[Smart Economics] Entrepreneurship Among the Young Generation

Success? …Take on the challenge with dreams and passion

These days, younger generations—that is, young people—find it hard to get jobs, so they tend to strive for better conditions than others. They become absorbed in so-called “building specs.” In particular, educational background is treated as an absolute credential. But is educational background really the biggest factor in success? It is not. Most people in charge of hiring at companies say they place more importance on other factors than on educational background. Some do not look at educational background at all. Unfortunately, many people in Korea mistakenly believe that which university one enters determines the course of one’s life and whether one succeeds.

But simply having a high level of education does not mean success or a better life than others. Nor does lacking a college degree mean one has no chance to succeed. There are many heroes in the world who set their own goals and lived fiercely to achieve their dreams. They show how important dreams and passion are, more than academic credentials.

The effort to excel at what you want to do is the best credential

Let us look at the story of Warren Buffett, known as a living legend in investing. Warren Buffett began investing in stocks at age 11 with $100 he had saved from part-time work, and at age 14, while delivering newspapers, he showed an early entrepreneurial side. He studied his delivery route and developed the shortest path to deliver newspapers as quickly as possible. He then earned an annual income equivalent to that of a new employee. The newspaper Warren Buffett delivered at the time was The Washington Post. More than 30 years later, Warren Buffett became the largest shareholder of The Washington Post, writing a living success story.

How much do you think academic credentials contributed to Buffett’s success? Buffett poured his passion into what he wanted to do rather than into schoolwork. Believing that knowledge was the core of investing, he devoted one-third of his working hours to reading investment-related materials, books, and newspapers. He chose to make the best possible effort to become better at the work he wanted to do—the goal he had set for himself. This was clearly not simply studying to build credentials, nor was it about obtaining a diploma as a signboard for getting a job. His passion for what he wanted to do and for his dream, along with his constant effort, were the secrets to Warren Buffett’s success. Because Buffett worked to develop his own investment theory and adhered to the investment principles he established, he was able to achieve global success and become one of the richest people in the world. To those who work only to make ends meet or force themselves to do work they dislike, Warren Buffett offers this advice: “Do what you would do if you were independently wealthy. You’ll jump out of bed in the morning.”

Buffett knew better than anyone that credentials, including academic background, are not the absolute determinant of success. That is why, in a public notice to select his successor, he did not impose any restrictions on academic background or work experience.

Shin Kyuk-ho, who founded the Lotte Group, was also someone who achieved success through dreams and passion. At the young age of 19, Shin Kyuk-ho went alone to Japan and began by delivering milk. Because he worked diligently, keeping delivery times precisely whether it rained or snowed, he earned a good reputation among customers. Moreover, as he treated customers kindly and sincerely, the number of people who trusted him and placed orders kept growing day by day. Eventually, it became difficult for him to handle all the orders alone, so he hired part-time workers, and the business flourished more and more. Building on the success of his milk delivery business, Shin Kyuk-ho later founded the Lotte Group, taking its name from Charlotte, the heroine of The Sorrows of Young Werther. Shin Kyuk-ho was an entrepreneur who showed a passion for taking on challenges across borders in both Japan and Korea. In dealing with people, he showed sincerity with a warm heart, and in business, he opened up the future and achieved success with a firm vision and burning passion.

It is not only Warren Buffett and Shin Kyuk-ho. Around us, there are many people who have overcome gaps in credentials through passion and effort and produced outstanding results. They all say the same thing: they worked several times harder than others and threw themselves into their work with all their might.

“Stay hungry, Stay foolish!”

The key to success is not credentials such as educational background, but dreams and passion. Competing with countless others to find the work you want to do, and achieving steadily better results step by step from your current position, are both impossible without dreams and passion.

Dreams and passion! These are precisely the entrepreneurial spirit that younger generations absolutely need. Dreams and passion, which enable people to overcome adversity even in times of crisis, are the foundation of success and the surest guarantee. Even global giants Microsoft and Apple began with passionate young people. Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple founder Steve Jobs both dropped out of college and devoted themselves to what they truly wanted to do. They worked passionately toward their dreams and, with outstanding entrepreneurship, turned crises into opportunities and opened a new horizon in the field of information technology (IT). The result is today’s Microsoft and Apple.

The speech that the late Steve Jobs delivered at Stanford University’s commencement in 2005 is still widely quoted. The most beloved line from that speech is, “Stay hungry, Stay foolish!” It means to keep longing and to keep boldly taking on challenges. This resonated with Steve Jobs’s entrepreneurial spirit during his lifetime and deeply impressed countless young people as a philosophy of success.

“Stay hungry, Stay foolish!” What we need now as well is a powerful entrepreneurial spirit that keeps longing and keeps challenging itself to the point of seeming reckless.

△ Please remember

The key to success is not credentials such as educational background, but dreams and passion. Competing with countless others to find the work you want to do, and achieving steadily better results step by step from your current position, are both impossible without dreams and passion. This is precisely the entrepreneurial spirit that younger generations absolutely need. It means to keep longing and to keep boldly taking on challenges.

Sung-no Choi, President of the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [스마트 경제 읽기] 젊은 세대의 기업가 정신

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2021-08-23

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=column&pn=4&idx=24135