Dentistry isn’t a profession—it’s a sport. Think about it: how many hours a week do you spend standing, bending over and working with your hands? Those little movements add up, and over time, dentistry can take its toll on the body. If dentistry is a sport, that means you’re an athlete. Start treating yourself like one!
Have you ever asked yourself why your patients choose to come to you? They don’t accidentally come to you, so understanding what it is that makes you special in your patients’ eyes is the key to unlocking a brighter future for your practice. Like Kirk says, “You need to separate yourself from the sea of
Have you seen Ted Lasso? We coach a dentist who happens to be a HUGE Ted Lasso fan! In the show, Ted makes a banner that simply says, “Believe.” This inspired the Summit Square Dental team to create their very own Believe Box—a place where people can shout out their colleagues for modeling the practice’s core values. The lead dentist collected all those messages and combined them into one big Believe Banner!
Leadership can often feel like an abstract concept, but the Salt Shaker Theory of Leadership offers a simple, effective way to understand and improve your approach. This theory, popularized by restaurateur Danny Meyer in his book Setting the Table, uses a salt shaker as a metaphor for leadership consistency and correction.
Dollars vs. Pennies: The Common Pitfall of Trying to Save Money Dentists should focus on making money. Instead, many focus on saving money. Saving money isn’t inherently wrong. We all love marked-down prices at the grocery store and snagging that TV after it goes on sale. The problem arises when penny pinching becomes your business model.
For a practice that seeks to grow or simply become more profitable, there’s a roadblock: understanding your expenses. This can be a tricky subject to navigate, but you can use this free tool to help navigate those waters. Knowing your overhead costs is critical to understanding the overhead gap and how
Step Off the Beach and into the Sandbox Ideas are like grains of sand on the beach. They’re limitless! There are so many ideas to explore, it’s hard to keep up with them all. You’re the visionary of the dental practice, which means great ideas are always buzzing through your head.
“It’s Not Me, It’s You”: Break Up with Your Insurance! Are you in a toxic relationship with insurance? You’re not alone—every dentist is! Just like an ex-partner, insurance companies can feel very controlling. It’s all take and no give. And, when you think about it, there was no emotional connection to begin with.
There are few things that induce anxiety in a dentist or practice owner more than seeing a hole in the schedule. Whether it’s from a no-show or a cancellation, that hole is a loss of income, an underutilization of resources, and a missed opportunity for a patient who really wants to get in. Like Kirk says, “a
One of the most challenging aspects of dental practice leadership is determining the right level of involvement when you’ve delegated a task or priority to your team. It’s a delicate balance that can shift depending on the situation and the team members involved. Both micromanaging and being too hands-off can be detrimental, but finding the ideal middle ground is often more difficult than it seems. In this article, I’ll share some insights into both extremes and offer some red flags to help you assess if you’re leaning too far in either direction. First and foremost, leadership is hard. Human nature complicates it further—none of us wake up intending to be overbearing micromanagers or overly relaxed, unclear delegators. Despite our best intentions and knowledge of leadership principles, our desire to be effective, respected, and yes, even liked, can lead us to act in ways we never intended.
