The University of You

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Every entrepreneur and small business owner should feel energized by famous stories of new-paradigm businesses that were born in universities.

Many great modern companies, even entire industries, started out as class projects. Think FedEx and Google. And James Watt, who invented the steam engine, worked at the University of Glasgow (possibly alongside my great-great-great-great-granduncle).

What made such historic success possible wasn’t ivy covered walls or cavernous libraries. It was the university’s culture of ideas.  Genius emerges with the support of other students and academics, both inside and outside the classroom.

This should encourage anyone to develop a vision and a better idea in 2010. Why?

Because just like a university, the internet provides lateral-thinking stimulus and collegial support. Our electronic version just happens to work on several dimensions–and on steroids.

Think. What have you been doing online over the last week? Found entertainment, shopped, socialized, educated yourself? A lot like when you were in college or university!

Next, think of your life since graduation. By sharing your acquired knowledge with other people on the information superhighway, in a sense you become an international one-man or -woman university built around your total value.

If you are indeed a university, your next blog or comment might even inspire someone to create the next FedEx or Google. The question then becomes, why waste time and attention on entertainment or super-widget sites like Facebook?

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