1. To start you need a lot of energy and momentum to gain height

2. If you hesitate you fall back; so keep going

3. Sometimes you discover you are climbing the wrong mountain so you need to come down and start again

4. As you climb you get a new perspective of the world

5. You often don’t know precisely where you are heading – you just have to follow a general direction until you can focus

6. Sometimes you go around in circles before you find your way

7. You never see the end at the beginning; you travel from one small peak to another

8. Keep your eyes up

9. There is often a trail where someone has been before.  You can either follow that and make it better or you can take the road less travelled

10. When you realise how high you have got it is easy to wobble

11. You need to consider every step

12. You can always go higher than you think you can

13. The last climb to the peak is often the hardest; sometimes you have to get down on your hands and knees to get there.

14. There are always mountains higher than the one you have climbed.

15. You can see how far you have come when you get to the top.

It is becoming symptomatic of our programmes that each one has its own unique character.  This is not only because the mix, and therefore the dynamics, of participants is different, but because of environmental factors.  Mowgli attempts to find locations that are cut off from the world, a retreat from the busyness of normal living, where people can reflect in a deeper way.  In Lebanon we were based  6500 feet up in the snows of Mount Lebanon, one of the main ski resorts in the country.  We had sun and increasingly icy snow with breathtaking scenery all around.  Auberge de Cedres was a classic Alpine lodge.  It could have been in Austria or Switzerland.  It provided the base for our first programme in Lebanon.

Feynan in Jordan lies surrounded by mountains in the heart of the desert.  An eco lodge built by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, it is utterly unique.   There is no electricity.  Solar panels heat the water and the lodge is candlelit at night.  The view of the Universe from the roof at night is breathtaking.  With no ambient light, the view of the stars is stunning, with a depth that you do not get in Western Europe.  Inside the rooms are comfortable, the food is a superb example of how vegetarian food can be created and a log fire roars in the sitting room.  The nearest neighbours are tent dwelling Bedouin, living the simple life that has served them well for centuries.  They have nothing and yet they have everything – a connection to the earth and each other that humbles the visitor worrying whether they have the right shirt on.  One said to the group, to emphasise our common humanity, We all have the same blood and the same heart; a great lesson for a mentor who is about to embark on a year long relationship with someone from a different culture.  The days start with spectacular sunrises over the mountains.  The hardiest among us rise early to walk to the top of one of the surrounding mountains to view it.  The working day starts after breakfast outside, where the banter soon begins.  The programme is taking shape.  The first two days are dedicated to the mentors, the last two and a half to the mentees.  The first step is to get the mentors to a place of authenticity as soon as possible.  It is important that mentors strip away the masks we all hold onto to help us survive our daily round, since it is difficult to mentor effectively otherwise.  A mentor is giving of himself with no expectation of return.  We live in an intellectual age so much has been made of IQ.  We prefer to look at EQ (Emotional Quotient).  Emotional Intelligence is now acknowledged as being a key ingredient of successful leadership; so it is for mentoring.  We now use a tool called TEIQue developed by Professor Adrian Furnham and Dino Petrides at the University College  London.  It measures our emotional state through a number of different frames.

The mentors are given an introduction to Mowgli Mentoring, designed to survive the tests of culture, time and distance.  This type of international mentoring is unique and highly dependent upon creating an environment where a relationship of trust can be established rapidly.    The start point is the creation of a strong relationship with each other.  We run a number of exercises that help this happen at a deep level.  Most significant are the practice 3 way mentoring conversations where mentors not only understand the techniques to holding a fruitful dialogue with their mentee, but have a chance to reflect on some personal issues that might be affecting them at the time.  This has proved to be transformational for some mentors.

At the heart of Mowgli mentoring are the words inspire, guide and empower.  We all need inspiration.  The word literally means in spirit.  As an entrepreneur it is finding the inner motivation that keeps us going when facing the toughest of times.  The nature of entrepreneurship in its early stages is very lonely.  You are strategist and coffee maker, the creative and the print cartridge changer.  What an entrepreneur needs is the encouragement – literally in courage – to keep going when every fibre of your being says stop reminding them of the progress they are making,.  Inspiration provides that encouragement.

At a later stage in the programme, we introduce everyone to the Hero’s Journey, a powerful tool developed by the great anthropologist, Joseph Campbell, to unleash the hero within us all – our true selves.  But any journey is made easier when someone who has already travelled the road is at hand to be our guide.  The guide prevents us taking the wrong turning or getting lost.  They will be able to anticipate the mountains that have to be climbed and various challenges we will face on the way.

Finally the mentor is there to empower.  The first principle of mentoring is that the mentee is in charge.  It is very important for them to realise at an early stage that the mentor is not there to provide all the answers nor to tell them how to run their business.  Mentors are not consultants, advisers, teachers, counsellors or therapists, but they may be called upon to draw on some of the skill contained within each.  Experience suggests that many entrepreneurs are so involved in their ideas and the everyday energy they generate, that they lack focus: on what their product is and how a customer might understand it; and on any business planning.  This is where the mentor really adds value holding a mirror up the mentee and holding them accountable to their own decisions.

It is in relationship that the truth of the human condition is revealed, so a lot of emphasis is placed on building relationships, initially between the mentors and then, when they arrive, the mentees. We also use the Hero’s Journey for what I call ‘accelerated relationship building’, where each mentee has the chance to meet each mentor at a deep level that allows them to determine personal chemistry.  This is also observed by the facilitators and on the basis of this the matchings are made.  Each participant has the right of veto before this is done so that their input is included in the final decision. Again environment is important.  Whether it is walking through the desert in groups facilitating sessions, so often led in a soulless banqueting suite in provincial hotels, or watching the sunset together sipping sweetened wild thyme tea, or sitting around a log fire exchanging stories and songs, this is where we meet each other as human beings.  This is where so much learning can be acquired.

After the matching the focus is entirely upon building the 1:1 relationship over one and half days so that mentee and mentor can build the trust that is the foundation to mentoring.  By the end of the programme the mentee will have clear personal and business development plans which will provide the context for the relationship for the next year.

And that is the theme of my talk ‘To or not to be? The Elton John Aids Foundation has produced a book whereby celebs write a letter to their sixteen old selves passing on the wisdom of life. I suppose that this is my letter. It will broadly be about finding ourselves, our passion and following it through to living a fulfilled life. I will view this through the prism of 2 extremities – prisons and entrepreneurship – and the power of mentoring. I will talk about my own experiences and how they have shaped my view of the future destiny of the world we live in and how I believe you can start changing the story that underpins our culture.

I have discovered over the years that I am a great authority on my own opinions so that’s all they are. If there is anything I impart that is of use, use it. If not discard it as just another opinion. But if you forget everything I say, I would like you to remember 8 words: 8 words to change your world: confidence, relationship, risk, creativity, humility, sacrifice, forgiveness and interdependence

Let me start with a story of a young man, Luke, who was down on his luck. He had no job, no home, no money. He was living on the street. He was feeling suicidal. Six months later he was transformed. He had a job, a smart suit, a flat and a girlfriend. He was asked what had happened to bring about the transformation. He related how he had decided to end it all, but before he did he wanted to hear his father’s voice just one more time. When he rang him, it was as though his father knew. Son, he said, when you get to heaven you will discover the man you were meant to be. What a frightening thought. We could drift unconsciously through life and then discover at the end the person we might have been if only we had pursued our destiny. Our individual destiny is to ‘be’. To be the best we were born to be

My first word: confidence: confidence comes from the Latin word confide – to reveal the truth within ourself. You are lucky to be at a school that embraces this concept, but sadly the wider educational system has become a reflection of the culture we have created. It is the culture of the machine where we are all individual cogs in an engine that demands uniformity, control, order and predictability driven to greater efficiencies and relentless economic growth, an engine we can drive harder and harder. There is a focus on fear, fear of others who are different, fear of not wearing the right clothes, fear of not being in the right group and fear of failure and worst of all a fear of taking responsibility. We can see it in our financial systems, we can see it in education through the relentless pursuit of targets, we see it in politics where there is a failure to tackle any of the really important issues, we see it in the breakdown of our society and the failure of our criminal justice system. We have bought into the culture that generates dissatisfaction in order to generate growth ‘because you’re worth it’. You are inundated with images on a daily basis that are telling you that you are not good enough, but if only you buy this new dress or this new aftershave your world will be transformed. So we go out and buy it with money we don’t have, feel guilty half an hour later and our world doesn’t change….until the next advertisement persuades us to go out and buy again. And it is all so soulless. A huge amount of human energy is expended in maintaining this world. Sadly most people move through life establishing and maintaining the financial security that allows them to stay in this world; earning a living to pay the material items that give them emotional rewards, status and credibility. It is safe. It is the world that almost every aspect of our developed society encourages and demands. It is a world based on competition, where we stress ourselves out trying to attain more and look better than each other, whether corporately or individually. It is a world that has made a virtue out of greed and envy. Carlos Ruiz Zafon in his latest book The Angels Game puts it like this:

Envy is the religion of the mediocre. It comforts them – it responds to the worries that gnaw at them and finally it rots their souls allowing them to justify their meanness and their greed until they believe these to be virtues.

