WWho do you admire and why?

The reason people who reach the apex of their tree manage to stay there is not only because they are incredibly good at what they do, it's often because they are excellent listeners and are good with people.

I've been lucky enough to have had some incredible mentors, and understand the importance that they can bring to one's attitudes through their experience. What Masterclass offers seems like a natural extension of that to a degree. A shortcut to best practices.

The more you know, the less you fearChris Hadfield

Once you have watched a few you start to see a common thread in the stories and attitudes. This can’t be a coincidence and the beauty of learning is that every piece of information does one of two things : it either shows you a new way to see, or it reaffirms your position on something. Both are useful.

StrobeDeadmau5

Chris HadfieldMasterclassIf the information is a confirmation, then this gives you confidence that the decisions you are making in that area are solid: keep going. If the information is completely different then it’s a way of gaining perspective on what you do to create a better outcome next time, even if the subject seems unrelated to what you are trying to achieve.

Nothing is truly unrelated: treating people well will always help no matter what you do, focusing primarily on an excellent product that helps others will mean you become more valuable in that area, as will innovation that solves problems or enhances outcomes. It’s not rocket science, but it’s good to be reminded now and again.

Yottam OttolenghiMasterclassMost of us aren't going to be negotiating the release of any hostages any time soon, or flying to the International Space Station (I wish!). But the principles of mirroring in a meeting (Voss) or competence - boiling down complex systems to a one-pager (Hadfield), evolving a tradition (Bottura with breadcrumbs), knowing that ‘if you don’t go you can’t grow’ (Iger), innovating with new tools (Deadmau5 with synthesis or the Cube), how to fish for ideas (Lynch), how to sift out objective truths you can stand on (deGrasse-Tyson), not being afraid to look like an idiot in front of a microphone in order to explore an idea (Timbaland), the value of patience (Franklin), or being mindful of our choices on the world we share with others (Goodall), etc - these are invaluable tools that are applicable everywhere, every day.

TimbalandMasterclass It’s as close as most of us will ever get to sitting with these great minds for several hours. The lessons are broken down into 10-20 minute bitesized chunks on average, so could even be watched on a commute. But they are in depth enough so you feel like you've actually learned something concrete, and long enough (with no ads) to not feel rushed, you get to sit with the ideas and their associated periphery until you understand the wider implications.

Werner HerzogMasterclassSo feel free to try it for yourself - the annual pass is better value and they sometimes run promotions where if you buy one pass you can get another one for free, so you can either gift the second one to someone else, or halve the cost between you. The individual purchase is for one class, the pass gives you access to all of them for a year.

And just to be clear - I have no affiliation to the company whatsoever, I just really like what they do!

Happy learning :)

To create change is not by confronting something head on, it's by telling stories, meeting with people, listening to them, and then trying to find a way to reach the heart.

Dr. Jane Goodall | Masterclass