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Now, take a deep breath.
You say, 'How on earth do we live in this crazy world that's so fast we can hardly
think?'
So urban with its profound, social
and political challenges. So,
tribal, that sometimes it feels like our world is falling
into pieces. So universal, that sometimes it feels like our
our own identities and cultures are just being swept away.
So radical that tiny numbers of activists seem to be able to wield
unimaginable power. Well, the answer is we need ethics and we need them like never
before: they are the bedrock of our future.
And by that I mean that every passion that there is within you,
the reason why you get out of bed in the morning, it could be to do with
spirituality,
the faith that you have, the sense of ultimate destiny.
That sense of responsibility and stewardship. The idea of passing on
humankind to another generation,
and the world in which we live in, in a way that's fit to live.
Whatever it is, that gets you out of bed in the morning, this is what it's all about.
and the question is this: What
is the definition of real success? How do we measure that?
And now we're back to that video of that guy who was being flown out like the
canon
through that hospital window. Who's been driven by a temporary view of success
which clearly was inadequate. And he's one of those many people, just running
running, running, running, running, achieving success, fame, fortune,
a lot of wealth, big cars, huge pension funds and some accolades from
colleagues.
And then after a while, begins to realise in his personal life, he's been a total
failure.
None of his children speak to him. He's not on speaking terms with either of his
former wives, the girl that's living with him is not even sure she wants to live with him
anymore.
Okay his score on the golf's pretty good
but he's got questions.
About what the success really was.
And I believe that if education's about anything it must be about
helping people to connect with the passions they have, for learning, for
achievement,
and to make what is important for them, happen in their world.
And that this is a British survey, which doubtless, you'll tell me
has no great relevance whatsoever to the United States of America
but it's disturbing nevertheless because
actually, I've shown this to many, many international audiences and most of them
say, 'Well, I think you'd have the same in my country as well.'
You might think the figures would be different here, but I don't think they'd be that
different.
We could argue about the percentages in the U.S. and I don't have an
equivalent study. But let me just say this: There's an awful lot of 30-40 year olds
that have been through your schools that now want out
of business life.
60 percent in the UK of 25-35 year olds feel unfulfilled in their careers.
You know, our oldest son John has got a great job in a new IT start-up,
doing well, hitting their numbers every week,
a meteoric rise, really 'buzzy'. He's been there for 12 weeks, phones me up the other
day, he says, 'Dad.'
I say, 'Hi John, how are you?' 'Fine. I'm really enjoying life but I'm thinking
of downsizing and getting a life.'
He's 24 years old, 16 weeks into his first job.
My friends,
my friends, there's whole generation of people coming at the moment into Harvard,
into London Business School to do MBAs from all over the world.
In the past, 10 years ago, they just wanted to get onto the Board
of the corporation. Now,
they're not so worried about that, they want to be well-off, yes. They want to have choices,
but they want to have a life. They want both, right, the conversation has changed.
And one of the reasons it's changed is because of the new obsession with work/life balance.
There's a generation growing up, who's 'been there and done that' and they've been through
their own relationship problems, within their own families,
and they've seen it, and they don't want to live through that, in their own lives.
And they're saying, family's really important, relationship's really important. Whatever
you mean by family,
but people matter. And this is usually about
friends and family rather than golf: it's a desire for relationship.
And it's in second generation,
educated people. You do not see this in the first call centre operatives in India
who are the first generation to go to university. They're hungry
to work. But in the second or third generation, who've 'been there done that',
dad was educated at Harvard, he came back to India, he made a pile of money,
those kind of kids have seen through it all, they've moved on.
Now this is really important, here's another interesting thing:
These figures are from the United States but they're typical of my country
most
of Europe and indeed, most of the world. 6 out of 10 Americans work for nothing.
Volunteering is booming. The average gift of time given to an organisation is 200 hours
per year.
I calculated, that's 20 billion hours per year. If you value each hour as
the average wage
that's equivalent of 12 percent of the Federal Budget or 4.5 percent of American GDP.
That warms my heart. Put your hands up if in the last two years you've given time
to things that you really believe in,
not because you were paid to, but just because you knew you had to do it.
