Lucian Tarnowski

Lucian Tarnowski

Lucian is the Founder & CEO of BraveNewTalent

  • San Francisco, US

Lucian is Founder and CEO of BraveNewTalent.com and is on a mission to create a new model of professional education. He has been honoured as Europe's youngest Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum. He is also winner of the Global Enterprising Young Brit of 2009 and is on the UKTI (UK Trade and Investment’s) Global Entrepreneur Program with BraveNewTalent being described by the UK Government as a “Technology Company of Exceptional Potential”. In his spare time Lucian runs Take Heart India, a no overheads charity that provides blind and handicapped students in rural India with the IT and employment skills that guarantee them a job for life. Lucian speaks to audiences around the world about the convergence of talent and technology and its impact on the future of the global workforce and education.

438 Followers 139 Following 64 Organizations 34 Topics
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  • Lucian Tarnowski in Values, Happiness, Zappos, Advice

    At BraveNewTalent one of our favourite values is Happiness: We want to make the lives of our team, members and clients happier and more fulfilling.

    I have been reading about the work of Delivering Happiness at Work as I am about to have a meeting with them. This is a very interesting organization spun out of the Zappos Delivering Happiness success. See their site here: http://deliveringhappinessatwork.com

    They had two great blog posts I just looked at also. This one looks at a survey in the UK and sees teachers as the happiest people given their meaningful work: http://deliveringhappinessatwork.com/happiestworkersinbritainareteachers/

    The second is one I 100% agree with - The happiest people focus on solving difficult challenges: http://deliveringhappinessatwork.com/the-happiest-people-focus-on-difficult-challenges/. This… Read moreis definitely true in my experience.

    I feel that happiness is very connected to achieving your professional potential.
    • Delivering Happiness at Work -
      Delivering Happiness at Work -

      They understand the path to retention, productivity and profit is born from an inspiring corporate culture with purpose at its core and happiness as a business model.

    • Lucian Tarnowski in Social Learning, Talent Communities, Knowledge

      I have been thinking about what Enlightened Self Interest means for BraveNewTalent.

      I had a fascinating lunch yesterday with the co-founder of Siri (the Apple personal assistant product). Before he founded Siri he started an enterprise knowledge sharing company that was very successful. He just gave me a few ah ha moments that I wanted to share:

      1. All research shows that people don't change behaviour to the benefit of others alone

      2. We need to create a 'martial art move' to align people to change their behaviour (when you bring someone close to use their energy combined with yours to create an end)

      3. In order to get people to share knowledge you need to make it easier to share into the knowledge pool than to share knowledge point to point

      4. In doing so the user can gain enlightened self interest in that they discover… Read morea behaviour that is simple to do but benefits them. The by product is that it benefits others at the same time.

      5. We need to make knowledge sharing as simple as allowing a learning email to cc'ed the knowledge pool where it is indexed and highly searchable. This means that the knowledge sharer can become 'the manager of managers' with their ability to transcend tradition corporate command and control structures.

      These are ideas the team and BraveNewTalent ponder in how to make the insights being shared on the site more sticky and more valuable. We will continue to ponder these for years to come!
      • Lucian Tarnowski Lucian Tarnowski commented on
        Lucian Tarnowski

        Lucian Tarnowski in Leadership, Gen Y, Management, Youth Effect

        The Youth Effect - this is a book I co-authored and co-curated with a few YGL friends a few years ago. We curated the thoughts from 21 YGL's on how decision makers can better engage young people in what they are doing. We launched the book in Davos a 2 years ago. See http://www.youtheffect.org
        • Lucian Tarnowski
          Lucian Tarnowski
          These are the authors:

          1. David Jones

          Recognizes that today’s youth or millennials are born in a world of unprecedented access to other people and information. They educate themselves through informal learning on the Internet and are capable of reaching more people and swaying more opinions using social media. Older generations need to understand how today youth has the unprecedented power to effect change; leaders must find ways to work together with the millennials and take full advantag… Read moree of all they have to offer.

