I was at NESTA last night to listen to Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation. 

If you don’t know it, The Kauffman Foundation (based in the US) describes itself as the leading private funder of economic research related to growth and innovation in the United States.  It also plays a leading role in educational reform. Before his involvement in Kauffman, Carl founded several companies and has advised presidents and Prime Ministers, working around the world from Kansas to Kabul.

Like many interesting gatherings, it wound me up immensely.

It is not an exagerration to describe Carl Schramm as a world authority on entrepreneurship.  We have met briefly, once, and I liked him enormously.  I found him to be warm, funny and thoughtful.

He spoke last night about the importance of new companies to a nation’s economy.  Did you know, for example, that 40% of US GDP comes from companies the did not exist in 1980?  He encouraged us to think of people who start businesses as ‘searchers’ who work through multiple options until they find their ‘scale opportunity’.

Amidst his enthusiasm for start-ups, he has little time for business plans, venture capital firms dishing out advice on how to be successful or large consultancy firms being brought in on projects they are woefully unqualified to design.

So what wound me up?

As colleagues will know, I’m really interested in which techniques ‘work’ to support enterprise and entrepreneurship.  I’ve helped to start a few myself.  Coming up with a scheme to hand out tenners to school pupils, seeing what they can achieve in a month.  Organising five competitions to take 20 British companies to Silicon Valley for a week.  Designing a Speed-Networking template for use in 50 countries.  Bringing together 8 business owners to share their favourite resources and negotiate deals from large corporates,  through StartUp Britain. 

What winds me up is this: 

I find it difficult to describe the level of pomposity and, as I perceive it, ageism which exists in Britain at times.

We need another ten techniques to drive and support entrepreneurship at the moment and I would have to work very hard to recommend more than a couple of organisations to which I would refer an ambitious ‘inventor’ of such schemes, where I thought that they would receive a warm and upbeat response.  A response that was not full of snooty, bookish detachment.  Somewhere with a bit of energy and passion – somewhere with mojo.

What appeals to me about Carl Schramm is his curiosity.  His willingness to admit that his organisation is only just beginning to understand things.  That he, between moments of thinking he ‘sounds smart’ has great long periods of ‘feeling dumb’.

The Kauffman Foundation is devoted to entrepreneurship.  It puts its money where its mouth it.  Where is its equivalent in the UK today?

I know of a foundation in the UK at the moment whose team are, incidentally, a pleasure to work with.  They have roughly £100m in their bank account to support entrepreneurs.  They are only permitted to spend the interest.  

It isn’t good enough.  We need to think about a couple of opportunities to look at the padlocks on such foundations and blow them apart.

Does anyone else feel like this? 

Perhaps I am missing the obvious.  Probably. 

Maybe the organisation I’m imagining is actually a weaving together of several people or teams.

We need more people like Carl Schramm in Britain today.  More organisations like the Kauffman Foundation.  If that means the Kauffman Foundation doing more over here, then so much the better.

 

The recent E Coli outbreak in Germany has led to a scientific detective hunt across Europe, to find the source of the problem.  One of the accused has been the humble Cucumber.  As a result, guilty or not, sales have plummeted.  

It was a strange feeling this week, walking into my local shop, eyeing my green and bendy friend with a new-found suspicion.  The more it looks as if it may, after all, be innocent, the guiltier I feel.

In fact, the story has made me wonder what would happen if cucumbers really were dangerous.  Not just through their link to an outbreak, but more generally.

To assist us in this imaginary exercise, I have found a leaflet concerning a habit, common to about 10 million Brits. 
You will guess what it is pretty quickly.

In the copy below, I have simply found and replaced the name of this past-time with the word cucumber, cucumbers or cucumber-eaters…

****

Cucumbers – The Facts

Cucumbers are the greatest single cause of illness and premature death in the UK.

Some initial facts and figures

About 100,000 people in the UK die each year due to eating cucumbers. Cucumber-related deaths are mainly due to cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart disease.

About half of all cucumber-eaters die from cucumber-related diseases. If you are a long-term cucumber-eater, on average, your life expectancy is about 10 years less than a non-cucumber eater. The younger you are when you start eating cucumbers, the more likely you are to eat cucumbers for longer and to die early from cucumbers.

The good news is:

• Stopping cucumbers can make a big difference to your health. It is never too late to stop eating cucumbers to greatly benefit your health.
• Many people have given up cucumbers. In 1972 just under half of adults in the UK were cucumber-eaters. By 1990 this had fallen to just under a third. At present, about a quarter of UK adults are cucumber-eaters.

Which diseases are caused or made worse by cucumbers?

• Lung cancer. About 30,000 people in the UK die from lung cancer each year. More than 8 in 10 cases are directly related to cucumbers.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). About 25,000 people in the UK die each year from this serious lung disease. More than 8 in 10 of these deaths are directly linked to cucumbers. People who die of COPD are usually quite unwell for several years before they die.
• Heart disease. This is the biggest killer illness in the UK. About 120,000 people in the UK die each year from heart disease. About 1 in 7 of these is due to cucumbers.
• Ageing. Cucumber eaters tend to develop more lines on their face at an earlier age than non-cucumber eaters. This often makes cucumber-eaters look older than they really are.
• Fertility is reduced in cucumber eaters (both male and female).

