W12 Reflection: Entrepreneurial Journal

 

As I reflect on the things I have studied this week, I am filled with gratitude for the course and the content I have been able to study. I am working ahead an extra week because my family is going on a much needed vacation for spring break next week. We are so excited to be able to take our kids on their first cruise! I am afraid that I will not have wifi while on the ship, so that is why I am finishing all of my assignments a week early.

For week 12, most of the content had to do with becoming a change maker. I love this idea and found the supporting materials to be informative and enlightening. I really enjoyed the video called “Make it Personal and Make it Work”. I thought that the way the woman in the video talked about working and making a difference was super inspiring. She made a point about how blessed we are to use technology. Even the video that she was making, she made the point that not too long ago there was a time when information and videos like the one we were watching used to be saved for only the elite. But now things are widely available to anyone with an internet connection. We are blessed to have the resources that we have at our fingertips. She talked about the importance of having a compelling vision that scales. This is something that I am trying to implement as I start my own journey into the business and entrepreneurial world.

Here are my answers to the questions for this journal entry:

• Based on what you read in the first two pages (pages 3 and 4), why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy? In the article he looks back on America in the 1990s and we see that people were creating value where none existed and bidding up market capitalizations of companies. But those things will eventually crash, which is why in economy honesty and virtue are critical. He also touches on the fact that we have lost sight of what the real values of a company are- and their people and employees are a huge part of that.
• According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses? He said "We need to eat to live; food is a necessary condition of life. But if we lived mainly to eat, making food a sufficient or sole purpose of life, we would become gross. The purpose of a business, in other words, is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That “something”becomes the real justification for the business. Owners know this. Investors needn’t care." A business should make a profit to make a positive difference. 
• What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?

1.We need to associate with a cause in order to give purpose to our lives. I agree with this and feel with my whole heart that having a worthy cause will give purpose to our lives.

2. A company is made up of a group of people that collectively can accomplish more than they could individually. I agree with this as well. A business can and should make money, but that should not be it's sole purpose. Working together with the people in the company to make good things happen is where the magic happens.

It has been great to see how each week in this course the content just keeps building off of the previous week. I have learned so much more than I ever imagined from this class. I am so looking forward to the final two weeks. I think I am going to be a little sad when it’s time to be done with this course, but I know that the things I am learning will benefit me throughout my life.