I’ve been thinking a lot about confidence this week. About the power that that word wields. About how it has the power to build us up and to entirely destroy us.
Let’s talk first about the destruction.
In a little over a month, we are due to leave the EU. But none of us, clearly, have any idea whether that will happen, how it will happen and if it does happen, what it actually means. How can we have any confidence in business going forward without at least a tiny sliver of certainty about something, about anything really?
It is not surprising that retail continues to lie flat on its back, legs flailing like an upturned tortoise – and yet another set of recommendations this week from a government committee is unlikely to help flip it back up. It is not surprising that we continue to see valuation write downs – intu’s 13% (£1.4bn) write down for the year ended 31 December is probably going to turn out to be fairly conservative – and it is not surprising that the housing market remains paralysed, with barely any improvement in transactions.
There is no way we can turn any of that around without some confidence, be that in our political leadership, the economy, or our ability to communicate effectively with those we do business with.
The overriding recommendation in the latest town centres report is for better collaboration. It is a great notion and of course everyone wants to understand everyone else’s needs and come to a happy medium so that everyone
is pleased, but that’s just not life, is it?
There has to be something else. There has to be someone, something that will give us back that confidence.
Perhaps the quick decision by high court judge Justice Marcus Smith that Brexit is not a “frustrating event” that would allow the European Medicines Agency to walk away from its liabilities at Canary Wharf will do something to boost confidence among landlords; perhaps the growing number of defectors from the Labour and the Tory parties to create an independent group will give us a little confidence that our elected MPs are listening to us; or perhaps it is us that needs to do something.
With my REWIRE hat on, I talk a lot about the power of confidence and how having it – or even faking it – is important for your own personal and professional development (check out the REWIRE podcasts at www.egrewire.podbean.com for more on that). I talk about how it has the power to boost us and those around us into doing better, being better. So perhaps now, when none of us really have any clue what is going on in the world, is the exactly the time when we should be confident enough to at least pretend that we do.
It is certainly something I will be doing come 1 March, when I take the helm here at EG – and I might not even be pretending. While we will continue to be objective, honest and straight-talking about the industry and all that affects it, delivering you the news, views, analysis and data you need to make informed decisions, I promise we will also be openly confident in the future of this industry and how it will continue to operate, whatever happens on 29 March.
To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette
