Fraternity Rush and the Law of Harmony

I like to start stuff! It probably started with the Legos I played with as a kid, before the days of kits with pre-designed models.

Early in my college experience I had the opportunity to start a chapter of the largest fraternity in the country. I jumped at the chance to create something new on our campus. It was a great experience that taught me many lessons of launching a new business.

The most distasteful part of the process, however, was fraternity rush. It was not the rushing part where each house is vying for their share of the incoming freshmen, so much as the vetting; sorting through the potential candidates to determine who would receive a “bid” or an invitation to join and who wouldn’t. Passing judgment on each rushee was a painful process.

As time has passed since that experience, I have come to appreciate more and more the rush process. It is very similar to hiring and building a team in your organization: generating potential team members to interview, screening, interviewing and then determining who you think will be the best fit for your team.

What you are looking for is the right “fit” because you know if the person you select is the right person, you tap into the Law of “Harmony” or the Law of the MasterMind which says: Two or more minds joined together in harmony form a third mind more powerful than the sum of the parts.

Harmony is a critical ingredient of “health” and growth. When there is harmony of purpose and process, there is momentum and progress. When there is disharmony, there is “dis-ease” and lack of progress.

I was in two offices yesterday that had just finished their best month ever. It was very evident why. There is a spirit of harmony in each where team members support team members and everyone is working in harmony to help each other accomplish the practice and goals. There is momentum because there is harmony, that allows for laser like focus on the unified purpose.

So if there is “dis – ease” in your team, ask yourself to what degree you have a unified purpose and harmony toward the goals you have set. The movement and momentum you experience toward your goal may very well be determined by the harmony you have on your team toward your unified purpose.

Why wrestlers should play basketball

My sport of choice in high school was wresting. (I tried basketball but the height thing was a problem for me!) I must have been aching for punishment because wresting has to be one of the most physically demanding sports there is.

At the height of a particularly stressful period one season, our coach walked in with a serious look on his face and told everyone to get up to the basketball court upstairs. We all knew the worst was coming and were sure that he had some type of unbearable conditioning exercise planned. After dividing the entire team into groups of five, he pulled out the basketballs and said, “play ball” with a big smile on his face. For the next half hour we had a blast on the court. As we concluded, the coach simply said, “you were all getting way too serious and stressed out. Now let’s go back down stairs, and give it our best.” It was the perfect activity for the moment. It bonded us back together as a team and got us all back in the right frame of mind.

Every great organization has to strike the balance between skill building and motivation. There are some aspects of the business that require training, repetition, relentless skill building and improvement. On the other hand, we all need some inspiration and “motivation” from time-to-time. It is a balance. If there is too much of one or the other, the results don’t match up.

So if you feel like you have been down on the “mat” for too long and you are about to get “pinned,” gather the team together and go “shoot some hoops.” On the other hand, it may be time for some more serious practice on the “mat.” Every organization needs both on a regular basis. It is all about balance.

Why My Wife Doesn’t Have Periodontal Disease…

If you have had any experience with me in a seminar or any other format, you know about my family. With seven children, there is always a lot to talk about.

This week I was relieved to discover a new way to know that Cheryl, my wife and mother of our 7, does not have periodontal disease.

A recent story on Fox News reported the findings of a scientific study that correlates periodontal disease to fertility problems. The study found that women who have periodontal disease take on average two more months to get pregnant than women who are healthy. With as many trips as we have made to the delivery room, Cheryl must be pretty healthy!

To view the Fox News segment, log onto: http://video.foxnews.com/v/1039185715001/

This most recent finding, along with all the others, keeps pointing to the same thing: What we are doing in dentistry has more to do with overall health than we have thought. If you have been to our ToPS “Total Immersion” course, you will remember how we talk about “4th Generation” patients. It is very clear to me that dentistry has moved from the 3rd to the 4th Generation…treating with the “whole” person in mind, not just their teeth.

Add to that the fact that patients today expect their dentist to address whole health issues, not just teeth issues. Patients get it. Medical research gets it. The media gets it. The profession as a whole needs to get it. “Getting it” means not only changing your mind set, but changing the way you interact with your patients.

