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The Power of Authentic Partnership for your Dental Practice, Part 4: Know Your Teams

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One of things I learned from and most admire about my partner Jack Bayramyan is his ability to connect with people. This is a very important quality in a dental practice owner and, really, any entrepreneur. Being comfortable around people, being comfortable speaking with almost anyone, these abilities help create instant connection and really do half the “selling” in your business.  

The Importance of Social Capital in Your Dental Practice 

Social capital is the positive product of human interaction. It is the cohesion that allows the people within an organization to function together as a whole through trust, and shared identity, norms and values. When a leader invests her or his time in building social capital within their organization that demonstrates an innate understanding of what the human condition needs to flourish, thrive and grow. 

Taking seriously your responsibilities as a leader involves putting time and effort into understanding different leadership styles and which fit your personality best, studying your team’s dynamics and being open to feedback around your leadership. When you have mastered the essential leadership qualities you can begin to craft a team that will be with you for the long haul and fight for your vision as hard as you do.

When you have a leader that innately understands those necessities and builds them into the framework of team structures, that is a leader who understands how to grow a successful business. You cannot grow or expand or scale an operation without team buy-in. To gain team buy-in, you can operate in one of two ways. You can intimidate everyone and rule through fear, bullying and belittlement; or you can lead with integrity, compassion and discipline of message. Of course, there are all kinds of leadership styles, but they mostly fall into one of those two categories, generally speaking.  

Dental Practice Partnership – Making a Lasting Choice 

Before Jack and I made it official, I took a tour of his organization, a chance to “kick the tires” so to speak. We visited one of his practices and the first thing he did wasn’t tell me the revenue of that particular location, or how the systems or operations worked on a daily basis. No. The first thing Jack did was introduce me to all his staff and share with me a little bit about each individual.   

At the time, Jack owned 6 locations in Southern California. And he knew the names and backgrounds of every single person that worked for him. That impressed me more than their profit margins, their EBITDA, their monthly overhead or yearly returns. And by the end of that field trip, I knew I had found the person I wanted to partner with. I knew that if this person took team building, social capital and leadership investment, that seriously this would be a person who understood the power all of that had in building an operation to scale.  

Using Team Cohesion to Grow Your Dental Practice  

Growing and scaling a dental organization is an immense undertaking and it’s not something you can do alone. Whether or not you ever enter into a formal partnership, long-term growth depends on your ability to build teams that are aligned, motivated, and committed to a shared direction.

True cohesion doesn’t come from job descriptions or compensation alone. It comes from leadership that understands what drives people, what inspires them, and what makes them believe in something bigger than their daily tasks. As Theodore Roosevelt famously said:

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

You can hire people who will show up and do their jobs. But inspiring people to fight for a vision requires clarity about where you’re going, why it matters, and how their work connects to that future.

That’s why we created the Extraction GPS. This tool helps dental practice owners clarify their values, define their current reality, and articulate a clear vision for where they’re headed. When your vision is clear, team alignment becomes possible. When alignment exists, cohesion follows and growth becomes sustainable.

Thinking about scaling your dental practice and strengthening your team along the way?
Download the Extraction GPS to gain clarity on your vision and give your team something meaningful to rally around.

At Optimize Practice Alliance, we believe the future of dentistry belongs with dentists and that future is built by leaders who lead with clarity, intention, and care.

Download Your Extraction GPS

The Power of Authentic Partnership for Your Dental Practice, Part 3: Building Your Culture 

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In your dental practice, culture is king. When I first met Jack Bayramyan, I was skeptical. A dental practice owner, I could tell right away that he was a nice person, but I had no idea what he valued, what his priorities were or the vision he wanted to achieve. However, all that changed during the course of a day.  

What started out as an intro meeting with Jack and bankers about money and investment, eventually turned into a meandering discussion between Jack and I about culture. In the video below, you’ll see, at one point during that pivotal day, Jack asked me aside for a private conversation. I assumed he just wanted to get to know me, so I obliged because I was interested in the same thing.  

Sitting in a room full of bankers or investors, the discussions tend to focus on one thing: money. But Jack was savvy enough to look beyond those discussions and I was curious as well. During that private conversation, I really got to know Jack, the human being. And maybe even more importantly, I got to know how he worked as an entrepreneur.  

In Your Dental Practice Culture Begins with You 

I’m a talker. I love to talk, but I think that is a by-product of my real passion, which is teaching. Teaching requires two fundamental components: talking and listening. So, in my initial private conversation with Jack, I went first. I opened up and spoke from the heart about the things that mattered most to me in my organization, what did I have to lose?  

