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 Jonathan Kemp  (MSc, Finance, International Trade and Shipping 1996)

Smarter Learning with Smartwisdom

I was branded “stupid” at school and sidelined. Now I’m an award-winning entrepreneur driven by a desire to help people learn. What I didn’t know until recently is that I’ve been working with a hidden disability all my life.

I didn’t often get things right at school. But on one occasion when I did figure out a problem, I was so excited that I helped the boy next to me in class. As I did so, a senior master walked past and commented casually, “blind leading the blind”. Quite apart from what this says about teaching attitudes at the time, it’s clear that education reinforced my own lack of self worth. From the age of eight, I’d allowed myself to believe I was “stupid” and hated myself for it. I loathed school and left with poor exam results.

After getting fired from my first three jobs I worked as a cattleman in the Australian outback, then as a bricklayer, before joining the London Metropolitan Police and achieving the rank of sergeant. Although I performed well in these roles, they were never enough for me.

I now run a successful international business built around my expertise in creating effective learning techniques, and have developed an advanced note-taking and planning system, which I call SmartWisdom.

So what changed?

SmartWisdom came about through techniques I developed to help my own working practices under the mistaken belief that I was stupid. It wasn’t until I was in my late 40s that I discovered I am dyslexic.

I began researching learning techniques in the early 1990s. I used these techniques for the first time while doing a postgraduate diploma in Management Studies at Westminster University. I nearly quit as I found the finance element so difficult. However, I was persuaded to stay and ended up getting a distinction.

I was then accepted for the MSc in Finance, International Trade and Shipping at CASS. Only three days into the course, I lost faith, convinced I could not complete it. But deputy head, Michael Tamvakis looked me in the eye and said, “Nearly 1,000 people applied for this course. We only took 95, I would not have accepted you if I didn’t think you could do it.” Again, I was persuaded to stay and I had no idea how significant his words would be.

During my year at CASS, I worked 12 hours a day, with a day off every fortnight. The hard work was worth it – I came in the top 15%, almost getting a second distinction.
While studying, I had the chance to use all the learning strategies I had researched, and began to adapt these for broader usage.

Ever since primary school I've had a fear and hatred of maths. In my late teens I discovered finance, which made even less sense to me and sent me into meltdown. So my accountancy module on the MSc posed a real challenge. However, I got hold of the previous three exam papers and analysed them, spotting trends in the subjects and working out likely questions. This became the basis of my exam strategy. I identified the minimum number of subjects I needed to study to a high level and added another two to allow for a margin of error.

For specific elements of the subject matter, I applied a range of methods including memory techniques and mnemonics to learn the ten or so ratios I needed to know. Then I developed a new memory skill for recreating and calculating a profit and loss and balance sheet.

The exam went like a dream, my timing strategy and pacing were almost magical and I felt like a high performance athlete pacing myself through a race. Just as delicious as coming first with a 87% grade were the slightly bemused looks on some of my fellow students’ faces when the results were announced.

I also kept a comprehensive log of what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved, while trying out new note-taking and planning techniques. These became the basis of my future business.

In 1999, I had the opportunity to train a friend to use the note-taking system. I imagined popping around to his house for a couple of afternoons. Instead I ended up training him and three directors at his new company, a large City investment bank: my new business was born.

At that point, I still felt a need to prove myself. So I decided only to work with blue chip companies based in the City of London. My focus was to help busy professionals save time and be more productive by using my proprietary techniques. It paid dividends, literally. One client in an investment bank told me that by using SmartWisdom techniques she saved her bank around $0.5 million.

Now, the buzz I get from helping people learn is immense. By giving them simple solutions I can make seemingly impossible or boring tasks doable and exciting. Although innate intelligence plays a part, I believe learning can be achieved successfully by using three tools: the right skills, the right process and the right strategy. Most exciting of all, these things can be taught.

My greatest frustration is that these tools are not sufficiently available and the main method of gathering and understanding new information is still the linear note-taking we learn at school, which has not changed in the past 100 years. It requires only two skills: listen and record, limiting students’ abilities to gather and understand new information ‘real time’ in a class or lecture. This is inadequate for business meetings, where it is necessary to be able to simultaneously listen, analyse, understand, question and record.

In 2008, SmartWisdom was tested by a team of independent cognitive neuroscientists, headed by Dr Itiel Dror of UCL, who carried out two studies and published two papers in peer-reviewed journals.

The paper in the British Journal of Educational Technology 2009 showed SmartWisdom increased average comprehension in demanding meetings by 20% for experienced professionals.

The Journal of Dyslexia 2011 reported that SmartWisdom helped dyslexics increase their comprehension by an average 23% above that of non-dyslexics in meetings and presentations.

During my own recent examination for dyslexia, when I was finally diagnosed, my assessor told me I was in the to 98th percentile for visual problem solving and conceptual thinking. So maybe I wasn’t so daft after all! This year, at the grand old age of 50, I have finally accepted I don’t have to prove myself anymore. Indeed, I was honoured to be named ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2011’ by the British Dyslexia Association.

My aim now is to pass on belief and inspiration to people I work with, to be a catalyst for change for those who want to achieve more.

I’m entirely confident that, with SmartWisdom, I can walk into any company in the world, speak to 10 of their very best people and show them how they can raise their performance.

My next project is to create products that pass on my knowledge, such as books and DVDs.

I’m also running pilots in universities and schools to show how SmartWisdom can help students study more effectively (a pilot starts at CASS in January 2012). My end goal is to introduce SmartWisdom into the education system of an entire country. After all, when it comes to learning, why not think big?

If you’re interested in SmartWisdom at any level, please do feel free to get in contact: jkemp@smartwisdom.com