Messy and Masterful

Guest Introduction:

When my next guest joined the Dutch Royal family through her marriage with Prince Constantijn in 2001, it very soon became apparent to the Dutch people that this Princess was not only here for the ribbon cutting formalities but keen to make a positive difference in any way she possibly could.

From nature & wildlife preservation, circular economies to Education. This 'Power Princess' is here to get some work done.

In 2004 she founded the Stichting Lezen & Schrijven (freely translated Foundation for Reading & Writing) to effectively attack the public secret of illiteracy ongoing in her country. 17 years later this organisation has had a tremendous impact notably having supported tens of thousands of people from all corners of the Netherlands to make reading and writing accessible to all.

Her activism to improve the state of education and the environment did not stop there. As a Special Envoy for UNESCO on Literacy and Development and as a Literacy Expert for the High Commission of the European Union to ensure changes could be realised on a top-down level.

But also through starting admirable initiatives like Missing Chapter to specifically help children become more aware of societal problems at hand.

There are simply too many accolades, chairships and patronages to mention so I won't go through all of them but very worthy of looking at are the series of books Princess Laurentien has written to increase a child's understanding on sustainability and the environment around the character Mr. Finney, as well as her fairy tale writing skills that she deployed with other renowned Dutch children's book writers.

Seemingly Princess Laurentien can do it all. Raising awareness, funds and connecting people to find a solution for topics that matter. And that she wasn't anywhere near done, became clear when she founded the Number Five Foundation in 2017 together with her husband to find an answer to the big questions that require our attention today:

The team at Number 5 are here to make a strategic difference and to create a positive impact way by connecting the right people with each other - they have already worked on many assignments but one project that caught my attention is :

The creation of an Alliance on Digital Togetherness involving key players from both private as well as public world to better understand all the changes that come along as we develop further into this Digital Era.

The Number Five Foundation keeps an open mind in which equality is its highest value and has carefully integrated the UN's Millennium Development Goals into its DNA.

Lots of work to be done led by a Princess who is more than ready to rumble!

You can check out the website of the Number Five Foundation here: https://www.numberfive.community

Happy Birthday TeachPitch! We are 7 years old today on UNESCO's World Teachers Day. Recent times haven't been easy for educators and with this interview we wanted to do our little part in showing that we care. In search for tips & tricks to cope with all the challenges coming our way, Aldo speaks to life-long teacher and best-selling author Dr. Edith Eger about the adversities she overcame as a Holocaust survivor & refugee. Loads of wisdom and valuable advice from this 94 year old world-renowned Psychologist. Guest Introduction: You have books and then you have Books with a big capital B. As a reader you can be touched by a book for many reasons; its intention, its story line, its plot, the message it has for the world and/or fall in love with one or all of its main characters. Often just one of these components is already enough to make it a big success but very rarely have I read one or better said two books that have it all. 'The Choice' and 'The Gift' written by the renowned psychologist Dr. Edith Eger surpassed any expectation I had and left me in admiration, awe and with a lot of deep questions about us human beings. By any standard I can say that both works are absolutely monumental reads, undoubtedly here to stay. Dr. Edith Eger shares with us the story of surviving the most horrific atrocities in Auschwitz. Her ordeal as a 16 year old Jewish girl growing up in Hungary during the Second World War is beyond anything you can imagine. With both her parents killed in the gas chambers, having undergone the torture, the humiliation and many systemic attempts to be killed, Edith and her sister Magda miraculously make it out alive of this death camp. Step by step Dr. Eger tries to rebuild her life in post-war Hungary but not even 5 years after the war she is again led in incredibly difficult circumstances as the Russians seize power in the East of Europe. Dr. Eger, her husband Bela and daughter Marianne seek refuge in the United States where they need to start over their entire life again, with not a penny to their name and only the motivation to build something new. Both books by Dr. Eger ' are about resilience, loss, bereavement, bravery, anger, forgiveness but most of all about the unique power given to all of us that we can always make a choice. "We have the capacity to hate and the capacity to love. Which one we reach for," Dr. Eger states, "is up to us." When reading the incredible story of Dr. Edith Eger you are moved beyond belief. It is a story that overwhelms you not only because of what happened to her but also how you will be transformed when reading them. You cannot carry on as normal after you have read the books of Dr. Eger. 'I will be forever changed by Dr. Eger's story' says the mighty Oprah Winfrey and who am I to disagree? Now this Podcast Program is all about challenges and how great people have overcome adversity and setbacks and went on to achieve great things. I for one cannot come up with a guest more befitting for our Podcast or as a journalist for the New York Times describes it: "I can't imagine a more important message for modern times. Eger's book is a triumph, and should be read by all who care about both their inner freedom and the future of humanity." Without a doubt Dr. Eger and her story personify everything we stand for it is my distinct honour to bring to you this interview with her on our 7th birthday and UNESCO's 'World Teachers Day' Dr. Eger I am filled with gratitude and humility that you could make some time available to talk to me. A very warm welcome to you! More on Dr. Eger's book 'The Choice' & 'The Gift' can be found here: https://dreditheger.com

