Big Thinking

As part of the 175th anniversary celebrations, 2021-22 saw the establishment of a new series of talks aimed at encouraging their audiences to ‘think big’ about issues in our modern world and the future of our societies. Using the incredible resource that is the Radley community, speakers were invited to talk on a range of future-focused topics: the future of education, cities, working, and humanity.

companies of the future for the workforce of the future the future of cities

CEO Gulf International Bank

Katherine Garrett-Cox CBE, Radley Parent

Katherine Garrett-Cox is the CEO of Gulf International Bank, and a champion for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) within the finance sector. Katherine believes that organisations can work towards building a better future for global society while remaining profitable and competitive. She is passionate about investing in companies that offer exceptional returns, but are also ready to face the challenges of the modern world. In other words, to do well and do good.

Katherine’s personal enthusiasm for tackling issues such as global warming, falling biodiversity, and food security are clear, but for those who need convincing, there is plenty of data: “There is a clear alignment between financial performance and purpose. Evidence shows us that in the long run a high ESG rating translates to higher returns even when compared to non-ESG related funds.” Embedding sustainability into the core of business practices enables a more comprehensive review of the risks and opportunities, which leads to better investment decisions.

What should work look like for companies and employees of the future? To avoid staff becoming demotivated and unproductive, it is in the interest of the employer to embody a sense of purpose, with a clear, ambitious goal to build a better world in the future.

“Around 50% of our lives will be spent working. That’s a lot of time.”

Companies can only survive by broadcasting the value that they add to society and their reasons for existing at all. “The prioritisation of purpose over pay is growing” she explains, “88% of millennials want to work for a company whose values reflect their own”. Concluding, Katherine listed what she considers to be key skills for any job-seeker in our rapidly modernising world: a drive to include and inspire people, intellectual curiosity, digital awareness, being adaptable to change, working collaboratively, “and, most importantly, resilience in times of uncertainty.”

Oliver Bayliss (1993, G)

The past few years have seen the biggest change in urban development in decades due to two factors: COVID and climate change. Both have acted as disruptive accelerators, changing the way that our cities are designed, built, and redeveloped. They have forced society to rethink what our cities are for, and why we need them. For Oliver, Director of architect firm Buckley Gray Yeoman, cities of the future will not be the metropolises we see in sci-fi films. Instead, cities of the future will be simpler, community-orientated, and self-sustaining. In fact, cities of the future might look more like cities of the past.

Director, Buckley Gray Yeoman

“Cities have always adapted. They are as relevant now as they have ever been.”

Overnight, COVID made the utopian idea of a less crowded, greener, more equitable city a reality. Quiet streets were taken over by vibrant outdoor dining areas, cycling was prioritised. Some speculated that this might be a glimpse of how cities could be in the future, with the right planning and ambition. Yet, as society and the economy have emerged from restrictions, some of these changes have been rolled back. Moreover, the high street continues to suffer from the advent of online shopping, exacerbated by home working, and some are speculating that cities are becoming redundant.

Crises have always had an impact on how we build urban environments; cholera, tuberculosis, even the Great Fire of London, have had dramatic impacts on city planning. Climate change presents new challenges: how to keep cool, reducing the risk of flooding and drought, how to improve the quality of our air, and reduce our carbon footprint. ‘Green’ buildings are all very well, but Oliver believes that the primary focus should be on repurposing and retaining existing buildings and materials. Plenty of this is already happening, but efforts and incentives need to increase dramatically to meet our climate commitments.

What will it be like to live in a city of the future? Alongside increased use of renewables such as solar, and technological

advances such as ‘smart’ buildings, there might be other surprising changes. Oliver expects large buildings like flats and businesses to increase the utilities they offer: gyms, crèches, showers, social spaces, laundry facilities, even corner shops. This return to the convenience of a local way of life, where daily necessities are within easy reach on foot or by cycling, is dubbed the ‘15-minute city’. It promises to promote accessibility, particularly for the elderly, disabled and families with young children, and foster a sense of community to combat the increasing levels of isolation and loneliness we observe in modern society.

