I chose Birmingham I think because I went on an open day with school, just walking around by Old Joe for the first time really and just kind of being in the middle of the campus just made me really want to be in a campus university and obviously because I'm a big Aston Villa fan, it's good to be near your team as well.
One of the things that I did during my time at the university was I set up a thing called 'Intervol' which sends students on summer placements around the world. So I’d been out to Uganda and done some work with a couple of big charities in Uganda and we sent a team of about 20 students on the first year and it's since become a project where about 100 students every year go to a whole range of different countries and do a whole range of different projects.
My current role is I'm the Founder and Director of a company called Think Productive. We do basically business training and we teach companies around the world to be more productive and to become productivity ninjas, so whether it's battling your email inbox, whether it's learning different ways to manage your time and attention, whether it's tackling meetings, you know, everything that we're about is about helping businesses to do what they do better.
In terms of my current business and Think Productive and my book, How to be a Productivity Ninja, a couple of things stand out. So one was when the book hit number five on Amazon of the entire book store, so it was above Harry Potter and Fifty Shades of Grey – for a short period of time but it was very exciting - and then also just seeing that book on sale around the world, so walking into book stores in downtown Delhi, finding your book on the shelf there. So lots of highlights related to just seeing that work and the impact of it around the world.
My advice to students would be just be aware and take advantage of the myriad of opportunities that you have available to you. So there's so many different clubs and societies, Birmingham I think as a city is just an amazing place, you know, there's so many different cultures and you can try any different food in the world and there's just so many different things going on in Birmingham all the time. And I think it's tragic to me when students come to the city and don't experience the city and don't get involved in clubs and societies and things that will not only enrich you and give you different experiences, but also build your skills as well.
[On-screen title] What's your claim to fame?
I was the mascot for Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Hugh Bear, so I was the guy in the big bear costume, going round and waving and shaking hands with all the kids and signing autographs and all that stuff.
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