Richard Branson on school and dyslexia

That's a coincidence.

After my last post about Education vs. Creativity, I just found this interview of Richard Branson at a TED conference talking about his maladjustment to school.

Brilliant mind and simple personality.

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Education vs. Creativity

We all agree that education is the basis of personnality. It builds us, guides us, makes us who we are to become, different grown-ups. That's where it all starts.

Our tastes, our skills, our choices.

The educational system hasn't been rethought even though it's pretty obvious that a lot of children cannot adapt to this system and instead of being listened to, we want them to bend to it and succeed or be considered as dunces, for years.

Of course, similar ways of seeing and doing things means similar people and unquestionable results. Good or bad. Yes or no. You know the answer or you don't.

But what about creativity ? Inner talents never revealed ? All this is bridled very early.

Knowledge isn't everything, we can even say that it's nothing if we are not free to do something with it. And our vision of intelligence and our way to measure it is absolutely not unchanging. Truth isn't in the hands of the people who decide all this.

Narrowness is so dangerous.

See the people who grew up out of the marks, developped their own mind and succeeded by themselves because the educational system didn't want them :

Bill Gates

François Pinault

Richard Branson

Amancio Ortega

Ingvar Kamprad ...

Here's an entertaining and profound talk I love about education and creativity by Sir Ken Robinson at the TED conference, of course.

Stay poor and spiritual, please.

French people have a very special relationship to money. An unclear relationship full of embarrassment. Could be a minor issue. But this absurd embarrassment has consequences.

Typical. I remember talking to people of my family about the financial freedom I wanted and my determination to succeed. What I had in return was : "What's wrong with you ? Why are you so obsessed with money ?".

To gain credibility and support I had to really justify myself, explain that I didn't want the illusion of a "normal" life, that I wanted to travel, meet people, purchase things I like, be able to do important things, work on projects I care about. Otherwise I would have been burnt on the public square, people shouting at me : "CAPITALIST WITCH !".

I was more expecting something like: "Good for you ! You'll have all my support, I really wish you'll achieve your goals and reach the kind of life you're seeking." I'd better forget this.

What hides this discomfort is the fear that our intelligence (!) and spirituality (!) might be absorbed by such a trivial concern.

But working hard all your life from 9 to 5 for... money, isn't it trivial and suddenly more absurd ?

Seth Godin, of course.

No need to explain who Seth Godin is I guess. If so, read this and come back.

There's something very special about him. He's considered as a marketing guru because of his ideas and the way he talks and writes and shares and teaches.

His vision of marketing is simple. He adds the human side to it and always pushes people to think their business communication differently and to seek quality more than quantity. It may sounds like a well-known statement but it actually is something companies tend to lose because of how apparently easy it can be to reach many potential customers through the internet.

Seth Godin fights this marketing scheme of a product advertised through mass media again and again and again until customers buy it. Customers today have a need to claim their identity and have a perfect medium to do it. They think they deserve more than average products and services and they are right to think so.

They matter and we need to do better each day and never stop questioning ourselves and our decisions. I like this vision. His vision.

I don't exactly know why but I'm sure Seth Godin is a very loyal and faithful friend. He's brilliant, he really is, and it's mostly because he believes in honesty and human values in business. He puts a finger on the essential.

My advice : follow his blog, right here. You have no idea how useful and powerful his posts are. I mean it. No surprise he's a great blogger. One post per day at least to really say something and make readers move forward with new tools and strong ideas.

Seth Godin helps me to DARE and build my own Purple Cow with ethic and originality.

He'll probably never read this but I'd like to say thanks to him.

Here is one of his precious talks at the TED conference. Inspiring.

Patriotism ?

Patriotism isn't part of my vocabulary. You know, there are words that have a certain color because they resemble you, some haven't.

I don't know what patriotism is because I never felt that feeling. Never.

I was amazed to see so many American flags in front of people's houses when I went to the US. I understood that the expression of a strong feeling towards ones country has something to do with the sense of community, the need to feel related to something bigger than ourselves, a territory inside which we can feel secure.

I guess it's the secret reason of patriotism, what hides this pride. And I understand it even more when I think of how new and powerful America is compared to old European countries. Belonging to a nation like this one certainly helps feeling stronger and most of all it makes people feel reassured about their identity.

It seems to define them.

But my country is what less defines me. Frontiers are decided by governments. Values and culture are created by people, carried with them wherever they go. That's what I'm inspired by, visions of life. That is beyond any borders, any land.

I don't know about patriotism but I believe in humanism.

Smash fear, learn anything

Tim Ferriss' book The 4-hour workweek is THE book that made me believe in the possibility that I could start my own business. Applying this book's advices has had concrete results for me. Why ? Because this guy speaks like you and I, never says "no" or "can't", and always wants to improve himself. He questions everything and changes your way of looking at life and projects and dreams.

By the way, the book has a website : http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/

The fact is, we're all capable of great things, we just don't know how to mine our mind. Also, we are in a scheme which is really hard to get rid of or to rethink. The truth is there isn't only one scheme of living our lives.

Here is a talk by Tim Ferriss at the TED conference about our capacity to learn anything, to excel at something if we really want to and know how.

Fear prevents us from achieving more things than you know.

Please, don't just listen.



You're closer from success than you think.

Goodbye French lukewarmness

Something you'll never see on French TV because we just cannot do this :
Extreme Makeover : Home Edition, hosted by Ty Pennington.

Americans are the champions of emotion. And even though it obviously is well narrated, well edited, well produced, it remains true.

Real tears, real laugh, real struggle, real relief.

I need it. It's my dose of American solidarity. In France, something immoderate like this is seen as unecessary, not essential, too much. But my point is that this immoderation, the one I'm seeking and finding in this show, is one of the many ways to keep my mind able to marvel at things because of this excess of feelings. It surpasses us and this is precisely what brings us back to the essential : people. People who give, understand, share, love.

There are periods in life where you are more receptive to a certain type of energy. I'm receptive to that one. It definitely leaves a trace on me because it's excessive and that is what my life misses sometimes. I can't thank my country and culture for bringing me that... so I look elsewhere and I learn to :

Focus on the essential

Forget lukewarmness

Do everything thoroughly