It's a challenging time at present working hard to meet doctoral and project deadlines so it's a mood booster when outputs become concrete. So it's with joy and excitement that April has finally brought the publication of “The Wiley Handbook of Sustainability in Higher Education Learning and Teaching”. With my Harmonious Entrepreneurship Society co-founder, Professor David …
Day 4 of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2021 and the second Emergent Thinkers.com special edition ‘mind behind’ interview' supporting the Harmonious Entrepreneurship Society's celebrations. I met Kay Luan, in his capacity of Vice Chancellor of the International University of Malaya-Wales, at the UWTSD's Nexus teaching conference in Wales in the summer of 2019, and was blown …
Continue reading "The mind behind the investing in others for sustainable futures"
Last week was pure madness -a collision of key events - I did wonder if there was some chaotic planetary alignment at play. Amongst the usual routines in the week I had the pleasure of participating in another EntreCompEdu cafe, this time led by Paul Ranson, my fellow edu- pirate, and project advisor at the …
Continue reading "Pirates, People, Passion and Phenomenology"
Tickled ‘Be More Pirate’ pink for my birthday card from my Mum today. Maturing birthdays bring all sorts of reflections, stirring and amplifying aspirations. And to be fair, my pirate-self spirit powerfully stirs. Well timed, given my pirate parley in less than 48 hours in Lincoln at Bishop Grosseteste University. Pirate Mindset Being more pirate …
I 'Bring a Spring Upon ‘er' and set sail for Port Grimsby to head for Lincoln, to check out new 'hands' for the changes afoot in our stormy seas. So looking forward to meeting up for some swashbuckling live discussion with the staff at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), with co-conspirator Chris Jackson, Merchant Adventurer, Transformational …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBY4SpXRoWc Picking up on my time last month sharing how entrepreneurial value creators are uniquely poised to support the SDGs, I share the video link hot off the press. Sustainability provides limitless opportunities for value creation for learners. The SDGs provide the ideal canvass to inspire creativity, problem-solving, and action- and encourage teaching practices that …
Continue reading "My ‘Value creation through the SDGs’ VIDEO"
Whether you agree with the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill or not, RUSHED IN legislation will NOT be subject to the serious scrutiny that is required. The UK's new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will effectively make all protest illegal in the UK. This Bill not only cracks down on Non Violent …
Continue reading "Urgent: a rushed in bill that threatens social justice & liberties"
In line with Netflix's release of 'The Lost Pirate Kingdom' 15th March, featuring the 'Be More Pirate' Sam Conniff Allende, who recruited me at the Urban Foundry 51.6 event [21st century pirate: the rebel with a cause].... I share the 'mind behind 21c rebellion' interview... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOC7EImJ3OU My interview with Sam Conniff Allende. Social Entrepreneur. Innovator. …
A finale to the energetic and insightful first series of webinars to celebrate the ideas of Professor Allan Gibb hosted by the Societal Innovation and Enterprise Forum (SIEF), attention turned to the topic of stakeholder engagement and trust-based partnership working as a means of developing universities as entrepreneurial learning organisations. A key contribution of Professor …
Continue reading "SIEF webinar #4: Universities as partners for change"
Yesterday I read a post on LinkedIn that made me roar. It is attracting much commentary – from many women like myself. Does it always have to be CEOs/founders? If the rebellion has to begin with an already seen progressive leader and go top down, how much of a workplace rebellion is it? There are many, …
Continue reading "International Women’s Day – why I ‘roar’ for my lady rebels"
It's two years to the day I blogged about my first 'call to action' VLOG! In that time, I have experimented with my students on vlogging assignments, creating various iterations, and developed criteria for adoption for wider share and application by various education stakeholders across the globe. Distinguished from the more common 'reflective design' used …
Continue reading "From pitch to published: new heights for the ‘vlog’ as an assessment device"