And in our unconscious acceptance of this world we lose ourselves. We have forgotten what it is to be truly human. So many people are locked into a self-constructed prison behind their masks feeling unfulfilled, unhappy and seeking reconnection through drink, drugs or extreme activities. We are running away from ourselves.

Now it is interesting most adults have no idea of their true talents. They bump along through life unfulfilled doing what they think is right rather than what they are passionate about. Yet a few love what they do and live life to the full. They have that inner confidence. What makes the difference? Being good at something is not a good enough reason for doing it especially when you are constantly striving to fulfil the expectations of others. The key is being you and finding that one thing where your natural talent meets your passion. Sir Ken Robinson calls it your element. I call it your own perfectly shaped jigsaw piece where talent and passion combine. Life is simply about discovering the shape of your piece and then seeking out those pieces with which it fits. It is essential for human fulfilment and the pursuit of that elusive word happiness. It is also essential in terms of finding personal authenticity, integrity and a moral compass which allows us to respond to the challenges of life in the right way. But it is also essential for the health of wider society. If people are disconnected from themselves they are more likely to cause problems to themselves and others. So confidence is not the shallow kind often displayed by those who lack it. It is a deep inner confidence that comes from being comfortable in our own shoes. We know it when we see it.

But how do we reveal our truth? This brings me to my next word risk At some point you are going to have to step outside your comfort zone and take a risk if you are truly going to find yourself. The future isn’t inevitable. Each one of us can shape it as we want. Some people only discover themselves later in life often through some sort of crisis when they are forced to take a risk. Others are self-aware and respond to that little voice inside which is often buried deep. It is the voice of our true selves crying out to be heard. The clue is in our dreams. What do we dream of being? Often we convince ourselves that we are not good enough, worthy enough to follow our dreams and we end up following the herd. I have discovered that the first secret is to take the risk of articulating your dream. Once you do so a magic occurs that allows you to start the journey towards achieving it. As some wise person said ‘You can live your life dreaming or you can give your dream some life.’ All human achievement is dependent upon individuals who are prepared to step into the unknown and discover their own uniqueness – the hero within. For we all have a hero within ourselves. He is that stranger – our true self. Oriah Mountain Dreamer and A Native American Elder says

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

This brings me to my next word – relationship It is partly through our relationships that we discover our own identity – through family, friends, teachers. Ultimately I am a combination of all my relationships. And I mean proper human relationship, not the Facebook relationship since it is through human contact that we learn and grow and feel fulfilled as human beings.

The second aspect of relationship is finding a good mentor to support you while you take that risk. Traditionally the role of mentor was fulfilled by parents or elders, but increasingly it has become somebody outside the family who is able to get alongside you and help you see for yourself those gifts that you take for granted. A good teacher may fulfil this role. And if ever there was a time for good mentors it is now. Michaelangelo was once asked where he found the inspiration to create the wonderful sculpture of David. He said ‘I did not make David. I revealed him in the stone. All I had to do was to remove the parts of the stone that were not David and reveal the perfect David.’ That is what a good mentor will do for you. Reveal the perfect you that exists inside all of us.

My definition of mentoring is a relationship that inspires, guides and empowers another in achieving their potential. It is about wanting unconditionally the best for another person, getting alongside them while they discover the best in themselves. They draw on the wisdom of experience to challenge and guide their mentee towards achieving their goals. It can be of most value during times of transition and change. You don’t have to journey alone

So what does all this unleash? Another word – creativity. I believe that as we step into our truth we unlock the creativity that not only changes our world but has an impact on the world around us. Creativity in retrospect is so neat. We think of the finished work of art, the sublime piece of music, the classic book. It seems so effortless, so simple and sometimes it is. Picasso could knock up a painting in his lunch hour. Mozart could rattle off a tune at the age of 4. But for most of us mere mortals creativity is relentlessly hard work and messy. It takes us into places we didn’t know existed. It gives us extreme highs and desperate lows. But somewhere in between is life. And life is where we work out our truth.

We never anticipate the end at the beginning. We are full of hope, possibilities, optimism, potential and it has to be said naivety. If a baby was able to see its death while still in the womb would it go through the trauma of birth? If any of the great inventors, creators, entrepreneurs knew the pain they would endure taking an idea from conception to implementation with the high risk of failure would they ever bother to start. Naivety is our greatest gift. It is what keeps us going from day to day. We don’t know what each day will bring. If we did we may just stay in bed. But we don’t. For life is an adventure. In the old cliché it is better to travel than to arrive and we determine how exciting the journey will be. For anyone inspired enough to create their journey it won’t be easy, but it won’t be dull. And we can create our own journey. We live in a fatalistic society where stuff happens, apparently beyond our control. But if you believe that destiny sits waiting to be grabbed, you can create the life you were born to lead. As Carlos Ruiz Zafon, again, says in his other book The Shadow of the Wind Destiny is just around the corner like a thief, but what destiny doesn’t do home visits. You have to go out and grab it. Pity those who get to the end of the journey with the words ‘if only’ on their lips. Or ‘I could have’, but, not acknowledged, didn’t have the courage to try.

Time for a new word: humility.

Travelling to some of the poorest parts of the world, I am struck by the number of smiling faces amongst, what we would view, as the most abject poverty. They have nothing in material terms; they battle to survive from day to day. They cannot rely on the basics of food, water and shelter. How can they be so happy? As a soldier I witnessed acceptance of intense hardship and bravery in the most frightening of circumstances. For those of you seeking leadership roles it is worth remembering that the motto for young officers at Sandhurst is Serve to Lead, recognizing the fact that all leaders need to understand that they are servants to those they lead and this requires humility. A few weeks ago I sat in the comfort of my armchairs watching a programme called Wounded about 2 soldiers who had lost 4 legs and one arm between them. Hard to imagine and yet hundreds of young men are returning from Afghanistan like this. There were no complaints, no demands for compensation, just concern for their mates. And I wondered how on earth they could be so philosophical in the face of such loss. The answer is simple. They had the humility to recognize a cause greater than themselves and in setting out to achieve it they did not want to let down their fellow man. No greater love has a man than to lay his life down for his friend.

We call this sacrifice. The word has Latin roots and means to make wholly or holy. A recognition that in life there is always something greater than we are and this requires the humility to give up our piece of the jigsaw to a whole greater than ourselves. Despite the fact that the word sacrifice is not particularly fashionable in our individualistic society we see evidence of it everywhere: obviously in the lives that are laid down in Afghanistan and Iraq, but less obviously in those who forego opportunities for personal wealth by trying to make a difference to the world. So to achieve fulfilment it is essential to use your element not for purely personal gain but as a contribution to the whole, your single jigsaw piece linking up with others to create a complete picture: a new paradigm.

