Someone (who shall remain nameless) recently said to me "Show me your five friends and I'll show you your future." He went on to say "You will become the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So, James, who are these five people?" The idea made sense to me but my first reaction was closer to nausea than inspiration. Was this person telling me to ditch my friends and loved ones and replace them with high-flyers and doers whom I didn't yet know? For the following days, I thought about this over and over. "How do I upgrade my peer group but still spend time with the people I love? How do I get access to the best thinkers and their ideas? How can I gain the ear of people considered to be innovators?

The answer, it turned out, was both simple and complex. Simply speaking, I had to provide a framework where these innovators would choose to sit with me for significant periods of time and speak and listen. However, people don't just give their time up to anyone and, who was I to approach colleagues at the DfE or at TeachFirst with no introduction or reason to do so? I needed an angle and I needed to hustle! 

I turned my attention to podcasting and began to realise that this was potentially the perfect format for "upgrading my peer group". Podcasting is:

• one-on-one without the buzz of notifications and interruptions;
• long-form content with the opportunity to really dig deep into ideas;
• universally available to anyone interested in listening to the content;
• scheduled, so that I could benefit from these new contacts without fundamentally changing my lifestyle; and
• public, so that the quality of all of our peer groups is elevated.

In early April 2018, The Teacher in Classroom 21 podcast was born. It is a long-form educational podcast focussed on the art (it is an art!) of teaching but also of middle management in schools and colleges. The 21 refers to the 21st Century, not in some tekkie, new-fangled way but recognising that teaching is evolving and facing new challenges right now. 

The initial experiences were challenging but rewarding. Almost immediately, impressive guests such as David Didau, author of numerous books and inspirational blogger and David Weston, co-author of Unleashing Great Teaching and Chair of the CPD committee for the DfE actually said yes to coming on the show. Preparing to interview these colleagues fills me with self-doubt and anxiety but it also causes a very deep sense of learning through the process. As always, the heightened state of being under pressure brings out the best in oneself. David Didau was my second interview and, in truth, I did it pretty badly, interrupting David too much and sticking too rigidly to a plan of set questions. More recent shows have flowed better. I'm really proud of how I interviewed David Weston and how that conversation felt completely natural. This is the art of podcasting, it seems. 

So, from here forward, the plan is to build the podcast to a repertoire of 50 shows before the end of 2018. From that point, I will switch the show from being audio only to being video and live streamed from Classroom 21 itself. I also have the idea of broadcasting debate-style shows with an agreed and constructive format.

Upgrading my peer group will continue from here forward and I'm proud to be doing that in the podcast arena. I hope that the shows might benefit you too. If you have a suggestion for a guest (including yourself) please get in touch.