I started volunteering with Young Enterprise Northern Ireland (http://www.yeni.co.uk) this year and having a great time working with the team at Regent House with their “Equalitees” t-shirt business. I unfortunately missed the Big Market when over 60 businesses started by young people aged between 10-25 took over the wonderful St Georges Market in Belfast city centre. Creating this passion and entrepreneurial spirit is key for our economy.  
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As a parent, I want to give my kids an edge, helping them learn important skills to lead a successful life. I think they will enjoy more success if they develops a solid entrepreneurial mind-set at a young age. People with an entrepreneurial way of thinking see challenges as opportunities and confront them with confidence to innovate and create value in the world.
Kids can develop these key skills and behaviours to lead a successful life. In fact, they are more capable of learning them than adults because they have fewer mental barriers to tear down in order to develop them. Here are seven entrepreneurial skills you can teach your kids to help them lead a successful life:

1. Self Confidence
Self-confidence is a feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities and judgment. Developing it is the cornerstone of a successful life. According to psychological studies, confidence comes from where we derive our self-worth, so both internal and external sources.

External sources include appearance, the approval of others, and academic performance. Internal sources include being a good person and staying true to moral standards. Kids with a strong sense of self derived through internal sources – those who are ethical and principled – are less likely to engage in dangerous activities as adolescents and are more likely to have life experiences that lead to a successful life.

Entrepreneurship goes hand in hand with one’s own internal motivation. It is a belief in ones ideas and ability to overcome obstacles that builds strong relationships in both business and life.

So how do you instil confidence in your child? Be a good role model, show empathy and encourage their opinions. You need to let kids make decisions and support them as they make choices. Even when you think it may not be the right decision, let your kids think up their own ideas and try them. Learning something from experience as opposed to instruction is key in developing problem solving skills and confidence in oneself.

2. Durability and Resilience
Developing a thick skin when it comes to adversity is paramount in an entrepreneur. We all know pain, failure, and disappointment are part of life. No matter how much you want to shield your kids from these things you can’t totally do so.

An important part of entrepreneurship is learning about failure and not fearing it. Prepare your kids develop a resilient spirit and handle challenges life sends their way. You will feel better and more confident in them while helping them avoid anxiety and self-doubt.

How can you help your kids be more durable? Allow them to express emotion and avoid minimizing their feelings. When children perceive their emotions are understood, charged emotions dissipate and allow them to focus their energy on feeling better.

3. Problem Solving
Entrepreneurs are critical thinkers. They hone the ability to focus and tackle a problem using analysis and evaluation to form judgments. Learning to think critically is a key component to being a problem solver. It is how people make clear, reasoned decisions leading to a success in business and beyond.

Teaching critical thinking is, in part, questioning your kids. Ask them how they think they should handle a situation that is troubling them. They may need help coming up with ideas but avoid the urge to handle the problem for them. Give some options for solutions if needed but offer your thoughts in the form of questions like “Do you think this could work?”

Leading kids in this way helps them define the problem aloud, which is affirming. This is a way to get perspective and to find answers independently. Supporting kids in this way helps them feel secure in their ability to find solutions to problems on their own.

4. Creativity and Innovative Thinking
Entrepreneurs need to be creative. Solving complex problems can be tricky. Creative thinking is how new ideas are developed to solve such problems.

Make time for creativity and thinking up ideas with your kids. Questions spark inspiration, like: “What could be done differently to make this better?” or “How many ways can you solve this?”

Ask lots of questions and come up with answers together. Creative thinking is the key to innovation, and the world is changing so quickly that people need to be innovative to stay ahead of the curve and be successful.
5. Goal Setting
Entrepreneurs know that what gets measured, gets done. All great accomplishments have a timeline, working from a starting point to the goal. Goals keep us moving toward things we really want in life. Having the ability to formulate effective goals and see them through to fruition is important for a successful life.

Teach your kids about goals by sharing your own. Talk about your ideas and your game plan for implementing them. Help them devise short term and longer-term goals by learning what’s important to them, what it is they want to learn, change or have.

Work with them to create steps to achieving goals and talk about progress and challenges over the timeline to achieve the goal. A person needs to know where the finish line is to complete the race and the same is true for life goals. Learning this skill early helps kids accomplish things faster but more importantly helps them gain an understanding that they are capable of controlling their destiny. A pretty powerful feeling when you’re a kid (and later in life too!).

6. Initiative
Entrepreneurs all have initiative. Initiative is a catalyst for creating innovative ideas. It is the motivation to look at what is or what is around you and take action to complete something or make something better. Developing a keen sense for identifying opportunities is one thing but without the initiative to take action nothing gets done.

