Messy and Masterful

Aldo speaks to the amazing Andrew Ashe - CEO and Founder of onebillion; an organisation that wants to make sure that one billion children will have the genuine ability to numerate and read in their own language. Andrew's organisation was granted the famous ($15 million) XPrize in 2019. In this interview we discuss how onebillion has grown since receiving the prize and how it will not rest until every child can thrive. You can visit the website of onebillion here to find out more about the great work of Andrew and his team: https://onebillion.org

Our future is bright if it is left in the hands of amazing, young people like Gitanjali Rao. Aldo speaks to this 16-year-old inventor chosen by TIME magazine as the first-ever Kid of the Year how the next generation can get involved in changing our world for the better.

More about Gitanjali and her innovation workshops can be found here: gitanjalirao.net

Episode 27: 'The Happy Sheikha' A very frank and open conversation with Her Royal Highness Sheikha Intisar AlSabah from Kuwait on why happiness and optimism should be key in the teaching and learning process. Aldo speaks to the Sheikha about her personal journey and why we all need to do more to make our mental health and well-being a priority at all times. More about the great work of Sheikha Intisar can be found on her personal website here: https://intisaralsabah.com More about the work she does through Bareec can be found here: https://bareec.org More about the work done with Al Nowair can be found here: https://www.alnowair.com Watch the video recording of this interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ4j6sJxfgk&t=1261s

The Emotion Revolution is here! Now more than ever it is very important to talk about our feelings and to express what we feel. Aldo speaks Dr. Marc Brackett, Director and Founder of the Center of Emotional Intelligence at Yale University and author of the book: 'Permission to Feel' why it is so crucial to know what we feel. Emotions matter and this Episode explains why!

Check out the website of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence here: https://ycei.org

More about Marc Brackett can be found on his personal website here: https://www.marcbrackett.com

The Emotion Scientist: Dr. Marc Brackett | TheTeachPitchPodcast #WISE

In this last Episode of Season 1 Aldo looks back with Producer Natalie on all the great things that have happened and that are yet to come.

Lots of reflections on the TeachPitch Podcast - past, present and a VERY special announcement for the future.

Episode 24: Alden Mills: The Navy SEAL

In this last Interview (not last Episode) of Season 1, Aldo speaks to Alden Mills who had the stamina and physical strength to become a Navy SEAL. Alden explains how his life in this elite squad of the US Navy gave him the skills and insights to start and grow a company to one of the fastest growing consumer businesses in the USA. A profound look behind the scenes in a life of rigor and discipline.

Guest Introduction:

When I first heard about the journey of my next guest I thought it would be best to get my act together and brush up on my knowledge on all things army, the US Navy, high endurance, iron resolve and incredible physical stamina - personal features required to join the famous elite team of US Navy SEALS in which Alden Mills absolutely excelled being promoted not one, not two but three times as a platoon commander.

But when taking a closer look at Alden's journey as a Navy SEAL and after that as a hyper- successful fitness entrepreneur leading one of the fastest growing consumer companies in the United States - you notice that his message strikes a very different tone.

Rather than talking about his own success he is not afraid to disclose his failures, adversities and doubts. Other than cultivating an iron discipline, Alden pleads for all of us to first grow an impeccable relationship between our heads and our hearts. A framework needed for all of us to become 'Unstoppable' - a recurring theme in the two books that my guest wrote; "Be Unstoppable: The 8 Essential Actions to Succeed at Anything" and "Unstoppable Teams: The 4 Essential Actions of High Performance Leadership".

The passion, enthusiasm of this goal-getter is contagious and made me very much think about the mark that I wanted to make on this world. Alden himself speaks passionately about this in a TED talk he held at the business school IESE in Barcelona.

In this talk he recalls having to write a 'just-in-case' letter to his family and more particularly his 4 sons should he not survive his next military mission. 'It took me 10 years to write this letter, Alden explains in his talk - a letter with a theme to go after your dreams, reminding them their life is up to them and their dreams come with a dark side where you don't know if you can really do it. Go after the dreams that push you outside your comfort zone and allow you to take some risks."

Now correct me if I am wrong Alden, but I think this letter and the message it carried for your sons basically set you off on writing more about how we can all become Unstoppable, am I correct?

Find out more about Alden and his books on his website: https://alden-mills.com

A deep conversation with Ronald van der Kemp (RVDK) a very creative soul who speaks about how staying true to himself and his own beliefs made him achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a globally celebrated sustainable Fashion Designer.

