Why Entrepreneurship Programs Are the New Frontier
“As job opportunities become more scarce as a consequence of Digital Transformation and population growth, entrepreneurship can be seen as a viable career choice among the current generation.” –The Big Red Group
In an increasingly competitive job market, wherein more than half of college graduates are underemployed, young people are coming to a stark realization: they’ll need more than a college education to succeed in life. Entrepreneurship programs that help students develop into effective leaders and innovative members of society, like our Leadership and Innovation Lab, could help insulate students from the more challenging effects of a rapidly changing job market.
How Entrepreneurship Programs Supplement Higher Education
Let’s be clear: leadership programs that help students start successful ventures and imbue them with the discipline, focus and work ethic of an entrepreneur don’t replace college education. They supplement it. Ours is not a question of whether or not a college degree is valuable.
We know that a Bachelor’s degree offers workers an average lifetime earning potential of $2.8 million, as opposed to the $1.6 million average earning potential of workers who bypassed higher education. We also know Bachelor’s degree holders earn 84 percent more than those with just a high school diploma. Despite ongoing conversations about the perceived value of a college degree in the wake of soaring tuition costs, online learning alternatives like Google certifications, heightened labor market competition and fast-changing job roles, the data is still clear. Higher education still reigns supreme as the greatest determinant of a person’s future success.
Our question, however, is this: even if a student earns an advanced degree from an Ivy League university, will they be able to live up to their professional potential if they don’t possess the leadership skills needed to put that degree to use? Or would that student, without the necessary guidance, become one of the 52 percent of underemployed college graduates?
Also, can the hands-on experience of an entrepreneurship program be replicated in a classroom, or are certain skills best learned experientially? It’s safe to say that in the case of collegiate and post-collegiate success, entrepreneurship programs are the new frontier.
The Benefits of Experiential Intelligence
Knowledge is gained by studying, but wisdom is gained by doing. Ask any successful entrepreneur and they’ll confirm: practical exposure to something increases the chances that you’ll retain what you’ve learned. The results of this learning-by-doing are what’s known as experiential intelligence (XQ), which complements your intellectual intelligence (IQ).
“I spent over a decade at Merrill Lynch in a variety of roles, and I learned more in my first year as an entrepreneur than my entire time at Merrill combined,” explained Cafe Cash Flow founder Rishi Ramchandani. “Entrepreneurship keeps you on your game. You are forced to continue learning and innovating.”
The fact is more and more major employers–Apple, Google, Bank of America, and Netflix–no longer require college degrees from their applicants. This is similar to how a growing number of colleges and universities are no longer requiring students to report test scores and are, alternatively, referencing students’ prior research experience as proof of academic prowess. Institutions everywhere have begun taking a more holistic approach to hiring and admitting, which means a diversified resume that demonstrates practical experience in addition to continued education is becoming more valuable.
Aside from being more marketable in the world of work post-graduation, students who participate in entrepreneurship programs in high school have the resources and skills needed to succeed should they leave the job market altogether and start their own businesses.
How LIL Helps Students Pave Their Own Way
Our Leadership and Innovation Lab (LIL) is rooted in experiential learning. We understand that starting a successful business, organization, or venture requires the development of a variety of leadership skills that can be hard to come by through study alone. That’s why we work to offer young minds all the resources they need to thrive.
Under the guidance of seasoned instructors, LIL students spend 9 to 15 weeks exploring:
The essentials of leadership and business
How to discover their inner leader, including understanding their traits and leadership style
And how to not only build a venture from scratch, but also grow and sustain it
Additionally, the Leadership and Innovation Lab exposes students to a vast professional network and entrepreneurial ecosystem that helps kids develop the soft skills and connections necessary to navigate post-graduate life.
Entrepreneurship programs across the board are still in their infancy. That means that while parents and students alike continue to educate themselves on the benefits of enrolling in one, the presence of a completed program on a college application or resume stands out even more. We’re ahead of the curve at Scholar Launch and we want the same for our students. While a college degree provides a person with the educational foundation to succeed in a job, real-world experience proves they can do the job successfully.