My month long visit to the UK winds down today. I travel back to the PNW tomorrow and will hopefully be greeted by better weather than when I left.
For the past two weeks I have been staying in Nethy Bridge in the Highlands at my friend Bob’s estate – Aultmore. For anyone contemplating a visit to this area it is an excellent option to consider.
I spent my fortnight re-familiarizing myself with the area having lived here in the past. I made a visit to Glencoe and the Great Glen, the Cairngorms, Findhorn, Laggan, Spey Bay, Elgin and many other stops along the Spey.
The highlight of my visit was my weeks’ fishing on the Spey at Craigellachie, a fantastic 3-mile beat on the middle Spey. No caught fish to report, but it was fabulous being back on the water again and working my way through all of the pools and fast water with my new Sage gear.
I was also very pleased to see that the Craigellachie Hotel is now open again after its major refurbishment (the whisky bar there is one you must visit), along with visible signs of major progress at the Macallan distillery in its expansion efforts. I also enjoyed some great food and drink in Aberlour at the Spey Larder and newly updated Aberlour Hotel.
In total my “May in the UK” was a very successful and relaxing trip. I participated in a number of great events in London, along with getting deep into the planning for Data Leadership 2014 this fall where we will focus on supporting business leaders in assuming their natural accountability for their organizations Big Data & Analytics endeavors.
Finally, I met with a number of my strategic planning peers at the Strategic Management Forum and Strategic Planning Society where we got deep into “all things strategy”. Some great things on the horizon for both of these bodies which I strongly support. Stay tuned for more developments on this front.
Look for my next posting on the IBM Big Data Hub (June 8th) where I will get deep into the challenges associated with Big Data, Analytics & Privacy. My Information Age June article “Why you still don’t need a CDO”, has created a lot of interesting dialog which will continue to build as we get ready for the MIT CDO & Info Quality confab (July – Cambridge) where I am hoping that we can have a true ‘CDO Throw Down”.
Cheers,
Richard
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