institutions and employment is broken it
probably always has been
but don’t worry technology has the
answer I’m Brendan Cavanaugh I’m an
entrepreneur I’m a disruptor but I’m
also an employer and I truly believe
that we can help people and empower them
with technology to carve out their own
career not just that but also help the
students who don’t fit in and the ones
who do fit in into the traditional
educational process and I know it sounds
like a trendy disruptive thing to say
but let me give you an an example a few
years ago a young man called me and he
offered to work for me in one of my
companies for twelve months free of
charge he had just graduated with a
first class honours degree the year was
2008 his degree auctioneering he was
desperate there probably hasn’t been an
auctioneer hired since 2007 and he
probably knew a year before he graduated
that he was in trouble so I took him on
I paid him because my dad always told me
that the deals not a deal unless both
sides are happy I gave him
he took it and flourished he continued
to grow and grow in competence and as he
grew in competence he grew in confidence
he took night courses he took online
training courses that were relevant to
the roles that he had as he was moving
through the organization that young man
is the senior manager in one of my
companies today and I wouldn’t exchange
him for 10 MBA graduates I didn’t fit
into the standard traditional
educational process but they had the
confidence to scope at my own career
path probably because I was the youngest
of seven children so I was disrupting at
a very early age and negotiating skills
were necessay around three sisters and
three brothers no I was passionate to
get out there and do my own thing before
the end of second-level and I wouldn’t
complain about the people and the
teachers and the great tutors that I had
but not everybody you know has that
confidence sometimes the confidence is
knocked out of students before they get
joined an engineering company I loved it
I was passionate I was soaking of
business and commerce and mainly from my
peers the people who had gone before me
experiential learning
I was desi the designated driver for all
the sales managers and there long with
liquid lunches sometimes
and it always make myself available for
the board if they were going out on
business dinners at night my lecture
hall for the first few years seemed to
be behind the steering wheel of a car
but I also did night courses and I did
training courses online training courses
at that time Microsoft were churning out
version after version of courses in Word
and PowerPoint and Excel I orchestrated
a management buyout of that company at
the age of 24 the same age as that chap
was when he called me and in his mind
were the first class honours degree
wasn’t employable no business skills
that’s the serious thing to say
but it also might be a blessing did you
ever have a car that’s constantly
breaking down you shell and I have more
and more cash for more and more
breakdowns tires exhausts start and
motors until one day just sits down and
then what happens you have to invest in
new technology and you get up in the
morning and you know it’s gonna start
nice warm journey to work and you know
that every time you come back to it it
works that’s what I believe sometimes
needs to happen you know elearning is
not just the future of learning it’s
already there today video based learning
the brain interprets video 60,000 times
faster than text so one minute of video
is 1.8
million words it’s fascinating but of
course it is in our learning and
development institutions both in
employers as well in hate or departments
we’re still producing PowerPoint online
text based learning the rest of the
world is on the Internet
forty five point three billion hits just
in one ecosystem alone the beauty
industry huge you’ll be very interested
to know that ninety two percent all
videos watched in hair is the man I use
it myself actually so ladies you can
remind your husband of that’s when
they’re complaining about waiting for
that’s where learning is done Netflix
YouTube and the learning is done and
eighty percent of access to the Internet
is now to smartphone in my own industry
we’ve rolled out over five hundred
thousand learning programs to blue
collar workers the largest workforce in
the world the most regulators the most
transient and then also soft skills
courses to managers immersive training
is not the future we’re already training
people training pilots around cockpits
navigating around them no block in the
pipe because the simulator is not
available we’re already doing that we’re
training blue collar workers in health
and safety environments that before they
go in and establish risks
they have experienced it already you
know from my perspective I went on to
grow age companies I went to the east
and found a country where I could
develop 3d animations motion graphics
all that sort of stuff I don’t say that
the boast I look at life in a unique way
but I believe everybody does if they
have the right support systems I believe
that the professors and the tutors the
thought leaders and the subject matter
experts in our formal educational
institutes and training boards some of
the best in the world I think we should
take them out of the walls of the
institutions and slot them into these
courses so that it’s web-enabled
I can learn 24/7 Anytime Anywhere
don’t have to wait till September I can
let’s have a look once again and imagine
the path that it could have been for
that young man so he downloads a free
app and decides at 16 years of age I’d
like to get a bit of part-time work when
I’m at school the app tells him that if
he takes a food hygiene course that
there are lots of jobs that will begin
to notify him based on his new skill in
the locality that are available in as
you know customer service restaurants
pubs etc so he does that and then at 18
years of age he decides that may
I would like to be a real estate agent
or an auctioneer and he goes to his free
app and the app chosen the learning path
and the career path to becoming an
auctioneer or real estate agent and it
suggests start with a European computer
driver’s license he does that and as
soon as he loads up his certification he
starts to get notifications of jobs that
are available in administration and he
starts in a real estate agents and then
from the skills that he had from his
hospitality job on interpersonal skills
and customer service decides maybe I’ve
developed my skills in sales and
marketing so he takes a Dale Carnegie
course online at 21 years of age having
alongside all of that then the modules
the accredited modules that are
necessary to become a licensed
auctioneer or real estate agent he
notices that all the jobs that are being
notified that master skill set actually
aren’t just coming from auctioneering he
has options and telecoms retail health
and that 24 he decides based on his
skill set and his experience he can go
to the enterprise board and maybe he
and at 24 he has his own business the
same age as he was when he left
University were the first class honours
degree and deemed himself to be
unemployable I’m a disrupter
there’s 1.7 3 billion euros a year spent
in recruitment a collaboration between
employers and educational institutions
we could spend a lot of that money in
creating courses that match real jobs
and have them communicating in a tinder
uber or Airbnb type way look I’m not
saying that there’s going to be a
revolution in education I’m saying the
revolution has already happened and
formal education Institute’s are in
danger of being left behind
on the shore for good after the ship has
sailed and ladies and gentlemen that
ship is technology welcome aboard
thank you
[Applause] [Music]