Sharing my conversations

Sharing my conversation with François Taddéi.

Feel free to continue the conversation with us by posting your comments below.

How do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years time?

The conversation started like this. François asks you how you picture yourself, not today, nor tomorrow but in 5 to 10 years. Forget about what you are doing right now, this doesn’t define you forever. Imagine the path you will have travelled (if you wish to) in 5 years time.

Be creative

On another planet, how would children learn? How would you interact with aliens? Free your creativity, you’re not constrained by what you have been taught was possible, right, clever. Give yourself the freedom to be creative, stupid, nonsensical, wrong. On your marks, get set, go!

Create bridges and they might end up being built

François, who is the founder of the interdisciplinary master program for life sciences, requires that his students do three internships in different structures and disciplines. By doing so, the students are able to identify synergies, manage and initiate cross-disciplinary and cultural ventures.

“Sharing ideas among people of different educational backgrounds, of different cultures is the best way to enrich ourselves and to improve our ideas. It is the attentive exchange between disciplines that may lead to new scientific breakthroughs.”

What is your added-value?

Since I am a business student, passionate about social business, the question was: What can be, as a business student, my added-value to help social entrepreneurs?

Using my business background to solve some of their challenges. For instance, building bridges between them and other social entrepreneurs. This is what the Makesense venture is aiming at (I invite you to join it, being part of the venture is challenging and inspiring).

François asked: Why is it that so few social entrepreneurs have managed to expand their model abroad? Is it because of a lack of communication about what they do? Lack of willingness? Lack of time? Lack of experience on how to conduct such an expansion?

And to what extent can traditional business be a source of inspiration?

We discussed the example of the educational field and of some social entrepreneurs we admire. Why is it that there is so little R&D invested in education? The world is in constant change, why would education be so static?

Let’s wrap up the conversation with Socrate

Socrate (yes, the guy who wouldn’t stop asking questions) didn’t like painting and writing, the two main medias in his time. They wouldn’t enable the ‘receiver’ to interact with the source. Have you ever tried asking a question to a book? They rarely answer, that’s the main issue.

What would be your Socratic ranking of medias nowadays?

I guess a blog would be tolerated by Socrate…

We want to expand the conversation and invite you to join us. Please feel free to post your comment or answer to some of the questions that were brought up.

 

P.S.: We invite you to discover three social entrepreneurs that fostered some of our ideas concerning innovation in education: Vicky Colbert (Escuela Nueva), Hilmi Quraishi (ZMQ) and Arnould Raskin (Mobile School and StreetWise). What possible synergies could be possible between them? We have a lot. How about you?