Category Archives: Mind-set

cognition, career, motivation, self-efficacy, tolerance, vision

The Making of an Entrepreneurial University: The Case of Plymouth State University

entreVersity by Howard Frederick Posted on by  

Over Winter and Spring 2019, I have released part by part a series of posts about how a regional comprehensive university can accelerate campus-wide growth of innovation and entrepreneurship throughout all disciplines. Part 1 is the abstract and summary. In Part 2, we recount the history of Plymouth State University and outline its innovative and novel learning model. We review the structural problems that forced PSU to launch an audacious experiment, a university-wide learning model based on Innovation & Entrepreneurship and on Integrated Clusters. Part 3 examines PSU’s opportunity to become a more enterprising institution drawing upon cross-disciplinary programs with diverse missions.… Read the rest

Definition of Design: A Verb or a Noun?

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Howard Frederick writes:  What is the definition of Design?  Design Thinking is a slippery concept.  As a noun, design has two meanings: either a scheming plan, aim, intention, goal, or purpose; or a concept, drawing, shape, sketch, or blueprint – even the entire finished product. As a verb, it also has two meanings: either to scheme, connive, plan, devise, or intend; or to invent, create, fabricate, or build. So, we could say ‘our design (purpose or intention) is to design (create or fabricate) the design (sketch or blueprint) of a design (finished outcome or product)!   You can step into the semantics of design here: Hardt, M.… Read the rest

Empathy Mapping to match customer needs

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Model of empathy mapping
Model of empathy mapping

Howard Frederick writes:  This article gives a quick and graphic introduction to empathy mapping.  Design thinking is the opposite of the manager’s data-driven analysis because empathy means a focus on the human angle. Managers pay little attention to how to use customer co-creation and feedback to turn their new ideas into a business model that can be shared with a larger group.*  Why does empathy matter? The market is flooded with products that hope to respond to consumers’ ever-changing needs. Research shows that customer co-creation or co-production (achieved through empathy) has a positive effect on the outcome of new production development because it results in a better fit to a customer’s preferences.… Read the rest

How to promote the enterprising mind-set amongst students

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Howard Frederick’s definition of the ‘enterprising mind-set’

Howard Frederick writes:  In my teaching I have always sought ways to make my students more ‘enterprising’, in the personality mind-set sense.  This means from Art to Zoology, every student can create an (ad)venture, be it social, environmental, business, or whatever.

They move from engaged to empowered. They become problem-solvers. They grow more empathetic. . . . They remain curious. They develop a maker mindset. They define themselves as problem-solvers.

… Read the rest

Design Thinking for Suicide Prevention

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By Édouard Manet – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=154447

Howard Frederick writes: If design thinking is so human-centred, why not start with the most important thing:  your life. Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us that we would like to live. Between the two stands resistance. This is where suicide prevention comes in.  How to get from one to the other? ‘We are all capable of reinvention’, according to Bernard Roth, one of the founders of Stanford’s d.school and author of the book The Achievement Habit.  Here is a fascinating article about using design thinking in the ‘wickedest problem’ of all.  Design thinking (and suicide prevention) start with re-framing how you view yourself in the world.… Read the rest

Finding Your Own Personal Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

entreVersity by Howard Frederick Posted on by  

What is your personal entrepreneurial ecosystem?  Just as an ecosystem in the physical environment is a balanced, interdependent quasi-stable community of organisms living together, so its industrial analogue is the business ecosystem, which is a ‘balanced, quasi-stable collection of interdependent firms belonging to the same economy’.  We can refer to geographical environments that influence you in supporting your quest for entrepreneurship.. According to Isenberg, entrepreneurs are most successful when they have access to the human, financial and professional resources they need, and operate in an environment in which policies encourage and safeguard entrepreneurs. This network is described as the ‘entrepreneurship ecosystem’.… Read the rest

Lord of the Rings innovation

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Sir Peter Jackson

New Zealander Peter Jackson
Director Peter Jackson at the World premiere of the third part of Lord of the Rings in Wellington, New Zealand.

After a family friend gave the Jacksons a Super 8 cine-camera with Peter in mind, he began making short films with his friends. When he was 16 years old, Jackson dropped out of school and worked as a photo-engraver for a newspaper.  Living at home with his parents, he saved his money to buy film equipment. His Oscar-award winning company, Weta Digital, is a digital visual effects company based in Wellington founded in 1993 to produce special effects for Jackson’s first film, the psychological drama Heavenly Creatures.… Read the rest