Minds Studio Communities of Practice always start with a question.
Earlier this summer, a session started with: “Who is a mentor who helped you, and what impact did they have?”
One person talked about an aunt, another about a music instructor, another about a teacher they had at school. You learn more about someone from that than from any job title.
I’ve had a few mentors, at different stages of my life. That day I talked about the one who shaped the work I do now: François Taddei, founder of the Learning Planet Institute (LPI) and renowned researcher in evolutionary systems biology.
I met François in 2018, as a Learning Sciences student at LPI (still called CRI back then). On our first day he gave the opening talk. We were the first cohort in the new sustainable campus in the Marais, in Paris. One of his dreams was coming to life, and you could tell he was already dreaming about the next one, with us in it.
He insisted on why we were there: not to become the best IN the world, but the best FOR the world. He believes a better future is built with young people, not for them. The whole point of LPI is to give people the space to question, experiment, co-create solutions, and to leave better equipped to take care of themselves, others, and the planet.
Even more than his ideas, what stayed with me is his way of being, and how much he cares about the learners. Despite his incredibly busy schedule, he’d very often come to the Learning Center (LPI’s multiuse “library”), take off his shoes, sit on the sofas with students, and ask questions in a very Socratic way until you found your own answer. It’s also how he found his own. Ask him what LPI should do next, from repurposing a room to the whole institute’s strategy, and the answer was almost always “let’s ask the students.”
After graduating, I worked with him on the Learning Planet MOOD (Massive Open Online Documentary), and then on the first edition of the Learning Planet Festival with UNESCO. One more of his crazy ideas, which this year brought together 800+ events and 100,000+ participants from 193 countries.
A few years later I joined Minds Studio. A lot of what I do here still comes from LPI: the learning sciences, the collective intelligence methods, and the habit of asking the learners first.
Meeting François changed the direction of my life. And to this day, when I’m stuck on something, I often think: what questions would he ask?
We don’t just learn from our mentors; we act so we can make them proud. So to François, and to all the mentors behind the people at Minds: thank you. We’ll do our best to be worth the time you gave us, and to build a better future.
And you? If you feel like it, hit reply and tell me about one mentor of yours. I’ll write back.
Would you like to read our lighthouse letters in full? Subscribe for free here.
By: David Pontalier