A familiar silence

So far, it appears that no one who has come to our OBTC 08 Conference page has both clicked into this Blog and posted a comment. I know that I have to promote its existence overcome this stony silence. In the meantime, I will use "it" as an object lesson for what it means to be an entrepreneurial teacher (and learner).

We initiate something so new that no one is looking for it, expects it, even recognizes it. When I do this in class, there is a stunned silence. Students look down or at each other. "What?" "Do what?". "How could this possibly help me learn this material?"

They wait for me to break the silence. I wait for one of them to break the silence. This is the sort of silence that hurts deep inside where our ears are rooted in our brains.

Break.

Energy released.

A few timid steps taken in the new direction.

More engagement.

Entrepreneurial (risky) learning happens.

Wow! Now that was a nifty way to understand motivation, conflict, leadership (you fill in the concept).

Minds are blown.

Or not.

After the broken silence and a flurry of activity, my idea may blow up i our faces, not blow our minds. It does happen. After all, it is something I am trying out for the first time.

Here is the good news. A flop becomes the subject of managerial attention and thinking. Just pass the noise and heat of once silent and cold pre-tryit behavior is a conversation about if and how to try it again in a new way. THIS is the conversation that prepares us all to be more entrepreneurial in how we will do business in the future.