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The summer throws up lots of analogies for building a great business. For example, you might focus on sport, as we do in this August edition of Connect. It’s a time when the island turns into one big Olympic park, and around every turn in the coast line you will find committed (at least in the good weather)proponents of the full spectrum of outdoor activities trying to match the image they are seeing in their heads, with the real feedback from their bodies.
Triathlon is the latest ‘must-have’ in the pantheon of local sports, and next month it reaches its apotheosis in the Super League, which will see some of the world’s best taking a dip in our marina. You can read the full story on page 19, told by one of the founders (there had to be three of them) who created the current fusion of sporting prowess, business sense and social media savvy. Not a bad triumvirate.
Of course Super League is only one example of how Jersey’s economy is, like a middle-aged cyclist (and before you complain, I speak as one myself), trying to don the lycra, get the heart pumping and pretend that anything spreading around the middle is just extra fuel, and will be left (like your pride) on the road.
‘Experience’ is the new economic super-fuel, and from a sporting perspective, Jersey can offer plenty of them. Take a look at page 4 for some more examples of how Jersey’s economy is trying to get fitter by getting fitter.
But, wait. If you are reading this from the comfort of your deckchair in the garden, with something cool in your hand, if not on your head, and about as much intention of getting active as stopping at just the one G&T, then as ever with Connect, help is (quite literally) at hand.
Firstly, read the story on page 35. If anyone tells you that traditional retailing is dead, and gives you the example of “look what’s happened to DVD’s and Games, it’s all online”, then you have our permission to add their name to this year’s list of marina swimmers (for clarity, don’t do that, but do give them a ‘hard stare’ instead). Just as vinyl is making grandparents (and their dusty record collections) cool again, so are the basic values of great customer service, and a passion for the product still winning retail awards.
And, if that’s not enough, then I give you... gorillas (P23). No, not jokes about what you say to them if they have a banana stuck in each ear (offer them a fruit bowl, perhaps?) but the fact that this summer you are going to be able to see 40 of them scattered around the island, decorated by a selection of our top artists.
It’s a project Bailiwick Publishing is delighted to sponsor, and if the Go Wild Gorillas trail isn’t enough to get you taking a leisurely stroll around Jersey, then you only have one option... Enjoy Connect instead.
