions rather than dictating what they can and cannot purchase and consume.

This also bring to mind the degree to which people need to be leader’s within their own smaller spheres of their family, friends, and even their own lives.  Everyone needs to have a sense of personal leadership before anything gets better, having someone entirely removed from your life such as Mayor Bloomberg for the citizens of New York City. Which leadership do you think has more impact in this sort of situation: that which is on a more personal level or the high level leadership that has more “official” power?

I found this video talking about what it means to be a leader today. The speaker is Drew Dudley, and he is talking at the TED conference in Toronto. A great thing he talks about is how some people think leadership is bigger than them and about changing the world, so they don’t expect it everyday either through them or the people around them. I really like what he does in this short video. I agree with most of the things that he says here. He tells this story about a moment in his life and really connects it to everyone’s life. The moment for him was making a persons day. This is somewhat of topic, but he later ties this moment and leadership together. He makes some great points in this video. It is hard to paraphrase them, so you should just watch it. I agree with most of the things that he says here.