Time to dream. And breathe.

One of the obvious side effects of being out of work for three months is that you’re forced to take a break from the 9-to-5 routine that most of us end up enslaved to.

But in my case this enforced ‘break’ has turned out to be the best thing I could have done.

Taking any length of time off work to simply think and reflect might seem like a luxury few of us can afford. But it’s one of the best investments I’ve made in a long time, both professionally and personally. I’ve found a clarity I wouldn’t have found any other way.

Carving out time to pause and reflect has allowed me to step back and gain perspective. Most of us are constantly in the thick of things, buried in our work and our inboxes, and it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. A break from the daily grind provides the mental space needed to reassess direction, goals, strategies and priorities. It’s like hitting the refresh button, allowing new ideas to emerge and unexpected solutions and ideas to surface.

It also gives us time to dream. And breathe.

Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates all made a point of taking time off from their busy schedules to think, reflect and ponder. Gates famously has his ‘Think Weeks’ where he hides away with a stack of books and a notepad. These periods of isolation have been credited with some of his most groundbreaking insights.

Stepping away from work can also significantly boost your creativity. Our brains need down time to make connections between disparate ideas, and this is often where creative breakthroughs happen. Ever noticed how your best ideas come to you in the shower or during a quiet walk? That’s your brain at work, free from the clutter of the daily grind.

Being out of work isn’t fun, and there have been many occasions when I’ve struggled for motivation, or I’ve let all the worry get the better of me, or I’ve felt incredibly guilty for not being constantly productive. I’m one of those people who needs to keep busy – at least, I used to.

I’ve learnt a lot about myself over the past three months, things I’d never have learnt had I not had the space and the time. On Monday I start a new job as Venture Coach for beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship, and I couldn’t be more excited.

It was the time away that gave me the clarity (and opportunity) to focus my time on this exciting line of work. Watch this space for more.

So thank you, universe, for gifting me the chance to think.

I hope I don’t let you down.

Time to be true to ourselves

Less than a week into my latest job search I repeated one fatal mistake, a mistake I’ve made over and over again over the years. You probably have, too.

Except this time I took a step back, recognised it, and put it right.

What am I talking about? That relentless career/salary progression thing, that’s what. The idea that your career, while it may not follow a beautiful straight line, is somehow meant to keep pointing up, keep getting better.

You know, that ‘Supervisor’ to ‘Assistant Manager’ to ‘Manager’ to ‘Director’ to ‘Senior Director’ to ‘C-suite’ progression thing. And the better and better salaries that go with it. There’s an insane expectation, and sometimes pressure, for us to try and steer our careers along this path. And it makes no sense, no sense at all.

The mistake I made after just a few days into my latest search was to focus my time on well-paid, senior roles. You know, ticking that top tier salary box on Guardian Jobs, then selecting the most senior job categories, and then seeing what comes out – and realising that all of the results are the kinds of jobs I’d never, ever want to do any more. I’m just being honest.

Years ago I’d have probably just gone with it, and most likely ended up working somewhere I’d find deeply frustrating, overly bureaucratic, and a creative thinking graveyard. But hey, the salary would have been good, so the price is worth paying, right?

Wrong.

Since early March I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Dangerous, I know. Never before have I given myself this much time to seriously ponder what a late career/life reboot might look like for me. But I’ve been reading a lot, hoping to get a few ideas. ‘Four Thousand Weeks‘ (by Oliver Burkeman) and ‘From Strength to Strength‘ (by Arthur Brooks) have been two of the best books I could have ever read. Few recent books have altered my thinking more than those two have.

The end result of all of this is that I’ve stopped chasing senior roles, stopped chasing titles, and stopped chasing big salaries. In my case at least, it’s really not worth it. I want to jump out of bed in the morning with a spring in my step, to do work that makes me sing, and do the kind of work that my kids would be proud of. And if the money doesn’t quite stretch to all the things we used to be able to do, then so be it. We’re doing okay. I’ve always been nothing if not resourceful.

Despite the uncertainty, I’m probably more excited now than I have been in a long time. I’m taking control of the huge chunk of my life that I’d usually hand over to an employer. As Buddha tells us, we really ought to seek the ‘right livelihood‘, work which doesn’t do harm to ourselves or others, and is ethically positive,

Too many people are unhappy in their work, and in my book that counts as harm – to themselves. We keep hearing that we should ‘bring our authentic selves’ to work. But how many of us really do?

“Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom” – Lao Tzu

Back for good

Well, perhaps not for good, but for a while, anyway. Let’s see how things go.

After an incredible 15 years, kiwanja.net shut its doors in April 2018 and I took on a full-time role at Yoti, a digital identity start-up based out of London. I blogged about the career change here. Just shy of five years later, my Head of Social Purpose role was made redundant, and I joined Macmillan Cancer Support on a one year contract as Director of Future Data & Digital Self Management. That contract came to an end in March 2024, and I decided to take some time out to reflect, breathe, and think about what might be next for me.

In a sense, despite having a significant body of work behind me and, dare I say it, a fairly good reputation, it does feel like I’m starting all over from scratch. While I miss the crazy, explosive, experimental, anything-goes days of the so-called ‘mobile revolution’, today that world feels overly professionalised, overly tech-focused, rigid, and less experimental (and certainly more competitive). The bits I miss most no longer exist. Many of the early pioneers have moved on, too – just like I did. Life goes on, I suppose.

