Michael Carter

Athlete, Business adviser, Business mentor, Concerned citizen, Entrepreneur, Jewish, Parent

* Working with entrepreneurs to make them as successful as possible. * Love growing and encouraging life long learning in myself and others * Building a business I founded 39 years ago that was awarded Boutique Investment Bank of the Year in 2023 * Making a difference by founding many ventures and being a change agent. Examples: • Founder of Carter Morse & Goodrich – Investment Bank of the Year in 23 • Founder of Push for Entrepreneurship – a fundraiser for innovation education for low income school districts. In Fairfield, CT and NYC. Since founding ten years ago raised $650,000. • Led effort to get lights on football field in our town • President of Little League - changed the baseball experience • Formed Rescue Afghan Woman Now – to help keep safe Afghan women soldiers who we left behind and get them out of Afghanistan * Empowering children --- Teaching Entrepreneurship and Innovation: • Board of Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship - left as Vice Chairman of Fairchester Chapter • Board of NextMinds --- Coached youth sports

I'm passionate about helping young people discover that their curiosity is not a distraction from success it is the path to it. I've built my own life around three commitments: staying insatiably curious, treating every single day as a chance to learn something new, and using what I learn to help young people see possibilities they didn't know were available to them. I think we do a disservice to the next generation when we teach them to chase certainty instead of chasing questions. The kids who ask "why" one too many times, who take things apart just to see how they work, who won't settle for "because that's how it's always been done". Those are the future builders, scientists, and leaders. My job, as I see it, is to make sure that instinct doesn't get trained out of them by the time they're adults. That's why I care so much about creating space in mentorship, in education, in the way we talk to young people for them to explore what genuinely excites them, fail without shame, and realize that their dreams aren't naive. They're instructions. Bottom line, I am passionate about making a difference.

The world's biggest problems will not be solved by people who already have all the answers. They'll be solved by people who never stopped asking questions. We are taught, early and often, to prize the right answer over the right question. But every meaningful breakthrough in medicine, technology, art, business, or how we live together; started with someone who refused to accept "that's just how it's done." Innovation isn't a talent reserved for a few brilliant minds; it's a habit of mind available to anyone willing to stay curious, question assumptions, and treat failure as data instead of defeat. The idea worth spreading is this: curiosity is a discipline, not a personality trait and if we can teach people, especially young people, to practice it deliberately, we don't just create more inventors and entrepreneurs. We create a generation that questions the status quo, thinks critically under pressure, and believes the future is theirs to build rather than inherit.

Curiosity, Entrepreneurship, Fitness, Innovation, Israel

Long time listener......became an organizer of TEDx InnovationDrive which is scheduled for September 30th. TEDx Innovation Drive is an invite-only event, bringing together 300 of Connecticut's most innovative leaders, consisting of CEO and founders of large to emerging growth companies, non profits focused on innovation, venture capitalists, public officials and education/university innovators. The speakers are world class experts. More on our website: tedxinnovationdrive.com Each attendee will hopefully take what they learned and bring it back to their respective organizations.

Push Ups. Asking questions. High SEI. Playing with kids. Fatherhood (hopefully my kids know it) :)