In Conversation with Stephen Hurley

Christian Madsbjerg is Professor of Applied Humanities at The New School and Co-Founder of the pioneering consultancy Red Associates.

Christian insists that, in order to address the leadership crisis that exists in today’s world, we need a new way of seeing. The ability to talk and work across disciplines and traditional silos of thinking is rooted in the Phenomenological approaches of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty and its an approach for which Christian Madsbjerg continues to advocate.

In this conversation, we push back against the ironic shallows of Silicon Valley and Design Thinking as well the limitations of our current way of imagining the university.

Learn more about Christian Madsbjerg at https://madsbjerg.com/

Today on the podcast, it’s London calling. We head to London England to catch up with Lenna Lou, a business consultant and the founder of the L Factor, an organization dedicating to helping small businesses and startups that dream of making the world a better place. Lenna and her team provide the business strategies, data and mentoring to help them get there, no matter where they are on their particular journey..

Lenna is also the head of the LEx London Circle.

Find out more about Lenna’s work by visiting her website: https://www.thelfactorltd.com/

We are being told by Silicon Valley that "there's never been a better time to be an artist", but the fact is that many artists are struggling to make ends meet on our current tech-driven landscape. So, what gives? This is one of the questions that WIlliam Deresiewicz takes up in his book, "The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech". It's one of the questions that we take up today with the author, himself and Canadian artist, Zainub Verjee.

William Deresiewicz is an educator, an author, essayist, and literary critic. His latest book The Death of the Artist—How Creators are Struggling to Survive in the age of billionaires and big tech in not only a wake up call for those involved in the arts, but for the rest of us—individuals and communities who are richer and more connected because of the artists among us.

Learn more at https://billderesiewicz.com


Zainub Verjee is a trail blazer for her generation. She is an accomplished artist, writer, critic, cultural bureaucrat, and a public intellectual.

A passionate and persuasive champion of art and it’s central role in society, she has produced ground-breaking body of work that has earned Zainub Verjee is the 2020 Governor General's Visual and Media Arts Award for Outstanding Contribution!

She can be found at https://zainubverjee.com

Robyn Gray is Superintendent of the Cowichan Valley School District in British Columbia. The district has moved through a very engaging strategic planning process and Robyn joined me today to talk about both the process and the plan.

https://sd79.bc.ca/

Executive Director of Access Copyright, Roanie Levy is joined by authors Sylvia McNicoll and Any Stuart to discuss today's Canadian copyright landscape, what it means to educators, and what it means to authors.

Charles Ungerleider is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Educational Studies in the Faculty of Education and Director of Research and Managing Partner of Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group. A teacher, a former Deputy Minister of Education for the province of British Columbia, Charles is one of those people who continues to think very deeply about education.

Shani Diluka was born in Monaco to Sri Lankan parents. At the age of 6, she was chosen to participate in a special program for talented young musicians, sponsored by Princess Grace Kelly. The experience allowed her to become immersed in the world of classical music and to say that she hasn't looked back would be an understatement.

In this conversation, we explore Ms. Diluka's musical education, her relationship with the vast heritage of western composers, but her recent exploration of how her Sri Lankan roots might find resonance with her classical background.

https://shanidiluka.com

Thomas Homer-Dixon is Founder and Director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University, and holds a University Research Chair in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Canada. He's the author of "The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization" and "The Ingenuity Gap".

Thomas Homer-Dixon joins me to talk about his latest book, "Commanding Hope: The Power We Have to Renew a World in Peril"

Find out more about today's guest by visiting his website: https://homerdixon.com/

Steve Paikin is, arguably, Ontario's most trusted and respected public affairs journalists. Long-time host of TVO's Studio One and The Agenda, Steve Paikin has established a space for the type of dialogue so lacking in many of public conversations.

It was great to connect with Steve about Ontario's political landscape, leadership within that space and the promise of active engagement among a new generation of citizens.

Irvin Studin is Editor-in-Chief at Global Brief Magazine and President of the Centre for 21st Century Questions. His recent opinion piece in Canada's Globe and Mail, "Canada needs a temporary Minister of Education", calls all Canadians into a much deeper conversation about the nature of our current education crisis.

While not downplaying the importance of health and safety and the quality of learning environments, Irvin Studin suggests that Canadian students, and our wider society, suffer as the result of a lack of national vision for education, and someone in the country who goes to bed worrying about that deficit.