Inspired
Inspiring is the word that has stuck with me relentlessly this week. What does it literally mean? At its root it means ‘to breathe life into’. The opposite to this is of course expire, literally ‘to take life from’.
So why am I thinking about the word inspiring so much this week? I have been participating in second half business kick-offs for the past week or so. It has been so interesting to see the many different approaches the teams have developed to overcome market challenges and to focus on new opportunities. The teams have been relentless and fearless. Example after example has been shared as to how remote working can still keep everyone connected, honing our business development efforts to win in specific sectors. Particularly in Scotland and the U.S. I’m seeing the value of working on small incremental improvements which over time are making huge differences.
It is impossible not to sit up just a little straighter, smile a little wider, dream a little bigger when you hear from so many accountable people. I know that in many ways things are still tough, that we continue to make difficult decisions to support us as we transition towards our business strategy and navigate difficult market conditions. However what marks our people out from many others in the market is the sheer determination to succeed and the ingenuity that is being deployed to win new projects, improve ways of working, work with our clients and contractors.
Inspiring also came up again for me in the launch of the CIO survey report this week in conjunction with KPMG. With over 1000 registrations across 80 countries for the webinar. Our own Dave Savage hosting a stellar panel which included a founder of Virgin Galactic, a former CMO/CDO and now president of an important diversity network, the CIO for Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong and UK IT Director of Microsoft. We also had Lily Haake on video presenting the 8 key themes from the survey findings this year alongside KPMG. It was awesome. Well done to Rob Grimsey and the CIO survey team for making this happen.
I really do feel like life has been breathed into all of us in all of these occasions. We are more than ready to go full steam after the second half, we are already out and running at pace.
As always, have a great weekend and keep safe and well.