By no means a new pillar, entrepreneurship (more than ever) seems to be the battle cry; the forward march requested of my professional generation.
“Win the future,” repeated over and over again on Tuesday night’s State of the Union, through the most ageless of American traditions, innovation. The President evoked the names of great inventions and inventors, “We’re the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook.” And yet, he undoubtedly oversimplified the true call to every American; that to be a great innovator one need not create the next “big” thing; one need not quit his or her day job and start anew; one need not look to the impossible, rather we need be proud and find solace showcasing our ingenuity practically and daily.
I fear that the current rash of unemployment and professional conservatism that has plagued us stifles our ability to “play” loose and not worry about making mistakes. We’ve seen what trying times bring out of us: taking work we don’t love because we’re afraid to go it alone, foregoing experience because it may not be exactly what we had in mind, not standing up for what we believe because we’re afraid to upset or deviate from our perceived hierarchy. If there has ever been a time to speak your mind, learn from your mistakes, challenge the status quo or your corporate culture, that time is now.
We have so much to learn from what has gone wrong over the previous years that we can’t help but see the opportunity in clearly defining what works and what hasn’t. We need to have the self-awareness to learn from ours and others’ mistakes. It’s what’s great about learning from the past; nobody still carries the pride that gets in the way of discernment.
I hope we remember that you don’t necessarily have to “start” a business to be entrepreneurial, everyday should be an opportunity to innovate and improve. This goes for every self-proclaimed CEO to every mid-level peon (Interactive Marketing Managers included!). I can’t help but say that I’m excited for the opportunity to work my ass off and try to make our place just a little better for it.
