Hard work is tiring. Hard worry is exhausting. The difference is that hard work eventually produces an outcome. Hard worry simply returns tomorrow morning, usually accompanied by a few new problems. I was recently asked to advise a dental practice owner facing a serious people problem. An associate’s performance and behaviour had been causing concern for some time. The owner had recognised the problem, sought professional HR advice and understood that the situation was no lon

Colin Campbell and I share a problem: neither of us needs another book, yet both of us are likely to buy one before the week is over. We are voracious readers. Not because reading is an impressive hobby, nor to create the most crowded bookshelf. We read because somebody, somewhere, has usually thought more deeply than we have about the problem in front of us. A good book can shorten a learning curve, challenge a comfortable assumption or provide the language needed for a diff

Something important has been happening at The Campbell Academy. For years, dentistry has been very good at separating clinical education from business education. You learn a clinical skill in one place, leadership somewhere else, marketing from somebody else, financial management if and when you get around to it. But that isn’t how a dental business actually works. On Monday morning, clinical delivery, patients, people, cash, marketing, technology, leadership and the owner’s

Tomorrow morning, I will press the button on the public launch of Extreme Business 2027. That sentence makes it sound as if a new programme simply appears: a newsletter goes out, a landing page goes live and the doors open. The truth is rather different. Behind Friday’s announcement is a large September mind map and an even larger amount of work taking place across The Campbell Academy. Not glamorous work. The detailed work that determines whether a promise made in marketing

Last week’s community pulse revealed a familiar leadership tension: plenty of progress, but too many open loops. Stronger practices are built by protecting capacity, clarifying ownership and deciding what can safely wait.

Today we wake up to 115 shopping days before Christmas. That may sound generous. It isn’t. By the time we have navigated the return to school, the last-minute holiday absences, the autumn half-term, the clocks going back and the first appearance of mince pies in reception, Christmas will be knocking at the door. The summer holidays are over. It is time to shake the sand from our shoes, put our heads down and make the final four months of 2026 count. This is when leadership ea

A few years ago, on reaching the milestone age of 50, Harry Singh found himself at a turning point. A casual remark from his wife about his physique sparked a transformation that would go on to affect far more than just his fitness. Once known for late nights at the bar and eating junk food, Harry committed to a much more disciplined way of living. He transformed his diet, prioritised his health and made eight hours of sleep each night non-negotiable. The results have gone fa

Many dental practices buy automation to fix a messy process. The result is sometimes a faster messy process. The better order is simple: innovate first, automate second. For Owners and SLT members, that means improving the way work happens before asking software, reminders, AI, or templates to repeat it at scale. Better systems start with clear thinking, not more tools. A golden rule : Improve the process before you automate it Automation works best when the underlying system

Last week, across the Extreme Business community, we saw something encouraging: systems beginning to produce results. One practice simplified its website journey and saw a clear increase in new-patient enquiries. Another discovered that patients who ignored recall emails were not receiving a follow-up call, so the team began working through the backlog. Elsewhere, better financial reporting revealed a substantial improvement in EBITDA and opened an unexpected question: if the

A new London dining club is bringing dentists and specialists together for good food, honest conversation, professional friendship and meaningful CPD. I’m honoured to be its inaugural speaker in October.