Disciplines like mathematics have clear curricula, but how does one teach a skill like entrepreneurship that has no exact formula for success? For Phil More, professor of entrepreneurship at USC Iovine and Young Academy, what teaching entrepreneurship really means is recognizing the innate talents of students and guiding them to channel those talents toward solving problems that need solutions.

“Students inspire me,” says More.  “The thing I really enjoy most is watching a student understand something that they didn't know about before.” 

For More, understanding entrepreneurship at the university level is an expertise that empowers like no other. He says that this gives graduates options to pursue whatever they wish without hesitation of failure. Working for yourself is as liberating of an experience as you can get, and having the toolbox to succeed is what he is here to develop in future innovators.

“I see … entrepreneurship as basically the reason why people come to this country,” says More. “It's basically the way that people are able to get freedom and exhibit their own personal agency in the world around them.”

Taking a leap of faith to achieve personal freedom is risky business, but what separates those who make it across from those who fail to see their visions carried out? For More, the best entrepreneurs and thinkers are those who handle failures and setbacks with grace. Trying and failing is a part of the educational process, according to his philosophy, and embracing those failures is valuable. 

“Successful entrepreneurs have usually failed and succeeded and failed,” says More. “It's not necessarily going to work every time, but the one thing that I think sort of characterizes ones [who] manage to do this is that they never give up.”

Another key element to entrepreneurial success is recognizing which problems in the world are worth fixing. Many entrepreneurs who are just beginning to test the waters of an idea or solution may not stop to assess whether others share the same problem. Solving personal challenges is worthwhile, but great entrepreneurs solve problems on a grander scale.

 “There are so many problems out there, at least as I see it, that need to be solved,” explains More. “But that's a part of the educational process. As they go through this process, they get better and better and better at that over time.”

Guiding students through this process of success and failure is what drives More’s love of teaching. His career in teaching has been one of service to others through mentorship. This mentoring is not just teaching skills to create, but also skills to connect the dots across disciplines and combine ideas in new, innovative ways.

“Education takes place in the head of the student,” says More.  “It takes place with [students] recognizing things from their own experience so that they can relate to new information. My job is to try to help them make those connections.”

While entrepreneurship may seem daunting, More believes people have “innate capabilities, talents and knowledge that they don't really know they have” and with guidance, they can leverage their instincts to the fullest extent. 

At the core of entrepreneurship, as More teaches it, is recognizing one’s own power through success and failure, and seeking solutions to problems in the world worth fixing. 

Teaching entrepreneurial skills may be difficult since there is no exact recipe for success. Phil More, professor of entrepreneurship at IYA, suggests that all the ingredients may be there in the student already. What teaching entrepreneurship really takes is recognizing the talents in a student and guiding them to channel those talents towards problems that need solutions.

A Formula for Entrepreneurs: Faith and Failure