          2. Penny Low

          Begins with details of an encounter with a Syrian teenager risking her life to carry a petition letter signed by many youths. Low asks elders to enlarge physical and mental spaces to let youth into the leadership sphere. She elaborates on the ICT revolution and the notion of people as changemakers.

          3. Hon. Scott Brison

          Asks leaders to address issues that matter to the youth as a way of involving them. He encourages not only understanding what is important to the youth but also implementing it. He acknowledges the fundamental changes in the labour market and discusses specific initiatives to involve youth such as internships, scholarships for public service, youth service programs, and outreach.

          4. Juan Mario Laserna and Christine Balling

          Agree that one of the greatest challenges in successfully engaging youth is motivating them into action. They stress the approach of “show don’t tell” in educating the youth about the rewards of getting involved. They further discuss the importance of engaging the youth in the democratic process.

          5. HRH Crown Prince Haakon

          Urges leaders to believe in today’s youth and to give them opportunities. He supports Aristotle’s notion of commending the youth for trusting “feeling over reasoning”. His Royal Highness discusses how youth are not only quick at grasping the idea of dignity but also quick to act on it. They need to be encouraged as Champions of Global Dignity.

          6. Wilmot Allen

          Believes that youth have social competitive advantages. He emphasizes that engaging youth in public discourse about public issues is critical as they are able to transcend the pressures which drive social divisions. He suggests ways to exploit the social competitive advantages of youth by presenting two different programs for diversity and provides principles for engaging youth on difficult social topics.

          7. Josh Spear

          Establishes the distinction between finding young people and reaching them. He says that finding young people is easier now but the focus should be on “reaching them”. His message is simple: “integrate don’t infiltrate”. Josh discusses the value of transparency, clarity, authenticity and collaboration.

          8. Lucian Tarnowski

          Stresses on understanding Gen Y as they defined by change and are “digital natives” of social media. Employers need to find new management approach to recruit, train and develop youth to bring out the best talents.

          9. Adrian Cheok

          Focuses on understanding today’s children who are born in a world of unlimited communication due to the proliferation of new media and digital technologies. These tools provide children with new opportunities to be creative, connect with an audience and have outlets for their expressions. The Internet has provided children with spaces for creative innovation and group interactions that can be further enhanced through specific initiatives that
          Cheok discusses.

          10. Bhavneet Singh

          Stresses that integrated media campaigns are successful in reaching youth. He talks about the Shuga campaign in Kenya which included an original three-part TV drama series with compelling HIV prevention and education messages. Over 90% of Kenyan participants believed the show had an impact on their thinking.

          11. Jennifer Corriero

          Focuses on challenge based learning and embracing children’s creativity and curiosity. Jennifer encourages using technology in classrooms and reinventing current educational systems to bridge the gap between real world context and what is taught. Jennifer discusses ways to unleash the creative potential of youth.

          12. Yair Goldfinger

          Talks about the importance of having a physical meeting and discusses ways to structure and conduct these meetings. He encourages raising issues and coming up with solutions as a way of involving the youth and guiding them.

          13. Teresa Kennedy

          Emphasizes youth empowerment through respecting them as present leaders, providing relevant opportunities for engagement and growth and offering sustainable support. This would help young people develop the personal and social assets they need to be resilient and productive in the world. She stresses that “rather than fitting youth into our agenda, they [should] become a part of setting the agenda.”

          14. Lorna Solis

          Secondary school-aged youth in third world countries are the most powerful untapped resources. We need to engage youth, especially female youth, through workshops, empower them through ownership of projects and elevate them through tools for success.

          15. Kingsley Bangwell

          Looks at the intrinsic entrepreneurial streak in all of us but stresses that the real question is: are we obsessed with a new idea yet? Bangwell mentions the need for a systemic program to nurture the entrepreneurial streak in young entrepreneurs to have a global impact. He also strongly believes that a global platform is needed to showcase young entrepreneurs because celebrating them would inspire them to do more.

