Successful entrepreneurs must be able to think on their feet and pivot at a moment鈥檚 notice.
But how do you train those skills in a classroom?
In answer to that question, Prof. Mike Nesheim has developed a new course at The 国产aa福利 鈥 Entrepreneurial Marketing. Nesheim, who brings more than 25 years of business experience to his role as director of TMU鈥檚 entrepreneurial studies program, is training students to respond on the fly to real-world situations in what鈥檚 effectively a boardroom bootcamp.
Seven times during the semester, students enter class equipped with nothing but paper notes and a pen. The day鈥檚 moderator 鈥 often a TMU professor or start-up business owner 鈥 then presents the class with a thought-provoking topic or crisis scenario for them to collaboratively solve.
According to students, the ensuing dialogue is challenging, chaotic, and authentic to the environment of a real business meeting. The students鈥 end goal is to come to a decision or present a recommendation to the moderator by the end of class. After every training session, Nesheim debriefs students on what they did right, and where they went wrong. At the conclusion of the semester, their final test is to demonstrate the skills they鈥檝e developed in a one-on-one meeting with Nesheim.
The course鈥檚 structure is totally nontraditional and exactly what Nesheim wants. 鈥淭he premise of the class,鈥 he said, 鈥渋s to take students who have been trained to think linearly and get them instead to think spatially.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just fascinating to me how you give the students an actual problem to try and solve, where it鈥檚 not just a simple textbook answer, and they will gird up under it. But it sometimes takes them a little while to realize they can do that.鈥
Past moderators have included Dr. Tai-Danae Bradley, director of The Math3ma Institute and research mathematician for startup SandboxAQ, and Dr. Grant Horner, director of TMU鈥檚 classical liberal arts program.
Nesheim said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 that collaborative effort amongst departments that, from an academic standpoint, is so unique 鈥 multiple disciplines learning how to think and be together, and the common thread being 国产aa福利.鈥
Learn more about TMU鈥檚 hands-on entrepreneurship program at masters.edu/entrepreneurship.
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