Is the Bank of England interest rate rise an apocalypse?

Yesterday I drove down to Loughborough for a client meeting and practice visit. My journey began at 06:30 and I started listening to the news on Radio 4.

After 30-minutes I had to switch to something more positive and uplifting - half an hour of doom and gloom on the proposed interest rate increase.

Yet again, the word "CRISIS" dominates the broadcast.

At lunchtime I followed my client's car from their home to the practice, stopping en route for a quick lunch. 10 minutes of Radio 4 - crisis and gloom following confirmation of the increase.

At 16:00 I began my journey home. At 17:00 I checked in briefly with Radio 4 to see if anything positive had happened during the day - no such luck.

Thankfully, last night's webinar allowed me to avoid connecting with any news media during the evening. When we had finished, Annie and I just sat in the garden and chatted about the day.

Every team member who arrives at work this morning - and every patient who visits your practice(s) today will have been exposed to the same onslaught of negativity throughout Thursday.

You have a leadership responsibility today - to lift the mood and to reassure your team and patients that it isn't actually the end of the world.

I'm not in denial - I understand that we are two-thirds of the way through a tough economic cycle (that's cycle, not crisis), that our cost of living has risen, that we have more industrial disputes going on than since the 70's, that the approaching General Election is unsettling, that the geopolitical situation is horrid, that the climate is changing - all that stuff.

But life goes on, as it did in 1973, 1979, 1987, 1992, and 2008, when the media would have had us believe that we were all doomed.

Broken record moment coming............

It's a cycle - not a crisis.

In every tough economic cycle I have worked through (dates as above), there has been opportunity for those who are prepared to work hard and think smart.

Which brings me nicely back to my main theme from last night's webinar and at the two practice visits I've attended this week - in 30 years in dentistry I have never been more confident about the opportunity for independent private practice.

Please do not subscribe to the doom-fest.

Be the beacon of light for your team and your patients.