I was introduced to a young man in the RUH. His life story typified that of hundreds I have worked with. His mother died in his teens. His father went off the rails and he was left to fend for himself. He ended up in prison to survive and was introduced to heroin there which took away the pain. The addiction drove his crime until many years later he found the courage to seek rehabilitation. He slowly came off drugs and found a new life, a girlfriend, a vision for a hairdressing business called Cons Cuts and somewhere to live. At the age of 32 he had life sorted. Until he went for a check at the RUH and discovered he had leukaemia and 6 days to live without treatment. He was offered a trial drug instead of chemo. The stakes were high. He told me of the dilemma he faced. An extension to life through chemo against the possibility of either full recovery or death through the trial drug. His choice; no one can make it for him. But he has found faith and through that faith he was able to choose. ‘I have decided to take the trial drug’, he told me, ‘because even if it doesn’t work on me, the doctors will have had one more body to try it out on and get closer to the point when it will work for everyone.’ He was prepared to lay down his life for his fellow man.

So what is my story? I used to be in the Army. After a year at the Army Staff College I completed a job that included creating contingency plans for a prison officer’s strike. In such event the police would secure the inside of prisons, the Army the outside. I had a unique insight. What I witnessed horrified me. Thousands of hope – less young men written off by a society that was the fifth richest in the world. Discarded as a child would discard a toy it had no further use for. Hundreds and hundreds of hope-less young men. Young men who had never had a chance from the moment they were conceived. I knew young men like this. Young men who had come from similar backgrounds, faced similar challenges, probably done the same things. The difference: they hadn’t been caught. They ended up enlisting in the Army, which offered them a purpose, discipline, training, comradeship and a cause greater than they were.

Some statistics. Crime costs this nation £60 b per year. The cost of getting someone to prison is £100k. The cost of a prison place is twice the cost of Eton. The rate of reoffending is 70%, 80% for young offenders. One prolific repeat offender commits up to 25 crimes a day usually to feed his drug habit. He costs £225k pa. They have been failed from the moment they were born: failed by their parents, failed by their communities; failed by schools; failed by social services; failed by police, prison and probation and most of all failed by us because we have just accepted it.

We think of criminals in an abstract form, but when you meet them as human beings and have a relationship (that word again) – young men who had been abused since they were 5, twins who witnessed their parents injecting themselves with heroin while they were eating their Coco Pops, a man who became an alcoholic at the age of 6 – I could describe many more; it is difficult to continue to walk on the other side. So I decided to do something and although inconveniently the timing wasn’t perfect, since I had 3 girls at PP, I set up a charity to provide mentoring for these people, giving them a human relationship around which they could rebuild their lives. Now when you step out to create something new, you must accept failure and accept failure for what it is – an opportunity to get it right. Thomas Edison failed in his attempt to design a light bulb 999 times but he never gave up and on the 1000th time he got it right. There is nothing wrong with failure unless you give up. All human endeavour has been underwritten by people who had the character to persevere against all the odds. This is how character is built.

So the original charity was victim of its own success and over-extended itself and had to close. I learned a lot through that failure but today everything it achieved is combining with another charity that provides housing for the homeless to create something that is far better than the individual parts used to be. It is important to let go. I have discovered that giving up my jigsaw piece to something greater than me is far more rewarding than just hanging onto it so that I could have the credit. But there is something else. Often our piece of the jigsaw can be damaged. Stuff happens in life that chips away at our confidence and damages the person we are born to be.

Time for the next word: forgiveness. Something else that I see holding back so many people is their inability to deal with failure and loss, both of which we encounter at some stage. I am always humbled by those who can treat personal tragedy as just that: a tragic moment, but not something to revel in forever. The key is forgiveness. Forgiving the personal wrong, the circumstance or just ourselves. Once we recognise that none of us is perfect, no situation is perfect and the present is just that, we can learn to grow and treat everything as a growing opportunity.

I would like to bring this to life with a story. Sue was cooking supper for her 3 boys when she was vaguely aware of a helicopter circling nearby. She thought nothing of it. And then the knock on the door, the 2 policemen on her doorstep, the police car parked outside. Those precious seconds before life as you knew it is no more. That easy life with all the day to day pressures and silly rows that every household with children is so familiar with. Sue had had lunch with David only hours before. He was 17 with life unfolding before him. He was a devoted cyclists and could play tricks on his bike that only a 17 year old boy can. He had gone out on an errand on his bike at the same time that another 17 year old boy decided to do a bit of joyriding. Their destinies combined in a moment of speed and horror leaving David dead by the side of the road. Those precious seconds when this reality did not have to be confronted before those words that no parent wants to hear: I think you had better sit down. I am so sorry….. When I met her Sue and her husband, Charlie, had been trapped in this moment for 15 months. I spent 4 hours with Charlie whose sense of failure as a father in letting his eldest son die was so painful. He described his family since as being four people on four different islands in a lake, each unable to swim to another. They coexisted in the same house, but were unable to communicate their innermost feelings to each other. They ate and slept separately. The dining table regularly used for family meals had not been used since David died. Each day they separately made their lonely vigil to David’s grave, the only tenuous contact they still had with him. Charlie was so angry, with himself, with his family, with the world beyond and most of all with the boy who had killed his son. But there was no way for him to unlock that anger and find a focus for it and so he could only direct it at himself and his own inadequacy as a father. Never before had I witnessed in the flesh that life of quiet desperation that so many men apparently lead. He asked me if I would talk to Sue.

It was a perfect summer’s afternoon in the beautiful gardens of Jordan’s in Buckinghamshire. The sun was dappled by the leaves of the apple tree we sat beneath as Sue told me her story. Sue is one of those people for whom the word ‘rock’ is defined. Her life was one of service to her family and friends and the community beyond. She is one of life’s givers. Since the moment that her son was taken from her, she had done all she could to keep her family together. Despite her aching grief for the boy she called her soul mate, she knew that she had to try and maintain some level of normality for the sake of the rest of the family, but the act was now too stressful to keep up and the mask was slipping. We had been talking for what seemed hours, when she quietly looked at me and said, But it is going to be OK now. I have worked out what I am going to do. In fact I nearly did it last week, but Charlie came home early. It dawned on me that Sue was letting me know of her impending suicide. I have given everything and there just isn’t anything left to give. I am empty. This was no cry for help; it was a statement of fact. Never before in my life had the response I was to make carried such responsibility. I can remember that moment so clearly, a bee landing on a nearby pale pink rose. The response was divinely inspired Sue at the moment David’s memory is pure. If you take your life now, Charlie and the boys will blame David for the rest of their lives for your death. Is that what you really want? Sue broke down. It was as though a line had been crossed.

About a year later Sue felt strong enough to meet the boy who had killed her son. She agreed to participate in something called restorative justice where perpetrator and victim are brought together. She met him in prison having carefully prepared what she was going to say. When she started telling him about the effect his crime had had on her and her family, tears started pouring down his face. He had only been having a laugh when he was joy riding. He never foresaw the consequences. Confronted with his tears Sue did the one thing that came naturally to her. She walked across the room and hugged him. They held onto each other eternally linked in their grief, but out of it all came healing. She was able to forgive.

Forgiveness is simply letting go of the possibility of changing the past. I tell the story just to illustrate the contrast between the mechanistic and human approach. I do not diminish the need for punishment. Loss of freedom is punishment, but it doesn’t address the needs of either the victim or the perpetrator. The victim remains locked in the effects of the crime; the perpetrator remains locked in a system that fails to reduce the factors that have led to the criminal behavior. I call that hell.

Interestingly the root of the word ‘Hell’ has the same root as the words healing and helios (light). Hell is not a place to dwell unless we choose to. It is the darkest place, which can either overwhelm and trap us, or it is a place to confront our demons, our shadows, our egos. But it is place where healing can start if we have the humility to allow it. Through healing we can emerge again into the light.

The past is another country. One of the great openings to a novel, The Go Between by LP Hartley. And this is how we should treat it. The future is a blank canvas both exciting and frightening. But so often we allow the shadow of our past to cast a shadow over that blank canvas preventing us from fulfilling our destiny. The problem with the past is that is just that; it has happened. It is just a collection of moments that we allow our psyche to shape depending on the mood we are in. This is true both collectively and individually. Moslems are still shaped by the crusades, Jews by the Holocaust, the Irish by Cromwell and so on. We allow ourselves to be trapped by what we cannot change.