Yesterday I had the good fortune to lead an educator-centric multi-country webinar on three of my favorite themes: change agency, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. Invited to contribute to an EntreCompEdu café webinar series, I detailed the why, the how, and the what next for educators ‘Creating value through the Sustainable Development Goals’. Important when embarking upon …
Continue reading "Educators facilitate ‘value creation’ through the SDGs"
2020 is the year coined as 'one to forget but all will remember' - challenge, distress, grief and pressure, alongside resilience, adaptability, compassion and dedication.As Christmas day draws nearer, I reflect on the key themes of the second round of seasons of 'Emergent Thinkers.com' - change agency, sustainability, entrepreneurship & philosophical thinking, with a portion …
The Professor & the Pirate (image designed by Vanessa Randel for HES (c) 2020) Recently, I joined up with Professor David A. Kirby to create an intergenerational change agency – the Harmonious Entrepreneurship Society. In our view, the harmony, sustainability and stability of society is seeded in such working groups. An intergenerational collaboration, we have …
Continue reading "Intergenerational Entrepreneurship: for harmony, for success"
kids takeover and turn the world blue Hey, hi everyone. My brother, sister and I, have taken over Emergent Thinkers today, and turned it blue. Why? Because today's a special day to promote children's rights and voice all over the world. Mum likes to write A LOT, but we think we are better at explaining what we want …
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Adapted background image: Phokin, Prof David. A. Kirby & Felicity (Pirate (c) V. Randel) This week, as Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020 unfolds, a new ship ‘The Harmonious Entrepreneurship Society’ was launched. Its destination clear – a planet that is in harmony, and its course is via entrepreneurship and the principles of holistic systems thinking. For …
This week excites me. Out of the COVID drama, springs hope eternal, a new thirst and growing energy to create and innovate. This is Global Entrepreneurship Week, the world's biggest celebration of entrepreneurship. Some space set aside to celebrate and inspire. An opportunity to showcase and reflect on 'entrepreneurship' as effective means to guide, inspire, …
Continue reading "GEW2020 – the welsh dragons roaring with creative spark"
Image: Adapted Camel pic (skitterphoto) with Felicity-the Pirate (Vanessa Randel, 2020) We are subsumed by challenge and change, at micro, meso and macro level. The implications and the importance amplified by our tumultuous political, economic, and social landscape. There are transitions in world leadership, and newly mobilised and channelled energies. Voices of the disenfranchised and …
Continue reading "Addressing elitism, exclusion, prejudice, greed and despair in 2020"
Three months into lockdown. COVID blues mixed with a cocktail of missing my Dad, health worries, increased workload, and back-to-back video calls. Broken routines from WFH whilst home-schooling three. I was fast losing purchase on day-to-day living. And then some magic dropped into my inbox. From a trusted colleague and friend. The opportunity to engage …
Continue reading "Motivational Maps – my journey back to ‘self’"
About Felicity © 2020 Graphic created by Vanessa Randle, www.thinkingvisually.com – Click to Enlarge Excited to reveal a new ‘site banner and logo’ to celebrate Emergent Thinkers.com's 2nd birthday! There’s been quite a lot to share over these last couple of years, from vlogging to pirate voice, and entrepreneurial, sustainability and phenomenological endeavours. I have also had …
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Felicity Pirate image: Vanessa Randel www.thinkingvisually.com Today is ‘International Talk Like a Pirate Day’. My name is Felicity, and I’ve been a pirate for 531 days. Evocative memories of the evening I claimed this mantle firmly cemented. A potent mix of shared values, a collective consciousness of grievances, powerful stories shared by author, social entrepreneur …
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Reporting on the first 'Reimagining Our Futures' webinars organised by the Societal Innovation and Enterprise Forum (SIEF) - Friday 4th September 2020. Reimaging futures amidst and beyond Covid-19 At the start of the webinar, a collection of photos of the late Professor Allan Gibb curated by Marju Unt (Founder and CEO, Estonian Euromanagement Institute) and …
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Monday was powerfully poignant. Thoughts on purpose, presence, and the past. My youngest enjoyed her first day at nursery, presenting an unfamiliar, albeit very cute look. A loose gingham dress and formal black leather shoes. The profound impacts on the psychology of child and parent on a life milestone met, acknowledged, felt. A new phase …