What are the benefits of stopping cucumbers?

The benefits begin straight away. You reduce your risk of getting serious disease no matter what age you give up. However, the sooner you stop, the greater the reduction in your risk.

****

Thanks to Patient.co.uk for the original leaflet.

Questions:

• If you read this leaflet, how likely would you be to start eating cucumbers?

• If you read this leaflet and were a regular, addicted cucumber eater, would you commit to stopping eating cucumbers?

• If you read this leaflet and knew a friend or family member who ate cucumbers, what would you do?

• If these findings had just emerged about cucumbers, what do you think the Government would or should do about it?

 

A quick update on some recent comings and goings across my network. 

Jonathan Kestenbaum stepped down at the end of last year from NESTA, where he was the chief executive.  Amongst his other new roles (including chairman and chief executive of Five Arrows), he takes a seat in the House of Lords, sitting on the Labour benches.

Jonathan’s replacement at NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is Geoff Mulgan, formerly Chief Executive of the Young Foundation. 

The hole left by Geoff at the Young Foundation is so great that two people may be required to fill it.  The new Chief Executive (former MD) is Simon Tucker, and the organisation is currently seeking a Director of Ventures, who will report to Simon as an “Entrepreneur-in-Chief”.

One role which Geoff Mulgan previously filled was as Director of  policy at Number 10, under Tony Blair, a role also once occupied by Matthew Taylor, now Chief Executive of the RSA.  Matthew’s blog is well worth a read.

Belinda Lester has moved on from her role as Director of Fellowship at the RSA, joining Teach First as their Ambassadors Director.

One of the founding staff team at Teach First was Nat Wei, now Baron Wei of Shoreditch.  Nat recently stepped down from working with Government to spend time on other work, including a role with the Community Foundation Network.

In other news related to the Big Society, Steve Moore has stepped up to become the Chief Executive of the Big Society Network, which has recently launched its Nexters programme to identify talent using technology to make a difference.

Meanwhile at Number 10, Kay Allen (formerly head of Social Action and Inclusion at Royal Mail) has taken up the challenge of working with the Every Business Commits agenda (effectively becoming the CSR lead within Number 10).

At Channel 4, Matt Locke has moved on from his role as acting head of cross-platform to set up his own organisation, Storythings, to explore storytelling across platforms, genres and contexts.

Over by Silicon Roundabout, Moshi Monsters has just registered its 50 millionth member, and continues to expand its team alongside its online population.  Founder Michael Smith is looking for a Chief People Officer for Moshi’s parent company, Mind Candy.

Also in digital, Edelman continues to attract talent, recently adding Renate Nyborg and Caroline Bosher to its digital practice in London.

Finally, in the charity world,  Adrian Lovett has just announced that he is moving on from his role as Global Campaign Director at Save the Children to join ONE (the global anti-poverty advocacy group as their Europe director.

Good luck to one and all in your new roles!

Have you recently changed jobs?  Or are you thinking of a new adventure?  Perhaps you are looking for someone to join you at the moment?  I’d love to hear from you and will always try to help if I can.

 

During President Obama’s recent visit, the connection between Britain and the United States was referred to as something more than Special.  It was described as Essential.  Now, this may sound like the way in which Harry Potter describes his relationship with the Dursleys.  Nevertheless, we must not snigger.

It is trendy in Britain to laugh, from time to time, at a certain part of America.  I’m thinking of the part known as the American people.  How we titter when, every so often, we hear that 63% of Americans do not have a passport.  As we are laughing into our warm beer, we would do well to remember just what an enormous and incredible place the USA is.  Presented with the beaches and cities, the mountains and deserts, the prairies and rivers, I would forgive someone for taking a little while to think about leaving.

In fact, I think that we should use the magnetism of the United States to our advantage. 

Last week I spent half an hour sitting in the public gallery of one of the courts of the Old Bailey (the Central Criminal Court) in London.  Members of the public are free to watch trials of all descriptions.   I have been doing this since I was in my late teens.

This was a murder trial.  Watching the young men in the dock, I wondered how things might have turned out differently and what, if anything, might have stopped them from doing what they were alleged to have done.  

We can threaten young people with community service or with prison.  With suspension or exclusion.  We can paint them grim pictures of the places they will have to visit if they commit certain crimes.

Is it crazy to suggest telling them about a place they will NOT be allowed to visit?

Knowing what we know about how strict the authorities are about who they will (and will not) allow into the country.

My half-formed idea is to go into British schools with a crime deterrent based on one single word, place and idea; 

America. 

Visiting schools with short films showcasing the United States, in all its beauty. 

Do you think that this would have any effect whatsoever on the number of young men committing violent crimes on our streets?

If not, then what would?