One of the greatest steps any dental professional can take is to totally grasp the new paradigm of periodontal disease and its treatment. As mentioned in previous blogs, Dr. Tommy Nabors has spent most of his dental career and his childhood (really!) studying the nature of the disease. He and his team in Nashville have a unique perspective and approach that works. That’s why they are in the top 1% of offices nationwide in periodontal treatment effectiveness.

I begged Tommy to lift the lid on what he is doing and host a limited number of offices on August 26-27 at his practice in Nashville and share their “Secrets of Periodontal Therapy.” It will change the way you look at and treat your patients.

For more information and registration, call 1-877-399-8677 or e-mail, Answers@TotalPatientService.com

How I Know My Wife Does NOT Have Gum Disease!

If you have had any experience with me in a seminar or any other format, you know about my family. With seven children, there is always a lot to talk about.

This week I was relieved to discover a new way to know that Cheryl, my wife and mother of our 7, does NOT have periodontal disease.

A recent news story on Fox News reported the findings of a scientific study that correlates periodontal disease to fertility problems. The study found that women who have periodontal disease take on average two more months to get pregnant than women who are healthy. With as many trips as we have made to the delivery room, Cheryl must be pretty healthy!

To view the Fox News segment, log onto: http://video.foxnews.com/v/1039185715001/

This most recent finding, along with all the others, keeps pointing to the same thing: What we are doing in dentistry has more to do with overall health than we have thought. If you have been to our ToPS “Total Immersion” course, you will remember how we talk about “4^th Generation” patients. It is very clear to me that dentistry has moved from the 3^rd to the 4^th Generation…treating with the “whole” person in mind, not just their teeth.

Add to that the fact that patients today expect their dentist to address whole health issues, not just teeth issues. Patients get it. Medical research gets it. The media gets it. The profession as a whole needs to get it. “Getting it” means not only changing your mind set, but changing the way you interact with your patients.

One of the greatest steps any dental professional can take is to totally grasp the new paradigm of periodontal disease and its treatment. As mentioned in previous blogs, Dr. Tommy Nabors has spent most of his dental career and his childhood (really!) studying the nature of the disease. He and his team in Nashville have a unique perspective and approach that works. That’s why they are in the top 1% of offices nationwide in periodontal treatment effectiveness.

I begged Tommy to lift the lid on what he is doing and host a limited number of offices on August 26-27 at his practice in Nashville and share their “Secrets of Periodontal Therapy.” It will change the way you look at and treat your patients.

For more information and registration, call 1-877-399-8677 or e-mail, Answers@TotalPatientService.com

The Tragedy of an Infection

The tragedy at our local elementary school this spring was the husband of one of the third grade teachers who cut his finger at work. He washed it and put a small bandage on it. In fact, he washed it every day. It did not seem to get much better, but because it did not hurt, he just kept cleaning it until his wife, the teacher, insisted he go and have it checked out. By the time the lab results came back testing him positive for a staph infection, it had spread throughout his entire body and he ultimately passed away.

If only the wound had been checked and the lab test done earlier, he could have been treated for the staph infection in a timely manner and his life would have been saved.

The way this wound was initially treated is similar to how many patients, and frankly, many dental practices, treat periodontal disease. “Just clean it.” Unfortunately, just trying keeping the “wound” clean won’t take care of the ultimate problem.

How we think about periodontal disease and how it is treated has changed. It is no longer just site-specific. It is a systemic problem. Grasping the concept and emotionally embracing it is as big of a problem for some practitioners as it is for patients.

Making the shift requires several steps:
1. Totally understanding the true nature of periodontal disease and its systemic and total health consequences.

2. Having the right diagnostics in place, including Oral DNA, that will identify the type and severity of the systemic problem.

3. New treatment modules that address the “whole” problem, not just the localized problem.

4. Presentation and verbal skills that help patients make the shift and embrace the problem and what it will take on their part to treat it.

Earlier this year, I watched with amazement as this transformation took place in the professional lives of entire dental teams with which we work.

