As an overview, I have 50 years of national and international experience as an independent, innovative and gifted educator in the business, military and education sectors. I have led the world in the teaching of thinking skills and have disseminated over half a billion thinking lessons worldwide since 1979. Evidence of my experience is my book: The Mastery of Lateral Thinking. I hold the world's first doctoral degree in lateral thinking (1980). My Philosophy: There is nothing on Earth more powerful than lateral thinking. My experience has demonstrated that a mastery of lateral thinking directly leads to a mastery of language. Better thinking leads to better communication. Students who can experience a leap in their thinking skills acquire a higher motivation to express their better thoughts and so they value language and literature more greatly. Strong motivation always leads to better education scores. I have always been able to generate strong motivation in my colleagues and students. My classical education was at Rupertswood, a boarding-school run by the Salesian Catholic order. Salesians use a positive psychology method based upon the pedagogical experience of Saint John Bosco. Called the Preventative Method, It is based on three pillars: reason, religion and loving-kindness. As a scientist I am a humanist and not a believer. However, I have been a vaticanologist, researching in Rome and elsewhere, writing and commenting on the internet on the role of the Vatican in the development of the Western Education system. I am interested in how religion and science can work much better together. My relevant personal references include: • Sir Gus Nossal AC CBE, FAA, FRS - Chairman of the Gates Foundation’s Discovery Expert Group. • Professor David Penington AC, DM, MA(Oxon), FRCP, FRACP, FRCPA, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. • Professor Field Rickards, former Dean of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. • Roy Kelley MA, DipEd, BA, Headmaster of Melbourne Grammar School. • Major-General Jim Molan AO DSC (retired), best-selling author of Running the War in Iraq. • Rev Dr Stephen Ames, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne.In 1988 Sir Ninian Stephen, Governor-General of Australia, launched the School of Thinking in Canberra. Michael presented His Excellency with the "Australia's first Clever Brainusers Kit".