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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be able to walk to centre stage in front of 300 people you’ve never met; build instant rapport; and then captivate each audience member for the following 90 minutes? Sir Ken Robinson does. Charming and engaging, he’s a master of the art of public speaking. This is undoubtedly where Sir Ken is in his element – and he was here to help guide his audience on their journey to the same Holy Grail.

So what is the element, and how can you find yours? Sir Ken defines it as “the place where passion and skill meet.” People find the element when they engage in the thing that they love that they are also especially good at doing. However, many of us, argued Sir Ken, rarely find ourselves in our element, either in life or work. “I think for most people work isn’t something they leap out of bed for in the morning. It’s something they feel they have to get through to get to the weekend.” However, it doesn’t need to be so. “I also know people who love what they do and could never imagine doing anything else.” So why are some people able to consistently find themselves in their element, whilst others are not?

The key, argued Sir Ken, is to recognise that we are all unique. “Our intelligences are diverse and multi-faceted. This is why the element is so important – because we all come into our own in different ways. We have totally different strengths.” Therefore, what one might consider to be his or her element could, to another, be something that they gain no pleasure from, or find is out of their skill set. To truly be in your element, both passion and skill need to come together. In this way, you may be skilled at your job but, if you do not feel passionate about it, you will not be in your element. Similarly, you might be in a field about which you care deeply, but not have the necessary natural aptitude for the role. To find your own element it may, therefore, be necessary to experiment, to try something new, or to revisit something you were passionate about in the past.

The implications of this, argued Sir Ken, are far-reaching. On a personal level, finding your element can be a transformational experience – “an epiphany” – after which your life fundamentally changes. People in their element find that time is experienced differently; what feels like minutes is in fact hours. Similarly energy levels are transformed; undertaking activities in your element actually renews and restores energy. Recent studies event suggest that individuals in their element can expect to be in better health and live longer.

The implications of the element also reach far beyond the individual. Work, parenthood, education, and society as a whole can be fundamentally transformed if more people find their element. In the workplace, for example, Sir Ken indicated that we should actively seek our own element, and help others to find theirs - “we need to encourage people to reconnect with their authentic talent… It’s accepted that there’s a crisis of natural resources, but I argue that there is also a crisis of human resources. Most people simply don’t discover what they’re capable of.” Creating an environment in which people work in their element is likely to lead to far greater individual contribution, more employee engagement, fewer sick days, and, ultimately, a more productive economy.

Most of us, Sir Ken argued, live our lives based on taken-for-granted assumptions about the world, our place in it and our skill level. We need to challenge these assumptions and test ourselves in new environments – we need to “escape the tyranny of common sense.”