          16. Alfredo Capote

          Stresses the need to understand why the level of employment among youth seems to be decreasing. Entrepreneurship is a viable tool for youth development as it provides them with a better knowledge base to analyze, scrutinize and dissect different professional paths to develop vocational competence. The Pro Empleo example from Mexico provides good ideas for organizations to reach out and foster youth entrepreneurship.

          17. Carolina Müller-Möhl

          Encourages involving leaders from education, financial institutions and politics along with media campaigns to increase financial literacy among youth. She provides a background of the “LEARN MONEY” initiative which was initially presented at the World Economic Forum in Dalian in 2009 and talks about initial results and the leaders involved.

          18. Angel Cabrera

          Discusses the evolution of the Global Business Oath. He talks about acknowledging management as a true profession and understanding its ultimate purpose is to create sustainable and inclusive prosperity. He emphasizes the need for a universal code of conduct for business leaders as their decisions have to power to destroy or create; through initiatives such as The Oath Project, these managerial decisions can be utilized to serve society and create
          sustainable value.

          19. Javier Garcia

          Provides a toolkit for inspiring young people to become change makers of the present and shapers of the future. His key messages include inspiring for a purpose, using role models to communicate and inspire and utilizing web 2.0 to help young people organize themselves in positive ways. He outlines two case studies: first an On-line global experiment for the International Year of Chemistry and second, Great Scientists as Role models to Inspire the Youth.

          20. Alberto Vollmer

          Challenges leaders to focus on bringing out the best in people. They also need to build trust through basic diagnosis, soft leadership, a common vision and an unconstructive attitude and negotiation. In order to engage young people, we must first help them overcome fear. Vollmer emphasizes that “remember to be hard with the problem, while being soft with the solution.”

          21. Nancy Lublin

          Provides guidelines for communicating with teenagers and engaging them in a conversation. Some quick tips are asking specific questions that will inspire debates, citing hard facts and numbers to build trust and speaking with them, not at them. Lublin’s guidelines are simple and allow cross generational leaders to understand communication styles of today’s youth and ways to incorporate them in initiating a dialogue.

      • Lucian Tarnowski in Education, Social Learning

        I'm currently at a very interesting intellectual gathering of 88 people over the weekend called Jerry's retreat. Many of the people here are professionals in the education and learning space. Some of the lines below are my favourite sound bites that I have learnt from:

        EDUCATION: The best description of the problem with education: 'We are preparing veal for rodeo'. In so many cases the education system misses what we need to actually prepare people for.

        COMMUNITIES: People form communities around what they are learning. When people curate their learning lives online.

        LEARNING: Open source learning - learning functions best when it is a product of a community or network. When you can teach and learn as part of a community people need to find out what they are interested in and join communities that share this.

        OBJECTIVE OF… Read moreEDUCATION: If leading a fulfilled human life was the objective of education then at least 50% of the curriculum would be about self learning and relationships.

        THE HUMAN CONDITION: Our natural condition is curiosity. We don't have a problem with learning we have a problem with social constructs that define what people should learn.
        • Jean McCormick
          Jean McCormick
          The phrase "veal for rodeo" resonates-in part because it is so colorful, in part because of its impact. The concept of serving up the highest quality education to individuals at an early stage and then "that's it" is no longer relevant as well as the concept of one channel (university) of delivering educational services.