I spoke about my values, my goals, and most importantly to me, the culture of my company and how it was created. And I’m glad I had the courage to open up and speak on that level to someone I had just met. Turns out, he shared my opinions on those topics and was inspired to speak from the heart as well. We found we had three primary areas of focus when it came to building an organization: 

  • Culture is foundational to a company, no matter how successful or not 
  • Culture is built by the people and teams that use it 
  • Culture is transformed over time by these relationships 

Any organization, whether it is successful or not, is built on the foundation of the culture of the people that work in that organization. You can have a counterproductive culture built on the naked ambition of the people working within that culture. But you can also build an organization on a culture of compassion, open-mindedness and balance. Many times, it is the values of the leader that begin and build that culture. But if you have an absent CEO, or a leader whose values are based in, say, greed, selfishness and a “my way or the highway” attitude, that will be the driving foundation of the culture that is built.  

So, as a dental entrepreneur, if you want a culture that reflects your values, you need to show up and pay attention to your leadership style, your willingness to change and your focus on a growth mindset. If you’re not paying attention to these things, your dental practice’s culture will be formed by the dominant personalities within your organization. That may or may not be a good thing, but it won’t be intentional.  

Who is Going to Drive Your Vision in Your Dental Practice?  

The second area of focus as a leader is learning to pay attention. You may be intentional in the values and tone you set to build that culture, but it will ultimately be your teams living and working within the framework of that culture that will build and expand upon it.  

So, it’s your job to continually observe, listen and speak from an intentional position. You can’t just build the foundation of something and walk away expecting people to just pick it up and run toward the finish line. As a leader in your dental practice, you must pay attention to the tone you set and the tone your teams keep: are they in alignment? And if not, it’s your job to get your teams refocused on the tone and values you’ve set. For us, at OPS this comes in the form of weekly check-ins and a weekly company huddle as well as quarterly meetings keeping us focused on our vision and culture.  

You may have a very clear vision of where you want to take your organization, but if you don’t have buy-in from your team, you won’t get there. And buy-in comes from team members who want to see you, their organization and themselves succeed. If they don’t have hope that they will succeed, if they feel your eye is not on the ball or if they feel they ‘re just clocking into a job with no future for them, they won’t have the cohesion to rise to the level you need to reach your goals. It starts with you.  

Finally, the third focus is learning to stay aware of how culture transforms over time. It is the relationships within your organization that will dictate how this culture changes and adapts as your dental practice grows and expands. How your culture changes and adapts is dependent on the top team members and how they translate your values and vision company wide. 

If you’re not checking in with your leadership teams regularly and mentoring their leadership styles and directives, the culture you meticulously built in the beginning will erode over time and collapse even as your organization expands and grows. That’s where a lot of scaling organizations run off the tracks, because they can’t contain the fallout that permeates the culture through its growth.  

It Always Starts at the Top in Your Dental Practice 

So, whether you’re building the culture, choosing the people who will live in that culture or caring for it over time, it is your attention and focus on the culture staying healthy, nimble and cohesive that will steer the ship toward your vision.  

And this is what I found out during my conversation that day with Jack. He shared that same level of attention to culture that I have. He knows that to reach his vision he needed a healthy, strong cohesive team and he knew that team had to last the distance to eventually reach his vision. By the time we met, he had reached his vision, so he had a roadmap of leadership style. It wasn’t just about our shared values; it was about having the mindset of attention to culture where we found common ground.  

Your Vision for Your Dental Practice 

Authentic partnerships only work when leaders are clear on their own vision. As Jack and I have both experienced, finding your voice as a leader, and having the confidence to stand behind it, is pivotal to scaling successfully and choosing the right partners along the way.

At Optimize Practice Alliance, part of our role is helping dental entrepreneurs clarify that vision and lead from it with intention. Growth mindset, leadership style, and strategic direction all intersect here. Without clarity, even well-intentioned partnerships can drift. With clarity, alignment becomes possible.

That’s why we created the Extraction GPS. This tool helps dental practice owners define what truly matters to them, assess where their practice is today, and map a clear path forward, so every major decision, including partnership, supports the future they want to build.

Your vision should lead the way.

Ready to clarify your vision and guide your practice forward with confidence?
Download the Extraction GPS and start building a roadmap that supports intentional leadership, aligned partnerships, and sustainable growth.

