A Brilliant Gamble

This week's podcast is a topic very close to my heart - education. With a child who is currently home educated I've become more and more interested in how children actually learn and what they learn from different forms of education. Kerry McDonald is my guest and is well positioned to explore education, and how education may need to change to address the future needs of business (and our world!). Kerry is a mom of four unschooled children, a writer for Natural Mother Magazine and a self-directed learning advocate who is a Board member at the non-profit Alliance for Self-Directed Education. She has a Master's degree in education policy from Harvard University and is an education writer for several national media outlets. Her writing has appeared in Forbes, NPR, and Education Next among others. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and writes at Whole Family Learning. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter (@kerry\_edu). The books she mentions in the interview are Now You See It, by Cathy Davidson, and Wounded by School, by Kirsten Olson. Here is the blog link where you can find her book recommendations if you're interested in learning more about home education and self-directed learning - http://www.wholefamilylearning.com/2017/09/letter-to-prospective-homeschooling.html To follow my journey with my daughter Ivy we are @abrilliantgamble on Instagram and we have a Facebook Group called A Brilliant Gamble too. You can find out more about my work with organisations and individuals and how to book me as a speaker at www.thatpeoplething.com and follow me on twitter (@blairepalmer). Please feel free to share this podcast, leave a review on iTunes and stay in touch, especially if you have a particular topic you'd like me to discuss on the show! Thank you!

This week's podcast is a topic very close to my heart - education. With a child who is currently home educated I've become more and more interested in how children actually learn and what they learn from different forms of education. Kerry McDonald is my guest and is well positioned to explore education, and how education may need to change to address the future needs of business (and our world!). Kerry is a mom of four unschooled children, a writer for Natural Mother Magazine and a self-directed learning advocate who is a Board member at the non-profit Alliance for Self-Directed Education. She has a Master's degree in education policy from Harvard University and is an education writer for several national media outlets. Her writing has appeared in Forbes, NPR, and Education Next among others. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and writes at Whole Family Learning. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter (@kerry_edu). The books she mentions in the interview are Now You See It, by Cathy Davidson, and Wounded by School, by Kirsten Olson. Here is the blog link where you can find her book recommendations if you're interested in learning more about home education and self-directed learning - http://www.wholefamilylearning.com/2017/09/letter-to-prospective-homeschooling.html To follow my journey with my daughter Ivy we are @abrilliantgamble on Instagram and we have a Facebook Group called A Brilliant Gamble too. You can find out more about my work with organisations and individuals and how to book me as a speaker at www.thatpeoplething.com and follow me on twitter (@blairepalmer). Please feel free to share this podcast, leave a review on iTunes and stay in touch, especially if you have a particular topic you'd like me to discuss on the show! Thank you!

A few weeks ago I gave a presentation at Tramshed Tech in Cardiff, one of the new breed of co-working spaces popping up all over the world. These facilities are more than just places to park yourself when you need a desk. They cater for the broader needs of entrepreneurs - the need to connect, to co-create, to partner, to be inspired and have a place they can call home. Iain has had a long and varied career and taken many zig-zags in his professional life, sometimes sacrificing the safety and security of big corporate to indulge his curious, wanderlust side, and other times seeking the opportunities that big business provides. In this wide-ranging interview we talk about co-working, traveling, big business versus start-up and generally how to find a sense of peace with your career choices. You can find out more about Tramshed Tech at www.tramshedtech.co.uk. If you are looking for a desk or have desk space spare, check out www.desksnear.me and if you use this service, let me know how you get on! Finally, to stay in touch with us here at That People Thing - twitter @blairepalmer instagram @abrilliantgamble email [email protected] web www.thatpeoplething.com (and sign up to the newsletter!) Please share this podcast and please leave us a review on iTunes as it really helps people find us!

A few weeks ago I gave a presentation at Tramshed Tech in Cardiff, one of the new breed of co-working spaces popping up all over the world. These facilities are more than just places to park yourself when you need a desk. They cater for the broader needs of entrepreneurs - the need to connect, to co-create, to partner, to be inspired and have a place they can call home. Iain has had a long and varied career and taken many zig-zags in his professional life, sometimes sacrificing the safety and security of big corporate to indulge his curious, wanderlust side, and other times seeking the opportunities that big business provides. In this wide-ranging interview we talk about co-working, traveling, big business versus start-up and generally how to find a sense of peace with your career choices. You can find out more about Tramshed Tech at www.tramshedtech.co.uk. If you are looking for a desk or have desk space spare, check out www.desksnear.me and if you use this service, let me know how you get on! Finally, to stay in touch with us here at That People Thing - twitter @blairepalmer instagram @abrilliantgamble email [email protected] web www.thatpeoplething.com (and sign up to the newsletter!) Please share this podcast and please leave us a review on iTunes as it really helps people find us!

This week I found myself head in hands bawling my eyes out in a hotel lobby with my two business besties. It happens. Change is emotional, not logical, as I'm always saying, But despite the fact I know so much about the process of change, I was takenn by surprise by the huge feelings of overwhelm and confusion I was experiencing about the changes I'm making in my life and work. So I used the opportunity, once we'd mopped up the puddle, to think about that Belly of the Whale stage in change and how to both recognise you're in it...and get out. If you know anyone else who's in this place right now forward them the link to the podcast. It might just help! And please sign up to the newsletter by going to the website www.thatpeoplething.com and filling in the popup that pops up. You'll be the first to know about new classes and programmes you can participate in AND get a summary of the key points of shows that need a few show notes to help you guide your way through the topic. You can also stay in touch with us on - twitter @blaire palmer instagram @abrilliantgamble facebook A Brilliant Gamble Group AND the Punks in Suits page website www.thatpeoplething.com Thank you and have a great week!

