I guess we trust the education system
and the process of teachers and the
schools and everything to do with it
it’s gonna help kids become the people
who they’re going to be and change the
world and make it a better place
sadly a heck of a lot of people think
otherwise when they look back on their
school years and a lot of people say at
the very end of it there are some tests
and some examinations and there are some
modified things and everything revolves
around how well I can remember the stuff
I’m supposed to remember and I don’t
want to know it but I just need to
remember it so where does that go well
we clearly need teachers but what we
really need is we need an aspires we
need people who are gonna get kids to
the level at which they want to find out
and they want to know this stuff and
challenge the thinking actually I think
I should call them in spíritus like a
conspirator but it’s for inspiration so
where can we go well we can test where
the kids have done a lot and really
learned because when they go home they
burst to tell what they learned and I
don’t know how many of you here remember
the time when you were at school and you
came home and your parents might have
said what did you learn and you’re
forever other times when your parents
you’re gonna go to school tomorrow
you’ve got to what do you think you
learn they’re really same again nothing
and so there is something strange about
that even more strange in some schools
we call people underachievers I don’t
know how you underachieve and worse it’s
how do you over achieve can you believe
that you can say to somebody you’re an
overachiever oh well I better just mess
everything up then and just get things
wrong so I thought well well is it
possible for somebody who’s not an
educator who’s not a teacher to see if I
can make some sort of difference
into this world which is very very very
established so the first thing is what
are the expectations so nine I IVA T
thought that if I went into schools and
if I gave some talks and I try to
motivate kids to want to learn I could
then go back to my daily life feeling
I’ve helped and I’ve done a lot I was
wrong the fact is the one can bring kids
up to a level of motivation and
inspiration but it doesn’t last very
long it’s like that marvelous moment
some people actually have that when they
join self health groups and they go
along and they get motivated up and then
it gradually goes down and they go back
to another cell phone when she goes down
and what we need is we need to get kids
into the position young people in the
position where it stays with them all
the time so I thought okay I know a lot
of people what I’ll do is I’ll take a
small group of students boardrooms that
sort of thing hold about 1215 people so
I’ll take 12 students and we’ll go to
meet some amazing people and then
magical rub off I was wrong because when
you take some students to meet some
amazing people they have a construct
which is constrained by everything which
they’ve done at school and what happens
in school
either they get desks which they sit
behind and somewhere over there is a
teacher and inspire and inspirator who
is leading what they’re supposed to do
so when they go off to really great
people they tend to follow the same
process and they were sitting there and
the adult is expected to just deliver
magic a lot of adults don’t know how to
deliver magic you know I know how to set
up a business I know how to do all sorts
of stuff but I don’t know how to inspire
a group of students who are sitting
there
you better be bloody good so how can I
do that and I went back and I
reconsidered and I thought well part of
that problem is the whole way that the
construct of Education with its
hierarchy of who sits where and who’s in
charge and who’s not need to stretch it
something okay no classroom I’ll go into
a school we’ll go into school and I’ll
move the chairs around and so we’ll move
them into a circle so everybody can see
and actually if I want if I want kids to
develop the skill set and being able to
really interview somebody to really find
out what they can do maybe I should get
the school principal to sit in the
middle and the students can ask any
question about anything including do you
like us why did you become a principal
and often those students have only ever
met the principal when there’s been in
trouble and similarly the principal’s
only ever met the students when the
principal is trying to say something
horrible to them
so principal saloon and if I can do that
they must master anything I go yes and
the kids get great I could get my own
back but in practice what takes place is
of the moderation which happens and
something great takes place and it’s all
sorts of people who do it and every
every principal has come out of this
saying fine honey
I understand these kids which I didn’t
know before because hitherto the only
ones I’ve really spoken to are the ones
who have had to go and see the principal
and so they have adopted the policy of
I’ve got to go and see the principal
and so they know they’re going to be in
for a hard time and so when the
principal says how’s life – gets great
what do you think this call fantastic
but afterwards a guy to see that howdy
principal again so I thought well let’s
find out really what students want and
what their interests are so I set up a
small diary room just an iPad in a
little quiet space with a few things for
students to answer and individually they
talked to camera because if you ask them
what they want to do as a group they
sort of end up by saying the same sort
of thing I don’t have anybody here’s
ever been in a focus group and he
finally sorry so I think that’s rubbish
somebody else says I think it’s good and
then gradually everybody thinks is good
you know does that make sense
so then I said well we know the
boardrooms about this size so let’s get
a coach and we will take a group of
students and we’ll go for meet some
interesting people and they can use
those same techniques about asking
anything and just let’s see what happens
and so we might go to a major city law
firm and then go off and go to a TV
production company and then have lunch
and say to the restaurant er how did you
set up what’s it all about how do you
make things work and then go off to see
