By Kristy Dorsey Sandy Kennedy, the chief executive of Entrepreneurial Scotland since its formation in 2014, is to stand down later this year as part of a planned succession that was delayed by the Covid pandemic. In a briefing to stakeholders, Entrepreneurial Scotland chairman Colin Robertson said the group will be recruiting from within its senior team for a replacement. The aim is to have a new chief executive in post by this summer, with Mr Kennedy to leave after a three-month handover period. The succession plan has been under discussion since 2019, but was put on hold through the pandemic “to enable 100 per cent focus on the organisation’s future”. An independent charity, the group runs a variety of programmes to promote entrepreneurial skills across business, government and higher education.
Sandy Kennedy Darwin is famously misquoted as saying: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” There is no doubt, we are all in times of massive change right now. Be it change in our businesses, our organisations, our world. Our response to Covid has both been an accelerant for change already under way and a catalyst for new thinking and ways of working. The result. A flood of change. There is no going back. We have an important questions to answer. How do, each of us, equip ourselves and others with the skills and mindset not just to survive but thrive amidst all this change? How do we develop Darwin’s adaptability in ourselves and most importantly our young people?
Sandy Kennedy Cape Horn sits at 55.98° S, 67.27° W. This rocky point at the tip of South America so feared by sailors is where two great oceans meet. It’s where the sea floor drops sharply to a depth of four kilometres producing lethal currents. It’s where freezing waters are whipped by winds aptly named the Furious Fifties, and the odd stray iceberg looms into view. Cape Horn lay in wait for Ferdinand Magellan as he neared the tip of South America in October 1520, 500 years ago. The same latitude in the northern hemisphere, 55.98° N, runs through central Scotland, Balloch in the west and Leith Docks in the east.
When President-elect Biden finishes the 35 words of the U.S. presidential oath of office on January 20th, cannons will fire as the United States Marine Corps Band begins playing “Hail to the Chief.” Few will know that the famous piece of presidential music finds its origin from Scotland, and the romantic poem “Lady of the Lake” penned by Sir Walter Scott in 1810. The reminder of the unique historical connection lays out a new sheet of paper to compose innovative verses that deepen modern connections between Scotland and the United States. A first important step is for the United States to deploy more diplomats and resources in Scotland, and for Scotland to expand personnel and funding in the United States. With a myriad of key foreign policy questions before President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, a nominated Secretary of State Blinken, their diplomatic, trade, and national security teams, analysts might question the value of investing time and energy i