Some of the most important work in the world is around peace and reconciliation – restorative justice on a big scale working with communities to find forgiveness. My small contribution currently is to use business in a positive way to contribute to this. A friend who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize put it like this. Every warlord is a natural entrepreneur so why don’t we take their natural skills away from fighting and put them to use in building up the economy. I can’t be claiming to do that yet, but what we are doing is promoting entrepreneurship in developing countries as an alternative to aid.

I am working for a new charity called Mowgli set up last year by an old Prior Park schoolboy, Tony Bury. He is still involved in the PPA and his niece is probably in the audience. The strapline of the charity is mentoring a changing world. And we live in a changing world. All the events of the last year, both economic and political, and the reaction of ordinary people to them reinforce the view that we need to move away from a world that is based upon me and move towards the concept of us. Indeed Barack Obama has spelt out the vision, to choose our better history by understanding that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself. And as everything we have taken for granted unravels the one hope for the future is a rediscovery of that common humanity.

Looking at the state of the world economy one way out is an unleashing of entrepreneurship. Mohammed Yunnus the pioneer of micro –finance put it this way:

My observations amongst the poorest people in the world suggest that entrepreneurial ability is practically universal. Almost everyone has the talent to recognize the opportunities around them. And when they are given the tools to transform those opportunities into reality almost everyone is eager to do so… All that is required to get poor people out of poverty is for us to create an enabling environment for them

The Middle East region is witnessing a huge rise in its population. It needs to create 80 m jobs in the next 10 years just to stand still. Youth unemployment – one of the great challenges of the 21st century – devastates the social and economic fabric of society, cheating countries of their greatest potential. For young people, being unable to find a job often means not having the means to get married, have a family or plan a future. Chronic unemployment can lead young people to feel excluded, frustrated, and angry at a world that has failed them. In an article in the Sunday Times recently Asma Assad the wife of President Assad of Syria put it this way, Take a second to ask yourself . . . Where would the extremist preach if poverty did not provide the audience? Where would a terrorist recruit if poverty did not line up those in despair?”

“The reason why alleviating poverty is so important is because it affects us all. When people are poor they have no hope and when they have no hope, they become desperate and desperation can breed some bad, bad things . .”

One more word: interdependence. I reflected as I travelled from Jordan last month that I had driven a German car to the airport arranged by my Polish Executive Assistant, checked in my suitcase made in China with a Palestinian, boarded an aircraft manufactured in France flown by a Kuwaiti, eaten a mezze with ingredients sourced from as far apart as Lebanon and Scotland, landed at Heathrow and took a minibus made in Spain to an airport car park owned by Americans and driven my Japanese car along an English motorway home to be greeted by my half Welsh half Irish wife. We have become interdependent upon each other whether we like it or not. We have to recognise this and live our lives accordingly. And we are not only interdependent upon each other we are also interdependent with our environment

William Wordsworth wrote this:

The world is too much with us; late and soon

Getting and spending we waste our powers

Little we see in nature that is ours

Little we see in nature that is ours. And yet human life and our connection to the planet we live on is a single interconnected organism. It is not an engine that we can control. We are trying to bleed more out of it than it can give and we can see the financial and environmental fall out which is engulfing us. Our success is synonymous with our environment. We can’t choose the times we live in, but, as Gandalf put it in Lord of the Rings, we are responsible for the time given to us. So we need to create a new paradigm based on the foundations of human relationship and interdependence; a world that is living in harmony with its environment; a world where we truly value compassion and wisdom. We need to invest in the diversity of human talent not in conformity. We have to work together to create a world where all individuals are valued and where everyone is fulfilling their true talent and using it not just for selfish gain but for the good of all. It will focus on well-being, sustainability and social justice. It will be about cooperation not competition. Cooperation seeks long-term solutions; competition is short-term and creates conflict. As the world faces its many challenges it is important that we retain our humanity. As somebody beautifully put it, ‘Another world is on its way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing.’ Nobody has to wait a moment before starting to improve the world.

Those words again confidence – reveal the truth within yourself – identify that jigsaw piece, relationship – the human contact through which we realise ourselves, risk – because without it we’ll never experience the failure from which we grow, creativity that is unlocked through risk, humility – to understand that you are part of something greater than yourself, sacrifice – to make whole – seeking out the pieces of the jigsaw that fit with yours, forgiveness – allow yourself to fail and let go of the possibility of changing the past so that your jigsaw piece doesn’t get so damaged that it no longer fits, interdependence – valuing our fellow human beings above everything and recognising that we are all in this together. As you face the choices about your own future ask yourself the question, ‘It is not a case of what do I need from life, it is what does life need from me.’

To be or not to be? That is your question.

“It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being a human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusations of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy. I want to know if you can see the beauty even when it is not pretty every day and if you can source your life from ITS presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes”!

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you are, or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Native American Elder

AND

“Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the commitment, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

W.H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

How things have changed. We live in a rapidly changing world where nothing can be taken for granted. The only thing we can really have any control over is ourselves and how we respond to change. Do we embrace change or do we prefer to sit in our comfort zone, pull up the drawbridge and resist it at all cost?

Change is sometimes forced upon us. For example we might be made redundant. The secure job disappears overnight. Or there might be that nagging internal voice telling us that we are not happy in the job that we are doing and that something has to change. One way of taking change in our stride is by being self-aware, understanding who we are and how we maximise the use of our unique gifts and talents. Once we know who we are it is easier to place ourselves like a jigsaw piece in the jigsaw and contribute to something greater than ourselves.

So my tips around becoming more self-aware and coping with a changing world are:

1. Take time each day to reflect. The questions we ask ourselves may be deep and meaningful – who am I, what am I doing here, is this the life I really want? – or they may just be reflective of the day before – what did I get right, what could I have done better, what did I learn? It is easy to live a mechanical life going through the motions, always in a rush, always wanting what we can’t have and being completely unconscious of our inner self and the effect we have on others. And the best time to reflect is when you are taking some physical exercise. Not only does it release the endorphins which make us feel better, but reflection is a good way of taking your mind off the pain. Whether you are walking, running or cycling it is a great time to be alone to reflect and it is in those moments that we allow things that maybe we have suppressed to come to the surface.
2. Take a risk. Step outside your comfort zone We are increasingly brought up to believe that we can live risk free lives. We naturally steer away from risk because we fear the consequences. Often we just fear what it might expose in ourselves. But the person who never risks, never learns and never really lives. So go out and do something that frightens you. Don’t over-extend yourself since you will reinforce your worst fears, but extend yourself enough to give you that buzz of achievement. Keep extending yourself and over time you will find yourself doing the things that once you thought were impossible. We all have a destiny but as Carlos Ruiz Zafon says in his book The Shadow of the Wind Destiny is just around the corner like a thief, but what destiny doesn’t do is home visits. You have to go out and grab it.
3. Do something creative. Oh but I’m not the creative type I hear you say. Well wrong actually. We all have limitless capacity for creativity. I was once told that the only difference between a creative person and a non creative person was that the creative person believed that he was creative! Working with entrepreneurs I am in awe at the creativity of my fellow man. And I have to remind myself that I too can be an entrepreneur, although I might have to take a risk and step outside my comfort zone.
4. Become a mentor. The poet John Donne famously wrote No man is an island. Yet nearly 40% of people now live alone facing the world alone, making decisions alone often full of self doubt. People ask me what a mentor does and I simply say that it is one human being getting alongside another and helping them along part of life’s journey. If we have done our self reflection we will have learned the humility to know that it is difficult to achieve anything alone – we are truly interdependent. Being an entrepreneur is a lonely business. Nothing gets done unless you do it and you are the only decision maker. Being a mentor to an entrepreneur gives you someone you can bounce ideas off, someone to be accountable to and someone to celebrate your success with. Getting alongside another human being and being able to offer that is one of the most rewarding experiences you will ever have. And the great thing about being a mentor is that you too will need a mentor so will have the added benefit of someone getting alongside you
5. Listen. To be a good mentor we need to learn to listen. It is no coincidence that we were given 2 ears and one mouth. And it is not just that we use our mouths rather than our ears, even when we are ‘listening’ we are thinking about what we are going to say next. To really listen we not only need to hear the words but the intonation behind the words to discover what is really going on. And of course we need to observe the body language since something like 67% of our communication is achieved without a single word being spoken
6. Forgive someone. If you have managed to get through life without someone upsetting you are a rare being. Someone might have upset you today; someone might have said something to you at school years ago. And we tend to hang onto it so that it eats away at us. Unforgiveness drains us of energy so whatever the wound forgive it. Forgiveness is simply letting go of the possibility of changing the past. Our future is a blank canvas; don’t let the past cast a shadow across it.
7. Take a homeless person out for breakfast. How often do you pass that homeless person in the street and walk on by. I guarantee that there will have been times when, having walked by, you have felt a tinge of conscience. And then you justify your decision by convincing yourself that they would just have spent the money on drugs. Just once turn back and, rather than give them money, take them out for breakfast. Not only will they be hugely grateful and you will receive that inner glow that comes from giving, but you will also discover that so many homeless people are just people like you for whom life just hasn’t worked out.
8. Travel Anywhere! Not only is there the pure joy of travelling – it is often better to travel than to arrive – but within every journey that is that mix of risk and anticipation never quite knowing what you will encounter or who you will meet. I never cease to learn from travel. It always fascinates me to discover that wherever you meet new people whatever their nationality of culture, it is our common humanity that shines through. If you don’t travel it is easy to fall into the trap of stereotyping people on ethnic and cultural grounds and therein lies the roots of prejudice. But also why not use travel to put something back. Mowgli offers the opportunity of combining a holiday with a short sabbatical from which you can leave a lasting legacy.
9. Have a laugh. Laughter like exercise ‘releases that feel good factor’. And don’t be afraid to have a laugh at your own expense. We all take ourselves too seriously and a little self-deprecation is a great way of helping others to relax in your company and be themselves.
10. Carpe Diem. Seize the day. It only comes around once. Don’t put it off any longer. Make a commitment and see it through. And the best commitment you can give each day is to be you, lose the mask and by so doing give others permission to be too. If you have been doing your reflection you will know yourself well.

