It has never been tougher to be a young person

Internationally renowned survival expert and adventurer Bear Grylls told CNBC that “it has never been tougher to be a young person” following the Covid-19 crisis.

The TV star and best-selling author of over 90 books was speaking on the sidelines of The Goals House January Dialogues about the launch of his new global learning and development organization, BecomingX, which aims to “demystify what it really takes to succeed.”

Grylls, who was also one of the youngest climbers to reach the top of Mount Everest, said the pandemic “makes those hills and those obstacles in front of young people now into giant mountains.”

BecomingX aims to inspire today’s youth and give them the tools they need to succeed. Grylls’ co-founder is Paul Gurney — a former senior director at Accenture Strategy who is now also the CEO of BecomingX.

The organization has interviewed some of the world’s most iconic and inspiring artists, athletes, teachers, CEOs, adventurers, politicians, humanitarians and entrepreneurs.

Through short films on its website, the global leaders in their field — including sports champion Roger Federer and Hollywood superstars Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum and Courteney Cox — share their own stories and what it has taken for them to succeed.

The initiative has an education arm and offers over 100 digital lessons through “BecomingX Education,” as an option to help schools teach personal development and life skills. It also aims to take the initiative to lower income countries and underserved communities.

Grylls says that education can feel like a “big beast” that is always going to be slow to adapt and change, and even though great education exists today in the West, there are still many gaps in learning for young people.

“I think also so much of traditional education is like linear learning and has to be through a book and through tests, through exams, or through numbers. And as we’re learning about humans and how we develop, we don’t always learn like that,” he said in an interview last month.