Aldo speaks to Stavros Yiannouka, the CEO of the World Innovation Summit for Education about the past, present and future of this unique global platform.

Guest Introduction:

Every other year the beautiful, cosmopolitan city of Doha opens its doors to those who shake and make Education in this world. From all over the globe people fly in to discuss the latest innovative developments, bright ideas & best practices to improve the process of teaching and learning - every step of the way.

Policy makers, scientists, entrepreneurs, writers, teachers and most importantly students join together to exchange their thoughts on how we can collectively move forward with Education in its core.

The World Innovation Summit for Education, hosted by the Qatar Foundation under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Sheikha Mozha Bint Nasser is a fully immersive experience that one is not soon to forget.

This summit really allows relevant stakeholders & enthusiasts to interact through a series of thoughtful workshops, lunch-ons, fireside chats, panel discussions and lectures that dive deep into the educational problems at hand, while at the same it has also managed to attract a lot of star power, enjoying the presence & speakership of many members of Royal Houses, Heads of State and incredibly impressive people like CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Michelle Obama and even Shakira.

The 'Piece de resistance' of this bi-annual summit is the WISE Prize, an award of $500,000 given to people who have dedicated their life to positively changing this world through education. The summit always allows me to recharge my batteries and when stepping back on a plane, homeward to the UK, I am fully inspired, ready to take on the challenges that teachers all over the world have to cope with.

WISE its objective is to connect innovators in such a way that they are encouraged to collaborate so together they can realise educational transformations where needed. And the summit is just the mere beginning of all of this. The WISE Accelerator, The WISE Awards, The WISE Emerging Leaders Program, A WISE Words Podcast...the list goes on and on.

The mastermind behind WISE in its most recent form is CEO, Stavros N. Yiannouka who with his warm and personable approach makes sure this event as well as all the many other ongoing activities of the platform are a success.

Before joining WISE in 2012, Stavros was the Executive Vice-Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) at the National University of Singapore, a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company and practiced corporate law for a variety of law firms in London.

In a 2020 Forbes article Stavros rightly so expressed his concerns over the effects of the pandemic on education, urging all those involved to look beyond tomorrow:

"Education needed fundamental change before COVID-19, and it needs it even more now. It's still within our power to make it happen. But if we don't look beyond simply being resilient, we'll certainly never get there."

Definitely a lot to talk about. Stavros, a very warm welcome to you!

A deep interview with Hugh Montgomery, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine and Director of the Centre of Human Health and Performance at UCL in London. We speak about trying & achieving to do it all, what makes us creative and successful but also what can abruptly stop us in our tracks.

Guest Introduction:

My next guest is anything but predictable and even though I have never really had the honour of speaking to him before, I suspect he refuses to be defined by only one characteristic, job, profession or project.

Seemingly Prof Hugh Montgomery has taken it upon himself to excel on many levels. As an inventor, climate activist, author of thrillers & children's books, as an ultra marathon runner, a naked sky-diver, a normal deep sea diver, an avid visitor of very high mountain tops in the Alps, Andes and the Himalayas including Mount Everest. And - here is the one that impressed me most- as a world record holder in underwater piano playing. Yes - you heard that right!

All of the above activities should however be qualified as "hobbies" because in his day job Hugh is an English Professor of Intensive Care Medicine and the Director of the Centre of Human Health and Performance at University College London.

Hugh discovered the first gene for human physical performance, has authored nearly 500 research papers in the world's most famous academic journals and has received over 11 national and international awards.