Teach your kids initiative by modelling it yourself. Children model behaviours of those they look up to so verbally point out instances where you take initiative. This will show them when something needs doing it gets done without hesitation.

7. Empathy
The ability to empathize is part of being an effective leader. Successful entrepreneurs know that by trying to see others’ views and feelings they can gain acceptance from their colleagues more wholly. Empathy isn’t something you either have or don’t; there are degrees of it and it can be developed and understood by kids as well as adults.
You can help your kids develop empathy by treating them as individuals, people with a mind of their own. Respecting their feelings and emotions and talking about the connections between their feelings and how they behave will help them understand others motivations. This will help your kids recognize things they have in common with people and to relate to them naturally. This ability creates relationships that are more meaningful and is vitally important for success in leading people and as well as in overall happiness in life.

All of these skills are developed through two-way communication. Yes, we need to give direction but kids need the opportunity to express themselves freely and be understood and accepted. As parents, we are the leaders, and we need to be supportive by allowing kids to make decisions and trying different ideas to fix problems. Entrepreneurs know experience is the best teacher and young kids benefit from it most as they develop skills for a successful life.

In recent weeks the state of the manufacturing sector in Northern Ireland has come under the spotlight with job losses being announced, the operational and financial difficulties of one of the largest private sector employers creating column inches globally and the muted response by the Northern Ireland Executive and the arm’s length body tasked with job creation, Invest NI.

This firstly is not a Northern Ireland only question it is one that is faced in most of the economies in the western world, and no one single issue is the cause or the solution. But is this a crisis or a crossroads where we need to change direction and approach? Certainly this week within his regular article in the Belfast Telegraph, NI economist John Simpson made that the focus of his thoughts on Invest NI, and that could easily have been projected into the manufacturing sector.
While this has the feel of crisis and for those currently impacted by the decisions to close JTI and Michelin in Ballymena that would be hard to counter, there is a need to look deeper than the complaints of high electricity bills and cheaper labour in Eastern Europe and Asia.

1.      Employee Engagement and Social Partnership
Developing meaningful relationships with team members and the Trade Unions is critical, something employers (in both the private and public sector) and within government need to start taking seriously. It also is essential that the Trade Unions join business in looking beyond the next pay settlement and work together to understand how the local business fits into the global picture (either as part of multi-national or as an individual entity in a global economy). Factories are becoming more portable, technology is making it easier to move operations east to west and north to south, yet we seem to be entirely blinkered to this globalisation and then need for strategic long term thinking.
 
2.      Infrastructure
We continue to under invest in the key infrastructure needed to improve our economic performance, road, rail and air networks remain hopelessly inadequate. The A5 debacle highlights this, coupled with the latest issues for the inter-city rail connection between Dublin and Belfast. In GB or mainland Europe commuting is the norm, here our infrastructure manages to make a commute from Lisburn or Bangor to Belfast difficult! The investment in the utilities infrastructure needs understood, not paying for water is fine until the infrastructure used to deliver it is costing more than what we have subsidised it by.
 
3.      Productivity
Too often this is see as asking for more for less, this is not the case. In a recent visit to the BAE SYSTEMS facilities in Scotstoun and Govan in Glasgow they showed how with meaningful engagement with the Trade Unions, a clear vision and set of objectives they have achieved 17% productivity gains without pay reduction, improved working conditions coupled with reduced maintenance and quality costs. Productivity needs investment, investment in technology and investment in skills, this is not cheap but the benefit is staying ahead of the pack with a quality product that is in the market earlier, while it may be copied it can be developed and keep ahead of the curve.
 
4.      Skills
Much has been made of the budget pressures facing our HE sector, stating this is a sign of an economy going backwards. Let us not forget they are private business, receiving extraordinary levels of support from the state. How they are paid for needs seriously re-examined. This requires difficult political decisions to be taken, in last weeks’ Time Magazine the cost of student debt to the economy in the United States is $1.3 trillion USD! President Obama has decided the best way is to write large chunks of this off, storing up another economic crisis for a couple of Presidents down the line. But skills needed for the economy only partly come from a degree, in fact it can be legitimately argued we should be reducing graduate opportunities to around 30%, developing, as Minister Farry and DEL have, our apprenticeship and youth training strategies and the opportunities coming from them. We need to invest in entrepreneurial skills, leadership and management, creating progression opportunities for all in our society.
 
