What would you Like To Be ?

"You will never amount to anything” were the chilling words from one of the most influential people in his life, his teacher. After leaving school and joining the Army, he felt disillusioned. He never forgot his teacher’s disparaging remarks. Now, years later, he has letters after his name, having been awarded an honorary doctorate and is one of only twelve Britons to have walked to both the North and South Poles. That’s quite an achievement for someone never destined for much!

On this epic solo polar journey, across 800 miles of the worlds most inhospitable terrain he wasn’t actually alone. Using modern technology, he shared his daily experience with hundreds of school children online when on the ice. Having visited over 800 schools to share his experiences of life and to hopefully achieve what his own teacher never managed – to inspire the next generation and to show them that you can overcome life’s hurdles and achieve your dreams, no matter what people say.

Meanwhile, - you - have undoubtedly achieved much in your professional life and have a lot of experience to share. The mark of true progress, as you climb further up the career ladder, is to look back, and to pull someone else up behind you. “Each one teach one” so the saying goes.

“The biggest barrier to young people’s aspirations is the lack of knowledge and understanding to what career opportunities there are”. To overcome this barrier is the founding aim of LikeToBe.org, the online platform setup by him to raise students aspirations by connecting them and educators with employers to provide real-world career guidance.

It's surely an obligation of our generation to help the next. Remember when you asked yourself the question many years ago “What would I Like To Be when I grow up?”, but you probably had no access to anyone in role to ask about the reality of your aspirations. Well, today you can now share your professional knowledge and experience with those asking, to help answer questions for those considering their career options. Over 3,000 16 year olds are now on LikeToBe.org . 

I’m proud to be an Ambassador for LikeToBe.org where as a technologist I join the varied likes of chemists, architects, sports people, climate scientists, lifeguards, electronics engineers, naturalists, people with experience in retail and in transport, and agriculture, as well as others on the platform. Oh, and yes, LikeToBe.org even has someone who has undergone astronaut training, for the budding rocket scientist!

I’m particularly interested in raising the profile of working in the legal sector, somewhere that can often be seen as inaccessible to a curious 16 year old with no legal connections. So any lawyers, barristers or professional support staff please do get in touch if you’d like to help, or if your firm would be interested in supporting the next generation as part of its CSR activities through LikeToBe.org

After all, what would you LikeToBe.org ?