I have always thought carefully about the interventions I make in different forums. In the early years it was always based on heartfelt emotion, and the truth of the matter. Working within an organisational context, it becomes a little bit more sensitive to the surroundings and those in front of you. I am and have been guilty of trying to overload the discourse, with sometimes a little bit too much information. Recently hearing about the work of Geoff Canada in Harlem, New York and his work with his organisation Harlem Children’s Zone, I can only be inspired how he has developed his leadership practice to where he can “speak it as it is”, impassioned, coherent, and challenging. In this video at Google’s ‘Breakthrough Learning in a digital age’ event in 2009 Geoff outlines the challenges facing impoverished communities and the digital divide, highlighting poor teacher and a broken education model that hasn’t changed much in 50 years.

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