The quickest way to ‘get’ what I’ve done, is to look at my linkedin profile. Here are the answers to four of the most frequently asked questions during the last five years. The fifth is a bonus question – all sorts of things which I haven’t brought out up front before.
- Question : We thought of you as a business person – what led to your interest in education?
My interest in education started when I joined the St Paul’s Cathedral education department as a volunteer, to give visiting school children a bit of background knowledge about some of the artefacts in the cathedral. I also found myself assisting with the maths unit being taught using the architecture of the building. I moved on to provide for two years a science based educational experience for gifted and talented students using music and drama to highlight the science stories, at Westminster Abbey.
- Question : What patterns did you notice in the work you have done in business, which led you to working in life skills education?
As a corporate consultant, I have assessed, agreed training plans and delivered training to senior managers in a range of companies, as a part of the corporate change management process, induced by their recent experience of financial difficulty.
I have run consultancy projects all over the world, for the UK electricity supply industry. I have worked in the City as a business planner and a researcher in the Stock Exchange’s strategic research unit, in a period of rapid change in the financial services industry.
I have designed internship programmes and induction programmes in almost all the various companies which I have encountered. I am still a consultant in a small investment management firm, assisting with their marketing and compliance work.
Over all this experience, I notice that one of the key factors which gives rise to problems in companies, charities and other places of employment is the inability to pay attention at will. I am writing a book now about how I was taught to pay attention. You can read the prologue here. The second most important factor is the existence or absence of a dynamic map of the world which provides the context for our working lives.
Having been taught how to pay attention at age 11, I thought this was where I would start with my life skills education programme. But the maps are important, and on request, I provide consultancy about how to ‘fill in the gaps’ for people at different stages of development, (16+) – through to university and early career.
- Question : Tell us more about your experience in teaching life skills.
I have developed a four part life skills course, which was delivered to the Waterloo job shop in 2015.
Go to this page, to see details of what I offer to parents, schools and students of World Class Schools, (the kitemark organisation) which invited me to be their charity partner. It contains four courses.
And this page includes a free teaching resource for them.
- Question : What would you say are your values?
- Here are my top values :
- Telling the truth, in a straightforward way – sometimes not welcome of course, but if you don’t you are hurting someone, who depends on the veracity of what you should have said. Being kind whilst doing so.
- Learning from every situation – and making a conscious effort to note down what I have learned, so I don’t have to learn it twice.
- Making sure that I serve the ‘situation’ (all stakeholders) as best I can – by bringing the right information in front of the right person, at the right time – and supporting that person to ‘get it done’ if need be.
- Question : Tell us five things about yourself that it would be hard to guess from reading your linked in profile.
- I have lived in India, the UK, Germany and France, and can speak a couple more languages that I tell people about
- I have experienced war, on the ground, with attendant problem of refugees, displacement, medical issues and then slowly settling back after the immediate danger has passed. That gives a different dimension to my ability to cope with a range of complex situations – personal and emotional resilience is a hallmark of what I have done. Not that I enjoy it, but if it comes, I have the coping tools.
- I love music – all kinds – and find that it is a real unifier of people – currently I sing with a group of visually impaired people. I am myself partially sight impaired. This is a group of self motivated people who sing together in order to prevent depression and feelings of isolation which can often be caused by the loss of a major faculty, like sight. I really admire my fellow singers.
- I have mentored with a large international business mentoring organsiation, and have loved this work, volunteering for five consecutive years, and making some significant contributions. Click through if you might find this interesting to do yourself.
- I think that the most interesting question we answer in our lives is : what kind of company do I want to keep ? Currently I attend a humane marketing movement led by Sarah Santacroce, who is a marketer, and linkedin expert working in good conscience. I have contributed to her work, and continue to learn from her monthly circle meetings. I enjoy the company of people who are working with a range of clients who don’t appreciate pushy and insincere marketing.