us to start up and then maybe you go and
see an advertising agency interestingly
when I ask organizations are you
prepared to spend an hour with students
with no agenda if I bring them in a
coach to see you and we’ll stay there
for exactly one hour about 800 people
have agreed to do that
so it’s it’s the process of who should
we go and see there’s a bit of logistics
in what order should we go but if I
didn’t know what the students are
interested in I might not quite get it
right so the diary room becomes
critically important and then amazingly
magic happens as they go back and they
start bursting to tell
so thought that’s that’s pretty good but
then you go back maybe a month later and
you realize it has also dropped a little
bit and I realize this there’s more to
it than that you know so we might do
this stuff about how do you talk to
people and we might do this stuff about
where do you really want to go and
students find it very cathartic and they
quite often want other people to go and
they interview each other to find out
about them and we have to do a bit of
training around that and how do you ask
the difficult questions and then they’ve
gone off to meet pretty interesting
people but it’s still in the school
environment and when they get back it
doesn’t necessarily hit here so after of
working with about a thousand students
in 50 different schools I thought we
have to make even more and then magic
happened to me because I had a stroke
and so I found myself in hospital not
being able to talk properly and not
being able to see but the journey was
that hospital was all about making me
better but it wasn’t about necessarily
trying to overachieve and the startup
community there’s a lot of work in terms
of elevator pitches I thought well the
points of an elevator pitch is to get
something happening to implement
something so let’s do that with students
so five people is quite good to go and
visit because there’s no right or wrong
answer so I’ll increase that to six or
seven so maybe I can find seven business
leaders or just leaders ideally who’ve
got or doing things which the students
are interested in because I know what
they’re interested in because we’ve seen
their dire rumors and we’ve got to meet
them and if I can persuade people to
come into a school for two and a half
hours as long as I fairly local
which means as those kids go home or
whatever they go past those same people
so that will reinforce it that might
work
do you know everybody have asked has
said of course it’s two and a half hours
what do I have to do just be yourself do
I have to present anything no the kids
will ask you everything it’s it’s up to
you and if you want to do a deal it’s a
real deal if you want to say to a
student yeah come and come by come come
and see what we get up to I’ve got some
contacts you might be able to help but
if you agree it then it’s real but if
they don’t ask they don’t get their
little bit of work with students on how
to do an elevator pitch how would you
present yourself to somebody in a short
space of time and see how could they
help you in your journey to become the
person you might be able to be and off
we went
so three three minutes then the next
person three minutes then the next
person three minutes and the first time
is usually a bit rubbish but the rule to
say second time a little bit better but
still a bit rubbish third time getting
better fourth fifth and sixth time
amazing seventh time magic happens and
then it’s pretty easy because then all
we have to discipline everybody together
and see well what deals have been done
what deals could have been done but
didn’t what contacts can be exploited
and start sharing information so if
students are young then we have to
protect them from bad people of course
you’re not gonna be violently bad people
in but we don’t allow them to exchange
email addresses if they’re over sixteen
they can but for they’re under sixteen
they have to go through the school you
know just to make sure everybody knows
what’s going on and magic has happened
some students in three and a half four
minutes with people have done deals as
there’s one girl who
at the restaurant I knew somebody who
knew somebody so that same girl did the
same technique in this elevator pitch
and she got voice coaching from the
voice coach of a very famous singer
which would never have happened if she
hadn’t asked and at school people have
and we realized that actually a lot of
teachers limit their abilities by what
they know rather than what they think
can happen so when teachers can make the
move and we come in spirit errs and
really start challenging everything
which is currently done
they might free themselves up from the
awful change which they’re in of
curriculum and time management and
because the world is moving so fast
there’s no way that teachers are going
to be able to keep up so we have to flip
it it has to be that the students
themselves are eager pullers of
information challenging the teachers
without the teachers having to teach
them and then the teachers can coach
them can guide them because they how
about this and kids might say you know I
think I’m doing this but I don’t know if
it’ll work what do you think instead of
sitting there being taught stuff which
they don’t know why they need to learn
it and if you don’t know why you need to
learn it you tend not to learn it very
well you can pass the test and I bet we
all know some people who have done
pretty well at school and when you meet
them you think how did an idiot like you
end up by doing well but at the same
time we probably know some amazing
people who didn’t do well might be the
so wouldn’t it be great if we can free
up the constraints free up the chains
and start integrating the preparation
for taking part in the world outside
with the world outside and allow
children students to be the conduit and
then maybe maybe these children and
their parents and carers will see this
as not the classroom but as the portal
as the gateway to an amazing world of
opportunity and maybe just maybe the
memories of school will be that’s when I
discovered Who I am that’s what set me
on the journey and maybe we collectively
can make a change to what seems to be
impossible to change thank you very much
[Applause] [Music]
