JCI President visit's Scotland
Blog from the www.jci.cc website:

I have just had the most wonderful day with JCI Scotland and JCI Edinbourgh.

Arriving here at lunch I was met in the airport by JCI VP Katie and LP Lesley from JCI Edinburgh. We went for a fast check in at the hotel and straight to lunch. They took me to Katie's Club, The New Club in Edinbourgh (only 250 years old) where we had the most fantastic lunch overseeing the castle of Edinburgh and enjoying 4 different seasons in just one hour.

I will only be with JCI Scotland today, since I will spend the day tomorrow with Michael Kern visiting a potential partner for JCI, so I must say they had made the best of the time available. Straight from lunch we met with Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, who JCI Edinbourgh is forming a partnership with. We discussed different possibilities for them to support JCIE and their projects now and in the future. The Chamber of Commerce also see a great need for them to form an alliance with JCI. They need to be able to provide training and services to their youngest entrepreneurs and JCIE can be a part of that delivery. (www.edinburghchamber.co.uk)

After that meeting we visited a community partner of JCIE - Streetwork. Streetwork does a lot of projects with the weakest in the community, helping homeless people into a better life without alcohol, drugs and many other challenges. Tom Hendry who is the social entrepreneur behind the projects is one of the most passionate entrepreneurs I have met in a very long time. He started the programs 14 years ago and is now working on expanding the programs to other areas of Scotland. You will see an article about him in the near future on www.jci.cc, but you can already now read more on www.streetwork.org.uk

The last official meeting today was with the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Nicol Stephen, MSP. He had a very busy schedule, but we had the opportunity to spend ½ an hour with him talking about different ways that he could support JCI Scotland and JCI Edinburgh, and also how JCI could support their efforts of making Scotland a better place for young leaders and entrepreneurs. He has known JCI for years and has attended a lot of events over the years in Aberdeen, where he comes from. He was really positive about all the initiatives JCI Scotland is taking and he promised his full support for the programs and events that they want to do now and in the future.

This evening I had a dinner with the Board of Directors of JCI Edinburgh. We had some hours to talk about their activities and for me to give them some hints from my international experience. It's no wonder that they have been the best chapter of the world for 3 years in a row. They are striving to be better every day. They are not just copying what they have done for years, but are developing new initiatives and are constantly critiquing their work. I think a lot of chapters around the world could learn from that spirit. See more on their website: http://www.ejcc.org.uk/

The enemy of the best is the good has been my personal slogan for years. By accepting that you are good you stop developing and will never be the best. Slowly your standards will get lower and you will decrease in effect, quality and at the end: Quality of life.

I'm looking forward to telling you more tomorrow and I hope that you will use the opportunity to communicate here on the blog. Let me know what you think and let's discuss how we can make JCI an even better organization.

Lars Hajslund
JCI World President

(You can read more of Lars Blog entries at http://www.jci.cc in the President's corner)