Building an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Dick Schulze believes students learn best by doing. This conviction has made entrepreneurship and innovation part of the St. Thomas experience.

Some lessons can be explained. Richard M. “Dick” Schulze believes the most important ones need to be lived.

“When you actually experience something, you remember it,” said Schulze, founder and chairman emeritus of Best Buy. “It’s the doing or the experience that essentially sticks with you.”

That conviction has shaped Schulze’s relationship with the University of St. Thomas since 2000 when he made the founding gift for the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. Today, entrepreneurial thinking reaches students across St. Thomas, not just business students, helping them discover what they can achieve. The impact is real: 51% of the Class of 2026 took at least one entrepreneurship course.

On Sept. 17, St. Thomas will launch Be Brilliant. Be Bold. The Campaign for St. Thomas, the most ambitious fundraising campaign in university history. The campaign will broaden the range of experiences that define a St. Thomas education.

For Schulze, that is the essence of an entrepreneurial mindset: see what could work better and have the curiosity and determination to improve it.

“You’re always trying to move in a direction of continually reinventing yourself,” he said. Employers, he added, need graduates prepared to “challenge the status quo” and say, “Show me new ways. Show me better ways.”

That kind of thinking requires more than creativity. Schulze wants students to grapple with an idea, figure out an innovative approach and determine whether it could succeed. The way of an entrepreneur also requires confidence to take a well-considered risk and resilience to bounce back if that approach falls short.

“My keenest learnings came from failing,” he said. “The more I failed, the more I learned. The more I learned, the smarter I got.”

Schulze said his decisions improved when he sought out people with different perspectives and considered how a change might affect them. Students, he said, should build networks, ask good questions and remember that no one person has every answer.

“Once I started listening more carefully to more people ... the smarter I got,” he said.

Schulze’s philosophy also places service at the center of work. He describes a clear order for business: first the customer, then employees, then the community and, finally, shareholders.

“Take care of those you serve, and take care of those who serve those you serve,” he said. “And then look after the community.”

That perspective aligns with the St. Thomas mission to advance the common good. Rooted in its Catholic identity, the university helps students see each person as fully human, respond to real needs and create value for others. Whether they work as engineers, educators or health professionals, lead within established organizations or found businesses, Tommies carry that mindset into their lives after graduation.

Schulze’s example shows what students can accomplish when they have the support to put ideas into action. Be Brilliant. Be Bold. will extend that opportunity – preparing more Tommies to experiment, adapt, persevere and make a lasting difference.