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Feeling hot and cold with KaosPilots

posted on Thursday, March 12, 2009 02:00 PM

I have known the Dutch based school KaosPilots ever since ten students and tutor came to the World Summit in Thailand yet as i arrived in Rotterdam last week after two days in Brussels, i realised that i didn’t actually know them. I had met individuals from time-to-time and seen them as groups ‘perform’ at various events but still did not know them. Was it a school for tugging student’s emotions but delivering little practical outcome? Or was it a school based on some bogus theory? Was it special in anyway and if so, what? I hoped on my visit i would find out.

At Peter’s, the head of the schools, suggestion, i stayed at the Hotel Bazar http://www.hotelbazar.nl
Which i would definitely recommend if you want a cheery cultural spot with great food. Peter took me for a drink upon arrival and told me that i would be working with Team 2 (who are the newest students) tomorrow but school would be outside in an arcadia. Erm...but isn’t it bloody freezing i asked myself? This is going to be interesting. Brrrrrrrr!

Next morning he picked me up and off we went. Arriving at the arcadia i met a group of cheery students who said they had to move because security would not let them hang around. Great, maybe we will go indoors and be warm. Err, no! Instead we moved out unto the middle of a shopping walkway and with some chairs arranged in a circle, and flasks of coffee, we made school.

For reasons i cannot as yet understand, despite the temperature being just above zero, i began to realise i wasn’t actually cold. Maybe it was the drink the previous night (doubtful), or more likely it was as a result of being with friendly energetic students all wanting to do something different and as schools go, this was certainly different, but i had rarely felt warmer in a place of learning.

After the ‘check in’ i talked to them a little my past career and why i set it i-genius. Then i set the task for the morning. First i asked them what they most ‘feared’. The answers were interesting and more importantly honest, ranging from not wanting to be in a dead end job to fearing loneliness in future life. I then asked them to go off and ask people in the nearby streets, what was their greatest fears (and hopes)? After some initial resistance from some who felt uncomfortable focusing on a negative theme such as fear, off they went to carry out the task. An hour later we congregated again and everyone shared their findings. Most found it hard to just walk up to someone and ask about such a personal emotion as fear and hope, but they found that almost everyone entered into a conversation with them and in many cases, were pleased to be asked. They also discovered that the answers were similar to their own fears and hardly anyone mentioned losing their job or having no money despite this being what we see in the media almost every day at present.

At the end, i explained that the purpose of the exercise was that only when we understand other peoples hopes and fears, and discuss these with them, can we really begin to develop solutions for communities and wider society. Too few organisations actually bother to ask the people they are set up to help, anything at all.

Afterwards we went to KaosPilots ‘physical’ school which was two shop front type premises overlooking an urban waterway. Really nice and cosy! I met with some of team 1 Bert, Olivier and Soe whom i knew since Thailand. The atmosphere with them was very different to the younger team 2. Team 1 was in their second year and they had ‘done emotion’. They were now elite crack troops fully equipped to go off into the world and start solving its problems. They were relaxed, confident and knew who they were and what they wanted to achieve. We discussed their forthcoming outpost to Israel Palestine and also their perception of the last i-genius World Summit and I shared some of my thoughts about the next one. I sensed however that there was something not quite right regarding Thailand. I think they clearly enjoyed it and found it useful not least all the many contacts they have developed from it (and forming partnerships was its primary purpose) but they seemed dissatisfied in some way. It may have been over the way they had to finance their trip or that its participants were disproportionately from Europe (which is the area i most want to improve upon for the next one) but i felt that these were not 100% happy customers. I left thinking that i need to ask more about this.

Back with team 2, i talked individually or in couples with them about their projects and when asked, offered what advice i could. Increasingly everything began to fall into place. The school sets itself up as a place where you learn by doing and when i saw the deep and powerful projects they were working on such as expanding sustainable energy networks, new forms of market research, local arts and knowledge centres, i saw the full meaning of this. Team 1 outpost to Israel Palestine was also very ambitious, courageous and special.

From what i discovered, KaosPilots is a unique school. The students spend much time understanding their inner self, but this is quickly translated into creative thinking and action around developing great social projects. There is also a friendship, a human bond between them which they may not realise it yet, but which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. The students will understand each other and care for one another every bit as much as if they were in the same family. In a way, they are a family.

There are so many important things that the Harvard’s and London Business Schools of this world do not teach you and much of these can be found in KaosPilots. The school was much better than i had expected and i was sad when it was my time to leave. Its ambition is to be the best school in the world. Go for it, i say. I certainly left them feeling ‘hot’!

Comments

Stephen Chapman

Saturday, March 14, 2009 11:25 AM

Great to read about you experience here Tommy. Left me feeling warm, inspired and hopeful.

Tommy Hutchinson

Monday, March 16, 2009 02:40 PM

Thank you Stephen!

Barry Crisp

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 12:45 AM

Fantastic post! The street feedback on individual fears was very interesting. And Tommy, you and I have a massive challenge ahead of us. I know you will understand what I mean in many ways.

Educat - Business For Change In Africa

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 02:43 PM

A really great read Tommy! And nice to get some feedback on how we tend to do things. Thijs, KP Team2'er and Educat'er

Educat - Business For Change In Africa

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 03:06 PM

Sorry for the spam. The Rwandan internet has cheated me many times today...

Nicky Grunfeld

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 03:14 PM

Thijs was as enthusiastic as me (posting three times)... Thank you Tommy - I am still working on the photoproject... If anyone has any questions on what we are doing at KPNL check out our website (www.kaospilots.nl) and our blog (kpnlteam2.wordpress.com)!

Tommy Hutchinson

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 10:49 AM

Thank you and it was a pleasure!

Vixie Labanda

Sunday, March 22, 2009 08:04 PM

very nice post tommy! i enjoyed reading it. made me smile...:) very inspiring post... got me curious