7: Mark Little

Hannah Storm and John Crowley speak with Mark Little, the Irish journalist, television presenter and author. In this wide-ranging conversation, Mark shares how a serious skiing accident helped him reassess his relationship with the 'gung-ho' school of journalism that he'd been part of, and allowed him to realise the importance of resilience, mission and purpose. Mark shares his journey from the streets of Belfast where he began his journalism career to war zones and environmental disasters, to the decision he made to set up Storyful, the world's first social media agency. He pays tribute to the team there which built a new form of journalism at a time when social media felt liberating – while sharing his concerns around how the Internet has now been weaponised. More than a decade after leaving traditional journalism, he explains why he thinks war corresponding shares similarities with tech start-ups in the sense that failure is seen as anathema to both. And he explains how he has learned to accept failure as part of his life, as well as anxiety, and how in learning to live with it, he believes we can flourish.