This week I found myself head in hands bawling my eyes out in a hotel lobby with my two business besties. It happens. Change is emotional, not logical, as I'm always saying, But despite the fact I know so much about the process of change, I was takenn by surprise by the huge feelings of overwhelm and confusion I was experiencing about the changes I'm making in my life and work. So I used the opportunity, once we'd mopped up the puddle, to think about that Belly of the Whale stage in change and how to both recognise you're in it...and get out. If you know anyone else who's in this place right now forward them the link to the podcast. It might just help! And please sign up to the newsletter by going to the website www.thatpeoplething.com and filling in the popup that pops up. You'll be the first to know about new classes and programmes you can participate in AND get a summary of the key points of shows that need a few show notes to help you guide your way through the topic. You can also stay in touch with us on - twitter @blaire palmer instagram @abrilliantgamble facebook A Brilliant Gamble Group AND the Punks in Suits page website www.thatpeoplething.com Thank you and have a great week!

We tend to ignore "tensions" until so many have accumulated that a massive amount of change is required to set things right. Of course, every time you address a tension you risk creating another one so when you undertake a massive overhaul you often unintentionally create a whole lot of new problems that need to be addressed. In today's episode I'm talking about how to identify little tensions and make small tweaks rather than waiting until a major change initiative is required. There are lots of signals that something's not quite right and I identify a few of these today. I'd love to know what tweaks you're making in your life, your organisation or your industry. Stay in touch on twitter (@blairepalmer), email ([email protected]) and our Punks in Suits Facebook page. And follow our "brilliant gamble" on Instagram (@abrilliantgamble) and join our A Brilliant Gamble Facebook GROUP! Thanks!

We tend to ignore "tensions" until so many have accumulated that a massive amount of change is required to set things right. Of course, every time you address a tension you risk creating another one so when you undertake a massive overhaul you often unintentionally create a whole lot of new problems that need to be addressed. In today's episode I'm talking about how to identify little tensions and make small tweaks rather than waiting until a major change initiative is required. There are lots of signals that something's not quite right and I identify a few of these today. I'd love to know what tweaks you're making in your life, your organisation or your industry. Stay in touch on twitter (@blairepalmer), email ([email protected]) and our Punks in Suits Facebook page. And follow our "brilliant gamble" on Instagram (@abrilliantgamble) and join our A Brilliant Gamble Facebook GROUP! Thanks!

It's a year (and a bit) since I started this podcast. A year ago my plan was to sell my house and buy a smallholding and, other than that, keep my life pretty much as it was. My business was doing fine, I was enjoying my work and although I had a long term plan to add other "solutions" - like a retreat centre where leaders could come to reflect, have important conversations with each other and help me muck out the sheep - that was a long term ambition, not something I planned to initiate in the coming 12 months. But the thing about change is that it's rarely predictable. If you're open to what's going on around you, the opportunities and the risks, and you tune in to your intuition about what's right for you, you end up changing your goals...or at least taking a different route than you expected to get there. Which is why I'm selling my house...but not buying a smallholding. Instead, I'm joining the increasing number of people who operate as "digital nomads". Disrupting the status quo has meant, for my family, starting to home educate my daughter which has led to a period of "deschooling" - getting school-think out of our system - which has led to me thinking about "deworking" - wondering whether I can break the rules of work but continue to be of value to my clients. Or in fact be of MORE value to them. I don't want to give it all away here. You'll have to listen to the show! I asked my friend and colleague, Ginny Baillie, back to interview me and I tell all to her (and to you!). I hope you'll enjoy the new direction we're taking as a family and in the business and what new insights this will give me to share with you as you disrupt the status quo in your industry, your organisation and your life. Follow us on - Instagram: @abrilliantgamble Facebook group: A Brilliant Gamble Twitter: @blairepalmer Facebook page: Punks in Suits Email: [email protected] Web: www.thatpeoplething.com And please share this podcast with anyone who you think may have a little bit of punk underneath their suit!

It's a year (and a bit) since I started this podcast. A year ago my plan was to sell my house and buy a smallholding and, other than that, keep my life pretty much as it was. My business was doing fine, I was enjoying my work and although I had a long term plan to add other "solutions" - like a retreat centre where leaders could come to reflect, have important conversations with each other and help me muck out the sheep - that was a long term ambition, not something I planned to initiate in the coming 12 months. But the thing about change is that it's rarely predictable. If you're open to what's going on around you, the opportunities and the risks, and you tune in to your intuition about what's right for you, you end up changing your goals...or at least taking a different route than you expected to get there. Which is why I'm selling my house...but not buying a smallholding. Instead, I'm joining the increasing number of people who operate as "digital nomads". Disrupting the status quo has meant, for my family, starting to home educate my daughter which has led to a period of "deschooling" - getting school-think out of our system - which has led to me thinking about "deworking" - wondering whether I can break the rules of work but continue to be of value to my clients. Or in fact be of MORE value to them. I don't want to give it all away here. You'll have to listen to the show! I asked my friend and colleague, Ginny Baillie, back to interview me and I tell all to her (and to you!). I hope you'll enjoy the new direction we're taking as a family and in the business and what new insights this will give me to share with you as you disrupt the status quo in your industry, your organisation and your life. Follow us on - Instagram: @abrilliantgamble Facebook group: A Brilliant Gamble Twitter: @blairepalmer Facebook page: Punks in Suits Email: [email protected] Web: www.thatpeoplething.com And please share this podcast with anyone who you think may have a little bit of punk underneath their suit!