and the process of teachers and the
schools and everything to do with it
it’s gonna help kids become the people
who they’re going to be and change the
world and make it a better place
sadly a heck of a lot of people think
otherwise when they look back on their
school years and a lot of people say at
the very end of it there are some tests
and some examinations and there are some
modified things and everything revolves
around how well I can remember the stuff
I’m supposed to remember and I don’t
want to know it but I just need to
remember it so where does that go well
we clearly need teachers but what we
really need is we need an aspires we
need people who are gonna get kids to
the level at which they want to find out
and they want to know this stuff and
challenge the thinking actually I think
I should call them in spíritus like a
conspirator but it’s for inspiration so
where can we go well we can test where
the kids have done a lot and really
learned because when they go home they
burst to tell what they learned and I
don’t know how many of you here remember
the time when you were at school and you
came home and your parents might have
said what did you learn and you’re
forever other times when your parents
you’re gonna go to school tomorrow
you’ve got to what do you think you
learn they’re really same again nothing
and so there is something strange about
that even more strange in some schools
we call people underachievers I don’t
know how you underachieve and worse it’s
how do you over achieve can you believe
that you can say to somebody you’re an
overachiever oh well I better just mess
everything up then and just get things
wrong so I thought well well is it
possible for somebody who’s not an
educator who’s not a teacher to see if I
can make some sort of difference
into this world which is very very very
established so the first thing is what
are the expectations so nine I IVA T
thought that if I went into schools and
if I gave some talks and I try to
motivate kids to want to learn I could
then go back to my daily life feeling
I’ve helped and I’ve done a lot I was
wrong the fact is the one can bring kids
up to a level of motivation and
inspiration but it doesn’t last very
long it’s like that marvelous moment
some people actually have that when they
join self health groups and they go
along and they get motivated up and then
it gradually goes down and they go back
to another cell phone when she goes down
and what we need is we need to get kids
into the position young people in the
position where it stays with them all
the time so I thought okay I know a lot
of people what I’ll do is I’ll take a
small group of students boardrooms that
sort of thing hold about 1215 people so
I’ll take 12 students and we’ll go to
meet some amazing people and then
magical rub off I was wrong because when
you take some students to meet some
amazing people they have a construct
which is constrained by everything which
they’ve done at school and what happens
in school
either they get desks which they sit
behind and somewhere over there is a
teacher and inspire and inspirator who
is leading what they’re supposed to do
so when they go off to really great
people they tend to follow the same
process and they were sitting there and
the adult is expected to just deliver
magic a lot of adults don’t know how to
deliver magic you know I know how to set
up a business I know how to do all sorts
of stuff but I don’t know how to inspire
a group of students who are sitting
there
you better be bloody good so how can I
do that and I went back and I
reconsidered and I thought well part of
that problem is the whole way that the
construct of Education with its
hierarchy of who sits where and who’s in
charge and who’s not need to stretch it
something okay no classroom I’ll go into
a school we’ll go into school and I’ll
move the chairs around and so we’ll move
them into a circle so everybody can see
and actually if I want if I want kids to
develop the skill set and being able to
really interview somebody to really find
out what they can do maybe I should get
the school principal to sit in the
middle and the students can ask any
question about anything including do you
like us why did you become a principal
and often those students have only ever
met the principal when there’s been in
trouble and similarly the principal’s
only ever met the students when the
principal is trying to say something
horrible to them
so principal saloon and if I can do that
they must master anything I go yes and
the kids get great I could get my own
back but in practice what takes place is
of the moderation which happens and
something great takes place and it’s all
sorts of people who do it and every
every principal has come out of this
saying fine honey
I understand these kids which I didn’t
know before because hitherto the only
ones I’ve really spoken to are the ones
who have had to go and see the principal
and so they have adopted the policy of
I’ve got to go and see the principal
and so they know they’re going to be in
for a hard time and so when the
principal says how’s life – gets great
what do you think this call fantastic
but afterwards a guy to see that howdy
principal again so I thought well let’s
find out really what students want and
what their interests are so I set up a
small diary room just an iPad in a
little quiet space with a few things for
students to answer and individually they
talked to camera because if you ask them
what they want to do as a group they
sort of end up by saying the same sort
of thing I don’t have anybody here’s
ever been in a focus group and he
finally sorry so I think that’s rubbish
somebody else says I think it’s good and
then gradually everybody thinks is good
you know does that make sense
so then I said well we know the
boardrooms about this size so let’s get
a coach and we will take a group of
students and we’ll go for meet some
interesting people and they can use
those same techniques about asking
anything and just let’s see what happens
and so we might go to a major city law
firm and then go off and go to a TV
production company and then have lunch
and say to the restaurant er how did you
set up what’s it all about how do you
make things work and then go off to see
us to start up and then maybe you go and
