Image
Building space for curiosity, creativity, and the confidence to try
The paper is folded once, then again, smearing drops of ink at the center. The pattern blooms outward, appearing imperfect and symmetrical at once. Some designs look like mosaic tiles, others like fractured maps. The room hums with an unfamiliar energy, something between curiosity and mild discomfort.
Amy Wyron Robinson ‘06, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E) Sr. Lecturing Fellow, watches from the edge of the room with a focused attention, observing everything and correcting nothing. "At Duke, students get here by doing everything right," she says. "They've become so accustomed to excellence that it becomes their kryptonite. It keeps them from being willing to try something new, because by definition, you won't be good at it yet." It is this specific fear that Robinson hopes to address by providing a space that feels less like a place to perform and more like a place to try.
An environment for experimentation
Welcome to Innovation, Creativity & Entrepreneurial Mindset (I&E 101). I&E 101 is intentionally designed to stretch students beyond what they already know and lean into the mindset of figuring it out. Professor Robinson explains, “We slow down enough to ask different questions, to look at problems from unusual angles, to force ourselves to notice what we typically gloss over in our brain’s incessant need to resolve uncertainty. We experiment without the pressure of getting it “right” on the first try.”
Redefining excellence as exploration
The course is a mix of hands-on exercises Robinson calls "challenges," short bursts of theory and research, and a fair amount of wrestling with concepts that may seem simple but rarely are. Students who have spent years striving for correctness are asked to sit with ambiguity and take deliberate action anyway. The students arrive with polished instincts: how to answer questions and how to move efficiently from problem to solution. The course asks them to set all of that down and to ask different questions.
"To have an entrepreneurial mindset means stepping into something uncharted," Robinson says. "And how are you supposed to do that if you think you need all the answers from day one?" Robinson teaches that curiosity is a discipline, creativity is practiced, and courage is built in small moments before it's needed in large ones.
Image
Ana Pujol enrolled in the course to turn her natural focus on problem-solving into a deliberate practice for creating impact.
“The immersive challenges allow us to experience both novel situations and familiar ones from a fresh, entrepreneurial perspective. The environment feels less like a traditional classroom and more like a judgment-free zone where you are encouraged to learn from each other and from your mistakes as well as your successes. In class, vulnerability is fostered as a tool for growth, which gives me the security to push past my boundaries.”
“Before this class, curiosity, creativity, and courage were merely words with a singular, clear-cut meaning—things that you either had or you didn't. Since then, I've learned how the three words actually form a trainable system that empowers people to view things from a different angle and provides us with the fuel to just start. To truly allow myself to engage, I have tried to simply let go of my inner judgment about what others may think and how I might fail, and just focus on the tools that I want to build and how I want to use them to create something meaningful.”
Approaching ambiguity with curiosity
I&E 101 creates a shift in orientation: a way of embracing internal friction by avoiding the immediate urge to resolve it. Students learn to stay with the unknown long enough to learn what it has to teach. They learn to try things they might otherwise avoid.
The effects of that environment are significant. They spill outward into how students approach their other coursework, how they collaborate, the risks they are willing to take and the questions they allow themselves to ask. Robinson gives them permission to redefine excellence as exploration instead of a fixed standard.
Image
Image
As a Psychology major, Arwen Revere was naturally interested in what drives human behavior and mindsets. She was drawn to the course to understand how these psychological concepts show up in an entrepreneurial context.
“Professor Robinson created an environment where experimentation felt genuinely encouraged. The course made space for exploration, brainstorming, and iteration without making it feel like every contribution had to be perfect. The class atmosphere feels super open, energetic, and low-stakes in the best way, which makes it easier to take intellectual risks.”
“I used to think of curiosity, creativity, and courage as separate traits that some people naturally had more of than others. Now I see them more as practices: mindsets that can be developed. Now I think curiosity is about staying open, creativity is about making connections and being willing to explore imperfect ideas, and courage is about acting even when you're unsure.”
Small, repeated acts of courage
One of the most satisfying moments for Robinson is when a student realizes that an entrepreneurial mindset is a choice, a muscle, and a way of showing up. “I see a shift in the students from ‘other people do this’ to ‘hey, I can do this too!’ It’s a micro breakthrough that has a huge impact on how they see themselves and the way they show up in the world.”
The transformations are incremental and the result of small, repeated acts of intellectual courage. "I hope they put in the reps of being mildly uncomfortable and a tiny bit brave within the safe space of the classroom," Robinson says, "so when the big scary world out there requires them to be very brave, or very uncomfortable (and trust me, it will!) they will have built the muscle they'll need to both survive and thrive."
Image
Image
For Catherine Nachalwe, the course provided a way to transform ideas into meaningful solutions.
“What has surprised me most is realizing that I've been holding back my potential for far too long. I have always had thousands of ideas, but I never truly believed in my ability to bring them to life. This course has shown me that my brain is like a machine capable of creating and innovating—everything we see started as an idea.”
“I used to think creativity was an innate talent that only a few people had, but this course has shown me that it is something we can all develop. Observing the world leads to ideas, and those ideas give us the courage to experiment, which ultimately sparks creativity. This confidence has overflowed into my life outside of class—I even started a dance lab at Duke for leisure and stress relief that now has 15 members. I now actively seek opportunities to innovate in my personal and professional life.”
Navigating the path ahead with creativity and confidence
Professor Robinson leaves her students with four questions in place of advice:
- What did you love doing as a kid, but stopped because it wasn’t “productive”?
- What are you stopping yourself from doing now because you’re afraid of what others will say?
- What would it feel like to experiment with something new without the pressure to already be good?
- What would you discover if you allowed yourself to be scared and do it anyway?
“If I did my job right, they walk out of class with the mindset required to tackle life’s challenges head on,” Robinson says. “Whether they start startups, go to medical school, or become consultants, my hope is that when they encounter hard things they remember to get curious as the antidote to fear. They can choose to be brave instead of wishing they were fearless, and they can write the next chapter of their own story.”