Adapted image by Clint Adair Fresh from the close of UWTSD's Nexus+ 2020 I’m just too stimulated to not commit a few ‘in the moment’ reflections to screen. It was an absolute privilege and joy to present with entrepreneur/pirate/pioneer Educator, Paul Ranson, to share work on entrepreneurial inspired online peer support and development on behalf …
If the isolation of Covid-19 has highlighted one thing, it’s that human connection is important to and for all of us. Manifesting in many different ways or channels, it has also encouraged many of us to open our attention more fully to the people around us, and to review and refocus energies on the connections …
Continue reading "Shifting Old Paradigms: a virtual conversation"
Through a COVID-19-context lens, it is possible to glimpse the formation of a new economic order. While for some COVID was a 'known unknown' and referred by some as a black elephant (Kemp, 2020), the pandemic has been the Neoliberal's Black Swan (Taleb, 2008), an object lesson in complexity. A difficult situation has unfolded, and …
Continue reading "A COVID-19 driven paradigm shift: ‘disrupting Porter’s Forces’"
Following 'Judge it! A book by its cover' last October, I embraced another invitation to work with the Faculty of Communications, Arts & Media (FCAM) at the International University of Malaya-Wales. This time, my task was to review, reflect and feedback on an extensive collection of digital campaigns about various social issues, to shortlist a …
Continue reading "Digitally Expressed: Winning Social Campaigns"
On being, and managing change while working from home (WFH) To share one experience of a working mum’s ‘COVID-19 state of mind’, I turn to Roald Dahl’s lesser-known sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl, 1962). Charlie’s Great Glass Elevator adventure (Dahl, 1972) starts with Charlie Bucket and chocolatier Willy Wonka squeezing Charlie’s entire …
‘Harmony principles’ in practice For the delegates and presenters drawn to the UWTSD's Harmony Institute Student Conference 2020 last week, this translated into crossing silos, addressing diversity, adopting integrative thinking, moving beyond analysis to synthesis, and empowering with narrative. To the representations gathered from, and for, the business, interfaith, theology, social justice and inclusion faculties, …
Continue reading "In pursuit of Harmony: we can thrive again"
Here I argue the 'VLOG' has the power/agency to disrupt written discourses in some areas of business and management academia.
I stand proud as a ‘Pirate in Education’, pledged to facilitate ‘positive disruption’ in the education system. Embracing a shared vision with other ‘rebel’ educators and parents, I commit to shape an education system that maximises the innovative potential of all learners; one purposed to social, cultural, environmental and economic value creation. Subscribed to the …
Continue reading "Pirates in Education: championing challenge & innovation"
Beginning with the Winter Solstice celebration this Sunday, then enveloping Christmas, Yuletide starts with a celebration of the lengthening amount of light we experience in the day. This provides a welcome moment to reflect on the first four seasons of ‘Emergent Thinkers.com’. A chance to illuminate the themes that have emerged over the year. Rebellion …
This time of year begs reflection. Recently I’ve been trying to document some of the learning from my doctoral and professional journey. After a great conference session at the ALT Winter Conference 2019 today, with international contacts I now consider an intricate part of my learning network, I had a moment! I suddenly realized that …
Continue reading "Back to the future: the journey of one vlog"
Intergenerational exchange (image: pixabay) Globally connected, locally rooted It was my first Circular Economy mapping event [20/11/2019]. A breadth of industries and contexts were represented in the room, from farming to engineering, goods repair through to artisan glass manufacture, student, sole trader, SME and large corporation. All ready to access and share, ideas and opportunities …
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my Dutch window-shopping I return home from a week in Holland further persuaded sustainability isn’t a goal but a mindset. One that is predisposed to being healthy, playful, smart and community-focused. In my view, exposing the important role of cultural worldview in addressing sustainability issues Various studies have for a while listed awareness, compassion, empathy, …