        • Lucian Tarnowski in Advice, Leadership, Success

          14 things successful people do at the weekend. This is an interesting piece. I think this varies a great deal depending on the person and what stage the person is in. People talk about balance in terms of work life balance. But I think it is more apt to talk about work life 'rhythm' - sometimes we are all out of balance but that is fine as long as there is a rhythm to our professional and personal lives.
          • 14 Things Successful People Do On Weekends
            14 Things Successful People Do On Weekends

            Spencer Rascoff is only 37. Yet, the Harvard grad and father of three has already accomplished so much. He co-founded Hotwire.com and served as a VP for Expedia ; he held the roles of CFO, vice president of marketing and COO at Zillow; and in 2008, Rascoff was promoted to chief executive of the popular real estate information site.

          Show previous comment
          • Jean McCormick
            Jean McCormick
            Very interesting. I may get the books. I'm most interested in "what successful people do before breakfast." I may be wrong: but I don't think that my response (sleeping) is high up on that list!
          • Master Burnett
            Master Burnett
            This is a great article. I often exhaust myself with the kids during the weekend, but it's a different type of exhaustion than work fatigue. I've never thought of it as cross training, but that is a good way to look at it. Saturday is often my unplugged day, but I am guilty of checking e-mail from time to time, and my brain is often contemplating work issues in the background at all times. Some of my most productive work spurts actually happen as I am driving to and fro.
          • Jean McCormick
            Jean McCormick
            I do wonder though if there are as many responses as individuals. I know some who never seem to unplug and are successful and those who don't unplug and are not as well as the reverse. As with so many things, it is understanding who you are and how you work, another way of rephrasing "rhythms."
          • Lucian Tarnowski Lucian Tarnowski liked
            Serena Rizzo

            Serena Rizzo in Education, Career, Education & Employability, Youth Employment

            "The purpose of why I hate school but I love education was not to initiate a worldwide debate but to let them know that we will not let exam results decide our fate".

            I highly recommend watching this video.

            If even kids realize that the world has changed, why doesn't school change?
            Are governments doing enough to adapt?
            • I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate||Spoken Word

              SUBTITLES(click"cc"button) Purchase on Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-will-not-let-exam-r­e­s­u­l­t­/­i­d­6­3­5­9­8­9­8­3­6­ I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate - Suli Breaks,Vanity Fair,2009 "I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate" picks up on the education topic but takes a different stance and angle from "Why I Hate School But Love Education".

            • Tom Michaelis
              Tom Michaelis
              It's a tough problem. Schools are set up to teach students academic subjects, which is great for those who are enthusiastic about academic subjects - and there are plenty of them. Of course, schools are also pretty poor at teaching those with no academic leanings.

              I don't think anyone would argue that everyone should have some academic grounding (some level of literacy and numeracy are tremendously important to most jobs in todays world).

              Additionally, you still need students to be expose… Read mored to academic subjects which are not necessarily key for their career. How will I know that history is my driving passion if I've never taken a class in it? So any system we come up with should give students adequate exposure to a wide range of experiences.

              The problem then becomes 'At what point should students be encouraged to specialise?', 'How do we provide the opportunity for specialisation?' and 'How do we ensure that people have the opportunity to change their minds?'

              I suspect that actually, 14-16 is about the right age for this. By this point, students are on the most part mature enough to make decisions about their future. They've had plenty of exposure to a variety of experiences. No-one would insist that students should make life determining decisions about what fields they wanted to specialise in at 13 (indeed, look at the old secondary modern/secondary technical/grammar school education system - controversial because children were forced down a route before they were mature enough).

              In the UK, that fits in pretty well with GCSEs - which I think work well as a foundational level of academic education. And there is a drive to provide non-academic alternatives to sixth form education, although I feel this isn't sufficient. All in all, I think the systen's not that far off what it should be. I think the key issue, actually, is the sheer number of employers who insist on a degree their employees never use.
            • Kaelig Deloumeau-Prigent
              Kaelig Deloumeau-Prigent
              Something that happened to me recently and for which the lack of a degree decided my fate for me: to work in the USA with a H-1B Visa you actually need a 4-year degree (or equivalent), which makes it hard to get in the US even if you have a sponsor. That's a good example of how people without a degree can be left out… Is it a form of discrimination? Will those barriers fall at some point?
          • Lucian Tarnowski Lucian Tarnowski commented on
            Steve Amsden

