Collaborative Spirit A spirit of collaboration is essential for successful ventures because a collaborative spirit allows each person's talents and energies to shine in the service of a common goal or set of objectives. I have been lucky to have the motivation and opportunity to work with like-minded individuals in my field, which is how I came to understand the importance of a collaborative spirit. In my third year of undergraduate studies at the University of Zagreb, I got together with some fellow students to form an organization called the Healthcare Club. The Healthcare Club was designed to promote the interests of students in the healthcare and pharmaceutical fields. The purpose of the Healthcare Club was to connect students with relevant faculty, as well as extend the general curriculum offered at the university with things like case studies. One of the reasons why we started the Healthcare Club was that nothing like it existed before. The university did not offer its students exposure to business practices and other practical matters, instead focusing on theory only. We as students felt that we had to bond together in a spirit of collaboration in order to achieve our future goals as practitioners. The Healthcare Club linked students with faculty as well as businesses that might become employers or at least valuable contacts.

We gathered together about thirty students in a relatively short period of time. Students seemed eager and hungry to build the organization with a collaborative spirit, rather than a spirit of competition. We understood that working together would be more productive than going it alone in our careers. The Healthcare Club became the premier platform at the university for students wanting to gain broad pharmaceutical education as well as insight into the realities of daily life in the healthcare job sector. The industry is growing but also changing rapidly, necessitating a spirit of collaboration, networking, and teamwork. I was appointed the president of the Healthcare Club, which showed to me how to integrate leadership skills with a spirit of collaboration. A spirit of collaboration means always checking in with colleagues and being open to suggestion and feedback. As president, I was interested to know what my fellow students needed and wanted out of the club and worked hard to provide for their diverse needs.

A spirit of collaboration also means that each person is expected to take responsibility and be accountable for his or her role in the group. In our case, all members of the Healthcare Club were expected to participate actively in one or more club projects. Projects varied a great deal, allowing different students to choose according to their interests and strengths. Some activities included the organization of workshops or the introduction of guest speakers. Working as a team, the Healthcare Club helped to bring leaders in business, from the largest Croatian healthcare companies as well as leaders in the public healthcare sector throughout Croatia and the European Union. Only because we worked together, pooling our energy and resources, were we able to network with top pharmaceutical experts and managers in healthcare businesses. These achievements never could have happened with only one or two students. We needed a spirit of collaboration to be able to reach our goals and gain attention from the Croatian companies and organizations that we all wanted to work for after graduation.

Before long, it became apparent that Croatian companies could trust that the members of the Healthcare Club were those that they would want working for them. We embodied the spirit of collaboration and teamwork that most healthcare companies need to achieve their goals and the collective goals of the community. Healthcare organizations looked to our members as the most desirable pool of candidates, as we were not only ambitious and well-rounded students, but also cognizant of the importance of collaboration. Our experience working together in the Healthcare Club improved our leadership and communication skills, which are counterparts to the collaborative spirit.

Through the Healthcare Club, I met a person who would become my future boss. The same thing happened to many of my fellow students in the Healthcare Club. As a proud alumna of the Healthcare Club, which now counts more than three hundred active members, I continue to work with students and alumni and help them to understand how participating in an organization maximizes their potential. Without the club, we only have ourselves to count on, but with each other, we can achieve even greater goals. Many of the people I work with have become my friends and...

I have seen how our hard work together has improved the outlook for countless students in our class and in future classes at the university. Likewise, the Healthcare Club can become a model for students in other schools hoping to practice the spirit of collaboration. As a collaborative spirit ambassador, I would share my experiences with others to help them organize a community of like-minded individuals such as the Healthcare Club. I would like to motivate others to reach beyond their limits to achieve goals.
Entrepreneur

To me, being an entrepreneur means putting creativity and motivation into practice. I believe everyone has ideas to share with the world, but many do not have the confidence or knowledge about how to go about putting their ideas into action. An entrepreneur develops a strong enough vision, but puts that vision into action through a pragmatic plan of action.

Some, but not all, entrepreneurs have an approach that can be described as being "out of the box." The phrase suggests independence of thought and spirit. An entrepreneur who does things a little bit differently is most likely to succeed because of the ability to differentiate the product or service from competitors. Even an entrepreneur who starts a franchise or other seemingly simple business can think and act outside of the box by developing unique marketing campaigns or offering something that his or her competitors do not have such as excellent service. In other sectors, an out of the box approach means anticipating the needs of customers in unpredictable ways. Successful entrepreneurs are also able to pick themselves up after a fall, and understand that no business is easy to operate. On the other hand, the business that are most successful have gone through down times and struggles that have made their leaders stronger through those learning experiences. Thinking outside of the box means reacting to challenges in ways that demonstrate creativity and motivation.

Although many entrepreneurs can start off as loners working by themselves while they conceptualize the business, eventually all businesspeople need to work with others in a spirit of collaboration. Leaders need to delegate responsibility in ways that generate trust and empower coworkers. A sense of teamwork and collaborative spirit are necessary for success because there are too many facets of operating a business for one person to serve in multiple roles at once. No one is good at everything, and each person has something to offer the team. A collaborative spirit means recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of team members, allowing each person to shine so that the group as a whole succeeds. Collaboration equals strength in numbers.

I have come to appreciate the meaning of teamwork and collaboration through my work with the Healthcare Club at school. While not a business per se, our organization has functioned like any other in the nonprofit sector in the sense that we have a mission and vision, and we work together to achieve common goals. Each person has a unique role to play. Some work behind the scenes, whereas others work in the public eye. None of us could achieve alone what we do together. I intend to apply what I have learned with the Healthcare Club to my work in any public sector or private organization. Finding my role in an organization entails communicating effectively with others, speaking up for myself and for my colleagues, and empowering others.

Entrepreneurship eventually depends on collaboration. At the Healthcare Club, we went from starting a small group of students who needed greater access to professional development services into a large organization at the university level that has already helped students to network with prospective employers. I could even say that we have developed a "brand" for our organization, because employers have come to recognize our group as a go-to resource for talent. The Healthcare Club has helped alleviate the burden on some of our professors who are not necessarily knowledgeable or trained in career advice, while also helping human resources departments at major public and private healthcare organizations achieve their recruitment goals. Obviously, though, our target market is the students we help to put on the path towards success. Many of the members of our organization had not worked in a group before, and have had to develop confidence in their skills. When we start to realize…