I accidentally stumbled across this collection of proverbs on entrepreneurship. I found it to contain good advice for Extension professionals that are trying to serve in entrepreneurial roles in their organizations. My experience is that Extension systems (like most large organizations) talk a lot about entrepreneurship but do little to acknowledge or encourage true entrepreneurs. Part of this comes from the human nature of wanting change, but only in others. Part likely also comes from institutional resistance. A quick scan through the list yields several interesting tidbits. For example:
- Cool ideas are useless without great needs.
- Great things are made by people who share a passion, not by those who have been talked into one.
- Pay attention to the idea that won’t leave you alone
I originally discovered this from a link on Innovation Creators that focused on this piece of wisdom: “Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.” Good advice for change agents.