A Whistle-Blower in the White House
Once in a while, I’m quizzed about whether I’d consider going into politics. Well, there’s something I should share with you;
h/t Stewart Townsend at Sun
School's Out, For Ever
In 1971, the Hillside Seekers wanted to teach the world to sing. Nine years, and several million bottles of Coca Cola later, the Korgis were forced to agree, perhaps reluctantly, that everybody’s got to learn sometime. Realising this, the eighties pop band might well have donned their leg-warmers, trudged down to the nearest secondary school, and thrown a sausage on a fork across a crowded canteen. Today, they might very well be in the wrong place. For in an elegant passing of the educational relay baton, Grange Hill’s imminent closure coincides with the launch of the School of Everything.
Paul Miller is no Mrs McClusky, which is just as well, for it will be his headship which steers this cracking venture through its first stages and beyond. The basic idea is just plain simple; We’ve all got something which we can teach – and we’ve all got something we want to learn. Why leave teaching to schools, if the web has connected us all? When Ebay launched in 1995, the idea that strangers would send stuff off to people they had never met was scoffed at. Today, your next piano teacher could be sitting in the flat next door, right now, fiddling with his Pez Heads.
You may have come across Horses Mouth, the online e-mentoring site, which has a similarly straightforward core idea, around learning from each other’s life lessons. The difference with the School of Everything is, firstly, that the teaching happens face-to-face (although it’s possible to tick a box saying you teach online). The second difference is that it’s a business, as opposed to being structured as a social enterprise or a charity. You could call it a social business. This second difference means that it has attracted an inspiring and eclectic range of shareholders and investors, from Channel 4 and the Young Foundation, to US entrepreneur Esther Dyson and BT’s JP Rangaswami. Both JP and the Young Foundation’s Geoff Mulgan were on excellent form at this evening’s Channel 4 launch.
I first heard about all of this when I met founder Paul just over a year ago, over coffee. Then, it was little more than a twinkle in his eye. That he has taken it through launch, and with such a great group of investors, is testament to a winning idea and to his fantastic drive. The other thing which always strikes me when I cross paths with Team Everything (they recently won a Catalyst Awards) is that they are a small yet already buzzing organisation with a terrific sense of camaraderie. So no lessons needed on that front.
Why would someone register as a teacher? Well, School of Everything allows you to select a range of reasons, whether you’re looking for paying students, skills swapping, ways to help, good conversation or all of the above. It’s possible to browse possible subjects (picking the first from each section would see you learning art, abstract thinking, driving, allotments, baking, chainmaille – it’s a type of jewellery apparently, addiction management – to social networks perhaps?, ICT, english, hatha yoga, clarinet, acting, cycling, biology and chemistry. Quite a day at school.
A search reveals that the nearest teacher to me is called Laurie Winkless. She teaches Physics, to ages ten and above. Which is almost perfect for my level of expertise. Einstein reckoned that education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned at school. He must have been thinking of a different kind of school. The place we used to go to learn things.
Pack Up Your Troubles
Plotting a short break away from Networker Island is always a bit of fun. Surfing the waves of the web world is not without its perils however, and so a small number of sites have proved remarkably helpful at this adventurous time.
For a bit of fun, try popping ‘Madrid’ into Google. 310 million solutions present themselves. Excellent. You could start with the Wikipedia page on Spain’s capital city. Or maybe Spain’s official tourism website would be the right place to begin? Or you could begin somewhere else completely. For a well structured jumping-in point for web searches, have a look at Mahalo, the human-powered search engine. Here’s their page on Madrid. All of a sudden, the skies begin to clear…
Next stop, flights and hotels, so forgive me if I’m telling you about three places you use all of the time. Skyscanner is a handy comparison site for multiple airlines, and LateRooms is a bit of a goldmine for last minute bargains. For hand-picked, characterful hotels, you could do a lot worse than rummage around on Splendia.
22 millon people have used TripAdvisor this week, and it’s hard to deny that it’s a great place for checking that the hotel you’re about to book hasn’t been panned by the past thirty reviewers. As it turns out, the very best advice I received came from much closer to home. The site which yielded the best advice of all? Facebook. One ‘status update’ (that small little box which you fill in to say what you’re doing) was enough to fill a couple of notebook pages of top tips. No sooner was I ‘looking for great places to go and things to do in Madrid’, than helpful suggestions were landing in my inbox. One list of a dozen amazing recommendations was from a good friend, Gilly, who I’d forgotten had lived in Madrid for 2 years. Another terrific compiliation came from a recent colleague, Yuri, for whom it is her home city.
So next time you’re plotting an escape, and as you gaze down your list of 310 million solutions and your tips from 22 million fellow travellers; just imagine; the answers may be closer than you think.
"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time"
Followers of made up statistics will recall that most accidents take place in the home. It is arguably not surprising then, that this is where author Dave Freeman met his sad and untimely end this week, in Venice, California.
Untimely, because Dave was just 47. Especially sad because he was the co-author of 100 Things to Do before you Die.
Introducing the book, he wrote;
“This life is a short journey. How can you make sure you fill it with the most fun and that you visit all the coolest places on earth before you pack those bags for the very last time?”
Dave Freeman had managed to tick off 50 of his list of 100, and inspired thousands to do the same.
“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do which is inconsolable.” Sydney J Harris
Curiouser and Curiouser
Some months ago, I received a mysterious invitation, the origins of which I have yet to fully understand. At the stroke of seven in the evening, I was to arrive outside a Tesco supermarket, close to the river in London. There, I would be greeted and given my further instructions.
On time, and with a sense of trepidation, I arrived by taxi, in a mist of drizzle. True to the invitation’s word, by the shop door stood a short young lady. She carried a sign, on which was written a two digit number. As I approached her, she gave me a quick nod, before turning on her heels and disappearing up a narrow alleyway, to the right hand side of the building. I paused for a moment, then followed her, and within minutes we had come to a halt outside what seemed to be a large apartment building. Once through the doors, my silent guide summoned a lift, and we stepped inside together as she pushed the button which would lead us to the top floor. Except that, no sooner had the button been pressed, than she stepped from the lift and was gone. I took a deep breath and waited for the doors to open.
What greeted me on the top floor was a stunning sight to behold. The most gorgeous penthouse apartment I have ever seen, with breathtaking views spanning a moonlit London. Glancing to my right, out and over the river, I had almost failed to notice a butler, dressed in black and white, holding a tray of champagne glasses.
Who I met and what was discussed that night I cannot share. Amongst their number were, without doubt, some of the most interesting and influential people I have met this year. At the end of the evening, our low-profile host bid us farewell and gave us each a single, golden key. That key unlocks the door to the venue of the next gathering. Where and when that will be remains a complete mystery…
In the meantime, I have been having a think about international organisations worth exploring;
InterNations is the Global Community for Expatriates and Global Minds
Eurocircle is the European Networking Community
Sandbox is a yearly conference for talents under 30 from all over the world
A Small World is a private online community, which is designed for those who already have strong connections with one another.
Renaissance Weekend is a private, invitation only retreat for leaders in business and finance, government, the media, religion, science, technology and the arts.
The Bilderberg Group is an unofficial annual invitation only conference of around 130 guests, most of whom are persons of influence in the fields of business, media and politics.
Finally, I am excited to read that the British American Project, of which I am a fellow, makes it onto this list of ‘low profile institutions which need to be studied in more depth’. Verrry Interrresting…