Sébastien Foucan — Parkour Pioneer, Freerunning Founder and Casino Royale Actor on the Power of Failure and Acquiring Mastery

The Learning Bridge with Richard Gerver

007 is becoming a theme here on The Learning Bridge. Just a few weeks after welcoming "the real-life James Bond," Tim Bradshaw, we'll hear from French freerunner Sébastien Foucan, who you might remember from a memorable sequence in Daniel Craig's first Bond film, Casino Royale.

Sébastien is the founder of freerunning and considered an early developer of parkour. In 2002, Foucan featured in a television advertisement for the Nike Presto running shoe. He became known in the United Kingdom after Mike Christie's Channel 4 documentary Jump London in September 2003 and the subsequent documentary Jump Britain. In addition to those programmes, Foucan appeared as Mollaka in the James Bond film Casino Royale. Foucan appeared in the music video for Madonna's 2005 single "Jump", and accompanied the singer on her 2006 "Confessions Tour". Seb is committed to education and to young people and he runs his academy in London working on his principles incorporating athleticism, creativity, story-telling and discipline.

In this episode we explore Seb’s own story and how he went from hating school to becoming a hugely successful artist, performer and free-running icon. He discusses the issues surrounding education and human development, talks about collaboration, the power of failure and the need for patience in the acquisition of mastery.

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About the host

Richard Gerver is a sought-after speaker, world-renowned thinker, and bestselling author of books including Change and Simple Thinking. His career began in education, first as a teacher and then as a school principal, when he turned the fortunes of a failing school and its pupils around in just two years.

Now regarded as one of the world's leading thinkers on human leadership and organisational transformation, Richard has worked with an extraordinary range of people, from elite athletes to former US President Barack Obama. Named UK Business Speaker of the Year three times, Richard has been invited to speak on the world’s most recognised stages, including TED, the RSA and the BBC.

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