The Question Mark

The Maryland Entrepreneur Quarterly put the following question to several local businesspeople. Their responses were as varied and unique as their entrepreneurial endeavors and serve to underline the fact that, when it comes to entrepreneurship, "one size fits all" definitely does not apply.



What's the one thing you wish your education had taught you that you had to learn the hard way?



The need to be able to change.

History has many instances of those who have been unable to adapt and the negative consequences that result. The old adage, "That's the way we always do it," is a sure indicator of bad things to come.

By recognizing the need to be change-oriented and change-ready, you can be more apt to withstand what life has to throw at you, regardless of whether it's a business or personal challenge.

As the rate of change has increased and the breadth of change has reached global proportions, this ability is now more than ever a "must have" skill that has generally been overlooked.

-Owen J. Rouse, Jr., Director, Brokerage & Investment Services, Manekin LLC



The incredible power of ADVERSITY, and it was up to me to use it constructively.

-Tim Daly, President, The Access Group Inc.



That's an easy question to answer: The politics of business. Undergrad and grad schools do a great job of teaching theory, but you have to enter the workforce to learn the business skills that place you above your colleagues and/or competitors.

-Lisa Brusio Coster, MA, President, Coster Communications Ltd.



I was an economics and English major at Harvard and I learned a lot of technical things. But what I wish I had learned more about was managing and motivating people. That is the wall you hit - the ability to first understand yourself well and then the ability to manage other people. You learn this through hard knocks and from other people that often aren't very good at it. A lot also comes from instinct. We find a way that fits our own style to instinctively motivate people.

-Rand Griffin, President and CEO, Corporate Office Properties Trust



Real life does not come with neat and perfect answers, so we need to learn how to navigate around issues as much as simply solve them. I wish I had somehow learned that from school. When you come out of school you have a tendency to expect only right or wrong answers.

-KC Whang, Founder and Principal Broker, kcwwgroup@verizon.net



Patience. As a young businessperson, I did not have much patience. I wanted everything to happen now! Later in life, through experience and with a little more seasoning, I think I have become much better at this. On the other hand, maybe "patience" is an education that can only come with time.

-Wayne Wilhelm, Chairman/CEO, Wilhelm Commercial Builders Inc.



For me it's not so much what I wish I had learned, but what I wish I had done. As an undergrad, I knew that I should go to class and study, but somehow found better things to do! As an adult going to grad school, it was just the opposite. I guess it's true when they say that sometimes education is wasted on the young.

-Duane A. Carey, President, IMPACT Marketing & Public Relations, LLC



As I thought more about your question, I realized that my education (both undergraduate and graduate) really did a great job in preparing me for the world of work. My parents had a hand in that as well - and aging added the seasoning that doesn't come with youth.

But ...

What my education lacked was a good foundation in macroeconomics. I could really have used (and still could benefit from) a solid foundation in understanding how the world economies work and the impact they have on each other. Since "The Earth is Flat" and it is a global marketplace, these things influence my clients, [my] prospective customers and my business today in ways we could not have dreamed of when I was in school.

-Joni Daniels, Principal, Daniels & Associates



No one ever mentioned happiness and wisdom in business school, or undergraduate for that matter. To really know happiness, I have had to learn what makes me happy - that being happy is a state of mind and that doing for others is one of the greatest sources of happiness.

Pursuing happiness is a wondrous journey that I know I am taking and know that I missed a lot of wonders along the way because I just didn't get it. But maybe that is where wisdom comes in. No one ever told me what it means to be wise. To know yourself; to pace yourself; to laugh at yourself; to realize your competencies and your shortcomings; to really rely on those competencies and ask for help to overcome the shortcomings - these are some components of wisdom that I had to learn.

I wish I had wisdom and understood happiness much sooner in my life. That is the bad news. The good news? It is never too late to enjoy the lessons, continue the pursuit and be wise enough to ask for help.

-Mimi O'Donnell, Owner, O'Donnell Consulting