Jamie Arbib (1985, G)

The history of our society is the story of disruptive technology. For Jamie Arbib, Founder of think tank RethinkX, we are on the cusp of monumental changes across all sectors of the global economy. The critical question, he says, is whether we will use this opportunity to build a better future.

rethinking the future

Founder, RethinkX “For the first time in 10,000 years we have the ability to create a prosperous, equitable and resilient society at global scale.”

The convergence of new technologies like AI, global connectivity, robotics, and nanotechnology is reshaping our lives. Foundational sectors such as food, energy, materials, transport and information are being dramatically affected. Take transport as an example; by 2030, Jamie expects that no more new petrol-powered vehicles will be manufactured. This will not be a result of government bans or initiatives, but rather the power of the economy.

Demand for electric vehicles is increasing, leading to increased economies of scale, and lower manufacturing costs (battery costs have dropped by 90% over the last decade). Investment has followed and, finally, changes to governance. This is disruption in action. Within 10 to 15 years the landscape has changed entirely and, before long, the ‘old’ technology, in this case vehicles which run on fossil fuels, will be entirely pushed out. This is only the first phase of disruption. Following closely behind the advent of electric vehicles is transport as a service (TaaS). Electric cars have fewer moving parts, a reduced risk of degradation, potentially running for up to a million miles. The cost to repair and power them is far lower, and this makes them extremely cost effective for companies who lease or hire them to customers. According to Jamie, this could mean that the cost of transportation will drop by an order of magnitude, perhaps so low, in fact, that transport in cities could become free, and new business models will evolve, monetising the customer in other ways, for example, via advertising.

This is just one example of how a key industry is being transformed. Jamie argues that radical disruption is also around the corner in sectors such as energy, food and information. Traditional stakeholders in industries like fossil fuels and manufacturing have reason to be worried. The accelerating feedback loops which will drive change are likely to mean catastrophic collapse for many of them, just as the advent of the motor car in the early 20th century led to the demise of the horse and carriage. For society, though, new possibilities emerge. Jamie believes that, if we make the right choices at this crucial moment, we could end poverty, hunger and even conflict.

Simon Barlass, Radley Don

Simon Barlass, Head of Teaching and Learning at Radley, believes that it is unhelpful to prescribe a methodology for teaching. Instead, he says that value should be placed on the distinctive qualities of individual teachers, and that they should be given autonomy to balance moments of silliness alongside their academic instruction. There is no right way to teach, he says, and both the ‘sage on the stage’ and the ‘guide from the side’ approaches can be fruitful.

teaching now … and then …

Radley Don

“Education has a responsibility to put our desires into perspective, to teach a child to be in the world, without thinking they are the centre of it.”

Simon notes the modern trend towards ‘learnification’, where teachers are merely ‘process managers’, offering an educational menu to increasingly powerful pupil consumers. This move away from ‘instruction’ and towards ‘learning’ in the language and ethos of the education sector is identifiable in child-centric and childled approaches common in many schools. However, the role of the teacher is not only to facilitate this learning, but to challenge, redirect, and correct the child’s thoughts. The teacher represents another mind, providing resistance to the child’s own thinking, an important part of creating a resilient and open mindset.

Looking into the future of teaching, Simon hopes to see the increased collaboration, and sharing of best practice, across the sector continue. Cutting edge research in psychology and neuroscience is already being used to capitalise on learning in the classroom. New technologies make for dynamic lessons that use audiovisual resources to inspire young minds. He recommends observing colleagues as the best way for teachers to explore different approaches to teaching. Variety and agility, rather than uniformity, is how teaching can continue to be improved for future generations. All talks are available to watch online. Visit: https://bit.ly/ RadSocBisVid or use the QR code.