How the World's Most Ambitious CEOs Think — And What It Means for Your Dental Practice

And so I wanna start with the long term.

I think that's probably the most important thing for a CEO, honestly.

And when I think of a CEO, I think of somebody who is just deeply committed to the long-term vision and direction of the company.

That is, at the end of the day, the CEO's job is to be the believer that believes in where the company is going and what the company believes in and what the company can be and comes in with that conviction every single day and brings that conviction to everyone involved.

So if you think about it, you're like, "Okay, well, what's the long-term vision for my dental practice?" Well, the beautiful thing about private practice is that it all begins with your personal life.

And so I don't want you to think about, "Well, what's the long-term vision of my practice or my organization?" I want you to think about, "What's the long-term vision of my life?" And I want you to first start with...

Because that's the beauty of private practice.

Private practice ownership is that you take on the burden of ownership, but you get to customize how you operate this business within the framework of your life.

And so I want you to take a step back and say, "Okay, well, what do I want in my life? How many days do I wanna work? How many years do I wanna work? How much do I wanna make? What types of procedures do I wanna be doing?" And that, that's just kind of where you should start, right? So let me just kind of be a pretend dentist in this example.

I'm listening to this podcast, and I'm saying, "Okay, I wanna work three days a week.

I would like to make $700,000 a year, and I would like to be able to go on vacation four times a year.

And I would like to do this for the next 15 years, and then I would like to be able to retire." Let's just say.

Who knows, right? But this is just my pretend example.

Oh, and we should pick a procedure mix that I like.

My favorite procedure mix is, it's kinda tough for me to say anything other than implants, honestly, just given my career.

And when I was a dentist, I really enjoyed the surgical aspect.

That was probably the thing that I found the most exciting.

And so I would say that I like the surgical aspect.

Okay, great.

Now, if I am the CEO of my practice, my customer is the ownership group, right? So, like, if you're a CEO of a big company, your customer, who you're working for, is the shareholders, right? You are working for the board and the shareholders.

Well, in this private practice, you are the board and the shareholders, right? You are the person that owns the business, who has the authority to make all decisions, and you are the person who owns the business, so you are working for yourself.

But do you see how I started with your personal life Because the CEO of your practice works for that person, right? So the CEO of my practice in this pretend example, works for the owner who wants to work three days a week doing primarily implants, making 700,000 and takes four weeks of vacation a year.

Like, okay, great.

In order for that to happen, the CEO has to put together a plan.

How do I turn this vision into reality? Right, so the vision is where we're starting, and reality is where the CEO is responsible for taking the company.