Goodlife Collective & ThinkPlace presents...

Exploring the New... An evening with Jon Alexander, author of CITIZENS

- Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us.

Hosted by ThinkPlace & Goodlife Collective, supported by Voice of Aroha.

We're excited to join forces to launch this new speaker series!
Our goal is to inject a little inspiration, hope, and meaningful connection into our communities.

For our first Exploring the New event, we're honoured to bring you an evening in conversation with Jon Alexander (joining remotely from London), author of the book, Citizens - Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us.

Event Details

When: Thursday 29th August, 5:00pm - 7:30pm
Join us for drinks & nibbles from 5:00pm

Where: two locations! Wellington & Auckland....

Wellington:
Room RH105, Pipitea Campus, 33 Bunny Street, Pipitea
Victoria University of Wellington- Te Herenga Waka

Auckland:
(A smaller salon-style affair, hosted by ThinkPlace - 20 seats only!)

ThinkPlace HQ
Suite 45 & 46 Victoria Park Market
210 Victoria Street West, Auckland

Doors open at 5 for drinks and nibbles. At 6:00pm, Jon will connect with us from his home in England, to share his journey, to discuss his book, Citizens, as well as from his work at the New Citizen Project.

We will also have table chats to explore what these ideas might mean in our own lives.

In his own words, "The key premise is that all of us are smarter than any of us. So only by offering each person’s unique contribution to the whole can we possibly build the best possible outcomes for society."

About Jon Alexander

Co-Founder, New Citizenship Project

Jon is author of CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us - a book that seeks to reframe the moment in time we're living in as one of huge civic opportunity, not just crisis and collapse, and in doing so opens up a world of possibility for organisations and leaders across sectors and across the world.

Jon is co-founder of the New Citizenship Project, a strategy and innovation consultancy that aims to shift the dominant story of the individual in society from Consumer to Citizen. NCP’s client list includes The Guardian, the European Central Bank, and the European Journalism Centre. They have partnered with the BBC, Amnesty International, National Trust, the British Film Institute, Tate galleries, the National Union of Students, YouGov, the Centre for Public Impact, the Food Standards Agency and the Food Ethics Council. NCP is a certified B-corporation.

Having begun his career with a decade in the advertising industry at agencies including BBDO and Fallon, Jon is a proud former winner of Brand Republic’s Big Idea of the Year Award, for creating the concept of MyFarm in 2011: handing over decision making on a real working farm to the public by online vote and debate as a way of engaging people with sustainable food production.

Jon is increasingly active and visible politically, as a Fellow of the Young Foundation and the Royal Society of Arts, and a member of the OECD's Innovative Citizen Participation Network. His May 10, 2020 essay on Medium—analyzing the British government’s response to COVID-19 through the lens of Citizen-vs-Consumer—went viral, and thus far has been read by nearly 650,000 people.

Jon holds three Masters degrees in disciplines spanning humanities and business; has won several essay awards including the inaugural Ashridge/European Academy of Business in Society Sustainable Innovation Award, and the Young Foundation's Beyond Meritocracy Prize; and was a major contributor to the 2018 bestseller New Power (shortlisted for Financial Times Book of the Year 2018, by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms).

Jon has presented at the Athens Democracy Forum 2020 and 2021, TEDxCardiff 2020, Impact 2020, Brand Week Istanbul 2019, Meaning Conference 2019, Food Citizenship Conference 2019, European Journalism Centre, eCampaigning Forum Europe, Communicating The Museum, NotWestminster, and TEDxUCL (University College London), among other events.

Along the way, Jon has also represented Great Britain in both rowing and triathlon.

Read more about Jon and his book at: www.jonalexander.net

This event is in-person in Wellington, hosted by Victoria University with support from Voice of Aroha.

About ThinkPlace

ThinkPlace is a purpose-led organisation working on meaningful challenges to positively impact Aotearoa New Zealand. We are a team of designers, researchers, and change-makers dedicated to designing equitable outcomes for all people and places.

www.thinkplaceglobal.com

About Goodlife Collective

Goodlife Collective is a non-profit that exists to unlock our collective potential. We're passionate about curating wisdom that people can connect with, and events that can strengthen our relationships with each other and with a healthy planet.

www.goodlifecollective.org

About Voices of Aroha

Voice of Aroha is an organisation dedicated to empowering and amplifying the diverse voices of communities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Voices of Aroha