Guest Introduction:

I hope you are ready for a wild ride into the ever-moving world of high fashion, gorgeous supermodels, extremely talented fashion designers and flashy movie stars dressed up in the most exquisite creations - because my next guest is in the very midst of all of this.

His own demi-couture fashion house is responsible for the most wonderful garments worn by Royalty like Her Royal Highness Sheikha Mozha Bint Nasser, supermodels such as Kate Moss, Adriana Lima and Karlie Kloss singers like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion and Kate Perry and actresses such as Pryanka Chopra Jonas, Emma Watson, Lily Collins and Dakota Johnson - and this list goes on and on.

Ronald van der Kemp worked for over 25 years as a designer and creative director for high-end international luxury brands such as Bill Blass, Celine/Michael Kors, Guy Laroche and Barneys New York before starting 'RVDK' a label under his own name in August 2014.

'RVDK' is on a mission to show the world that ethical fashion can be glamorous and exciting and profoundly believes that a form of art can change behaviour which leads to a bigger change in the industry. "The world is full of beautiful things and we can't see it anymore. Because we are too busy to consider them or too rookie to appreciate them." is an RVDK observation prominently featured on the label's website.

The vision and mission of RVDK is not just a hollow slogan as this designer ensures that 95% of the material used for his designs already exists. With that RVDK is the very first sustainable couture brand in the world and Ronald the very first green pioneer haute couture designer on the globe.

In an interview with the French 'Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode' Ronald states that RVDK is trying to reinvent the notion of couture.

"We are not really a Couture House but more a movement that is trying to change things in the world." says Ronald.

"We want to work with companies and customers who want to be different, who have a point of view and a strength that wants to exude what they are about. We all need to think differently, this is what I am looking for."

So much to talk about with this world famous sustainable designer who is on a mission to design clothes with a soul!

Ronald a very warm welcome to you! *

You can find more of Ronald's amazing designs on his website: https://www.ronaldvanderkemp.com

Aldo talks to Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, about his journey as an entrepreneur and as a philanthropist. Having donated over 60% of his net worth to charity, Craig reflects for the very first time to stop pledging & giving his fortune and speaks about what might be next.

My next guest has achieved what many tech entrepreneurs (myself included) can only dream of.

In 1995, Craig Newmark started curating a list of San Francisco arts and technology events, which he personally emailed to friends and colleagues. People were soon calling it "Craig's List," and when Newmark turned it into a company, he monetized it minimally, opting for a business model that prioritized "doing well by doing good."

Today's Craig's e-mail list from the mid-nineties has turned into a massive company. With more than 5 billion ads that have been posted on the site, the vast majority for free.

Even though Craig Newmark hasn't been involved in the day-to-day operations of Craigslist since the year 2000, he does appear to have continued his journey of making the internet a more safe and above all comprehensive place.

In 2011 my guest founded "craigconnects" an organisation to support the efforts of non-profit organisations who fight against global poverty.

And in 2015 he set up Craig Newmark Philanthropies to advance people and grassroots organizations that are "getting stuff done" in areas that include trustworthy journalism & the information ecosystem, voter protection, women in technology, and veterans & military families.

"The trustworthy press is the immune system of democracy," Craig said in a recent interview with the Canadian Press Gazette in February of this year "Instead of limiting or stopping this spread of disinformation, I could see that frequently the press was being gamed into spreading disinformation. And so intuitively I recognised that something was going very badly wrong" -

And that my guest was serious about attacking anything that causes such disinformation and chaos became clear when he started putting his money where his mouth is:

To give a few examples:

In June 2018, Newmark gave $20 million to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which renamed itself as the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism after the gift. In February 2019, Newmark gave another $10 million to Columbia Journalism School to launch a new center for journalism ethics and security. Many other examples can be found where my guest visibly supports digital wellbeing, security and above all to support the people who fight to protect the values that America aspires to: fairness, opportunity and respect.

Most importantly!

Craig appears to be someone very grounded and very aware of what is going on around him. He is an avid bird watcher and last but most certainly he can very much appreciate Dad jokes.

Craig a very warm welcome to you!

Aldo talks to Conrad Wolfram about why he feels he is in a unique central position to spread the word on radically changing the way we teach and learn Mathematics.

Guest Introduction:

Throughout my career as an edtech builder and working with teachers & students over the globe, I have spoken to many people who feel that things need to be done differently in Education. Some demand drastic changes while others say that small, incremental alterations will eventually lead to a new re-energised process of teaching and learning.

The people I speak to, some of them have been guests on this podcast, are often holistic thinkers and speak about overall systemic changes and new approaches to education but my next guest has good reasons to get very specific and change the way we teach and learn one subject that affects us all: Mathematics.

