“The only types of suits we wear are wet” — Al Gosling

Whilst everyone else arrived by car, Extreme Group founder Al Gosling flew into Destination Growth 07 in his private jet. Landing on the runway at Duxford, just yards from the museum’s Airspace venue — home for the day to the East of England’s largest business conference — it was obvious this was a man who liked to be different.

Al who originally hails from near Halstead in Essex, told delegates attending his ‘Unleashing Creativity’ session that doing things differently is the key to long lasting business success.

“We believe in doing things differently. The only types of suits we wear are wet,” he said. “It’s about finding that angle of something new. I constantly question why is it different? Why are people going to buy this? In our hotels I looked at how many points of differentiation we could drop in. They cost the same as something like a Holiday Inn but when you walk in to our hotels there are TV screens everywhere — it’s very funky and very modern.”

Al has seen the Extreme Group grow from a small enterprise, based in a converted barn that was more akin to a surf shack, into a multi-million pound enterprise incorporating 12 separate companies, including the highly successful Extreme Sports Channel. He believes in order to achieve great things you need to think big.

He told Destination Growth 07 delegates: “We think as big as we can and aim as high as we can. I had the idea that we could launch a chain of hotels and we did. If you put the goal that high you can occasionally reach it. Think as big as you can and then drive the idea forward.”

On tips for testing whether an idea is likely to be a market success Al told delegates: “Sometimes we do market research on an idea, but a better test is whether or not we can attract a high quality management team from that sector to it. They’ll say whether it’s going to work or not. It’s instinctive for them, and if they say its going to work then the idea gets driven forward.”

Hosted by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), Destination Growth 07 was attended by almost 800 business leaders from the region’s fastest growing small and medium sized enterprises. Through seminars, debates and workshops, more than 30 top international business experts shared their skills, knowledge and experiences with delegates to help them grow their own businesses.

In addition to Al, other speakers included Dr Edward de Bono; Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream; Jacqueline Gold, CEO of Ann Summers and Gerald Ratner.

For more information on the conference visit www.eeda.org.uk/destinationgrowth.
You can also contribute to Al’s blog at www.eeda.org.uk/desetinationgrowth/blog. 

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Notes to Editors

For further information please contact:
Lisa Davidson in EEDA’s press office, tel: 01223 200871, email: lisadavidson@eeda.org.uk

About Destination Growth
Destination Growth 07 is the region’s flagship business event, hosted by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA). It is a biennial conference for leaders of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the East of England. The first Destination Growth was held in 2005 was a runaway success with more than 500 delegates attending to get advice, ideas and tips from a range of business experts including Edward de Bono, Evan Davies and John Timpson.

This year’s event attracted more than 750 senior decision makers from the region’s fastest growing SMEs. The programme featured three lively keynote speeches by Jerry Greenfield, Gerald Ratner and Jacqueline Gold. These were supported by a packed programme of educational master classes and topical debates led by 30 high profile speakers, including Edward De Bono, Will King, Al Gosling, Doug Richard, James Averdieck, Nigel Risner and Sir Robin Young. These sessions focused on accelerating business growth and had four themes:

. sales and marketing
. innovation
. accessing finance
. leadership

Destination Growth also showcased regional arts and had a lively networking and exhibition area with more than 60 business support organisations, which offered delegates opportunities to network with like minded business leaders.

For more information or to register visit www.eeda.org.uk/destinationgrowth.