Part 1: Unframe the Problem

Tina Seelig, Executive Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, is coming out with a new book. What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 will be released on April 14, 2009.

On Friday, at the Women Making It Work conference, Seelig gave a sneak preview of the lessons in career building and entrepreneurship that she discusses in her book. As I scanned the audience, I found that I was one of the few people in the room who was in her 20s and could technically heed her advice in time. Through stories and YouTube videos, Seelig shared 7 pieces of advice - three of them particularly struck me, and I'll summarize them over the next few days:

1. Unframe the problem.
2. Turn lemonade into a helicopter ride.
3. "Follow your passion" is cop-out advice.

In a class Seelig taught, she gave her students the following assignment:

• Each team receives an envelope with five dollars.
• In two hours, what's the greatest return you can make?
• Each team delivers a three-minute presentation on results to the rest of the class.

The average amount of money made turned out to be around $200. Teams set up bike tire pumping services, even scalped restaurant reservations! However, the team that saw the greatest return ($650) did not use the $5. The students in this team realized that the $5 they were given had framed the problem when in reality they were given a much more valuable asset: the three-minute presentation. They sold those three minutes to a company that wanted to recruit students in the class. $216.67 per minute...not bad.

The point is, think about all the assets you own.