What are Cornwall's business aspirations?

Tis the season to be joyful, tra la la la laa le la la la! Well it should be if you’re a retailer or if you’ve reached all your business targets for this calendar year. For the rest of us …. Oh, go on you can still be joyful. Playing Scrooge will get you nowhere. Some of the skills needed to succeed in business are not technical know-how, long education or vast experience; they are making customers feel good about you and your organisation, a ready smile, good humour, following up what you said you’d do in meetings, stamina, thoughtfulness, working in a team, remaining upbeat even when times are tough – all skills you can display at Christmas to great effect.

Employers tell me all the time that they want colleagues who have life skills - by which they mean people who turn up on time, can take a message, greet a customer, remain cheerful and polite and have a willingness to further themselves and their organisation. Of course Cornwall needs well-educated experts in space technology, creative industries, agri-technology, tourism, health and care and so on. And we also need aspirational, ambitious, sharp-witted, tech-savvy people whatever their educational achievements who share a passion to make Cornwall & Scilly the best place in the world to work, play, visit, study, invest, start a business or simply to be home. Cornwall must not hide our light under a bushel. We want our young people to be global citizens, confident enough to hold their own wherever, to add value to the Cornwall we love. We want to be able to attract great people here to add to our stock of knowledge at work, at our universities and to add colour to our lives. We want business people to set up and grow enterprises; and we want health and civic leaders to see Cornwall as a place which leads thinking about inclusive workplaces, mental health and physical wellbeing.

None of these aspirations are going to be achieved if we go ‘Bah, humbug!’ to ideas and plans which break the mould. The 21st Century is Cornwall’s time to shine. A lot of good things are happening and we need to do some things differently to make the bits which are not so good better. And if a place the size of Cornwall can’t get it right, God help the rest of the World! There’s a thought for Christmas. Let us have your thoughts too kimconchie@cornwallchamber.co.uk  Have a cool Yule!