Inspiring The Next Generation - Everyone needs an Uncle Robin!

A few weeks ago I was invited to speak at the annual Shaping Portsmouth Conference on the theme of ‘Inspiring The Next Generation’

When I started to think about this I thought  “Well I used to be the next generation, albeit 40 years ago, so what or who inspired me as a young person?” I decided to take took a look at my own journey specifically around employment to see if I could identify individual people or experiences that inspired me to make some of the choices in my life, which I have to say could have been completely different had I taken some of the negative choices that were available to me as a young man being brought up in a council estate in the West of Scotland in the 1980’s

So… here is my life IN work… 

The first thing that you may notice is the mid-life crisis around the 00’s!!.....business ARTS!... but when I look at this I can begin to pinpoint moments of inspiration that had a profound effect on my life and career.

There was my history teacher who taught in such a fun and informative way that I wanted to teach

My best friend who taught me that to be a musician, you need to be dedicated, you need to have perseverance and you need to practice!

There was even the young engineer who in the early 90’s introduced me to a program called ‘Excel’, which I became obsessed with, and that led me to a career in IT and programming.

However on reflection one of my first instances of inspiration came from my uncle Robin… (he wasn’t my real uncle just a friend of the family) who back in the early 70’s would regularly visit my house. He ALWAYS brought his guitar and always had a sing along! He was funny, he was interesting, he was talented and I remember thinking… “I want to be him, I want to do that!”. It wasn’t long after that I joined the school choir, started performing on stage, learnt guitar and began a lifelong relationship with music and the arts.

When I turned 40 and decided to change my career it was music and the arts that I returned too. That fire, which was ignited by the musical spark of Uncle Robin all those years before… stayed with me… and was still burning... INSPIRATION can be THAT powerful and THAT long lasting

So how do we inspire the next generation? I don’t have the definitive answers however after 16 years of working with, and around young people, I have some thoughts…

• Firstly don't try too hard or be tokenistic. If there’s one thing I've learnt about young people it's that they can spot a chancer a mile away! So give them  professional experiences that create that ‘wow’ factor. Wow factors are inspirational
• Encourage positive risk taking. Inspiration is a very powerful thing but not necessarily always positive. Young people are inherently risk takers so if we don't inspire positive risk taking someONE or someTHING will inspire negative risk taking.
• Be inspired by young people and celebrate their success and achievements. Inspiration is reciprocal… it has Its own positive feedback loop. Much as success feeds success… being inspired encourages you to inspire.

The UVG’s ethos is very much about inspiring young people to believe in themselves, and when they do, that feeling travels with them for the rest of their lives, wherever they go, whatever they do. Inspiration comes from individual experiences, both practical and personal, and if we are to inspire the next generation, we need to listen to them… we need to understand THEIR world as THEY see it… and we need to provide the stimulus that inspires them to achieve in the future. Everyone needs an Uncle Robin!