I recently attended a business exploration seminar in Sweden. The event was well worth the travel, and I came back with an appreciation for the Swede’s spirit of entrepreneurship.

I had a preconceived idea that Sweden was a socialistic, highly regulated, over-taxed state. While the Swedes do face a high degree of regulation and seem to pay higher taxes than we Americans pay, they collectively value entrepreneurship. The Swedes are willing to take a risk to create value and wealth through starting and running their own businesses.

Duluthians can learn a lot from the Swedes. Generally speaking, Duluthians tend to believe that we ought to attract large, well-established companies to our area – after all, these companies are sure to bring jobs, money, and growth with them. And in all fairness, sometimes these endeavors work out. For example, we successfully attracted United Health Care, Cirrus Design, and the Northwest Airbus Maintenance Facility to our community. However, if we want to succeed on all levels, we must be like the Swedes and embrace a spirit of entrepreneurship – which means two things.

First, we must be excited about business and embrace anyone who will risk his or her own money and reputation to start one. Furthermore, we, as regional society, need to applaud these people, whether their new businesses are a success or a failure. Secondly, we must engage our schools and colleges in entrepreneurship. By fostering a sense of entrepreneurship at the secondary and post-secondary levels, we prepare our young people to take risks – like the Swedes – when they are ready to enter the workforce. Instead of raising generations to simply “get a job,” we empower our future generations to create value and wealth through building their own businesses.

Jobs are good – no one disputes that. But entrepreneurship is where our future lies.