see an advertising agency interestingly
when I ask organizations are you
prepared to spend an hour with students
with no agenda if I bring them in a
coach to see you and we’ll stay there
for exactly one hour about 800 people
have agreed to do that
so it’s it’s the process of who should
we go and see there’s a bit of logistics
in what order should we go but if I
didn’t know what the students are
interested in I might not quite get it
right so the diary room becomes
critically important and then amazingly
magic happens as they go back and they
start bursting to tell
so thought that’s that’s pretty good but
then you go back maybe a month later and
you realize it has also dropped a little
bit and I realize this there’s more to
it than that you know so we might do
this stuff about how do you talk to
people and we might do this stuff about
where do you really want to go and
students find it very cathartic and they
quite often want other people to go and
they interview each other to find out
about them and we have to do a bit of
training around that and how do you ask
the difficult questions and then they’ve
gone off to meet pretty interesting
people but it’s still in the school
environment and when they get back it
doesn’t necessarily hit here so after of
working with about a thousand students
in 50 different schools I thought we
have to make even more and then magic
happened to me because I had a stroke
and so I found myself in hospital not
being able to talk properly and not
being able to see but the journey was
that hospital was all about making me
better but it wasn’t about necessarily
trying to overachieve and the startup
community there’s a lot of work in terms
of elevator pitches I thought well the
points of an elevator pitch is to get
something happening to implement
something so let’s do that with students
so five people is quite good to go and
visit because there’s no right or wrong
answer so I’ll increase that to six or
seven so maybe I can find seven business
leaders or just leaders ideally who’ve
got or doing things which the students
are interested in because I know what
they’re interested in because we’ve seen
their dire rumors and we’ve got to meet
them and if I can persuade people to
come into a school for two and a half
hours as long as I fairly local
which means as those kids go home or
whatever they go past those same people
so that will reinforce it that might
work
do you know everybody have asked has
said of course it’s two and a half hours
what do I have to do just be yourself do
I have to present anything no the kids
will ask you everything it’s it’s up to
you and if you want to do a deal it’s a
real deal if you want to say to a
student yeah come and come by come come
and see what we get up to I’ve got some
contacts you might be able to help but
if you agree it then it’s real but if
they don’t ask they don’t get their
little bit of work with students on how
to do an elevator pitch how would you
present yourself to somebody in a short
space of time and see how could they
help you in your journey to become the
person you might be able to be and off
we went
so three three minutes then the next
person three minutes then the next
person three minutes and the first time
is usually a bit rubbish but the rule to
say second time a little bit better but
still a bit rubbish third time getting
better fourth fifth and sixth time
amazing seventh time magic happens and
then it’s pretty easy because then all
we have to discipline everybody together
and see well what deals have been done
what deals could have been done but
didn’t what contacts can be exploited
and start sharing information so if
students are young then we have to
protect them from bad people of course
you’re not gonna be violently bad people
in but we don’t allow them to exchange
email addresses if they’re over sixteen
they can but for they’re under sixteen
they have to go through the school you
know just to make sure everybody knows
what’s going on and magic has happened
some students in three and a half four
minutes with people have done deals as
there’s one girl who
at the restaurant I knew somebody who
knew somebody so that same girl did the
same technique in this elevator pitch
and she got voice coaching from the
voice coach of a very famous singer
which would never have happened if she
hadn’t asked and at school people have
and we realized that actually a lot of
teachers limit their abilities by what
they know rather than what they think
can happen so when teachers can make the
move and we come in spirit errs and
really start challenging everything
which is currently done
they might free themselves up from the
awful change which they’re in of
curriculum and time management and
because the world is moving so fast
there’s no way that teachers are going
to be able to keep up so we have to flip
it it has to be that the students
themselves are eager pullers of
information challenging the teachers
without the teachers having to teach
them and then the teachers can coach
them can guide them because they how
about this and kids might say you know I
think I’m doing this but I don’t know if
it’ll work what do you think instead of
sitting there being taught stuff which
they don’t know why they need to learn
it and if you don’t know why you need to
learn it you tend not to learn it very
well you can pass the test and I bet we
all know some people who have done
pretty well at school and when you meet
them you think how did an idiot like you
end up by doing well but at the same
time we probably know some amazing
people who didn’t do well might be the
so wouldn’t it be great if we can free
up the constraints free up the chains
and start integrating the preparation
for taking part in the world outside
with the world outside and allow
children students to be the conduit and
then maybe maybe these children and
their parents and carers will see this
as not the classroom but as the portal
as the gateway to an amazing world of
opportunity and maybe just maybe the
memories of school will be that’s when I
discovered Who I am that’s what set me
on the journey and maybe we collectively
can make a change to what seems to be
impossible to change thank you very much
[Applause] [Music]
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