Learning Mindset in School & Business

Attending the annual forum for The BWC - The Business Women's Circle yesterday gave me not only useful ideas for my business, but also key lessons to pass on to the students I coach. I also met so many wonderful women and left inspired!

My takeaways that can help students too:

1. You probably have to be bad at something when you first start, so stop expecting it to be amazing. This is true for me, an academic-turned-business owner, but also for every freshman, new major, ne

w intern, and recent graduate. Let's get comfortable being terrible as we figure it out.

2. You better learn to ask for what you need vs expect someone else will whisk in and offer it. I am a chronically awful asker-of-help, and many students are too. Let's practice self-advocacy regularly.

3. Your social connections are central to your success. Yes it's true, none of us succeed alone no matter how much individualism culture we get steeped in. Let's all get better at creating and sustaining strong and meaningful connections with lots of other people on this journey, whether the goals are in business or education. Get to know your classmates, professors, and mentors and know that they are your secret sauce to doing well.

(P.S. I LOVED that the panel about business dev. "in a digital age" had a recurring theme across each speaker: meet people, build good relationships, and take care of them. In the end...Human > Digital.