DIVERSE TALENTS

What are the chances? Two of the greatest talents in the world of rock music were at the same primary school in the same class in small-town mid-century England.

Apparently, they didn’t have much in common and once they had left, they went their different ways. Until, that is, in 1961 when they met by chance as teenagers, waiting for a train. They got talking. Whether they recognised each other at first is not clear, but apparently Keith Richards was drawn to the records that Mick Jagger was carrying. The story has been told many times and the meeting is now the stuff of legend, recently commemorated by a new statue of the ‘Glimmer Twins’ in Dartford, North Kent, where they both grew up.

There is a lot of talk in the world of education about the need for planning, recording and measurement – and yes, quite rightly. But not much is written about the role of chance – of serendipity. Holly Warren has done something to fill the gap in this month’s ITM. It’s worth thinking about. How many of us have formed long-term friendships and professional partnerships as a result of people we have met who were part of teams assembled by a far-sighted Principal? As Holly says, international schools are full of rich and diverse talent – it would almost be surprising if people did not hit it off once they had been brought together. 

But chance is just one factor in the mix – Keith walked up to Mick because of those records. As they got talking and then met later to talk and play and rehearse, they realised they were on to something and went with the flow. So, as Holly suggests – be on the lookout, recognise something that might just be worthwhile, follow it up and go for it – you never know where you might end up.

Image: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in concert during the Rolling Stones “No Filter” tour, at the Friends Arena in Stockholm. 12th, October 2017

Andy Homden is CEO of Consilium Education and Editor of International Teacher Magazine

FEATURE IMAGE: by Albrecht Fietz from Pixabay

Support Image:    by Raph_PH from Flickr 

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.