Conrad Wolfram has been working for decades on changing the way we teach and learn Mathematics in schools. In 2010 he founded ComputerBasedMathematics.org to end the disconnect between school mathematics and real life justifiably claiming that we should embrace computers more in the process.

In a variety of interviews & talks Wolfram advocates for us to 'democratise experience' by making full use of the technology tools and automated computational thinking available to us.

"Computers put great automation levels between the mechanics of math, the calculating, and what you're trying to get done, too. When the automation gets good, you can go much further by doing it on the machine with a computer than you can by hand, and the subject of the mechanics of calculating becomes a distinct subject from using, applying, or doing math." states Wolfram in an inspiring TED talk he held back in 2010.

In his 2020 book: 'The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI Age' Wolfram exposes why maths education is in a global crisis, and how the only fix is a fundamentally new mainstream subject.

"After more than 15 years of conceptualising the idea, 10 years of build-out and 2 years of writing and editing" Conrad Wolfram published the book in June last year.

The Math(s) Fix' does not only identify the problem and aligning complaints, but also suggests a clear alternative outlining a four-step process that can be used across the curriculum: define the questions, abstract them to computable form, compute answers, and interpret results.

The book was very warmly received and even won an Independent Press Award in Education earlier this year.

Seemingly Conrad was born into critical, independent, abstract thinking as both his parents were writers. His mother Sybil Wolfram was a Fellow & Tutor in Philosophy at Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford and his brother Stephen is a well-known physicist, mathematician and computer scientist who (among others) became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012.

Conrad holds Masters degrees in Natural Sciences and Mathematics from Cambridge University and founded the company Wolfram Research Europe Ltd. in 1991.

Together with his brother, Conrad has also been shaping up the company Wolfram Research since 1996.

Among many other things, Conrad has led the effort within this company to move the use of its flagship product called 'Mathematica' from a pure computation system to a development and deployment engine.

Needless to say that for this interview I am in the company of a great mind that I am dying to pick for ideas on Maths Education Reform.

A very warm welcome to you Conrad!

You can find out more about Conrad's book here:

https://www.computerbasedmath.org/the-maths-fix

And find helpful resources here:

https://www.wolfram.com/wolfram-u/catalog/computational-thinking/

Aldo looks back with Dr. Patch Adams who founded the Gesundheit! Institute 50 years ago. Patch shares the secret that has allowed him to remain an energized optimist, always ready to make a change for the better in this world and talks about the many do's and don'ts that fame can bring along. Guest Introduction: My next guest has made it his life's mission to make Health & Healthcare a human right for all people. Even though this medical doctor, author, comedian, social activist and clown had initially intended to 'only' change the healthcare system in the United States, his message quickly amplified globally with the publication of his book Gesundheit! in 1998 and the Hollywood attention that followed resulting in the blockbuster movie that carries his name. Dr. Patch Adams believes that laughter, joy and creativity are an integral part of the healing process and globally advocates for hospitals, doctors and nurses to genuinely connect with their patients, fully experiencing them as human beings that deserve the promise of proper care. Patch founded The Gesundheit Institute in 1971 to help everyone in need of health care. Insurance or no insurance, Gesundheit! has opened its doors to anyone who asks. First as a hospital until the mid-eighties, now as a teaching centre and a community to continue to bring the human side of healthcare to the forefront. Dr. Patch Adams travels the world to spread his funny message of care, love and most importantly happiness to all those who want to hear. These expeditions - also called Clown Missions are heartwarming and versatile catering to the needs of people in Ecuador, Russia, Mexico, Morocco, Guatemala and many more countries to come in 2022 and beyond. At age 76 - Dr. Adams seems to be more energised than ever, ready to further spread his message of joy to the world. His endeavors have not gone by unnoticed as earlier this year he was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2021 - a light recurring theme that he takes on with a big wink and a smile together with his son Lars in the highly entertaining Podcast: "The Best Day of My Life: Patch Adam's Journey to the Nobel Peace Prize Nomination" In preparation for this interview I learned that Patch has made it his personal goal to never have a bad day. A firm decision he made at age 18, when he made the personal call to be 6 specific things: happy, funny, loving, cooperative, creative, and thoughtful. And in every action he takes, he tries to keep these 6 things in mind. By never having a bad day, he doesn't mean always being happy, he means accepting sadness and anger and to always try to channel those emotions into productive change. Loads to talk about Patch! A very warm welcome to you! You can find out more about Patch Adams and the Gesundheit! Institute on his website: https://www.patchadams.org