The Blade

If you are the founder of a startup, have you given thought to what…or who…set you on your entrepreneurial path? I certainly have, and there is one name at the very top of that list…

Photo credit: Elodie

Throughout most of school, I was a lousy student. In fact, my lack of maturity and short attention span led to my “repeating” fourth grade. I was hyperactive, and if I were a kid today, doctors would put me on Ritalin. According to my father, experts told him I’d never graduate from high school much less go to college. I could easily have hit the skids.

I’m unsure when I turned the corner to actually try in life, but I’m pretty sure I know who had the most influence. He’s the person I owe the most to in terms of my becoming an entrepreneur and having a fulfilled, engaging career. Don Goodwin, my high school American history teacher, practically danced across the room, engaging students from the front to the back. He loved American history, and his passion for the subject helped me come alive, opening my mind to a love for learning. He was tall and lanky, wore cool glasses, and was a charismatic, confident outsider who humorously mocked sports events, proms, cheerleaders, spring break, student government, and pop culture.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.  –William Arthur Ward

Yet Mr. Goodwin was an independent thinker in a highly productive way, instilling in me a sense of optimism and confidence that one can be different and still be relevant in a conventional setting. No need to be a conformist if you didn’t want to. His energy was contagious, and I ate it up more than anything I ever had experienced. I never knew that Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase could be so interesting!

Sure, Mr. Goodwin was smart and articulate, but that’s not what made him influential. Rather, it was his coming alive with his subject matter in a quest for something greater. He excelled at his craft mostly because he liked it so much. It was from Mr. Goodwin that I first learned some of entrepreneurship’s most critical ingredients – passion for your idea and whatever is your “thing,” and genuinely caring about people.

My point of telling you this story is that if today, you’re happy with your career and doing things you love—think hard about who helped you get to that point. And be sure to thank them.Tweet this

I was fortunate enough to hunt down Mr. Goodwin, have a beer with him, catch up on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—and thank him. I also provided him an advance copy of my upcoming book, The Hockey Stick Principles, which is dedicated to him.

Who inspired you on your path to entrepreneurship?
What did they do or say to light a fire in your belly?