How to Get Loads of Marks

Andrew Griffith is a man of many hats, but all of them hang on the same sustainable business rack. Passionate about making a tangible impact on the world, Andrew simplifies the complexities of carbon jargon and advocates for supportive environmental policy. His work isn’t just about finding solutions—we already have many of those—but about bringing people along on the journey to a greener future.

As a leader at Planet Mark, a community of over 800 organizations driving toward a regenerative economy, Andrew focuses on building powerful partnerships. He believes business is personal, with success rooted in genuine, human relationships rather than impersonal transactions. Whether it's business-to-business or community-focused, Andrew is committed to unlocking the potential of regenerative business and helping organizations accelerate toward net zero and beyond.

Andrew is also deeply involved in celebrating and fostering sustainable communities. A self-confessed “community addict,” he believes that through connection and collaboration, businesses can do more good and create meaningful change.

As an active Institute of Directors Member and Ambassador for over seven years, Andrew is a prolific networker. He attributes his recent opportunities to the meaningful connections he’s built, both online and offline, advocating for authentic relationships over empty networking.

In this conversation Chris and Andrew discuss everything from the power of networking, to why gold mining companies have their eyes on landfill sites.

You can find out more about Andrew on his linked in page here https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewthomasgriffiths/

I was lucky enough to get to know Thibau ‘T’ Grumett as a student. He caught my attention because he was trying to build a cryptocurrency index fund before the rest of the world knew what a bitcoin was. Since then he has been very busy writing a book. "The Money Bible" is a handbook for your financial life and it's the sort of book I wish I had when I was younger, but I'm glad I have now.

In this episode of the podcast we talk about some of the topics the book covers. From taxes to risk assessment, from multi-million pound bonds to getting a better deal on a second hand car. It's a very interesting chat!

You can find out everything you need to know about "The Money Bible" at https://moneybible.co.uk/ and buy lots of copies because every penny goes towards providing free financial education in the UK!

In this episode Chris is joined by Philip Allin. Co-founder and CEO of Overtone. Overtone is a company that is training computers to evaluate the quality of online content. This means he is perfectly placed to talk about the most recent shift in "content creation", generative AI.

Chris and Philip talk about various AI concepts, including the "information density" of content, the strengths and weaknesses of new AI tools like ChatGPT, a deep dive into how technologies like Overtone evaluate written content and finally how you can use AI in your work. While this was recorded a few months ago it holds up well despite new developments in the field. Mostly because the core ideas behind this are more wide ranging than any particular tool.

You can find out more information about Overtone here https://overtone.ai/

If you want more information on information density there is a very entertaining podcast here https://timharford.com/2021/05/cautionary-tales-fritterin-away-genius/ which covers all sorts of stories about Claude Shannon.

Cajiten teaches a long list of topics at Pearson College, all focused around two main topics of economics and sustainability.  Our conversation covers everything from fixing world energy markets, to saving money on lasagne at the local Waitrose, to disposing of nuclear waste.  

While we do touch on a few technical issues the general points we cover are more "ways of thinking" which can be applied across the board.  

Blayne is Head of Talent Development at Pearson College London. Leading our Workfit Programme, Guaranteed Internship Scheme and MBM Executive Coaching Programme. Alongside his leadership role Blayne teaches People Management and Leadership to Undergraduate Students at the college.

In this podcast we discuss the best way to find and benefit from internships.  The growing role of Linked in and the awkward questions about money when it comes to internships.  

Back by popular demand, Piers Veness returns to the virtual studio bring with him Richard Allen.  Piers and Richard are both part of the study skills team at Pearson College.  

In this episode we talk a lot about the reasons WHY academic writing sounds the way it does.  Since understanding the reasons behind the rules can help us know when to bend them.  

Dave Farley  is co-author of the Jolt-award wining book - "Continuous Delivery", and more recently "Modern Software Engineering".  He is the host of the Continuous Delivery YouTube channel and an all round clever bloke.  

In this episode Dave talks about how some of the ideas he has promoted in software engineering can be applied more generally in any projects that are dealing with complexity at scale.  Covering topics like electric cars, Napoleonic warfare and balancing broom handles.  

You can find more from Dave on his YouTube Channel and on his website.

Dr Roxanne Stockwell is the Principal of Pearson College London (PCL), and responsible for its strategic direction and academic leadership.  Originally a graduate of the University of Sydney, she has worked as a corporate lawyer, in theatre management, and for the past 20 years in Higher Education. She was previously a director at BPP, with responsibility for its teaching, learning and innovation before taking up the role at Pearson.

Roxanne (known at PCL as "Dr Rox") has recently completed an award-winning doctorate at the University of Bath on the lived experience of university-to-work transition, with implications for work integrated learning.  In this episode she talks about her research and findings.  As well as giving general advice about how to get your head around large complex research topics.

We cover everything from whether you should lie in interviews, to working out niches in academic research, to naked cycling.  It's an interesting one.