Two former military men, one of which grew up on a council estate, have joined forces to help young people navigate the world of good leadership.
Jordan Wylie MBE, an award-winning British adventurer and Guinness World Record holder, grew up in Blackpool leaving school with no qualifications. He credits the military with a lot of his accomplishments and admits it gave him his love for adventure.
Working with Jordan now is former British Army Lieutenant Colonel Neil Jurd OBE who is the brains behind Leader Connect and director initial officer training for the army cadets. He trains adult officers and he invited Jordan to speak at Sandhurst. Leader connect brings together experts in the field of leadership. It is online learning platform which is packed with video content to help give professionals the chance to develop their leadership skills.
Now, Leader Connect will be sponsoring Jordan to go into schools around the country, give talks and inspire the next generation of leaders without any cost to the school.
Jordan, who now has a Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree, said: “I’m passionate about young people and I want to inspire them, I grew up on a council estate and it is easy to go down the wrong path. Neil and I have the same values, he invited me to meet his cadets then on his recommendation, I was invited to be a national ambassador for the cadets.
“It is one of the greatest honours, it’s a voluntary role but it is a great privilege to be classed as a role model and it has made me conscious of every move I make.”
Neil is not letting Leader Connect stand still either, with new experts being signed up to share their knowledge all the time, bringing new and innovative techniques and approaches to learners on a regular basis.
To give people a taste of what the site has to offer, Leader Connect also releases a monthly podcast which has hosted guests including award winning cave diver John Volanthen and world record holder Sally Orange.
As well as offering individual membership, Leader Connect also provides opportunities for organisations to give their whole team access to the platform so they can go on a learning journey together.
Learners are also able to access the service in whatever way suits them best, with an app for Android and Apple devices so they can learn on the go.
Annual and monthly memberships are available giving access to videos which guide people through the leadership development process and dig into some topics in more detail.