“I thought you might enjoy an extract that I found by chance in a book I was reading this morning.

In a letter to Col T.W.Higginson, Emily Dickinson, the American poet wrote:

‘Would you have time to be the “friend” you should think I need ? I have a little shape : it would not crowd your desk, nor make much racket as the mouse that dents your galleries.

If I might bring you what I do – not so frequent to trouble you – and ask you if I told it clear, ‘twould be control to me. The sailor cannot see the north, but the needle can.’ (my italics).

It seems to me to sum up aspects of mentoring rather well.”

The Jordan Valley is impressive. You get the real sense of its part in the Great Rift Valley sinking below sea level to a fertile plain that runs into the Dead Sea, the lowest part on earth. Equidistant from the northern tip of the Dead Sea east and west are the cities of Amman and Jerusalem sitting high up and sharing a similar climate. As the crow flies they are quite close, but it is just not the steep climb to both of them that sets them further apart.

We have to transfer from one taxi to another, because the public taxis are not allowed to approach the border. From the taxi we are transferred to a bus when we cross the river. An American with us told me to keep my eyes glued to the window or I would miss it. He was right. The river crossing is disappointing. No ranging torrent; just a gentle stream. The crossing point is only a couple of miles from the point where Jesus was baptised and I for one have had to change my mental picture of that scene. But gazing into the river is the last sense of peace that we will feel this day. The fact that it is also the border between Jordan and Israel/Palestine – the West Bank – does not register at this point. But if I was under any illusions as to where I was they were soon dispelled with our arrival at what appeared like a huge cattle shed – a people processing factory run by Israeli security.

In the passport checking area, I met an elderly Palestinian man. As soon as he established that I was British, he excitedly started shouting ‘George Galloway, George Galloway’. I had not seen the news so thought he was referring to his high profile opposition to the Iraqi war. I smiled benignly as only the Brits abroad do when they haven’t a clue what the other party is on about. What I did not know was that George Galloway had become a Palestinian hero by leading a convoy of trucks with humanitarian aid from UK, down through France, over the Mediterranean to Tunisia and across North Africa to the border with Gaza. My perspective of George Galloway was changed. What a great thing to have done and what a powerful message. Yes he is a great self-publicist, but what a practical and brave way of meeting immediate human need. It reaffirms my faith in humanity and highlights the irrelevance of politicians. Left to our own devices, humanity can look after its own. Contrast this against the fact the world sat back and watched the Israelis trash Gaza, killing over 1000 people. The infrastructure, hospitals, schools, roads etc, had largely been funded through the UN, the EU and other world institutions to the tune of billions of dollars. Now destroyed those same institutions and the politicians who run them are meeting to agree an international aid package to rebuild it all. What a waste of money, money that could have been invested in people, agriculture and business that would have set Palestine on the road to hope, prosperity and dignity. It could have created jobs for the many young people, particularly men, who are unemployed. Jobs keep idle hands occupied; jobs reduce terrorism. I am reminded of the protest song of the 60’s ‘Where have all the flowers gone?’ which concludes with the words ‘When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?’

Five hours later we made it through Israeli security. The drive up to Ramallah is dominated by the views of Jewish settlements built on top of all the hills. Quite apart from the political implications, the environmental consequences of building ugly tower blocks in what was once the beautiful hills of the Holy Land, is another example of the carelessness of the Israelis in the pursuit of self-interest. We pass by East Jerusalem where the Palestinians are still reluctantly allowed a foothold. My first image of this beautiful city, so symbolic for all the Abrahamic faiths, is of an ugly wall, reminiscent of the Berlin Wall. Surely we have learned that human progress is not advanced by walls. Look what happened when the Berlin Wall came down. The physical represents the psychological. Basic human rights have flourished when walls have been brought down whether real as in these or legal as in apartheid. Israel is like the biblical Jericho – the walls need to tumble down.

Further on up to Ramallah a small city built on top of a series of hills. We are now 3 hours late for our first meeting and an hour and a half late for lunch with our hosts and 2 government ministers. We are both hungry and thirsty. We are taken to the Barbeque restaurant where a feast is laid out in our honour. The Special Adviser on Business to the Prime Minister has waited to meet us and we have a good conversation before he has to leave. The Levantine food is so good, based entirely on fresh produce – delicious salads, barbequed meat. It hasn’t changed in millennia. And not a processed food in sight. Not surprisingly they do not have the same level of obesity that we do in the so called developed world. After tea and a ‘hubbly bubbly’ we drive through the heart of Ramallah to the YEP offices. The city centre is bustling with activity. Shops spill out onto the pavements with wonderful looking breads, fruits and vegetables. A barrow of strawberries wheels past us at the lights, every large and delicious looking strawberry carefully laid out to create a pyramid of fruit.

At the office we discuss the conference and I agree to speak for 15 minutes on ‘Empowering Entrepreneurship’. In common with the Arab world and indeed our own, the latent creativity that lies within us all is either suppressed or killed off by the educational system. All educational systems are at heart requiring conformity of thought and behaviour. It is how we maintain control and civilisation. But it does mean that individual potential is either suppressed or very carefully channelled along the route desired of the state. I have worked with people from soldiers to school children, from prisoners to entrepreneurs and one thing impresses me more than anything. It is the unique potential that we all have. It is not that we raise our sights to high and fail it is that we set them too low and succeed. Imagine how transformed our world would be if we were all firing on our potential using our uniqueness in conjunction with everyone else – like the perfect engine working in total harmony or the sublime piece of music where every note achieves its own perfection. So I will inspire the audience to look within themselves for their own truth and use it to unlock their creativity. The old industrial model and the economic system that underpinned it has failed. The future lies with entrepreneurship, not to create businesses to line our pockets and those of our shareholders, but to build something that is off benefit to everyone.