In trying to find out what kind of a person my next guest is, I loved Hugh's answer to the question what drives him to over-perform in all his activities in a 2019 Guardian article written about him typically entitled: "Physician, ultrarunner, thriller writer….meet the man who lives life to the full.

"I've got this frustrating, peculiar awareness of my mortality. I know I'm going to die unfulfilled, because I don't think there's anything I can ever do that will make me feel as if my life's been worthwhile."

Quite a statement that raises a lot of curiosity about this Uomo Universalis.

Crypto for Dummies! We are taking a very deep dive into the world of technology this week as we discuss NFTs, virtual currencies, #DeFi and loads of other exciting features of 'crypto life' with Lex Sokolin, the Head Economist at ConsenSys, the biggest blockchain company in the world. Your head will be spinning after this episode. We surely learned a lot and hope you will as well. Guest Introduction: For this episode of The TeachPitch Podcast we are going to take you to an almost alternate universe. No - we are not going to space travel like we did a few episodes ago when talking to a Space Lawyer - but we are going to travel deep, deep into our laptops, computers and smartphones. The world 'blockchain' has become a bit of a buzzword. When I hear it, I associate it with a new type of online safety and this mystic word 'decentralised' that everyone keeps bringing up. When other people hear it they might think crypto currency, bitcoin. Every day you hear about new initiatives where blockchain has become part of the mix. But was it really? With us today is Lex Sokolin who is the Head Economist of Consensys - the biggest blockchain in the world. Lex' company uses Ethereum a system based on blockchain to build new enterprise infrastructure solutions for companies all over the world. And Ethereum is also tied to a currency that is growing up very quickly into the crypto world. Something that I suspect Lex knows a lot about. At Consensys Lex is working on the next generation of financial services. He earned a JD and an MBA from Columbia University and a B.A. in Economics and Law from Amherst College. Previously, Lex was the Global Director of Fintech Strategy at Autonomous Research, COO at AdvisorEngine and CEO of NestEgg Wealth, Lex also held roles in investment management and banking at Barclays, Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank. Lex is a contributor of thought leadership to the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, American Banker, ThinkAdvisor, and Investment News. You can find out more about ConsenSys here: https://consensys.net

Oak National Academy is a government subsidised online platform that has helped millions of teachers and their students in the United Kingdom so they could continue the process of teaching & learning throughout the pandemic. Aldo speaks to its founder and Principal Matthew Hood about his journey and the rapid growth of Oak.

Guest Introduction:

You hear it everywhere! The pandemic has unfortunately had many devastating effects on the essential pillars on which our society rests. Our day to day reliance on things that were previously considered obvious was suddenly interrupted. Overflooded hospitals, empty shelves in the supermarket and deserted tubes and trains previously crowded with passengers.

There have been many stories - also on this podcast - on how frontline workers in the healthcare sector did their utmost to ensure that nurses, doctors and hospital staff could continue to do their work and today we are going to take a deep-dive in how people stood up for Education. The abrupt closure of schools in 2020 came along with a deep fear that this would mean the end of teaching and learning as we know it.

Our own organisation TeachPitch was able to play a small role to ensure that education could continue in countries like Ecuador and Albania - and today we are going to talk about which specific steps were taken in the United Kingdom.

The government provided more than 1.3 million laptops and tablets to schools so children could learn from home. Another notable government subsidized initiative that stands out is the Oak National Academy.

This online school initiated by the Reach Foundation was created in April 2020 as a rapid response to the coronavirus outbreak. More than 40 teachers and colleagues from leading education organisations came together to support schools' efforts to keep children learning.

The Oak Academy to date delivered 130 million lessons. 86% of teachers recommended Oak to a colleague, thanks to its help in reducing workload and improving teaching and learning.

In total, over 4.7m people visited Oak in its first term, with an average of 220,000 users each day. Serious numbers attacking a serious problem.

With the support of hundreds of teachers, sector bodies, unions and subject associations, Oak aims to continually listen to its users feedback to improve and extend its range of free resources.

And the online school will stay open for at least 2 more terms also as restrictions in the UK come down - this is what the Oak's Principal Matt Hood recently announced in an article in the Times.

Matt Hood is described as one of the most forward-thinking educators around. Matt previously worked on many levels in the Education sector, as a teacher, policy maker and entrepreneur.

Matt's initiative has had an enormous positive effect on education in times of crisis.

