Dentaltown March 2022 - 60

" To absolutely make the
most of your practice,
you must think like
a businessperson. "
former insurance salesman and a showman
who had sold his company for a hundred
million dollars. I was thrown into a business
world where if you didn't learn, if you didn't
add to the bottom line and if you didn't toe
the line, you didn't survive.
Over time, the pressure, the time on
the road and the constant drive for profit
was too much and I resigned. The benefits
of those seven years were the life skills and
business skills that became a part of my
nature. They were life skills I was able to
teach my children and my team-and I
wish others would learn.
Leadership is not taught in dental school
or any professional school that I am aware
of. People who want to be dentists study
science. Few come from a family with a
business background, and many dentists
are the first professionals in their extended
family.
Family background, some spiritual
After realizing it was me that was the
problem, I got very mad, but I was only mad
at myself. Anger fueled my decision-making
process. It became clear there was only
one primary reason for the existence of
my practice; it was to serve me! Without
me, there was no practice, nobody to treat
patients and no need for a team. It became
clear that I and only I could be responsible
to hold my team accountable.
This anger at myself gave me the courage
to face my team and make it clear to them
their job depended on the business being a
success. Because I had been overly nice in the
past-and they all knew I was right-there
was no mass exodus and no one quit.
Unfortunately, I was still not mature
enough or savvy enough at the time to keep
myself and them on track.
Get comfortable having
uncomfortable conversations
In 1990, I found myself co-founder
of Dental Boot Camp, a company that
taught dentists and their team members
communication, business and leadership
skills. For seven years, I was on the road and
on stage alongside tycoon Walter Hailey, a
60 MARCH 2022 // dentaltown.com
upbringing and even dental school training
can create " approval addiction, " when one
is afraid to tell the truth in fear of being
disliked. Not dressing down an always-late
team member because you don't want to
upset the apple cart is approval addiction.
Not telling a patient they have a dental
disease for fear of rejection is approval
addiction. If one truly believes that the
purpose of the practice is to serve the leader,
it gives the needed courage to overcome this
disabling trait.
Training isn't an afterthought
All practices have different cultures
and business models. While leadership
may be different in different settings,
the needed outcome is the same: a wellcross-trained
team that works in harmony.
A cross-trained team can only be achieved
by constant training.
I have learned there are three main
reasons a team member doesn't do what they
said they would: They haven't been trained,
they don't have the skill set for that position
or they don't care. All three are leadership
issues. In my case, my team was not trained
to understand their job depended on how
well they took ownership of their positions.
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Dentaltown March 2022

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