            Steve Amsden in Success, Leadership

            Love this visual.
            Show previous 6 comments
            • Ina Stanciu
              Ina Stanciu
              Do you think is that complicated the path towards Success?
            • Diana Constantinescu
              Diana Constantinescu
              Haha, I don't think there is only one!
            • Ina Stanciu
              Ina Stanciu
              good one Diana... in some cases do you think that the satisfaction of achieving success is greater when it is directly related to - how complicated is the path
            • Diana Constantinescu
              Diana Constantinescu
              Meh, not necessarily, I think it depends what kind of person you are. If your satisfaction comes from the effort then yes. If your satisfaction is proportional to how quickly you attain your goal, then some people might get frustrated by this kind of complications. Oh also, don't you guys think 'success' is not just one, but pretty much applies (and is defined differently) to each area of life? Steve what do you think?
            • Lucian Tarnowski
              Lucian Tarnowski
              Agreed - Thanks Steve. My journey has been more steps backwards than forwards. One of our company values at BraveNewTalent is 'Fail Forwards - We have and will continue to make mistakes and embrace failure as long as we learn from it'.
            • Steve Amsden
              Steve Amsden
              thanks Lucian.

              I love this graphic - shared it with many peers.

              My lesson is enjoy the journey along the way and try to learn at every step!
            • Mohammed Raja
              Mohammed Raja
              Success is and should be defined differently for everyone. The graphic illustrates the fact that when we draw our success line, it will be personal to us and may be longer or shorter. Thanks for sharing.
            • Ina Stanciu
              Ina Stanciu
              Mohammed do you think that this line is straightforward for some people? Or it looks like in the second image for all of those attempting to reach success in whatever task/activity/objective?
          • Lucian Tarnowski Lucian Tarnowski liked and commented on
            Jean McCormick

            Jean McCormick in Happiness, Leadership, Career

            "Happiness is best thought of as a skill," argues sociologist Christine Carter. Harvard Business School guru Rosabeth Moss Kanter believes that the happiest people in her circle are those who tackle really difficult problems such as homelessness and hunger. In her new book Evolve, she shows how that spirit can be translated into new business initiatives. Purpose, she purports, is the essence of leadership. Individuals can meet stretch goals if they are motivated by that purpose. And that makes them happy.
            • The Happiest People Pursue the Most Difficult Problems
              The Happiest People Pursue the Most Difficult Problems

              Lurking behind the question of jobs - whether there are enough of them, how hard we should work at them, and what kind the future will bring - is a major problem of job engagement. Too many people are tuned out, turned off, or ready to leave. But there's one striking exception.

            • Lucian Tarnowski
              Lucian Tarnowski
              I love this and completely agree. Its the journey as much as the destination that makes me happy. I heard recently the question: 'What are the 2 most important days of your life?' I thought about the answer and thought perhaps the day I was born and the day I marry or fell in love. I could see it was not the day I died. However, my favorite answer to this questions was the day you are born and the day you know why you were born. Too few people ever discover the joy of knowing why they were b… Read moreorn - what their purpose is. I count myself as very lucky to know my purpose - it helps you focus in life on what Bill George calls your True North.
            • Jean McCormick
              Jean McCormick
              I agree too.
              The most important day of my life was the day that my nephew was born with Epidermolosis Bellosa. He was all of four pounds, barely made it through the night and lost his hearing because of the emergency treatment. (He has regained his hearing through a cochlear implant.) My life and the lives of all my family members united around the goal of helping him live, helping others with the same illness live and finding a cure. We never argue anymore.