It is impossible to come to Palestine and not talk about politics. I am so impressed by the warmth, intelligence and humour of the people here. Having had 85% of their land taken away from them, having few of the elements within their gift that allows a nation to pursue its own destiny, one would expect bitterness and anger. As a Brit, whose governments created the problem in the first place and have done little to pursue their cause, I was half expecting a hostile reception. But it could not have been more genuinely generous. They are not optimistic about the future. At best they see themselves moving from crisis to crisis management. Peace is still a distant dream along with the vision of their own nation state. Some talk still of the possibility of a 2 nation solution; others say that the only possible outcome now is a one nation solution with both Israeli and Palestinian coexisting peacefully under one democratic government. It is difficult to see the Israelis buying this solution since the demographics work against them – the Palestinian population is rising faster than theirs.

The Palestinians have no control over their energy and water supply. Business relies on the Israelis for import and export. But what struck me most was the lack of freedom of movement, a fundamental human right. Everywhere you go there are road blocks usually just used to intimidate and irritate. It is difficult, as I discovered to get in and out of the West Bank and Gaza. Routine things like holidays and business trips are a major hassle. There is no Palestinian airport – what a difference that would make, but the Israelis would never allow it. They trashed the airport in Gaza. This erosion of freedom is corrosive, and as an observer, it does not surprise me that some are driven to respond, although I would never condone any violent response. I am only surprised that the majority have accepted their reality and are making the best fist of it in the hope that one day it will change.

After a wonderful and late lunch, it was back out to one of Ramallah’s best restaurants courtesy of the Portland Trust, a British NGO working on a number of levels to build the Palestinian economy and work towards peace in the region. It does seem to me that an essential ingredient in achieving the goal of peace is to work from the bottom up. Levels of high unemployment with a young population are sowing the seeds of worse problems in the future. Young men, particularly, without purpose, with no job, no income and no hope soon become desperate. Terrorist organisations have never found it difficult to recruit such young men. I reflect, and I know that Jenny Tonge has got into trouble for saying so, but placed within a set of circumstances where I had no hope, could I become a terrorist? My hard wired belief that killing is never a solution to anything is very strong, but would it be strong enough in desperate circumstances. Could I find myself at the base of a rocket launcher? I don’t know and I suspect that no one does until presented with the circumstances, but at least we should learn to step into the shoes of those that do and understand why they are doing it, for their lies the root of the solution. Yet again we approach problems on a global scale at a superficial level without really understanding root causes. It is just like the British prison system: spending a lot of money and energy on the tackling the symptoms of the problem without ever attempting a deeper diagnosis.

George Galloway was back on the agenda the next day. A delightful and intelligent lawyer, Kareem dropped into the offices to say hello. We soon got onto the subject of GG. He said that his greatest TV moment was after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon when GG took a Sky News interviewer apart over her Israeli bias. Ayman found it on You Tube and we sat and watched it together. I quickly understood why he is such a hero out here. He simply restores a balance in what is a very pro-Israeli media. His comment that the problem went back further than the 4 week perspective of the Sky interviewer was a broadcasting treasure.

Onto meet Mazen, a former government minister and one of Palestine’s most successful businessmen. He is charming and we have the long statutory political discussion before addressing the purpose of my visit – a project whereby 4 leading British supermarkets would source produce from Palestine. The quality of their fruit, vegetables and olive oil is excellent with the added bonus that their main harvest in the Jordan valley is between Nov and Mar, neatly filling the winter months when local produce is not available in UK. I said that it would send a strong political signal to the British public to have ‘Made in Palestine’ labels in their supermarkets. It would establish Palestine as the nation it deserves to be. He has negotiated a route out of the West Bank with the Israelis that allows his produce to be in London within 10 hours. This is a significant advance since it normally takes up to 24 hours just to get out. He gave me some useful contacts and then we were driven to the centre of Ramallah to the local radio station to do an interview on the importance of buying Palestinian produce. We were running late and he had the bizarre experience of being introduced while still in the car. The traffic in the centre of Ramallah was gridlocked.

And so the journey back over to Jordan. I decided to travel as a Palestinian over the Allenby Bridge, rather than as a tourist over the northern bridge, which is easier. I was dropped by a charming taxi driver at the first stage of the crossing. I was shown into a vast hall with wooden benches. Apart from the bored looking officials, I was the only person there. A TV sat on the wall at the end of the building showing Arab cartoons. No one seemed to be watching. To liven up their lives one of the bored officials took his turn to change channels, the only activity going on, and we watched a piece about a sand storm in Riyadh. We were joined by 3 Palestinians: a man with two women, the younger of whom seemed to be in a state of some distress. Eventually we were listlessly shown through to another area where we boarded a bus. This took us through to the first checkpoint where we stopped. Two sinister looking young men with wads of shekels in their hands came onto the bus and started collecting money from everyone but me. The Brits weren’t going to have money extracted from them….yet. Another short leg, another round of bureaucracy. The locals seemed to be resigned to it. We completed 3 coach transfers before finally making across the River Jordan and back to ‘freedom’. For the final leg I was joined by a German and 2 Americans and we shared our amused frustration at the process. At the final checkpoint, just as I thought my wallet was safe a humourless young female Israeli official (what do they do their young women to make them so fierce and miserable?) demanded all the shekels I had left plus some of my precious Jordanian Dirhams.

I searched for a bus to take me to Amman and was informed by everyone, all of whom I suspect were working for taxi drivers, that there was no bus. I negotiated a fare and was whisked away to a modern Toyota – at least I would have a more comfortable journey back. My taxi driver was a classic cheeky chappie. He drove us onto the Amman road and then started asking me, as I eventually understood, whether it would be OK to pick up his married. I took this to be his wife. It occurred to me that most passengers would have said no – certainly the German would have done. Why did he ask me – did he see me for a soft touch – probably? So we drove through a Bedouin refugee camp. As with all these places full of children creating amusement out of nothing and running alongside the car. This was clearly not the driver’s car and he wanted to show off to his mates, and who could blame him. We pulled up outside a brieze block hut which he proudly said was his home and not one but 4 ‘marrieds’ appeared. They proceeded to squeeze into the back of the car and he announced that the largest and least attractive was his ‘married’ – ‘She very beautiful’. It would have been mean spirited to disagree so we were a merry throng, with the CD blasting out the latest Arab hits, as we drove up the steep sides of the Jordan Valley towards Amman. The sun was setting over Jerusalem on the other side and the colours were spectacular. The sand coloured rock glowed pink and all was well with the world for that moment.

An ex RAF fighter pilot who had led the bombing of Baghdad in the Second Gulf War sitting with a female Muslim Palestinian refugee committed to creating jobs for 1000 women discussing the brand name for her budding catering business.  The Chairman of a top UK head-hunting company inspiring a local Bedouin to create a unique opportunity to establish a Fairtrade business for his people in a part of the world where the opportunities for young people are so limited.    And what did this extraordinary group of people have in common?  They were participating in the Mowgli international mentoring pilot project in Jordan.  Five mentors, who literally put their money where their mouth is and travelled to Jordan to get alongside five budding entrepreneurs for a year.  They were here to train and prepare for a relationship which would, for the most part, be conducted remotely.  They were spending their precious 3 days with their mentees building a relationship that would bear the challenge of distance.  In these moments all my dreams for Mowgli and the establishment of an international mentoring network to encourage entrepreneurship came to fruition.   For the spirit and the chemistry that emerged between people from vastly different backgrounds was awesome to behold.  That sense of common humanity working together to achieve something better provided a small insight into how the world might move forward.

Earlier at a press conference the president of the Young Entrepreneur’s Association in Amman said that the only future for his country was entrepreneurship. In a world that is has been so let down by its governments, its financiers, its institutions and its leaders, entrepreneurship offers the only way forward.  And not entrepreneurship based on making the few richer at the expense of the poor; that model is dead in the water.  I mean a model of entrepreneurship where the outcome is empowerment, sustainable jobs and an end to poverty.  In an article in The Jordan Times of 9^th March the author wrote of the dual challenge that developing countries face in repaying debt and facing a world of substantially lower aid.  The writing on the wall has been there for years, but, in its short-term fixation with economic growth regardless of the social and environmental consequences, nobody bothered to read the message.  The developing world needs ‘first’ aid to meet the immediate consequences of famine, disease, war and natural disaster, but this should not be confused with the aid that disempowers: aid packages that have become the developed world’s way of salving its collective conscience.  The help that the developing world is craving for is the aid that will set them free to pursue their own destiny. The most effective way of this is through the encouragement of entrepreneurship.