Put your hands up. You might be involved in the church, the synagogue, the mosque
goodness knows what,
shaking a tin for the Tsunami Disaster. But,
this passion is alive, its strong.
And I will learn more about each of you my friends
over lunch by asking you what it is that you put up your hand about,
and what's the story? Because there's always a personal story.
And I will learn more about you and the real passions that drive you
than I thorough 100 years working in your school.
In that simple conversation of 3 minutes.
And you know what, those passions are there in almost every parent.
Who sends their kids to your schools. Those passions will be there
in everyone of your pupils that leave your school's. They're there, in every
shareholder in America.
It's a fundamental part of our genetic code: we cannot help ourselves.
There is this intuitive spark within us that wants to be involved in community.
Which is what these passions are all about. That's why you volunteer, you're
time to community
because you believe it will make the world a better place.
And that is an absolutely fundamental part of our educational process.
Is to help people tune in to these passions that are gonna drive them the whole of their
adult lives,
well into retirement,and way into the grave and maybe, far beyond in the legacies
that they leave for future generations.
This is the hallmark of education, mature education I believe.
Is education which actually puts us right at the very forefront of our bedrock values.
Because we know that's going to be one of the most important values for them
in their future life. Not the grade. If the passion they have for the causes
they want to change.
That makes the difference. Now I'm not devaluing all the other stuff, I'm saying
it's just important.
So, well, you know a lot of business is still stuck in a last century time warp.
Still meandering along with all the rhetoric of shareholder value and bottom line
profit and all the rest of it.
Compensation has well moved on, to personal happiness,
work/life balance. Relationships,
making a difference in the community and indeed in the wider world.
Put your hands up if you have had a heated conversation or a passionate
conversation
about what the United States of America should do regarding Iraq
over the next year? Put your hands up. Now,
now, I have asked this question in many countries around the world
and everyone puts their hands up. Now I ask a question..
Put your hands up if you know someone in Iraq right now.
And that's the difference, because all of you are personally involved.
Because all of you are sitting next to someone, who know someone, who's there
right now. But I want you to know something.
I know, that even if the U.S. was not so deeply involved,
in terms of your own families, I know that your hands would still be up.
But I'll tell you how I know that: Because in every other country of the world I ask the same
question
hands go up. And then I ask another question: 'Who here knows someone in
Iraq
or has got family in Iraq?' Most of the countries in the world haven't got any,
but they're still passionate. And I say,
'What's it to do with you? Why are you in bloomin' business?
Do you know anybody in Iraq?' 'No.' 'Have you got any family members in Iraq?' 'No.'
'Do you know, anybody who knows, anybody who knows anybody, who knows anyone, anyone
-anyone near Iraq?' 'No.'
'So why do you get so stirred up about it?'
The reason my friends, is because not only are we kind of genetically programmed
to care about our own naked self-interest,
and also the people that we love around us, but also we're genetically programmed to be
involved in our communities we just can't help ourselves.
And, we are genetically programmed to be global
in our outreach, in the broadest sense,
to have an interest in our wider world, in things which
had no immediate relevance, even to our communities in which we live.
It's just a fact of life. And it's that,
which more than anything requires us, demands us to be global
in the same way, in our education. It's not, 'Oh,
the world's gone globalised so we ought to produce a global syllabus and do a few
cultural exchange trips.' No. It's because it's in the genetic code of everyone
we educate anyway.
Or will be and will drive their futures. So I believe,
in conclusion, that our slogan
for education is this: it's very simple. We educate for a better world.
We educate for a better world for the individual, for their families,
for their future. We educate for a better world for our communities.
And we educate because, we believe, that in doing so, we are laying the
foundations
for a better kind of future for the whole of humanity.
We're educating because we believe that the people we educate,
are history makers, that they will shape the destiny of this great nation,
and of many others. That they will lay the bedrock and the foundations and the values
which will sustain the whole of humankind for the next hundreds of years.
The decisions that they make, will be talked about for generations.
And that, I believe, is a noble calling. Thank you very much.
its thank you pakrac I am we have a lot to
to few our engines far we have a 15 minute break back here
at quarter of 10 how we are on a tight schedule but Tom it'll take us a little
while to recover
I am and thank you for your good thoughts and see everyone back here at
Cardiff 10