London Futurists

Education and work - past, present, and future, with Riaz Shah

Jan 25, 2024

Riaz Shah, former partner at EY and Professor for Innovation & Leadership at Hult International Business School, discusses the future of education, the impact of AI, disinformation and deep fakes, cycles of honesty and corruption in politics and media, and forecasts for larger corporations in 2024.

37:12

Episode guests

Riaz Shah

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Values-based education can create a positive and loving environment for students, inspiring other schools to adopt similar approaches.

Continuous re-learning and upskilling are crucial for the future of jobs, with AI and technology transforming education and personalized learning experiences becoming possible.

Deep dives

The Creation of One Degree Academy

Riaz Shah shares the story of how he was inspired to start the One Degree Academy, a free school in a disadvantaged area of London. After being approached by a Citibank director who cared about 16-year-olds in disadvantaged communities, Riaz agreed to get involved in the mentoring charity One Degree. Eventually, he fulfilled a promise to create the One Degree Academy, aiming to support forgotten kids in society. The school focuses on core basic knowledge in subjects like math and English, as well as values like curiosity and teamwork.

Introduction

6min

Emphasizing Values and Continuous Improvement in Education

4min

The Future of Education and AI

15min

The Rise of Disinformation and Deep Fakes

6min

Cycles of Honesty and Corruption in Politics and Media, and the Importance of Teaching Critical Thinking

2min

Forecasting 2024 and the Challenges for Larger Corporations

4min

Our guest in this episode is Riaz Shah. Until recently, Riaz was a partner at EY, where he was for 27 years, specialising in technology and innovation. Towards the end of his time at EY he became a Professor for Innovation & Leadership at Hult International Business School, where he leads sessions with senior executives of global companies.

In 2016, Riaz took a one-year sabbatical to open the One Degree Academy, a free school in a disadvantaged area of London. There’s an excellent TEDx talk from 2020 about how that happened, and about how to prepare for the very uncertain future of work.

This discussion, which was recorded at the close of 2023, covers the past, present, and future of education, work, politics, nostalgia, and innovation.

Selected follow-ups:
Riaz Shah at EY
The TEDx talk Rise Above the Machines by Riaz Shah
One Degree Mentoring Charity
One Degree Academy
EY Tech MBA by Hult International Business School
Gallup survey: State of the Global Workplace, 2023
BCG report: How People Can Create—and Destroy—Value with Generative AI

Music: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration