Enchanted Circle Project Graduates, Taos, New Mexico

A 10 minute video clip of Ernesto Sirolli speaking on the occassion of the graduation of the Sirolli Enchanted Circle Project in Taos. Just click on the image to watch the speech.

WHAT’S N.I.S.E.R. THAN NOOSA?

Noosa, the Queensland holiday resort, is hard to improve upon. Its natural beauty is legendary and its people are among the most environmentally aware anywhere in the world.
Yet a number of locals led by Lew Brennan and Charles Shewring believe that they can improve on the long term sustainability of the town by creating the Noosa Institute for Socio Economic Research. It was Lew, a Noosa City Councillor, who invited us last year and again ten days ago to address a gathering of local decision makers.
Council, University, environmental and business groups spent a day with us at the Noosa Blue Resort to discuss Enterprise Facilitation® and its implication for the community and the city. NISER also organized a meeting in Crows Nest in the highlands, one hour drive from Brisbane, Queensland’ capital city.
The day saw many representatives from a number of rural country towns attending our seminar. In particular the Crows Nest and Rosalie Shires attended and committed themselves to follow up soon with an organizational meeting to discuss our method for community capacity building and local economic development.
Dr. Ernesto Sirolli
CEO
Sirolli Institute
1 877 SIROLLI
(916) 446-9264
www.sirolli.com
http://sirolli.blogspot.com/
"The future of every community lies in capturing the passion, imagination, and resources of its people."

Bendigo Bank, a lesson in community organizing from Down Under!

Second stop on a three weeks conference tour of Hawaii and Australia was a visit to the City of Greater Bendigo in Victoria. The invitation to address the community came via the Bendigo Bank one of the most remarkable examples of community banking we have ever seen.
Bendigo Bank pioneered, nearly ten years ago, a model of community banking that has been adopted by nearly two hundred communities Australia wide. At a time when major banks abandon small and rural communities Bendigo’s Community Banks are growing like mushrooms providing not only a needed service but a financial return as well. Every year hundreds of thousands of dollars are returned to the communities that establish the local franchises of the Bendigo Bank, funds that can be invested in community activities to spur new growth.
Our visit to Bendigo allowed us to meet with Bendigo Banks officials, including John Sirolli (maybe a long lost cousin from my region of Italy?) and to observe two more projects started by the Bank: Lead On, an exciting youth initiative, and TELCO, a community owned and operated telecommunication company. Yvonne Fizer and I addressed a meeting sponsored by the Central Victoria Business Network (yet another spin off from the Bendigo Bank) and discussed the possibilities of future work in Bendigo with both the Bendigo Bank and the community.

Dr. Ernesto Sirolli
CEO
Sirolli Institute
1 877 SIROLLI
(916) 446-9264
www.sirolli.com

http://sirolli.blogspot.com/

"The future of every community lies in capturing the passion, imagination, and resources of its people."

Moving ceremony in Honolulu

The first stop on a three weeks trip to Hawaii and Australia was Honolulu where I spoke at a conference organized by the University of Hawaii Business Center Program. One evening at a reception at the Art Exchange in China Town I was surprised by being the guest of honor at a beautiful Samoan ceremony that culminated in me receiving an "Ie Toga".
An "Ie Toga", or ceremonial fine mat used in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, is the most sacred of Polynesian possessions. It was presented to me by Papalii Dr. Failautusi Avegalio, Director of the University of Hawaii Pacific Business Program on behalf of Honolulu' Mayor Muliufi Hanneman. Present at the ceremony where ranking chiefs of American Samoa, High Chief Liufau and High Chief Alo. Representing Mayor Muliufi Hanneman was his wife Gail Hanneman.
Dr. Ernesto Sirolli
CEO
Sirolli Institute
1 877 SIROLLI
(916) 446-9264
www.sirolli.com
http://sirolli.blogspot.com/
"The future of every community lies in capturing the passion, imagination, and resources of its people."

Opportunity Kintyre Completes 5 Day Training

We had the great joy last week of spending 5 days on the Kintyre Peninsula training new facilitator Lynn Hammal and members of her Panel in Enterprise Facilitation®. We were made to feel tremendously welcome - and on the last day of our visit were surprised when a piper in full regalia burst into the training room playing Mull of Kintyre. He was one of the original pipers from the Paul McCartney video.
So big thanks go out to Mary, Lynn, Shelagh, Morag, Mary,Rob, Isobel, John, Trevor, Pamela, Archie and Les for a memorable week.

Sirolli Project In Taos Graduates

Here is an online video where Christopher Madrid, Enterprise Facilitator in Taos, talks about the achievements of the Enterprise Facilitation project in Taos New Mexico.

Watch the video here

Problem with Entrepreneurship Education - One-Off - or Widespread Malaise?

We recently received the following e-mail from a student of entrepreneurship:

The course I am currently studying (Entrepreneurship) is under new management. Until last year it was a course that encouraged individuality and basically everything that Ernesto talks about in the third section of his book. Students were encouraged to take hold of their own learning, they were not babied, they were not inundated with theories and concepts of business but rather encouraged to learn them and more often encouraged to get out in the real world and learn real lessons. The course was passively mentored and whilst help was there it had to be sourced more personally to really take advantage of what was there to learn.

My dilemma is that under this new management has come a total death to these philosophies. Students are being babied, forced to learn theories and concepts rather than get hands on experience in the world of entrepreneurship. They are being monitored closely to ensure they are learning all the lessons that the organisation deems important rather than using their own initiative and motivation to learn what they need to know.

I really feel that the entrepreneurial thinking that was facilitated through this course is becoming extinct and rather the institution is setting students up with skills to fit well into an organisation.

I know this is probably quite off the topic of what your people are use to dealing with but I thought if you could help us it might pose more credit than coming from us the students.

So is this a sign of a widespread problem in enterprise education? Is it a problem in education more generally? Or is it just a 'one-off' that we should not worry too much about.

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment or entering the debate on our public forum at http://sirolli.informe.com