We invited Dr. Tommy Nabors and his dental team from Nashville to come spend the day presenting how they think about, approach, and treat periodontal disease in their practice. Within a few short hours, entire perspectives were changed and the teams walked out with a new commitment to treat the disease in a new, more comprehensive way. Over the months that have followed, I have observed that commitment come to life in the lives of the patients they treat. The teams have changed, and because they have changed, their patients changed as well.



Don’t miss a great opportunity to have your team experience the same thing on August 26-27, 2011 as Dr. Nabors and his team open their office to a few, select dental teams as they present their entire periodontal therapy program and how they use it every day in their practice. Their case acceptance results are just as impressive as their clinical results not to mention the fact that this team of three hygienists does over $1 million in hygiene production a year. It will change your perspective. It will change the lives of your patients. And with what we know about the far-reaching, total health consequences of periodontal disease it will save lives.

For more information on Dr. Nabors and his course, call 1-877-399-8677 or e-mail: Answers@TotalPatientService.com

How to make 10+10=100

Having just finished our ToPS “Halftime” Round Table meeting where dentists from all over the country came together for two days of idea exchange and practice planning, I am reminded of simple math as follows:

10+10=100 but if you simply turn the + sign on its side you get an “X”. That minor change creates the following equation: 10x10=100. With very little effort, you get exponential results.

Those exponential results are experienced every time we have one of our Round Table meetings. 8 to 10 dentists have a set of facilitated discussion topics and exercises that help everyone share the best of what they are doing as well as explore new ideas and ways of doing things. The result is a new “frame” for the practice and new ideas to implement for better results.

Think about it. Just about every business leader is isolated in daily work. Working with employees and customers all day leaves a void of interaction with those who can relate to the real challenges faced in the business. But when two or more of those leaders come together to share experiences and exchange ideas, a dynamic is created in which problems are solved, ideas are generated, and new results are realized.

I challenge you to participate with us in our next ToPS Round Table meeting on December 1-3, 2011 in Dallas, Texas where those who are committed to being the best come together to become even better!

For more information, contact the ToPS Institute at 1-877-399-8677 or e-mail: Answers@TotalPatientService.com

Frances and the Dominican Republic

Four years ago, we launched through the Crown Council and Smiles for Life Foundation an ambitious dental humanitarian project in the Dominican Republic with the goal of changing a culture. Each year we take four expeditions of Crown Council teams to the D.R. to work side-by-side with Dominican dentists and dental students to serve those in the country who have little or no access to dental care. For an up-close look you can visit www.CrownCouncil.Blogspot.com

The organizer and inspiration behind this ambitious project is Dr. Roy Hammond and his late wife Frances. Roy and Frances took me on my first dental humanitarian expedition in 2003 and I will never forget it and the lessons learned.

Toward the end of that trip, I remember many of us dragging. The days had been long, the weather was warm, and our energy levels were low. On that day, Frances Hammond came up to me and said, “I know we’ve worked on a lot of teeth during this week, but we didn’t come here to work on teeth, we came to work with people.”

We were scheduled that day to work at an orphanage for blind children many of whom had been abandoned by their parents. Our patients that day would never see us, they would never see the faces of the people helping them or working on their teeth. These children would only remember how we made them feel.

Frances gathered the dental team together for a “Morning Meeting” and reminded every one that dentistry isn’t about how many patients or procedures, the greatness of your technical expertise, or even teeth. That’s right. It’s not about teeth. It’s about the people and how they feel because we have been permitted to come into their lives.

That day, I watched in amazement as our exhausted team rallied around the true purpose of the mission, to serve people. I watched blind children feel the true care and concern from people they would never see with their eyes. It was a transforming experience that grounded me in the real purpose of service.

I have always been grateful for that lesson Frances taught all of us. She left a legacy behind when she passed away in 2009 that lives on in the work that continues in the Dominican Republic and the work that goes on every day in the practices that take the opportunity to serve there. They bring something back that positively influences the way they practice dentistry every day at home and the way they live their lives

So remember, it is not about the teeth. That’s a lesson that can be learned and relearned every day in every practice.

For more information on how you and your team can participate in the Crown Council’s dental humanitarian efforts, call: 1-800-276-9658 or e-mail Success@CrownCouncil.com.