May 7, 2018
Our special guest this week is Sam Conniff Allende. Sam is known for many things. He is co-founder and former CEO of Livity, Don’t Panic and Live Magazine and has mentored thousands of young entrepreneurs around the world. He is an acclaimed public speaker, an advocate of - what he calls - ‘business as unusual’ through which he has helped brands such as Red Bull, Unilever and PlayStation develop radical approaches to social impact and ethical practice. His international awards and prizes include EY’s Entrepreneur Of The Year and he has been named a Global CSR Leader. In 2017, shortly before standing down having been at the helm of Livity for 17 years, Sam and his team won the British Interactive Media Association's prestigious Grand Prix for its values-led reinvention of the marketing agency model - one that many have copied since. Sam talks to Richard Freeman, who first came across him at Livity 5 or 6 years ago, when he won the contract to help deliver their Big Lottery funded ‘somewhere to’ project across South East England. The aim of that project was to unlock unused space in owns and cities for young people to use for creative and enterprise pursuits. They didn’t meet, but Richard saw that Sam's stamp was very clear on the design and message of the programme. Sam’s book Be More Pirate, or How To Take On The World and Win, is published by Penguin Random House this month and is a manifesto for each of us to create the sort of Good Trouble the world needs. We recorded this conversation in early March 2018 in a rare moment when diaries allowed for it. There are a few technical issues at the start, but stick with it and it gets a bit better. Amongst many other things, Sam and Richard talk about his intriguing claim that pirates were misunderstood agents of change, leadership and social innovation - and why he is so certain that today’s young people can - and should - follow suit and disrupt everything. And why this idea makes him so happy. Useful links: https://www.bemorepirate.com/ https://www.samconniff.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOLeQg-DN10 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Be-More-Pirate-Take-World/dp/0241307880 --- If you think you’re a bit pirate, and want to get support in turning your radical ideas into sustainable business, then visit thepossibilityclub.org now. This podcast is presented by Richard Freeman for always possible and produced and edited by CJ Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts.