Cucumber time, the silly season, the dog days of summer are upon us. A time when everything slows down – when nothing happens, apparently.
Yet for many of us it is a time for making choices.
Choices that will shape and may even define our futures.
As I leave the Entrepreneurial Scotland Foundation after 12 great years with my knapsack over my shoulder, I am one of those.
For some entrepreneurs their path is already lit up for them, their passions drive them forward with unstoppable force.
I have spoken to three young entrepreneurs in the last week about this.
It is not fame, money or glory that pushes them forward but a desire to make difference.
Be it in sustainability, like Brad Sowter with Drawing Board. Be it in education, like Jack Walker of Altra and Scott Howie of Virtual Education Technologies.
Whether or not they make it big this time, their learning will be huge.
Now is a time of choices for many more other people.
Choices, for young people, selecting their college or university degrees. For those leaving education taking their first steps in their careers. For us older folks at a transition point.
To compound it this summer will see furlough come to an end, business models disrupted, destroyed or flying – change and choices abound.
Without a burning passion driving us forward, how do we make the choice?
We are influenced by advice, by role models, by our research and due diligence.
Far more than we know, we are influenced subconsciously by societal norms and our peers.
Scotland is a conservative country, we tend towards the safer options, seeing a future similar to the status quo.
That is why careers in law, accountancy, medicine still top the list. They are seen to offer job security and societal prestige.
The top three best-paid jobs in Scotland are apparently (1) surgeon/doctor, (2) judge, (3) lawyer, with orthodontist popping in at number seven.
What’s not to like, especially for a young person with limited experience of the working environment? Yet this safety-first approach is illusory, especially with the disruption that lies ahead.
There is another option, if you want to make an impact, to learn, to innovate. Consider a scaling or fast-growing firm.
This is where innovation is happening in real time, far more than the university lab or the corporate boardroom.
Scaling firms are in a maelstrom of innovation every minute of the day. Scaling firms have energy, their ideas are at the cutting edge, they are disrupting markets and sectors, they are recruiting in new ways.
They are the innovation engine of Scotland. They are remarkable places to learn. The ending is not written, and you can help write it.
The job you start will change quickly. As Sheryl Sandberg said: “If you are offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on.”
If we could shape our culture, our societal pressures, so we aspire to work for a scaling firm rather than become a lawyer or an accountant, our economic future would be assured.
With the likes of Ooni, Bella & Duke, Digitonic, Talking Medicines blazing the way there is hope. Imagine a milk round for scaling firms.
Taking my own advice, I will joining the rocket ship that is Intelligent Growth Solutions, the vertical farming business, to share their scaling journey.
Three, two, one, blast off.
Sandy Kennedy, “no longer CEO of the Entrepreneurial Scotland Foundation and on a journey”
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