The Scottish Institute for Business Leaders
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SIBL’s Vision and Learning Model
(Radical Unconventional Structure & Learning)
Drew Pryde SIBL Chairman & CEO’s: Background
Drew completed a 5-year apprenticeship with Dowty Engineering and subsequently qualified as an accountant. Following an extensive career in industry both in the UK and internationally, including Los Angeles and Brussels, he graduated with an MBA from Edinburgh University and then lectured at Edinburgh, Dundee and St Andrews Universities; the latter including being a member of a small team with responsibility for the start-up of the Department of Management.
He was also a founding Director and Secretary of the St Andrews Management Institute which was created by the University, Shell International and Scottish Enterprise as shareholders. The Institute was structured as a charity offering consultancy services for blue chips with a view to generating surpluses and funding for the University.
Drew Pryde SIBL Chairman
The Niche Market Opportunity
With this eclectic experience Drew realised that there was little in the world of academia that serviced senior executives post-MBA. From this basic observation came the vision of a radical and revolutionary alternative learning model which differs from that of the traditional Universities and Business Schools.
The SIBL Economic Model
Not only was there no need to invest heavily in fixed buildings, indeed given the surplus of capacities of conferencing facilities, there was a distinct advantage in both cost and flexibility in creating a virtual Institute. (Drew says by illustration of the same principle “I am an enthusiastic, if moderate, golfer, but I have no plans or desire to build a golf course”).
Likewise, it would have been unviable to take on board salaried academic staff when in reality their services were only specifically required for occasional programmed workshops. Following this “just in time” principle, which is a common performance improvement approach in manufacturing concerns, SIBL has developed a faculty of a100 experts since its launch in 2003 being drawn from both industry and academia and geographically from the likes of the UK, France, Germany, South Africa, USA, Canada and Australasia.
The emergent focus for SIBL was to create a balanced offering of continuous courses which blended both the traditional educational / lecturing and avant-garde facilitation / learning concepts. This “in-the-room” learning lends itself to covering both the out-to-in and the crucial in-to-out access to professional and personal development.
As SIBL is privately funded by sponsors and members, the organisation has not sought nor received a single penny from taxpayers since its inception. This guarantees the freedom of independence and – without being grant dependent – this minimises risks regarding continuity of services to members and sponsors.
As SIBL is delivering all offerings on-line that means that in terms of capability, it is very much playing on a level platform or playing field with traditional funded educational establishments.
The above model and structure was designed to minimise risk in terms of sustainability in the face of the scenario of a 100 year storm and so, given a fair wind, SIBL as a community can safely look forward to a promising future under the umbrella of being an established independent Learning Institute and niche player in the post-MBA executive field. .