Download Your Extraction GPS

The Power of Authentic Partnership for Your Dental Practice, Part 2: Are Shared Values Enough?

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Do you own a dental practice? Are you looking for a partner? Keep reading… I knew that Jack Bayramyan’s organization was a cut above. I would be lucky to partner with him. His organization had the chops: standardization, the organization, teamwork, team culture and optimized systems. No other company we looked at was even near the level of optimization and expertise that Kids Dental Place was providing to its patients.  

What I didn’t know about Jack was his level of commitment to that optimization, service and culture. I didn’t know until I got into a room with him and sat down and spoke with him. From his telling all I wanted to talk about was his team culture, how he built it, the values he used to guide his team building efforts, etc. And that tracks. As the CEO of several healthcare companies, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these very subjects for myself and my teams. It’s a very important piece of leadership for me. But it isn’t for everyone.  

Many leaders, CEOs and executives don’t give a hoot about those questions or intricacies of an organization when they start talking about partnership to outside investors. And that’s fine. But a word of warning, don’t go into partnership with one of them if they don’t match your values, interests or commitment.  

When looking for a partner for your dental practice, look for someone who shares your values, your leadership style and your interest in team building as a priority and a commitment. So, how do you do that and is that enough?  

Are Shared Values Enough for a Dental Practice Partnership?   

But are shared values and an interest in team culture enough for a partnership? As you heard in the video, they are most definitely not. I went in, excited to meet Jack and find out more about his company. Then almost like a first date, we just started talking and couldn’t stop. I could tell we shared a lot of the same passions around cohesive team structure, service excellence, leadership style. But during the interview I found out he wasn’t expecting to stick around. That came as a shock to me, and I needed to dig in and find out more.  

So, we sat in that room, and I got to the bottom of what Jack’s plans, goals and ultimate vision for his life and organization actually were before taking the next steps. And that’s my advice to you. Don’t stop talking to prospective partners. Find people that match your interests, goals and passions. Discuss all those fun topics, but don’t stop there. Dig into the hard conversations. It’s important to ask hard questions to gauge and know where they’re at and what they want and be honest with where you’re at and what you want. Here are some great examples of hard questions to ask your prospective partners:  

Questions to Ask As a Dental Entrepreneur:

  • What are your 3-5 year goals for your company?  
  • What are your 3-5 year goals for yourself, personally?  
  • Are you interested in scaling your business?  
  • What does your personal and executive calendars look like?  
  • How many hours a week do you work?  
  • How many hours a week do you want to work in the future?  
  • What are your professional values for your company?  
  • What personal values overlap with your company values?  
  • What is your leadership style?  
  • Who are your business heroes?  
  • Who are your personal heroes?  

Some of these questions will come up naturally during the course of your conversations and some of them will need to be prompted and pointedly asked. But that’s ok. It’s kind of like going on a date and gauging whether this will be a person you will spend the rest of your life with. Will you have kids with this person? Do they want kids? What values will you instill in them? Etc.  

If you’re looking for a partner whose only value is the money they can put on the table, then honestly, that’s not a terribly hard search. They may or may not accept an offer from you but finding those kinds of partners is not difficult. What’s difficult is meeting and connecting with someone who shares your vision, values and commitment to building something that becomes a legacy, not just a cash cow.  

When Is it Not Enough for Your Dental Practice?  

Shared values matter, but values alone aren’t enough. Authentic partnership requires alignment around vision, direction, and where you’re ultimately trying to take the organization. You have to know your own Point B before you can evaluate whether someone else belongs on the journey with you.

That clarity didn’t fully emerge for Jack until he stepped back and asked the harder questions—not just about potential partners, but about himself. What did he really want his role to be? What future excited him? What was no longer acceptable? Once those answers became clear, partnership stopped feeling like a compromise and started feeling like an opportunity.

That’s why we created the Extraction GPS. This tool helps dental entrepreneurs clarify their values, define their current reality, and articulate a clear vision for where they’re going, so partnership decisions are made intentionally, not emotionally or reactively. When your Point B is clear, it becomes much easier to recognize whether someone else is truly aligned with that future.

Authentic partnerships aren’t rushed. They’re chosen.

Considering a partner for your dental practice or organization?
Download the Extraction GPS to get clear on what you want, what you don’t, and what a true partnership should support before you move forward.

At Optimize Practice Alliance, we believe the future of dentistry belongs with dentists and that future is best built through clarity, alignment, and shared vision.