Continue reading "Going Dutch: Experiencing Dutch interiority first-hand"
An interview with Sam Conniff Allende. Social Entrepreneur. Innovator. Disruptor. Author. Following the impact of my first meeting with Sam at an Urban Foundry 51.6 event, as reported in my previous blog: 21st century pirate: the rebel with a cause I finally get to know more about the mind behind the global movement 'Be More …
Image: Markus Spiske Three words have tumbled around my head repeatedly, almost prophetically for the last 12 months. Sustainability. Ethics. Technology. Three lenses through which to address the urgent interlinked societal issues: from the environment through to education and the economy. Sustainability: as it balances economic, ecological, and social values in the pursuit of long-term …
Continue reading "Rebel Call: sustainability-based ethics in a technological world"
4IR ? In the words of the Word Economic Fourm (2018) ‘the fourth industrial revolution is already here! ‘ “Emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies are rapidly changing how people, business, society and nations interact. Universities have a pivotal role to play. Their ability lies in three main dimensions: developing new technologies; grappling with the broader …
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Steve Wheeler is a Learning Innovations Consultant and former Associate Professor of Learning Technologies at the Plymouth Institute of Education. Here I interview the global educator, author, edublogger, and disrupter activist whose work on technology-enabled learning attracts millions of followers. You have a rich career path Steve, from artist and musician, psychologist and lecturer, to …
Continue reading "The mind behind harnessing technology for learning"
Fresh from some research on AI, robots and sustainability, the health of the planet has become a consistent theme that weighs heavy on my mind. Technology vs Nature. Various news media pump out the stories. We see-saw between a celebration of the latest advancement or ingenuity, to serious lament over the newest crisis, another step …
Pando, the oldest living tree in the world celebrates an estimated age of over 80,000 years In my post Education, Biomimicry and becoming better beings I shared my thoughts on nature being the perfect model to support the of address of societal challenges. A common and crucial issue for the individual, the organisation, or the system …
As featured in UWTSD Press Release 25.07.19 https://uwtsd.ac.uk/news/press-releases/press-2019/wales-nexus-conference-2019-1.html Awakening Days ago I attended the Wales Nexus Conference 2019 to deliver 2 papers. No ordinary event. This was special. Inter-disciplinary in purpose, but able to facilitate beyond the overlapping of ideas at discipline boundaries. At a time when we are subsumed by online connection, socially and …
Continue reading "Nexus: the trigger for collective transformation"
Yes, I am picking a fight with robots and the organ-grinders! Automation is not the end of the road for Educators Yes, you know too, ‘the robots are coming for our jobs’! Cue to some collective eye-rolling, this statement has fast morphed into a ‘future of work’ cliché. Arguably, there’s little to prevent automation’s continued …
Continue reading "Taking on the machines: the rise of the Educator"
Photo by Cezary Kukowka on Unsplash “Pirates didn’t just break the rules; they rewrote them. They didn't just reject society, they reinvented it. Pirates didn’t just challenge the status-quo, they changed everyf*ckingthing” (Sam Conniff Allende, 2018). This quote from the author of the 2018 best-selling book ‘Be More Pirate’ embedded in an email invitation to his workshop stole …
Continue reading "21st century pirate – the rebel with a cause"
With the help of Delaney, possibly the first business donkey vlogger?–what assumptions should we challenge in ourselves, in others?… what skills sets should we hone/fine-tune to continue to evolve alongside the machines?
Here I argue the 'VLOG' has the power/agency to disrupt written discourses in some areas of business and management academia.
The Boston Consulting Group predicts by 2025 as much as a quarter of jobs will be replaced by either smart software or robots. Oxford University research claims up to 35 percent of UK jobs are at risk of automation inside the next 20 years.
Historically, researchers simply asked if one were single or married. Over time this became confusing and/or offensive. Marital status presents as “less nebulous as questions about racial or sexual identity” but relationships remain deeply complicated.
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