These past 48 hours I have been musing on my recent visit to EHI Live 2012.
I have also been reflecting on an excellent article by Daloni Carlisle, Small is beautiful.
It is always a delight to be the recipient of a great and overpowering love; but I do question the unrequited nature of such emotions in reality.
And reality is the key here. Judge the policy makers by their deeds, not their words. A finely constructed sentence, delivered eloquently from a lectern needs to find substance on the ground.
Nonetheless I’m an optimist at heart and therefore I will feel the love. But if the NHS and SMEs are going to get this done, then we haven’t much time. “Lovers ever run before the clock.” 1
We need leadership at the Centre; true visionaries who speak and act with authenticity and who are not afraid to fail.
Be assured such vision and leadership will be matched from within the SME community itself.
But if we SMEs are to be truly part of a brave new world then sitting back on the side-lines shouting “we told you so” is not enough. We must raise our game also. Indeed we have a duty to do so, because it may just be that our time has truly come.
Never before has NHS IT required the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity that is part of our DNA.
So to the policy makers and to our prospective customers I say, “Build it, and we will come.”
Then again, we never ever really went away.
1 The Merchant of Venice – Act 2, Scene 6
