Female leaders to discuss in online debate how Scots industry may change after pandemic

Some of Scotland’s leading female business leaders are to join an online debate this Monday to discuss how Scottish industry may change following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The digital seminar, called Leading Forward in Our New World, will be led by Lena Wilson. Picture: contributed.

The digital seminar, called Leading Forward in Our New World, will be led by Lena Wilson, non-executive director of Royal Bank of Scotland Group and visiting professor at Strathclyde Business School.

The panel, who took part in the business school’s Leading Forward series of lectures last year, will revisit their original topics, and thoughts and comments on management and industry, to address today’s global crisis.

Wilson will build on her original lecture of The Hard Impact of Soft Power, Mary Jo Jacobi will revisit her thoughts on her topic Thriving on Disruption, Jacqui Ferguson will reconsider her views on Technology in the Changing World, and Deirdre Michie will update her thoughts on her original topic of Energy – an Industry in Transition.

Wilson said: “When I kicked off the Leading forward series in 2019 with my ‘hard impact of soft power’ lecture, I asserted that in my experience of over 30 years of working in more than 40 countries in the private and public sector, the real differentiator for successful sustainable organisations was the relentless focus on what had been regarded as ‘softer’ issues… my view is that these are even more relevant in the current global crisis.”

Eleanor Shaw, associate principal at the University of Strathclyde and professor of entrepreneurship at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, will co-host the event.

She said: “Despite the fact we can't hold this in the normal way as a result of physical distancing, we're pleased that by using technology we can continue the lecture series and in fact open this up to even more people both locally and internationally.

"I am sure there will be some interesting and timely discussion framed by the issues surrounding us as a result of the pandemic with the speakers we have brought together.”

More information on the event and previous lectures can be found here.

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