Chris Bennett: Core values hold true across the decades

The 1980s made an apposite backdrop for this year’s Optician Awards providing both contrast and links to the past, showcasing a decade currently enjoying a comeback.

The era must go down as one of the most momentous in optics, marking the end of universal free eye examinations, the rise of the retail optical corporate and the end of the ubiquitous NHS specs.

Technology may have provided fundus imaging, contact lenses and optical manufacturing we couldn’t have imagined in the 1980 but it hasn’t replaced the soft skills and the relationships that continue to characterise successful businesses. What hasn’t changed are the core values that run through successful optical practice. People don’t change as fast as technology and optics is a people business. How many fewer no shows do you get now everyone has a mobile phone in their pocket?