Friend or foe - I agree with Schools Minister Nick Gibb when he says: "The impact Oak has made and the good it has done for the sector and children is immeasurable, and we will now look for the best way to harness that for the future."

More on the Oak National Academy you can find here: https://www.thenational.academy

It is all about smell this week as Aldo speaks to a real 'Nose'. We dive into the world of perfumes and talk about all the highs and lows of this very particular job with Ruth Mastenbroek, a life-long perfumer with her very own brand.

Guest Introduction:

The 1985 novel 'Perfume' (or Das Parfum) from the hand of author Patrick Suskind is one of the best-selling German novels of the 20th century. The title remained on all success lists for about nine years, and received almost unanimously positive national and international critical acclaim. The book was translated into 49 languages and more than 20 million copies were sold worldwide to date.

For the movie-lovers among us the book was also made into a fantastic motion picture in 2006 - but that as an aside.

Now it is true that Perfume has a sinister streak but I think that is not why it was such a success. The novel fascinated millions of people as it explored the sense of smell and its relationship with the emotional meanings that scents may have.

The ability to catch a scent, to define it, to tie it to an emotion and then having the skill to reproduce and sell it - is a true talent that not many people possess.

My next guest excels in it.

Ruth Mastenbroek has been a Perfumer - also dubbed a Nose - for over 35 years. She has been commissioned by countless leading scent makers, fashion brands and even Royal Houses to create fragrances for men, women and for the home.

Throughout her career Ruth worked with many names such as Kenneth Turner and Jigsaw. She was responsible for the Life With a View collection and for the famous Grapefruit candle from Jo Malone. (fun fact: the actress Jennifer Lopez loved that candle so much, she bought 300 of them for her hotel room)

Ruth graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Chemistry and started her perfume career as a sales assistant at the perfume department at Selfridge's. Her creativity, curiosity and knowledge of the periodic table led her to take on the perfume maker profession in the UK, the Netherlands and Japan - she was trained first at a big company - now called Givaudan - and in 2003 decided to start her own fragrance business. Meanwhile Ruth was also President of the British Society of Perfumers.

In 2010, Ruth launched her own niche fragrance collection; her very own signature line to let her imagination run free. Giving life to her very own perfumes named: Signature, Oxford, Amorosa, Firedance and Dagian.

Her fragrances are sold in many famous stores and outlets such as Fortum & Mason in London and Ruth Mastenbroek Perfumes has grown into a family business as her daughter Claire and son Nic have joined Ruth in making sure that the world can smell at its very best.

When reading the descriptions of her perfumes on her website, Ruth herself sounds like quite the storyteller. I don't know much about fragrances but I guess she is right when she claims that perfumes tell a story over time.

You can find out more about Ruth's work and her perfumes by going to her site: https://www.ruthmastenbroek.com

Finland has the best-developed education system in the world. Aldo speaks to an expert what makes it so unique and which elements can be adopted by other countries in this world to improve their educational outcomes.

Guest Introduction:

In today's episode we go back to our teacher roots and explore the state of global education.

And for this specific interview we are taking you to Finland.

Despite the fact that this country is the world's most northern and one of the most geographically remote states in the world it is fending very well for itself on an education level.

According to a Global Competitive Study of the World Economic Forum of this year, Finland has the most well-developed education in the world. The country also has the highest world wide ranking when it comes to High School Completion.

And Finland was again a winner in the first quarter of 2021 as the World Best Education Systems Ranking.

The data keep on piling up that there is something about Finland and Education and I am very happy that we are joined today by Johanna Jarvinen-Taubert, a former teacher based in the South of Finland. Johanna is one of the authors of the book: Finnish Education in Practice, What, Why and How and Founder of the company LearningScoop that seeks to train teachers all over the world on how they can adopt Finnish methods to improve teaching styles and educational outcomes.

Johanna is also a mother of six children and loves spending her time in Tampere the South of Finland by one of the country's most beautiful lakes.

More information on Johanna's book can be found here: https://finlandeducationshop.fi/product/finnish-education-in-practice-what-why-and-how/

Aldo talks to historian Judith Goldstein, Founder & Executive Director of Humanity in Action, how fragile democracy in our world is and what we must do to ensure that totalitarian regimes will not win.