Unsure of what might be next, I decided a few weeks ago to try and take a break – something that doesn’t come naturally to me, I have to say – and let the universe decide what direction I should take. It was the universe, after all, that gave me FrontlineSMS, so it’s got pretty good form.

And, right on cue, the universe spoke.

One thing I’ve enjoyed over the years has been coaching and mentoring. I’ve done more than my fair share, but it’s always been informal, ad-hoc and on-demand. I also love brainstorming ideas, sharing thoughts and insights, and challenging ideas (in a kind, productive way), all under the umbrella of supporting the next generation of social innovators. The internal drive to focus more of my time on this just wouldn’t go away and then, out of the blue, I was approached by a friend and colleague from my mobile days. A few weeks later and I’d secured work doing precisely what it feels like I should be doing. More on that soon.

After an at-times-uncomfortable few weeks waiting for things to fall into place, they have.  On top of the new coaching contract, I’m about to start working with the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering, mentoring a team working on a tech-for-democracy project. And I’ll be helping judge the International Federation of the Red Cross’s Youth Innovation Academy, too.

I’m excited by what lies ahead. I know I’m going to enjoy it. It feels right. And I think I’m good at it. Remember to check out my Inspiration for hire website if you think there’s something amazing we could do together.

I’d love to hear from you if there is.

Losing my religion

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It is with a little sadness – but great excitement – that I write this, my last-ever kiwanja.net blog post. As from today the site will no longer receive updates as I take on a new full-time role at Yoti, a London-based startup, as its Head of Social Purpose. It needed a special opportunity to take such a leap, and that’s exactly what I got. (Update: I left my role at Yoti in December 2022).

Fifteen years ago this January I hobbled my way to Cambridge, on crutches after breaking a leg in Nigeria three months earlier, and took on a piece of work I wasn’t sure I could deliver. My concerns were unfounded, and that nine month contract ended up launching kiwanja.net and a lengthy and rewarding career in mobiles-for-development.

Bushbuckridge, South Africa (2003). An early frontier of mobile exploration. Photo: Ken Banks

A guiding principle in everything I’ve done since has been to take on work only if I feel I can add value. This approach, although ethically sound, does come with its challenges and requires a steady stream of engaging work, with a clearly defined role. There’s plenty up for grabs out there but for the most part I can’t see where I can add value – or I disagree with the aims of the work.

Last year was a particularly hectic one but this year has been quite different. While there are plenty of opportunities out there, few make best use of my skills or approach, and many I have issues with (think top-down, inappropriate technology, huge budget, innovation-for-innovations sake, tech-first and people-last, and so on). I find it very hard to motivate myself to do anything when it goes against the very approaches I’ve championed over the last fifteen years or so.

I’d rather have no work than the wrong work, but crucially I now have a young family to support. Lean spells as a consultant don’t cut it any more. Just as in 2012 when I stepped back after building FrontlineSMS from nothing, this year it feels like the universe is telling me something. And when the universe speaks, I listen.

So, as from today I’ll be closing the kiwanja.net chapter of my personal and professional life (I’ve always struggled to separate the two) and will be moving on to a new and exciting role in the corporate sector.

I’m more excited than sad. Sometimes things just run their course and we need to know when to let go. In 2003 I helped launch an amazing conservation portal across the Vodafone network, and since then have consulted with many amazing organisations, worked in many wonderful places with even more wonderful people, developed a (what I still consider) best in class offline mobile tool in FrontlineSMS, lived in a van at Stanford University, published two very well received books, raised lots of philanthropic funds and private investment, spoken at events all over the world, sailed half way around it with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and flown all the way around it with National Geographic Expeditions. And on top of all of that, along the way I’ve won more awards and recognition than I ever imagined possible. Who can look back at all of this with anything other than pride and a sense of joy?

An exciting new journey in digital identity awaits

From Monday I begin the next chapter in my journey as I take on an amazing role at Yoti as their Head of Social Purpose. Yoti have developed a range of digital identity solutions which have enormous global development and social impact potential, and I’ll be working with them to help make sure we make the very best of the opportunity. So, although I’m moving into the corporate world I’ll still be making good use of my decades of experience, and my address book, but doing it from the perspective of a for-profit company with a product rather than an NGO with a grant.

The kiwanja.net website will remain so that my children will get to find out what their father did during the first few years of their lives – and a little bit before – and as testament to a very productive fifteen years of my own life.

As for highlights during those fifteen years, I’d have to say the collection of writing that captures most of my thinking over that time, a recent talk about social change in Munich which explains why development is so personal to me, and a project which turned out to be my last big effort to capture all that’s wrong in our sector, with suggestions on how we might put some of it right. Plus, of course, my talk at National Geographic – a massive privilege and career highlight – in which I shared the making of FrontlineSMS, a project which took up eight years of my life, and which probably saved me.

Collection of writing   |   Buy on Amazon ($1.99)   |   Download free PDF (8 Mb)

Munich talk on paying attention   |   Watch on YouTube   |   Watch on kiwanja.net

A manifesto for change in tech-for-development   |   Hacking Development

Talk at National Geographic   |   Watch on National Geographic   |   Watch on kiwanja.net

So, a very big thank you to everyone who has been a part of my journey, and to all the friends I’ve made along the way. Of course, this doesn’t have to be the end. If you’re interested in the challenges and opportunities for digital identity in global development and social innovation, you’re welcome to join me – check out the Yoti website and my Contact page for details. I’d love to work with some of you again.

See you on the other side.