5.      Technology
The digitisation of our economy and in particular within manufacturing is essential. The new Space facility at SERC gives a glimpse into this with advanced manufacturing, diagnostic technology and virtual reality all co-located for the student learning experience. This needs embraced by both our large employers and vitally our SME community. We need to find a mechanism that makes it an incentive for local business to invest in the latest technology, grow R&D activity and in turn attract foreign investments to nurture and grow this further.
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Genuine engagement by government in Northern Ireland is now needed, looking beyond those shouting for here and now measures, some of which are valid but much of which does not look beyond what is essentially a survival mode. As we come to the end of this current Assembly and move forward with a new Department for the Economy we have an opportunity to create not just a 1-2 year survival project but a 15-20 year vision for manufacturing in the Northern Ireland economy. This will add value for all, will stimulate growth, investment in education and health, reinvigorate communities, tap into the talents of a workforce driven by success and finally make cutting corporation tax of actual value to our economy and the manufacturing sector in particular.

Much is debated and discussed as to what is the silver bullet for success in a business and particularly for SME’s. There are those that say you must do this or it must be that but in truth it is not that black and white, if it was it would be significantly easier to be successful.

Many factors influence the success of an SME and without doubt not all factors are created equal. A good or great product can sustain an SME for a very long time on its own, but eventually that will start to falter through competition or technology change. Good processes, accountability, team member engagement, well funded R&D and strong marketing will all play their part. Leadership and management is one of the items that transcends a lot of the above, and with some simple guiding principles and thought can impact your business growth and sustain your personal enthusiasm for a business whether the owner, senior manager or team member.

Looking at leadership (will come back to good management another time) it is essential to remember that leadership is not to be used for personal benefit. Leadership is about giving, not getting. Leaders lose the right to be selfish. Leaders can so easily get caught up in doing things for image sake—after all, so many people are watching. Good leaders have a servants heart, it is also one that is both positive and persistent. This is the reason that in many western economies and businesses the true benefits and culture promoted by the Toyota Production System have not been gained or established. Leadership is about others, when leaders fail to be objective, people begin to question whether their perspective is skewed by self-interest. Trust wanes. People trust leaders who practice the Law of Solid Ground (John C Maxwell – 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership).  Leaders who understand this fulfil three primary objectives:

1. Protection: To make sure the people are defended from harm.
2. Provision: To make sure the people are resourced to do their work.
3. Progress: To make sure the enterprise reaches the desired destination.

Simon Sinek in his book, Leaders Eat Last, talks about the trust and co-operation leaders build and foster in a business or community. This re-enforces the fact that leadership rises or falls on the level of the leader’s integrity. This makes leaders vulnerable but it being this it creates a strength of authenticity that creates bonds and connections with those around them.

Protection
Providing protection as a leader is a very broad statement and covers much key ground. The leader who sees his or her team / business / community at the heart of what they do will develop relationships and the ability to influence those around them. To put it another way they will have a clear vision and an affinity to the business that will move them to act on behalf of their people.
This is not done in a way that shields from reality, the leader will have the discipline to do what is right even in difficult circumstances, decisions will be made in a timely manner, authourity will be delegated and issues confronted but everyone will know it is being done with the team / business / communities best interests at the core.

Leadership: The skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good. (James C Hunter)

Nothing is more deflating to morale than to have a poor outcome pinned on someone who doesn’t deserve it. It lacks integrity and overvalues the outcome at the expense of the people as well as the process. (Tony Dungy)

Provision
A core part of leadership is that of equipping others to be able to do what they are being asked to do and giving them the opportunity to test and learn from that training / knowledge. That ability and vision to see others reach their potential for the benefit of the individual, the business / organisation and all associated stakeholders makes an exponential difference to a business. In a previous business we had a vision statement “grow the people to grow the business”, the impact of living that out is huge (for both the individual and the organisation).

This brings the whole aspect of motivation into view, we do not then by providing the skills motivate people but we sustain their motivation. Simon Sinek in “Start With Why” says, “Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whatever is left”.

The best minute you spend is the one you invest in people. (Ken Blanchard)

I don’t necessarily have to like my players and associates but as their leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. This is the strength of any organization. (Vince Lombardi)

Progress
What is leadership without a vision, when you are in the trenches you want to understand why you are there and what the next move will be and to where. The ability to show not only the power of potential through that vision but then forge a path toward that vision is an essential leadership trait.

That will take many skills, it will take courage, discipline, passion and decisiveness. It will require a strong set of strategic objectives and plans to support it. The leader however will need to have the knowledge that the plan may need to change, be ditched or take a detour for the best outcome.

To support this progress they will mentor and coach, provide direction individually and collectively and genuinely empower team members to support that progress.

…even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it’ll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something. (Samwell Gamgee, Lord of the Rings)