              Shane makes everyone realize that… Read more happiness is a choice. Though he lives with with an inordinate amount of pain and has had more than 100 operations at the age of 14, he cherishes life. A brilliant award-winning student, a Latin speaker (!) and a space geek, he represented his hero, the late astronaut Neil Armstrong at the launch of a center in his name, and sat with Armstrong's family at his public memorial service. Who can say that he has represented his hero at that age?
              http://www.kypost.com/dpps/news/local_news/DONE-neil-armstrong-new-frontiers-initiative-created-at-cincinnati-childrens-hospital-medical-center_7812298 />
              Here's a video and article on the events.
          • Lucian Tarnowski Lucian Tarnowski liked and commented on
            Alexandra Jorge

            Alexandra Jorge in Careers, Entrepreneurship

            • Need a Job? Invent It
              Need a Job? Invent It

              WHEN Tony Wagner, the Harvard education specialist, describes his job today, he says he's "a translator between two hostile tribes" - the education world and the business world, the people who teach our kids and the people who give them jobs.

            Show previous 3 comments
            • Safwan Saif
              Safwan Saif
              I can relate to this article very well. I studied till college in Bangladesh where getting high grades was everything. The whole education culture was based on competition. Then I came to Finland for university and its a whole different story here.
            • Lucian Tarnowski
              Lucian Tarnowski
              The author Seth Godin of Tribes fame also talks about this. I think it is a very important point and also recognition of the disconnect between the world of education and the world of industry/business. What so many education institutions miss is the importance for today's professionals to be what I call 'Tri-sector Athletes' - People that can navigate the business world, political world and social sector without interruption.
            • Eric Ball
              Eric Ball
              I could not agree more with Tony's description (from my book intro: "the two environments exist as separate countries, communicating infrequently in any substantial way"). Agree with Lucian that those who straddle can achieve the most. More generally, interesting advances usually come from the intersection of fields, tribes, functions.
            • Eric Ball
              Eric Ball
              I could not agree more with Tony's description (from my book intro: "the two environments exist as separate countries, communicating infrequently in any substantial way"). Agree with Lucian that those who straddle can achieve the most. More generally, interesting advances usually come from the intersection of fields, tribes, functions.
            • Eric Ball
              Eric Ball
              I could not agree more with Tony's description (from my book intro: "the two environments exist as separate countries, communicating infrequently in any substantial way"). Agree with Lucian that those who straddle can achieve the most. More generally, interesting advances usually come from the intersection of fields, tribes, functions.

          • BraveNewTalent.com, CEO, Holborn, London

            June 2008 to present

            I am Founder and CEO of BraveNewTalent.com

          • BraveNewTalent.com, Founder & CEO, London,

            June 2008 to present

            BraveNewTalent is a Community Platform that enables users to attain professional knowledge and skills. The platform brings together people and employers to engage and build closer relationships leading to knowledge sharing, career development and ultimately employment. It addresses the major inefficiencies in the employment and human capital markets. Users create their own professional community on BraveNewTalent in which they can engage with Employers, Talent and Skills in order to help them reach their full career potential.

            BraveNewTalent supports employers’ staffing efforts by providing engagement and recruitment tools that enable talent relationships. The BraveNewTalent platform improves the relationship employers have with talent by providing a community where applicants, employees, alumni, and others who desire to affiliate with the employer can mingle and garner career development by participating in communities that aim to help next generation workforce attain high demand professional knowledge. BraveNewTalent hereby gives employers a new way to use their own resources (their employees) to develop the skills of their future workforce. Employers have the brand gravitas to attract Talent into their community. Their employees have the skills necessary to develop Talent within the Community.

            Vision: Connecting Education, Employability and Employment

            Mission: Maximizing Human Potential by helping our users:
            - Attain professional knowledge and skills
            - Find the best match for their talents and personality
            - Manage their career path, skillset and network

          • One Young World, Social Media Campaign Creator

            November 2008 to February 2010

          • Religion/Religious Studies, Master of Arts (MA) at The University of Edinburgh

            2007

          • A-levels at Stowe School

            2002