Guest Introduction:

For those (like me) who can appreciate the design, style and user experience of websites, I can highly recommend the url: https://humanityinaction.org

It is a website that completely draws you in with its warm inviting colours, stylish buttons, impressive pictures and beautifully animated short films.

As a CEO of a software company I can warmly recommend it but I have to warn you, there is no such thing as a quick visit to this platform.

I have good reasons to believe this has been done intentionally because the website just like the organisation as well as its founder have made it their mission to make you think.

Dr. Judith S. Goldstein is an American author, historian and human rights leader.

In 1997 she founded the international educational organisation Humanity in Action whose objective it is to facilitate and promote a dialogue to understand and respond to the challenges that democratic societies face as they become increasingly diverse.

The organisation is right when it states: we are deeply engaged in human rights, pluralism and democracy, our uniqueness lies in our multitude of perspectives that are brought together in a vibrant international community.

On its site I see many head-spinning questions flying by such as:

'How can you fix Democracy?'

'Do you know what the power of democracy is?'

'What is the connection between social cohesion and social combustion?'

None of them have straightforward answers and require deep reflection and analysis in order to steer them to a satisfactory conclusion.

And this is exactly where the educational element kicks in. Humanity in Action sponsors recent graduates through a wide variety of their 'Fellowship Programs' in over 6 countries to stop and think.

Over 2500 fellows have benefitted from the programs of the organisation since its inception in 1997 and (full disclosure) I myself had the great privilege of being a fellow through its Dutch program in 2004 and as an Humanity in Action/Lantos Fellow in Washington DC the year after.

"We are local in our activities, international in our collaboration, global in our community's reach. Much more than the sum of our parts" - states Humanity in Action.

There is no doubt in my mind that the impact that Humanity in Action has had on the lives of their fellows has been profound. Whatever career choices they make after joining the fellowship, they undoubtedly carry with them the knowledge that the complexities of our world cannot be brushed off with a quick answer and that an open mind and dialogue is the only way to better understand one another.

All of this ignited by its strong, ambitious and ever-kind founder who when asked what a significant learning in her career was gracefully answered:

"the biggest, most important asset is friendship and trust"

Judy - a very warm welcome to you!

Book & guest:

The book Judy is talking about in the interview is called 'Apeirogon' written by the Irish author Colum McCann:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Apeirogon-Colum-McCann/dp/1526607905

Aldo speaks with Guy Kawasaki about all the challenges that he encountered in his 30 years career path as a Chief Evangelist and we speak about why he considers his Podcast 'Remarkable People' to be his best writing project to date. Guest Introduction: I am relatively new to the exciting world that is called Podcasting. Thus far it has been a wonderful adventure speaking to so many different and very interesting guests. Editing our interviews to perfection, adding the music, writing up the show notes and then rolling the drums on social media and to our community to make sure the world knows who we are. I, for one, absolutely love it and - even though it is still very early days with Episode 10 of our first season - I do believe I have found a new passion. But my next guest excels in it. His Podcast series 'Remarkable People' is an oasis of calm in the ever growing desert of rapid, virtual byte-sized information that is flying around us. As a listener of Remarkable People you are allowed to take a bit more time and to listen. Genuinely listen and then reflect. Its host Guy Kawasaki is known for a LOT more than just this podcast. Former Chief Evangelist at Apple, Current Chief Evangelist at Canva, author of 15 books such as The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment and Wise Guy. Guy is also known as a Venture Capital investor and lectures as an Executive fellow of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. Loads of things to do - all next to being a father of four and undoubtedly being a loving husband to his wife Beth. Personally I would describe Guy as an absolute 'gentleman'. Someone who has managed to create this big-hearted online omnipresence that makes us all feel good. Guy speaks and writes with a lot of grace and style but in a very grounded and approachable way. He is also focussed on genuinely adding value to any conversation he is involved in - sharing something new and positive with the millions of people who follow him on social media or listen to his Podcast. Guy Kawasaki very much deserves all the buzz that is going on around him and yes, yes - I also want to be a Guy Kawasaki when I grow up. But my guest remains very normal through all of this soberly answering the following to a New York Times journalist curious to find out his secret. "Success in business comes from the willingness to grind it out. It's not because of the brilliant idea. It's because you are willing to work hard. That's the key to my success." Wise words spoken by a wise guy. Mr. Kawasaki a very warm welcome!