Writing Entrepreneurship Books ... for Kids, with Lowey Sichol

The Sydcast

Episode Summary

Lowey Bundy Sichol writes books about entrepreneurship for kids. Think Google, Lego, and Disney. A multiple award-winner who used to write business school case studies, Lowey has figured out how to communicate to children in a way that makes them want to keep reading. On this episode of The Sydcast, Lowey tells her story.

Sydney Finkelstein

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the Global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life.

Lowey Bundy Sichol

Lowey Bundy Sichol (her last name rhymes with pickle) is an award-winning children's author with an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. She is a leading expert in teaching business and entrepreneurship to kids.

Lowey’s nonfiction series From an Idea to... (Harper Collins/ HMH, 2019) is the first entrepreneurship and business book series for kids and the recipient of several literary awards. Her latest book, IDEA MAKERS: 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs (Chicago Review Press, 2022), shares the incredible stories of 15 of our nation’s greatest female founders. And Lowey’s upcoming book Cookie Queen (Random House, 2023) is the first entrepreneurship picture book. Cookie Queen shares the story of Kathleen King and her inspiration for building Tate’s Bake Shop.

Prior to writing children’s books, Lowey worked in brand management and founded Case Marketing, a specialized writing firm that composes MBA case studies for some of the top business schools in the world. Her case studies have been read by MBA students across the globe and are included in the internationally best-selling marketing book, Marketing Management, by Kotler & Keller (Pearson, 2016).

Lowey received an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA from Hamilton College, where she played softball and rugby. She lives in Chicago with her husband, three children, and two big dogs.

Awards include 2019 Best Children’s Book, 2019 Best Children’s Nonfiction Book, 2020 Best STEM Book, Junior Library Guild Gold Selection, 2020 Best Children’s Book Council book, 2020 International Literacy Association Book, 2020-2021 Texas Bluebonnet Award master list, among others.

Insights from this episode:

• Lowey’s idea of writing children’s books
• How Lowey’s mom influenced her work
• How her childhood influenced her journey into writing books
• How to go about writing a case study
• Similarities between writing case studies and children’s books
• Lowey’s sweet spot in her target audience
• How Lowey is able to educate her audience without making it too complicated or too simplified
• The common themes while writing her book IDEA MAKERS: 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs
• Lessons that children can learn from reading her book

Quotes from the show:

• “I’d certainly think she [my mom] was very influential. She was always a wonderful teacher in town, very focused on play and learning through doing” -Lowey Bundy Sichol [11:03]
• “It’s pretty cool that schools now are embracing teaching kids about entrepreneurship, and I think it goes back to ‘learn through doing, learn through failure, experimenting and inventing’” -Lowey Bundy Sichol [11:36]
• “A lot of my books are about how influenced entrepreneurs and business leaders are by their childhood, and the parents who raised them, and I am such a good example of that” -Lowey Bundy Sichol [12:00]
• “This is what I have learned [about kids in 3rd, 4th, 5th grade]: They are incredibly brave, they are incredibly creative, they are incredibly excited to share their ideas, they are not too cool yet, but they are incredibly bright. It’s almost like they are mini entrepreneurs” -Lowey Bundy Sichol [13:56]
• “It’s interesting the philosophy of education for anyone, but for kids, the idea of having applied projects that are practical is very powerful” -Syd Finkelstein [20:23]
• “I think education, in general, has not done as good a job in entire industries in making it clear why you need to learn” -Syd Finkelstein [20:43]
• “My purpose is to tell a great story and to teach kids about business and entrepreneurship” -Lowey Bundy Sichol [29:43]
• ​​“Being able to adapt for the different audience, being able to just persevere throughout the hard times and being brave enough to go against what other people didn’t support are some of the common themes” -Lowey Bundy Sichol [38:51]

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Lowey Bundy Sichol

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This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.