Meet Richard Freeman, chair of the Big Debate

On Wednesday 2 May, Brighton Chamber will be hosting the Big Debate. This event is free, open to everyone and a great opportunity to hear from influencers on interesting and controversial topics. This time, the topic is: ‘Future of work: Are we doing enough about future skills?’

The panel includes:

Nick Juba - Chief Executive Officer at Greater Brighton Metropolitan College
Jacqueline O'Reilly - Professor of Comparative Human Resource Management at University of Sussex
Matt Parkinson – Managing Director at Gene Commerce
Catherine Parkinson - Director of Goldfinch & Associates
Steve Wells - COO of Fast Future Publishing
Noel Agyei - Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder at ContentCal

We caught up with Richard Freeman, our chair for the evening, to find out what the topic means to him.

Hello!

I’m Richard Freeman, and I run a business, education and creativity support company called always possible. I’m also a Trustee of the national work experience charity, Fair Train, and I have worked in education and skills development since I was 16.

For the past nine years I have been heavily involved in developing apprenticeships, Study Programmes and routes into higher education for disadvantaged young people – as well as helping businesses, networks and entrepreneurs prepare for a new sort of workforce.

I’m thrilled to be chairing this event.

What does a future workplace look like to you?

I think our very idea of work is changing. Automation and technology will lead to a bigger knowledge and ideas-based economy which will change the physical spaces in which we build teams. My children will make their work rather than wait for it to find them and we will expect more from a work/life blend (forget balance). My worry is that big parts of our economy, education system, ambition and cultural leadership are out of sync, and we have an already unsustainable inequality compounded by access to genuinely useful information and guidance being very much in the hands of the few. I’m an optimist, but we’ve got a way to go before the future workplace has a role for everyone. And if we don’t have a role for everyone, we fall. 

What kinds of skills do you see being important in 20 years’ time?

Breaking things and putting them back together.
Stewardship and network building.
Creating shared languages.

Have you ever given or been given advice on future skills in your career? What came true / what didn’t?

I was always going to be an actor or writer. I could have been, but chose not to – but I still use many of those skills. The writer in me is not dead yet either.

How have you kept your skills current / up to date throughout your career?

By never, ever, forgetting that I know very little about anything.

I make it my mission to surround myself with brilliant people who can critique me and give me a steer - and to keep doing things that test my knowledge and skills, trying things out, reflecting on what success looks like. I spend a lot of time getting in lost in difficult things and seeing where it takes me.

Join us on Wednesday 2 May at Brighton Metropolitan College.

Tickets can be booked here.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk