Esther Wojcicki is a journalist, educator, and vice chair of the Creative Commons advisory council. She is the mother of Janet Wojcicki, a professor at UCSF, Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, and Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of 23andMe. Esther is also the author of How...
Tony Robbins is an author, entrepreneur and motivational speaker. He grew up in North Hollywood, the eldest of three siblings. He described his home life as "chaotic" and "abusive". “I had to protect my brother and sister, so I became a practical psychologist just out of...
Clara Wilcox, founder of The Balance Collective, describes how she has taught her teenage daughter the main skills needed to be entrepreneurial. Together they have also discussed how to keep clients. “I worked as a teenager, and encourage my teenager to do the same. She has...
Actress Charlize Theron shares how her mother framed adverse situations or news, and the follow-up question she asked. “I have an incredible mother. Her philosophy was: ‘This is horrible. Acknowledge that this is horrible. Now make a choice. Will this define you? Are you going to...
Angela Duckworth, the author of one of our favourite books, GRIT, discusses raising gritty kids. "In our family, we live by the Hard Thing Rule. It has three parts. The first is that everyone—including mom and dad—has to do a hard thing. A hard thing is...
I attribute every success I've ever had to the fact that when I was a small child, whenever our family went on holiday, my mum made me pack my own suitcase. To me, it was normal. Who else would do it?! I realise it might not sound...
Tim Spiegelglass, owner of Spiegelglass Construction Company, describes how he had to pitch for what he wanted during childhood. “For as long as I can remember, my father asked me to negotiate or make a pitch for what I wanted, and now I’m having my daughters...
Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, shares his mother’s unconventional parenting lessons. “As an introverted kid, my mother worried my shyness would become debilitating as I got older. So, to nip it in the bud, she continuously challenged me. She tried to drum it...
Benjamin Banks is the founder of SBD Apparel, a sports performance brand worn by some of the best strength athletes in the world. We interviewed Ben for our podcast and learned the inception of the extraordinary attention to detail that underpins his success to this day. “My...
Jodi Chaffee, founder of Our Modern Heritage Academy LLC, explains how a conversation with her father helped her overcome challenges at school. “When I struggled in school one year, my dad asked me whether I believed I could be a possible A student. He asked me...
In interview for The Economist, Natasha Loder interviews Maye Musk, mother of three children: Elon, a world-famous inventor, Kimbal, a tech and food entrepreneur, and Tosca, a film director. The full article is linked below, but these snippets tell the story of how these three...
Paul Faulkner, former CEO of Aston Villa, used sport to overcome being "the new boy" as he changed schools regularly throughout his childhood: “My father worked in the regional newspaper industry, and as his career progressed our family found ourselves moving around the country from paper...
Founder and CEO of Bean Ninjas, Meryl Johnston, describes how small acts of independence made her a more confident individual. “As small children we were encouraged to answer the phone and make phone calls. I can remember back when I was 9 years old my mum...
The 2021 Michelin Chef of the Year and Great British Menu finalist, Kray Treadwell, talks to Birmingham Living Magazine about slogging away at his passion as a teenager, much to the bemusement of his family. "I started washing pots at the Asquith in Edgbaston under [Michelin-starred...
In a fascinating piece for CBS News, Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, writes a letter to his former self. Here are some paragraphs from it: "When you walk out of the LSAT without finishing it in order to go to the Waffle House, you're making the...
Shan-Lyn Ma, co-founder and CEO of Zola, was born in Singapore and moved to Sydney, Australia, when she was four. There, her dad fought for Southeast Asians’ labour rights at a nonprofit and her mother was an entrepreneur at heart. In Australia, Ma's mother taught her...
Steve Case, the former AOL chairman and CEO, talks about how island life led to an understanding of community. “I was born and raised in Hawaii, so that’s interesting. Both my parents were born and raised in Hawaii, which is probably more interesting, because Hawaii has...
Deborah Meaden, entrepreneur and Dragon's Den dragon, tells her story and the beliefs it led to. “I grew up in a single-parent family and we didn’t have a lot of money. I don’t say that looking for any sympathy, because a child doesn’t notice, except that...
Coach and author Andrew Pain shares his experience in raising his children with an entrepreneurial mindset. “...
Karen Mehta, Headteacher of Ashbridge Independent School, discusses how her own childhood has influenced the way she teaches others. “From an early age I was taught the value of hard work and coming up with good ideas. I would run stalls in my street and put...
I am a huge advocate of the entrepreneurial messages and characteristics that you are driving. I think it is a fantastic idea to instil the idea of entrepreneurship into children from a young age. This is a great way to open children up to the idea of not always following conventional paths and giving them the belief and confidence to pursue their own creative business ideas.
The Clever Tykes series are such a wonderful way to introduce ‘enterprise’ to children from a young age – I can’t recommend them highly enough, and strongly urge parents to read along with their child as there is no doubt the stories will stimulate lots of questions and interest!
I found Walk-it Willow easy to read and full of lovely messages that children can take from it. It touched on taking responsibility, problem solving, admitting mistakes and also the work it takes to run a small business. Willow is entertaining but very human. A lovely story.