Higher Education Could Be Destroying Creativity & The Future of Entrepreneurs

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(Newswire.net — March 23, 2015) Muang, Chiang Mai — Los Angeles, CA — Entrepreneurship in America is on a downward spiral. With an educational infrastructure that rewards conformity and an aversion to mistakes, the building blocks of change are on a downward spiral in the United States.

It’s been reported that all children are highly creative…until they enter the first grade. By the time a child learns to read, write and memorize the multiplication tables, they’ve become wired for conformity and standardization. Our current model of education is in direct conflict with the necessary elements that feed our nation’s growth and innovation.

Creativity.

Forbes confirms the mixed signals. According to Raul O. Chao an Associate Professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, “America has long been unique because of its remarkable ingenuity, innovative capacity and entrepreneurial spirit. Yet over the last few decades, we have witnessed both a steady decline in the number of startups, as well as an increasing number of studies that suggest America’s education model fails to promote the kind of creativity, risk-taking, and problem solving skills necessary for entrepreneurship, and for a world and labor market that is in the midst of profound transformation.

A worrisome trend, indeed.

Most entrepreneurs fail more often than they succeed. According to the SBA and other studies, over 75% of businesses fail in the first 5 years. According to start up maven, Jim Graham, CEO of Facebook Formulas, successful entrepreneurs don’t concern themselves with these statistics. “In the past 7 years, we’ve helped launch and/or grow over 15,000 businesses. Not a single one considered themselves a conformist and nearly all considered failures a part of their growth.

While most USA-based entrepreneurs focus on opportunity, the stark reality of job growth has not kept up. Between 2006 and 2009 the US Census bureau reported there has been a 34 percent decline in job creation from startups, yielding the lowest rates of job creation from new firms in three decades.

Our focus has always been global,” quipped Graham. “As the USA struggles to pull itself out of the recession, we are seeing a surge of growth and opportunity in Australia, the UK and much of Europe, not to mention SE Asia. Our entrepreneurs in these areas not only are open to more opportunities, their bank accounts are showing the benefits of a more robust economy.

Graham continues, “It does not matter what is stamped on an entrepreneur’s passport, nearly any business can and should have a global perspective and reach. That is why we hold our annual Global Traffic Seminar in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They have world-class internet, a highly educated work force and a cost of living that is 70% less than most Western countries….it is an entrepreneur Shang-Ri-La.

Graham’s conference has opened the eyes of thousands of global entrepreneurs over the past few years. Unlike most conferences that teach, talk and sell products, Graham rolls up his sleeves and allows entrepreneurs to apply what they learn on the first day at his week-long conference. “If anyone who applies our methods does not earn their tuition back in earnings, we offer a 100% refund of the event.

While the US continues to start and stall, entrepreneurs with a global outlook need not worry, provided they continue to thwart the stagnant lessons taught in American schools. Regardless of where you were born, entrepreneurs world-wide will be heeding the famous quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery,

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

For entrepreneurs who to get out of their rut, Graham has this advice, “Vision and passion are important, but without the materials, tools and guidance to realize your vision, people remain perpetual dreamers.

Both the late Saint-Exupery and Graham are pilots, who possess a rare combination of passionate creativity and precision-based execution. Entrepreneurs will do well to ignore the stagnation of structured education and embrace a combination of tools, materials, guidance and passion. The Global Traffic Seminar may be just the place to do that.

 

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Contact: Jim Graham

Google + Business Formulas

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Telephone: +380 63 441 5464