Entrepreneurship is about developing, organizing, and running a business while bearing the risks associated with the uncertainties that exist in order to make a profit. The company our Plus3 Ireland group visited on this day (May 12th, 2022), Guinness Enterprise Center (GEC), is all about helping budding entrepreneurs and/or new businesses grow and succeed—an incubator for bringing bright ideas to life. They also work with a network of similar companies across Ireland that provide workspaces for people to use/operate out of. And in case you’re curious, GEC isn’t related to the well-known brewing company…although they do own the land/property that GEC uses! For this site visit, the presenter (Madison Roche) gave us a brief presentation on who the GEC is and what they do, as well as a tour of the renovated facilities. Not gonna lie, the GEC site visit got me thinking about what entrepreneurship and having an entrepreneurial mindset really means. 

During our walking tour of the financial district, I remember Dr. Darren Kelly (our tour guide) exploring how in the United States, we are very much accustomed to doing things a certain way—like following a recipe if you will—and I agree. But based on the discussion we had at GEC’s site visit, although it may work in some cases, it’s evident that adopting a rigid structure is likely NOT going to be a good strategy in the long term. In fact, I believe that developing critical thinking skills and building resilience along with the ability to improvise is even more important than being able to follow instructions. Sure, I may be one of those people who enjoy following a recipe and having a rubric or baseline to compare my progress, so being able to thrive in environments where uncertainty is greater is something I could improve on. In a broader sense, getting comfortable with the uncomfortable is what I need. 

Since I am both a Marketing and a Supply Chain Management major at Pitt, it is especially important that I enhance those skills. As we’ve all seen and experienced these past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely reshaped the way we do business. Let’s be real here, nobody saw this coming and almost everyone had to employ critical thinking, resilience, and improvisation skills to thrive (or in most cases, merely survive). So, while I only had one session today—our visit to the Guinness Enterprise Center, the extra time has allowed me to think about the information I’ve retained from the previous days of our study abroad experience and come to this conclusion. 

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And for the interesting tidbit (4/?) of the day…apparently, seagulls and their active nests are protected under law by National and European Wildlife.