4 Key Pieces of Advice for Parents Who Want To Raise Successful Entrepreneurs
If you envision your child as the next Jeff Bezos or Mark Cuban, you might think fostering a stress-free environment that allows them to concentrate on grades, extra-curriculars and their resume for an Ivy League is the best strategy to set them up for a life of wealth and success.
You might regret that down the line.
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At least, that’s what writer and parenting expert Margot Machol Bisnow found after speaking to 70 parents of successful adults. Bisnow is a mom, former FTC commissioner and chief of staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and author of “Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams.”
Based on her interviews and an article she wrote for CNBC Make It, here are four key pieces of advice every parent should follow.
Let Them Solve Their Own Problems
Face it: Most of life, especially for successful entrepreneurs, is solving problems. All day, every day. And, by definition, problems are usually not fun, no matter how much your boss tries to relabel them as “opportunities.”
So it’s only natural to want to help your children solve problems or avoid them. Take that too far, and you become a helicopter parent — always hovering and overseeing your child’s daily life — or a snowplow parent — removing roadblocks to your child’s progress.
Ironically, this can stunt their progress in the future. Problem-solving is a learned skill, and Bisnow, and the parents she interviewed, argued that allowing kids to solve their own problems and overcome the challenges stopping them from moving forward builds resilience and independence — and is one of the keys to success. So land the helicopter, park the snowplow and stand aside to watch how innovative your child can truly be.
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Encourage Skill-Building, Whatever the Skill Is
It’s probably not surprising that many of the parents told Bisnow that their successful entrepreneur children were excellent students who got top grades at top universities. Some of the students, however, hated formal education. Some even dropped out.
Bisnow wrote that many of the parents wished they encouraged skill-building in areas their children were passionate about, rather than forcing them to “slog through an expensive, unhappy four years.”
The takeaway is that parents often later found that the skill their child loved and devoted more than 10,000 hours to was the one that was most useful when they began their career, whatever that skill was.
Seeing this in the moment is not easy, of course. But when Johnny or Sarah is staying up late playing Call of Duty or skipping class to climb rocks, you might try to remember that many successful businesses were started by entrepreneurs who never completed college, but had advanced degrees in passion and skill. Not being good at or engaged in school doesn’t mean they’ll fail in life.
Give Them More Chores, Not Less
Kids are busy these days. And with the demand of colleges for the well-rounded student — good grades, extracurriculars, community work — it’s understandable when parents avoid burdening their children with chores.
But that’s a mistake. And in fact, it’s a mistake that even the now-grown children told Bisnow they wished their parents hadn’t made. They saw that doing laundry, cooking, yardwork and the long list of other “adulting” chores build independence, responsibility and the ever important life skill of grit.
It’s also better that your teen knows how to do everything from separating darks and lights to making a healthy stir fry when they fly the coop for college or their first job. Unless, of course, you want to see them show up every weekend with a load of laundry and an empty stomach.
Encourage Risk-Taking
Not drug experimentation or running red lights — nothing dangerous. This is about encouraging children to embrace calculated risks, because that can lead to growth, innovation and personal fulfillment.
Bisnow wrote that many parents told her, “When they watched their children take big risks to start a new venture, or sell something they started, or pivot in a new direction, or not take a job with a guaranteed paycheck to pursue their dream, they were proud of them.”
The point is, Bisnow wrote, as parents, it’s natural to tell your kids to be cautious, to choose the more-traveled or practical path. Risk, by its very definition, can end in failure. But every failure is in itself a step toward success. As Thomas Edison is quoted to have said on his journey to inventing the lightbulb and changing the world, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
So, parents, encourage calculated risk, celebrate courage. Risk-taking teaches adaptability and fuels creativity, both of which are essential for thriving in an ever-changing world.
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