My whole career I’ve come across people jostling for position within an organisation, some of whom are just full of their own self importance and don’t have the ability to see themselves as others see them. But if they did it would make them a much better leader, and person.

It is something I often think about in my approach to building businesses. We have to listen to each other. So we try to build a more inclusive team approach where everybody gets to say what they think, even if it is not what others want to hear.

However, it is also a Scottish trait to often think that other people know more and know better than us. But I’ve found that whenever I’ve travelled abroad for business they often see us as better than we see ourselves. That’s the other side of what the poem is all about, it is telling you to step back a bit, think about what others see and recognise the good in yourself as well.

Jim McColl - Entrepreneur, Clyde Blowers

Text © Jim McColl

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O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
..................An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
..................And ev'n Devotion !

Robert Burns