Education for tolerance stems from understanding that differences between people exist and that they all have a place in our world. Recognition of the differences and needs of others is a source of identifying ideas for inventions and solving problems.
Education for tolerance arises from humility. That is to say; tolerance is easily demonstrated through a lack of condescending behavior and no sense of superiority over the other.
Being a tolerant entrepreneur increases an individual's chance of success.
The entrepreneur:
An entrepreneur has a tolerance to the other and learns from him/her.
Sometimes when someone does or says something we do not like, we immediately jump to a conclusion as to who he/she is, his/her nature, purpose, etc. even before we understand his/her motives.
An entrepreneur with a product/service needs to serve different types of customers. Customers will always have different expectations and demands. Still, before the entrepreneur decides that they are troublesome customers, he/she should listen to and try to understand where those claims and requests come from. Only then an entrepreneur should decide how to respond and whether to improve the product/service or not. Perhaps this is exactly where the next opportunity lies.
When it comes to children, as their speaking skills develop, they are able to show more tolerance for each other, but they need guidance from adults. So in our conversations as adults with children, our mission is to encourage them to learn tolerance, along with providing a personal example.
The entrepreneur:
An entrepreneur respects others, meets people with different approaches, and ways of action, and he/she learns. Since there is not just one way that is the right and the best for success.
In education for entrepreneurship, we also educate children to respect others and understand that there is something to learn from everyone, and each one has something to contribute.
This next parable illustrates it very well:
Aesop's famous parable about the lion and the mouse:
A mouse accidentally walked past a sleeping lion.
The lion woke up angry, grabbed the mouse by his paws, and wanted to eat him.
The mouse asked the lion to spare his life and promised that one day he would return a favor to the lion.
The big and strong lion laughed at the words of the mouse because he did not believe a weak little mouse could help him.
Not long after, hunters chased the lion into a net. The lion roared in pain, and the mouse came running. He gnawed on the net and set the lion free.
"Even a little mouse can help a big strong lion," the mouse said.
An example from the entrepreneurs' arena:
D' is an entrepreneur who wears glasses. He is smart, polite, and kind. He is perceived as a geek by those who do not know him.
D' had already conducted negotiations with a number of individuals and companies and was almost always treated poorly as a negotiator.
This prejudice has always helped him. In the end, all negotiations ended with an achievement for him.
"You really taught me a lesson," said the procurement manager at one company after a long and tiring negotiation.
Another example of a well-known entrepreneur:
Stef Wertheimer built a thriving company by any measure, and in his book, The Habit of Labor, he explained the importance of respecting those who are different.
"Respecting others means respecting yourself. Many things are the opposite of what people think. We need to respect the customer, the dealer, the manufacturer, the schedule. It has been written, 'Honor your father and your mother. 'Nothing has changed since then." He said.
The entrepreneur
The entrepreneur reveals an openness to the environment and to others. This openness is a pond for identifying opportunities in places others don't see opportunities.
Alertness for identifying opportunity stems from that openness to the environment and to things that are different. Sometimes combining something familiar with another aspect of the environment or a different field, creates an opportunity for a new venture.
An example of recognition of the need for openness
A well known Israeli Chef, Israel Aharoni was interviewed in Man Talk Magazine by Globes about the nature of man in general and our ability to show openness to others:
An excerpt from the article stated:
"'Even peacocks eventually understand that the whole world doesn't revolve around their blue feathers.' To Aharoni, it happened when he filmed one of the episodes of the program Through Food with Gavri Banai, in which they visited homes of people in many communities of the country to cook with them.
He and Banai were invited to a home of Indian origin family in Ramle. The woman made sweet dumplings and said to him, 'Please, add Cardamom.'
'I took a quarter of a teaspoon, and I added it,' he says with his typical soft melody, 'because I know the Cardamom is a spice that can be overbearing.
She looked at me and said 'more,' so I took another quarter of a teaspoon, and I added it. Then, impatiently, she took four tablespoons of Cardamom and slipped it in.
I said to myself, here comes the catastrophe. It's going to be bad. It took several hours, and then it was time for dinner. Around the table sat twenty people, from age four to eighty, all eating, and here comes the time for the dumplings.
From afar, I smell the Cardamom and understand what is going to happen here. Everyone gets dumplings.
I bite into it, and my mouth falls open. I look around and see everybody's eating quietly; no one's facial muscles have moved.
Suddenly, I realized that the limit was mine; it opened up a whole new world for me.
Today, just before I rule out any dish, I will say to myself: my limit is probably here. 'I should check it.'"