So back to our twelve heroes in the desert.  The image is powerful.  The desert is symbolic of so much of the developing world.  Nothing grows and anything that does usually dies.  Aid is like water showered from a helicopter.  It may make a small short-term difference, but it soon evaporates and more water is needed.  Like water in a desert there is not an endless supply of money and what there is is diminishing by the day as the true scale of the economic crisis reveals itself.  What is needed in the desert is the creation of a regular water supply that can sustain growth.  What is needed in the developing world is the means to create a sustainable economy.  And that way is through the inspiration and nourishment of entrepreneurship creating an economic powerhouse which creates jobs and provides dignity for all people.

During an interview with a Jordanian business magazine back in Amman, the editor talked about the post-colonial victim culture of so many countries in the developing world including his own.  People trap themselves in their past wasting the opportunities of the present and providing no future for their children.  We can’t change the past, but we can do everything to change our future.  Or put it another way I can do everything to change my future and if all the ‘I’s collectively set out to change the future, the future will change.  We can’t sit back relying on others to do it for us.  We have until now and look at what a mess they have made of it.  ‘We must do something’ must be replaced by ‘I must do something’.  There are some brave individuals who are prepared to take the risk.  And the root to success?  Embark on a voyage of self-discovery; find your talents and unlock your passion.  Where the two converge, as Sir Ken Robinson eloquently puts it in his new book ‘The Element’, is the foundation for success.  But as our mentors and mentees learned in our Hero’s Journey the path is not easy.  But those happy few who persevere, and overcome the challenges (and sometimes raw fear) of entrepreneurship emerge with a different perspective on life.  With that new perspective they have something special to offer the world.  And the real wealth comes from putting something back.

Why Jordan?  There is a spirit of entrepreneurship abroad here and it is relatively safe and not corrupt.  But more importantly in the year I have been coming here, I have seen so much human potential.  It is a country with a noble history.  It has absorbed thousands of Palestinian, and latterly Iraqi, refugees. While it could blame the West, and particularly UK, for sowing the seeds of its present problems, it has chosen to hold a difficult balance in a region that has seen so much conflict over the last 60 years; and it has paid a price.    It deserves its reward and that is why I am so excited to be playing a small part in creating a better future.

And who are these budding entrepreneurs?  Rula is one of the most inspiring people I have met.  Rula comes from a very poor background.  Her future security lay in her marriage…until her husband left her.  Faced with no income and two young children to support, she took a risk.  She followed her heart doing the only thing she was good at and the one thing she loved: cooking. With a small loan from a micro-finance organization, she set up a catering business which now employs 12 people, all women deserted by their husbands.  Her vision is simple: she wants to open a factory employing 1000 women who have been similarly deserted.  We did come up with a name for her business.  It could only be Rula and the strapline: Just Food (in both senses of the word just).

Mohammed was brought up in the desert of Wadi Rum, a proud Bedouin.  He has set up a consultancy company to help improve business performance so that more businesses can survive.   To make himself wealthy?  Not at all.  He wants to use whatever wealth he creates to help educate and empower young Bedouin people like himself.  As he put it to me, ‘Somewhere out there is a young child with the potential to change the world, but how will we ever find them if we don’t provide the opportunities for them to discover their potential’.

Fatima has a dream too.  She wants to take techniques such as personality profiling from the business environment into Jordanian schools to unleash the creativity that remains locked into so many young people.  What if they could discover their strengths, understand their learning styles and recognise their unique talents and passions?  What if they could use this knowledge to become the entrepreneurs of the future creating jobs, opportunities and hope?  She discovered a name for her company over the weekend too: Unleash.

These are courageous people who are prepared to step outside their comfort zone and risk everything not to fill their own coffers, but to create a better future.  It seems strange that one has to come to the heart of civilisation to be reminded of some eternal truths.  It is a reminder of how badly we have perverted the concept of business.  Instead of being an engine to serve the best interests of all, it has been hijacked by the few for their own self-interest and gain.  Now is the time to change this and what better place than here in Jordan.

Indeed Barack Obama has spelt out the vision, to choose our better history but a vision without action from all of us soon fades.  In this part of the world his words are particularly poignant, We cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself. And that is why it is so important for individuals to reach out across cultural, ethnic and religious divides to break down ignorance and allow our common humanity to be revealed.  There is a gripping poem by the American poet Drew Bellinger which opens with these words:

It’s 3.23 in the morning and I can’t sleep
Because my great great grandchildren wake me to ask what I was doing as the world unravelled

What can we do? More importantly what can you do?  We can’t solve problems with the same level of thinking that created them.  It is easy to live life thinking that the problems of the world are always someone else’s .  ‘Something must be done’ is the universal cry with no sense that we carry a responsibility to contributing to the solution.  Take world poverty.  People have traditionally responded to the world’s poor through generosity.  The 20^th century paradigm was to support them through aid: an act of financial generosity.  But this is not sustainable.  From government aid to Live Aid there has never been a challenge in raising huge amounts of money.  Collectively we can salve our consciences by seeing a tiny proportion of our taxes spent on overseas aid or making an online payment or dropping coins in a collection tin – job done.  Others can work out how to spend it. Nothing changes.  People remain poor and suffering continues.  Another expensive elastoplast over an ever gaping wound.   But aid levels are dropping with the world economy and anyway it needn’t be like this.

Mohammed Yunnus the pioneer of micro –finance put it this way

My observations amongst the poorest people in the world suggest that entrepreneurial ability is practically universal.  Almost everyone has the talent to recognize the opportunities around them.  And when they are given the tools to transform those opportunities into reality almost everyone is eager to do so… All that is required to get poor people out of poverty is for us to create an enabling environment for them

And the need is pressing.  Asma Assad is the wife of President Assad of Syria.  In an article in the Sunday Times recently she said the following,  Take a second to ask yourself . . . Where would the extremist preach if poverty did not provide the audience? Where would a terrorist recruit if poverty did not line up those in despair?”

“The reason why alleviating poverty is so important is because it affects us all. When people are poor they have no hope and when they have no hope, they become desperate and desperation can breed some bad, bad things . .”

Youth unemployment – one of the great challenges of the 21st century – devastates the social and economic fabric of society, cheating countries, particularly in this region, of their greatest potential. For young people, being unable to find a job often means not having the means to get married, have a family or plan a future. Chronic unemployment can lead young people to feel excluded, frustrated, and angry at a world that has failed them.

So the world must now create a new model for the 21^st century based on empowerment and co-operation. True generosity stems from a generosity of spirit: a giving of ourselves with no expectation of return.  What if it were possible to create successful businesses which delivered both a return on investment and began to alleviate poverty?  Through nourishing entrepreneurship, economic, social and political change can be driven in a way that could achieve this. Let us inspire a new generation of leaders.  This is where the Mowgli Foundation will make a difference: matching skilled and experienced mentors with budding entrepreneurs in developing countries, beginning to unleash the extraordinary potential that remains largely untapped.  In addition to providing opportunities for visionary entrepreneurs, small businesses become important drivers for economic and social growth in these communities: providing jobs, capital, and an improved economic outlook and future for many bringing hope where there is none.  And what is Mowgli mentoring.  Our definition: A long-term relationship within which an experienced individual inspires, guides, and empowers another in achieving business and personal potential.

Let me bring that alive with a story.  One of our participants in the pilot to take place in Jordan is Rula.  Rula comes from a very poor background.  Her future security lay in her marriage…until her husband left her.  Faced with no income and two young children to support, she took a risk.  She followed her heart doing the only thing she was good at and the one thing she loved: cooking.  With a small loan from a micro-finance organization, she set up a catering business which now employs 7 people, all women deserted by their husbands.  Her vision is simple: she wants to open a factory employing 1000 women who have been similarly deserted.  And do you know I think she just might.  It is people like Rula who will make a big impact on their communities that Mowgli want to support.

