I was fortunate enough to attend the Scottish Business Awards in Edinburgh, hosted by Michael McIntyre, a live Q&A with Richard Branson, and organized by a young social entrepreneur.
I was an invited guest of The Firefly Group (www.thefireflygroup.co.uk) for which I am a collaborative partner. The Firefly Group was nominated for new business of the year.
I was invited to attend the awards ceremony as I am coaching the winner of Firefly’s Leader of The Future Award. An inspirational story on both sides. Firstly, Firefly, as a nominee, didn’t just want to attend as a group of people working in a company. Instead they created the Leader of the Future Award whose winners, all of whom are young social entrepreneurs getting coaching and mentoring, would attend the ceremony which they normally would never get the chance to do. It exposed them to people, ideas and achievements they wouldn’t usually experience first-hand.
Secondly, I’m individually coaching a young man that is helping the regeneration of South West Edinburgh, supporting employability, education, social cohesion and social enterprise through http://www.bridge8hub.co.uk/. As his nominator articulated “Bridge8Hub delivers unique, inspirational and thought- provoking courses for young people which raise aspirations, tackle low self -esteem and improve motivation and employability through the medium of outdoor education and experiential learning programmes on the canal.”
The evening was great fun for many reasons. McIntyre’s stand up of the Scottish kilt was hilarious, the chicken dinner was reasonably tasty and the company inspiring.
The Firefly Group did not win the new business of the year award and I would never say they lost.
What The Firefly Group did win was a confirmation that its mission and values are in-line with the principles Richard Branson espouses for all successful companies – if you are able to make a difference then you have a social responsibility to try. Firefly does this and encourages it in the broader context through the Leader of the Future programme.
What difference do you make and what if you were even more inspired and supported?
