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Sweetgreen co-founders Nicolas Jammet, center left, Jonathan Neman, center, and Nathaniel Ru, center right, ring the opening bell during the company's IPO that surpassed expectations, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. New York. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg © 2021 Bloomberg Finance LP Parents, what are you doing to raise children who become successful entrepreneurs?November is Entrepreneur Month; 75% of Gen Z want to launch their own business. This cohort, born between 1997 and 2012, are 13 to 28 years old. They are the first group to grow up with smartphones and social media from birth. These are the three most important things parents can do to raise them with the qualities they need to succeed. #1 Make Them Resilient Resilience is key for entrepreneurship. Resilient people understand that failure is how they will learn and grow; they know that they will bounce back from their failure stronger than they were before. Because they aren’t afraid to fail, they aren’t afraid to take risks. And because they are willing to take risks, they are creative, innovative, pushing boundaries, trying new things, growing, changing, evolving. These are keys to being a successful entrepreneur. Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal points out that raising resilient children is one of the most important things for parents to do. She says one way to do that is to give them tools to reduce their anxiety about trying hard things. She suggests asking them to imagine: What is the worst possible outcome? And then: What is the best possible outcome? Wharton psychologist Adam Grant says “I don’t think there’s any skill more critical for success than resilience." The more mentally resilient you are, the more quickly you can recover from challenges. He explains that of course bad things will happen. “The key is how you recover. I think about resilience as the speed and strength of your response to adversity.” #2 Encourage Their Curiosity Surprisingly, curiosity is a rare skill these days. David Reyero calls it an up-and-coming skill for career success: “Curious people tend to find out about other people, learn new things, think outside the box, and look into rare or original things of interest: essential qualities in settings that need creativity and on-going innovation.” Curiosity allows you to think more deeply and critically, without judging too quickly, and arrive at more creative solutions. MORE FOR YOU Curious people ask: Does it have to be this way? Why? How can it be improved? What could I do to make this better? What is missing? What could be changed? This is how companies and non-profits get started. It’s also how organizations grow and evolve. How they pivot and adapt. Increasingly with AI, it will take curious people to know what to ask. And to know where to turn for advice. And how to adapt the answers. Anne Jolly says “Curiosity is a magical state of mind that supercharges learning.” How can parents raise curious children? If you don’t know an answer, say, “What do you think? I don’t know; let’s figure it out together. Where should we look? Who should we ask?" Ask questions when you read: “Why did they do that? What do you think will happen? Why? What do you think should happen? Why?” Get them to start asking questions. #3 Support Their Passion Almost every entrepreneur I’ve interviewed had a passion outside of school; and almost every parent supported their passion. Sometimes it took a big gulp. Often it wasn’t something the parents had expected. Sports? Video games? Cooking? Filming? Yikes. Really? The answer is: Absolutely! It doesn’t matter what their passion is. What matters is that it is something they chose. And because they chose it, they work hard at it. And because they are working hard at something they love, it results in many great qualities: --They develop grit. Grit is defined as combining passion plus perseverance for long-term goals. The term was coined by psychologist Angela Duckworth, who says, “Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” When young people pour themselves into a passion, they learn to work really, really hard to succeed, and they develop grit, which they will need to succeed as an entrepreneur. --They learn to pivot when things aren’t working. Life is never perfect. Kids who are tested on a regular basis on something they are working hard at realize when they aren’t succeeding, and learn to pivot. Obviously this happens constantly in sports, but it also happens when you submit watercolors to juried exhibitions, audition for parts in a school play, run for school government, or play chess matches. Task Force CEO Simon Isaacs was an incredible competitive skier through college. He told me, “You’re always looking at yourself to figure out how you can improve.” --They gain confidence. When kids work hard at something they have chosen, when they pivot when they aren’t succeeding, when they keep going despite failure, and they eventually get really good, then they know they can do it. This confidence, this belief in their ability to succeed if they work hard enough and stick with it long enough, is essential for entrepreneurs. They Need Your Support It doesn’t matter if their passion changes over time. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it. What matters is your support. What matters is letting them know how proud you are for how hard they are working at something they care about. Your children may need time to discover their paths. It may be unclear where they’re going. In this situation, you may think of them as being lost. Or as being quitters. But parents of kids who grow up to become entrepreneurs see them as exploring. Kenneth Ginsburg, who runs Fostering Resilience, offers this advice: “Getting out of the way is a challenge. We want to help, fix and guide kids. But we have to remind ourselves that when we let them figure things out for themselves, we communicate this: ‘I think you are competent and wise.’” Jonathan Neman, who cofounded Sweetgreen, told me,"My parents were really good at letting me find my passions and explore them. Can you imagine what they must have thought: Your kid goes to Georgetown and comes home and tells you he wants to open a salad shack! But they never thought my ideas were stupid. They always trusted me, believed in me." In other words, see what your kids enjoy, what their passion is, what they are good at, and what makes them happy. Allow their gift to reveal itself. Then support it. Tell them how proud you are of them for how hard they are working. Tell them how proud you are for their success in their chosen path. Tell them not to worry about failure and setbacks; that you know they will learn from it and get better and stronger. And then tell them again and again, until you’re sure they believe it. They may not end up with a career you had in mind, but if they’re able to pursue their passion, they’ll be happy and fulfilled. And isn’t that what all parents want? Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