To be or not to be?  Being an entrepreneur is tough.  We never anticipate the end at the beginning.  We are full of hope, possibilities, optimism, potential and it has to be said naivety.  If a baby was able to see its death while still in the womb would it go through the trauma of birth?  If any of the great inventors, creators, entrepreneurs knew the pain they would endure taking an idea from conception to implementation with the high risk of failure would they ever bother to start?  But we do.  For life is an adventure.  In the old cliché it is better to travel than to arrive and we determine how exciting the journey will be.  For anyone inspired enough to create their journey it won’t be easy, but it won’t be dull.  And we can create our own journey.  We need to unlock creativity.  We live in a fatalistic society where stuff happens, apparently beyond our control.  But if you believe that destiny sits waiting to be grabbed, you can create the life you were born to lead.  As Carlos Ruiz Zafon says in his book The Shadow of the Wind Destiny is just around the corner like a thief, but what destiny doesn’t do is home visits. You have to go out and grab it. Pity those who get to the end of the journey with the words ‘if only’ on their lips. Or ‘I could have’, but didn’t have the courage to try.  Or even in the great Peggy Lee song, Is that all there is? As I was to learn, it is not the end but the journey which is important, since this is when you meet that stranger inside all of us – our true selves.  That is the gift of risk: if you can step through the pain that risk entails, you will discover the pure gold that is you on the other side.  That pure gold is the person you were meant to be.  And through living authentically it is possible to unleash the creativity within. 

I have created both a business and a charity.  Would I have carried on if I knew the challenges I would face?  Would I have allowed myself to be inspired if I knew the despair I would feel, the utter helplessness, the dark nights of the soul?  Would my family have supported me if they knew the sacrifices they would have to endure, while I pursued my dream?  If we knew what was to come who would have the courage to start?  And yet we do.  The course of history is defined by those who have taken risks in order to make a difference, leave their mark, pursue their dream.  And thank goodness they have, for the world is a much better place for them.  Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. And better to have tried with a mentor, a trusted guide alongside us, who can help us navigate the huge challenges of creating something new.

This why supporting entrepreneurism is so important.  This why we believe that mentoring entrepreneurs is one of the keys to change.  We need to empower a new generation of leaders who make change happen.  Give them a fishing rod rather than a fish.

But mentoring must never be one way traffic.  Travelling to some of the poorest parts of the world, I am struck by the number of smiling faces amongst, what we would view, as the most abject poverty.  They have nothing in material terms; they battle to survive from day to day.  They cannot rely on the basics of food, water and shelter.  How can they be so happy?  I have come to appreciate that the reason is simple.  Their lives aren’t filled with busyness and doing.  They aren’t attached to stuff and they aren’t bombarded with advertising reinforcing a lack of self-esteem.  They simply are and in that connection to themselves and the world around them they find true happiness.

Furthermore it is now in the direct interest of business to engage with the world’s poorest.  It is time for business to be socially responsible, not just to fill the CSR box in the annual report, but because it should become second nature to them.  And there are opportunities in what is termed the Bottom of the Pyramid.  The business models highlighted by CK Prahalad are based on affordability and sustainability.  As the world economy as we have known it unravels we can learn from these business models.  They are primarily driven by fulfilling need, not to satisfy the demands of shareholders.  The market amongst those earning less than $2 a day is huge – calculated at $13 trillion.  So I believe that we have as much to learn from the people we aim to help as they do from us.  If our mentors can discover a new perspective of the developing world and how to do business there, if they can discover what is really important in life, if they can discover something new within themselves, then they will return to their normal working lives as more authentic and creative leaders and thereby more valuable assets to their companies, as well as having contributed to the process of a transformed world.  So sponsoring companies can make a difference and get a real return on their investment in the development of their staff.  So in conclusion I believe we have created something that can work for everyone: companies, their employees, individuals who want to make a difference and most importantly our budding entrepreneurs and those living in poverty.

I want to thank all of those who have volunteered to be mentors for our pilot in Jordan.  Not only are they taking a risk, a step into the unknown, but they are paying for the privilege.  But I particularly want to thank Tony.  It is not only his incredible vision, but he has made a huge personal investment into Mowgli.  He is a successful entrepreneur who has put his money where his mouth is.  I fervently hope that as a result of tonight, he will find others to share that investment so that his vision can achieve its full realisation.  The world wants to end poverty, but it is only by getting behind practical, ground- breaking initiatives like this that we can start turning hope into reality.

And there is hope.  It exists within each of us. Barack Obama has just been elected because he believes in hope.  But he is one man.    For that hope to mean anything, we all have to do something. ‘Another world is on its way.  On a quiet day I can hear her breathing.’  Nobody has to wait a moment before starting to improve the world. To be or not to be?  Only you can answer.

Youth unemployment, one of the great challenges of the 21st century, devastates the social and economic fabric of society, cheating countries of their greatest potential. For young people, being unable to find a job often means not having the means to get married, have a family or plan a future. Chronic unemployment can lead young people to feel excluded, frustrated, and angry at a society that has failed them.

What is needed now is a quality of leadership that the world has not seen since Churchill.  President Obama has the opportunity to offer this leadership.  He must step above the lobbies and state that his first priority is the peaceful settlement of the Middle East crisis and that the US will no longer tolerate the behaviour of Hamas or support and fund the disproportionate responses of the Israeli government.  He has the political capital and credibility to do it.  Every day thereafter that he does not focus on this, a Middle East settlement will become more difficult for him.  The economy and other issues will get in the way.  Some say that his appointment of an Israeli Chief of Staff and a very pro-Israeli Secretary of State in Hillary Clinton will make such an approach impossible.  But it may just be that he has worked out that, in the famous phrase of Harry Truman, it is better to get the opposition inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.

It is now vital to create a sustainable solution to the problem.  The largely moderate Arab world deserves it and the average Israeli citizen would like to sleep secure in their beds.  We live in an ever smaller world.  The collapse of the world economy demonstrates how interlinked we are.  We have to learn the art of collaboration rather than competition.  Ordinary people do it on an everyday basis because, as human beings, they know that this is the only way to survive.  All they want of their governments is do the same.  In summary we need a change of mindset and we need all parties to understand that there is nothing the present generation can do to change the past, but they can, individually and collectively change the future.  In biblical terms we must leave behind the Old Testament doctrine of an eye for an eye and embrace the New Testament message of forgiveness.

The essence of the article was a new look at the human condition.  It is our perspective of the human condition as rational, greedy and fearful which gave rise to the economic model that has driven us to excessive materialism for the last generation and which has led to its collapse.  We need a much richer conception of what humans are: fizzing bundles of potential. And it is this potential that excites me.  I saw it in our prisons and I see it now in the poorest parts of our world.  Incidentally I see it in the outwardly successful bankers, businessmen and entrepreneurs who now face the loss of livelihoods, status and wealth.  But in all cases it requires a fundamental shift in the way we view ourselves from our individual perspectives.

The prisoner has got used to the idea that he is bad and has nothing good to offer the world, the poor can’t believe that they will ever break out of the bitter cycle of poverty.  And the materially rich are so busy maintaining the mask of success that they have lost sight of who they are as people.

For all it is a question of shifting them from what they believe to be true to a position where they can look deep into themselves and discover their authenticity and from that their unique potential.  Having lived life behind a mask myself through various different guises, I am now passionate about helping people discover their own truth and to be the people they were born to be.

The word confidence is rooted in Latin and it means to reveal the truth within ourselves.  When that truth is uncovered, it releases the creativity which allows us to follow our true path.  For the prisoner this helps them uncover the gift they didn’t realise they had and build a new life around that gift.  For the poor it can help unleash the power of entrepreneurship and the capacity to build sustainable businesses that create jobs for others.  For the materially rich it helps them to understand that true wealth comes from serving others by putting something back.  Acquisition, greed and competition fade into insignificance.

To be or not to be that is the question of the day.  The answer lies within if we have the courage to seek it out.