Global Entrepreneurship Week at ZSEM and beyond

November 14th through the 20th, celebrates the theme of entrepreneurship around the world.  Students, teachers, practitioners and the general public get some increased exposure of the entrepreneurs past, present and future in impacting our lives.

Every year I have students conduct an interview with an entrepreneur.  These one on one sessions which I encourage to be face to face is one of the easier, straight forward assignments in the array
of tools used to teach the course.  But the exchange is not as impactful as it could be if it happens between 2 people and it is not shared.  I get so much joy out of seeing the dialog exchanges and the wisdom, honesty and reality checks most entrepreneurs provide to the students.  Every year I try to have the post-interview sharing with peers be a little different.  Some years its a poster session, some years its live entrepreneurs like show and tell and this year its all about the video presentations.

As of Monday, the start of GEW there are now over 60 videos posted by students on our event Youtube page and on the Vimeo playlist also created.  The levels of creativity, technical ability and storytelling vary greatly.  But I appreciate the full range of ideas that are behind the creations so its the process not just the product that I will recognize and in teaching terms I must grade.  There are some who planned in advance with a clear vision and were able to execute; there were others who kept it to a clean and simple story and format and resulted in a standout; there were others inspired or intimidated by the technology who pushed themselves out of their comfort zone or retreated to an online template transfer of ppt to video.  There are some who are not satisfied with the work they did either because they are perfectionist or because they started late and don't want to be compared to their peers.  Any way you slice it, entrepreneurs were celebrated and students engaged in some facet of being entrepreneurial themselves in the process.  If we were able to do this in conjunction with a global initiative then that is just the cherry on top.

I also made a submission and I showed them the process...with a simple powerpoint, research I added music, posted and played in front of an audience 4 times, got feedback, retooled and reposted.  I gave them permission to one up the professor and some took that challenge and soared in their own unique vision of the assignment.  There are many more who will need to learn how to take feedback without getting defensive and learn the lifelong lesson "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again".

To learn more about Global Entrepreneurship Week, please visit www.unleashingideas.org
You can check out all the activities registered for each of the 123 countries participating.  

Book and Related Business Models

The days of leisurely hanging out in books stores across the US maybe numbered, atleast for those who are fans of Borders.  My favorite location was there in my annual 2009 visit to NYC and gone the next in 2010.  I knew it was a bad sign.  In my inbox this morning, Barnes &Noble was ready to fill the void by declaring its new features.  But the thoughtful, brand loyal customers of Borders forty year run will enjoy the article by Todd Leopold at CNN.  I particurlarly enjoy his description of what a bookstore could be:

 "....there's something about a bookstore. It's a library, a gathering spot, a refuge, a journey. Often it's small, maybe an 800-square-foot storefront jammed into a city street. Or it's idiosyncratic: an old house or converted barn, a rambling lobby or strip-mall space. It may not even be in your neighborhood, but that's where you go."

My challenge to you, students in my SUR(Students who work) class at ZSEM and any other readers who want to join in is to find a book selling business model that is working.  In your comment, please link us to the website or article featuring the book business model and describe it by product, price, place and promotion so it is easier for us to compare and share.