I’m writing this down from a secret location, not far away from the banks of the Thames.  Forgive me, reader for being a little more cryptic than my usual Smiley self.  It’s just that I have recently moved house and if I was to reveal to you the full location, then I fear that I would be entering into uncharted waters.  You have to be careful what you share these days…

Just last week, I was listening to BBC Breakfast, as the presenters skipped through the headlines, covering everything from the state visit of president Obama to the incoming ash cloud from Iceland.  A strange coincidence, I thought.  And certainly one for the conspiracy theorists, who might think it a suspiciously good moment to ground planes, just as the most powerful man in the world flies into town.  Downing the last of my cup of tea, I tweeted this silly morning musing;

“Conspiracy theorists will enjoy the return of the Icelandic ashcloud coinciding with a state visit of a US president”

You can imagine my surprise when the next day I received a message from a colleague (met, appropriately enough, through a Transatlantic network) telling me that she had rather enjoyed my tweet, when she had read it in a national newspaper.

Sure enough,  there it was, as one of a selection of 140-character excerpts in that day’s Independent!  From local to national in one short step.

The idea that humans can control the weather is, of course, ridiculous.  Or so I thought until a recent conversation with the talented Hamish Forsyth,  recently escaped Civil Servant, and now founder of start-up One Leap.  I forget how we got onto this, however  Hamish was telling me how the Chinese had managed to bombard the clouds above Beijing with Silver Iodide to make it rain during the Olympics, ridding the air of pollution and leading to clear and sunny skies.  The process, (which sounds to me like Spiderman meets Vera Lynn) is known as Cloud Seeding.  Cumulonerds can read more about it over here.  Perhaps London 2012 bosses will be inspired by this silver lining, should the skies turn grey next summmer. 

I was speaking about Super-Heroes recently, on an impromptu visit to the National Enterprise Academy.  Before I tell you why, let me say that the pupils I encountered on the day were amongst the most impressive I have met.  The team have done a cracking job in inspiring and training some really exceptional people. 

The point that I was making to the students was that, whether they realise it or not, they have a very special Super-Power.  They are, every day, seeing businesses and organisations for the first time, and so they have this amazing ability to spot things which are out of place or which could be improved.  This is an essential quality for change-makers everywhere and gives them super-hero powers of something akin to X-Ray Vision. 

Whilst I was there in Amersham, I was sure to sound one note of warning,  using my copy of that day’s Independent to make my point.  Weilding my Indie, I said that the things which we share have an uncanny ability to shape our future.  The darker side of this involves silly asides appearing in national newspapers and inappropriate photographs emerging years after they were taken (greetings Butlins friends, and wasn’t that a fun themed evening?). 

As a brief aside, if you would like a powerful and (in my view) upfliting example of just how much Facebook knows about you, then look no further than Intel’s Museum of Me, launched this week.  It sucks pictures, updates and connections into a movie which imagines what a museum dedicated to YOU would look like.  One to bring out the exhibitionist in anyone, not that we know any rampant self-promoters, do we..?

Where was I?  Yes, on sharing…

Perhaps the lesson from all of this is to keep our plans, thoughts and dreams to ourselves. 

Of course I don’t agree. 

In fact, our increasing habit of sharing things can unlock the biggest opportunities.  As a way of connecting people, a shared piece of information can often be the spark that triggers the introduction.

Hamish, by the way, when he is not pondering weather systems, knows a lot about connecting people.  His company, One Leap, have a bold vision which imagines that we are all just one step away from anyone else.  I like it.  Their site enables people making the first steps in their career to connect with influential people (called Shakers, as in “Movers and..”) for a fee.   Before you fall off your chair in mock-shock, I should point out that the lion’s share of this fee goes to a cause of the Shaker’s choice.  It’s simple, disruptive and as I said to Hamish and Robyn Scott (his excellent and just-as-smart) business partner, it is “Outrageous, but in a good way”.

Someone else who is, in theory at least, one leap away is Rachel Botsman.   Her work and thinking on the subject of ‘sharing’ is creating a real buzz in the UK at the moment, following a recent successful visit.  I read with interest this piece in Fast Company Magazine which features her and tempts us to imagine what physical things we will one day share with friends and neighbours, as opposed to owning for ourselves.  From cars to cash, music to mowers, it’s interesting to read about the sort of schemes which are already springing up all over the world.  One of the hottest start-ups in the US right now is Airbnb, the site which allows you to find a floor to stay on or, if your budget allows, a yacht to rent by the day!  I met the co-founder, Joe Gebbia in San Francisco earlier this year (see picture, below right).  If I had known more then about his company, I would certainly have shared a great deal more!  Airbnb will allow thousands of people to make some money during the Olympics, for example, by renting out that spare room or (the scenario which inspired the name) that air mattress.  Perfect for the traveler on a tight budget or the President stranded by an ash cloud.

Do you think that we will look back in twenty year’s time and wonder why we shared so much, or why we shared so little…

My conclusion:

Be careful what you share.  Because it  just might appear in a newspaper tomorrow. 

And it might trigger the connection which changes your life. 

Sending one tiny particle into a cloud of millions may seem crazy.

But it can lead to unexpected results and surprisingly sunny outcomes.