Download Your Extraction GPS

Your Dental Practice and your Team: 3 Secrets to Cultivating the Ideal Team Player

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Are you struggling with creating and keeping together healthy teams within your dental practice? Do you find that the same issues keep coming up again and again? Is the productivity within your teams not as high as it could be? Finally, could your team members use a boost of confidence, enthusiasm, focus, productivity or maybe all of the above? I’ve got just the book for you!  

Within the realms of leadership and teamwork in organizations, identifying individuals who possess the qualities necessary to thrive in a team setting is crucial. In 2016, Patrick Lencioni wrote, The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues. This book will lend you the very solutions you need to solve these issues. Patrick Lencioni is arguably one of the world’s leading experts on healthy organization building and team cohesion.

What A Lack of Cohesive Team Structure Means for Your Dental Practice 

However, before we delve into Patrick Lencioni’s essential work, let’s look at why teamwork is vital to the success of your dental practice. First, let me say, you’re not alone. Lencioni wrote this book because the issues and obstacles faced by teams within organizations are universal and ubiquitous. And solving them is no small feat. Hopefully, this post will offer some real solutions for you and your dental practice. 

Teamwork within any organization is pivotal and determinant to the success of that organization. I cannot be any clearer than that. So, what are some common problems associated with weak or non-existent teamwork?   

Lack of Communication

  • Poor teamwork often results in inadequate communication among team members. When there is a lack of effective communication, crucial information may not be shared, leading to misunderstandings, errors, and delays in decision-making. It can also create a fragmented work environment where employees feel disconnected and isolated without proper problem-solving mechanisms or processes at their disposal.  

Low Productivity

  • Weak or non-existent teamwork can significantly hinder productivity. When team members are unable to collaborate efficiently, tasks take longer to complete, and the overall workflow becomes inefficient. Without proper coordination, standardized processes and support from one another, individuals may struggle to meet deadlines and achieve their goals. 

Increased Conflicts and Tension

  • Poor teamwork can contribute to heightened conflicts and tension among team members. When individuals do not work well together or lack the necessary communication skills, disagreements can escalate, and relationships may become strained. This can create a toxic work environment, hampering morale and job satisfaction within your dental practice. 

Lack of Innovation and Creativity

  • Teamwork is essential for fostering innovation and creativity. When collaboration is weak, opportunities for brainstorming, sharing ideas, and leveraging diverse perspectives diminish. Without a collaborative environment that encourages innovation, organizations may miss out on valuable insights and potential breakthroughs. 

Decreased Employee Engagement

  • A lack of teamwork can lead to decreased employee engagement and motivation. When individuals feel isolated or unsupported by their team, they are less likely to feel connected to their work and the organization as a whole. This can result in decreased job satisfaction, higher turnover rates, and reduced overall performance. 

Missed Opportunities for Learning and Development

  • Strong teamwork provides an environment that promotes learning and development. When teamwork is weak, individuals may miss out on valuable opportunities to learn from their peers, share knowledge, and grow together. This can hinder individual and collective growth within the organization. 

Reduced Patient Satisfaction

  • Collaboration and effective teamwork are crucial for delivering high-quality services for your patients. Weak teamwork can lead to miscommunication, errors, and a lack of coordination, all of which can negatively impact patients’ experience in your dental practice. Without a cohesive team working together, meeting patient needs becomes challenging. 

Improving communication, fostering a collaborative culture, and providing the necessary support and resources for teams to succeed is your job as the leader of your organization. So, how do you recognize and fix the issues associated with weak teamwork thereby building stronger teams and enhancing overall performance and success?  

Elevating Team Solutions in Your Dental Practice 

In his book, author Patrick Lencioni presents a captivating exploration of the key virtues necessary for effective collaboration within a team structure. Let’s delve into the core concepts of the book and discuss its practical insights on recognizing and developing these virtues with your own team members. 

Patrick Lencioni’s instructive narrative takes the form of a leadership fable, weaving a story around a fictional company grappling with teamwork challenges. These challenges are universal, showing up and causing issues in most workplaces: miscommunication or non-existent communication, lack of accountability, weak follow-through; all of which lead to less than stellar results from your team culture.  

Through relatable characters and engaging portrayals, Lencioni introduces the three essential virtues: humility, hunger, and people-smarts. He demonstrates how these virtues, when cultivated and embodied by team players, create a foundation for exceptional teamwork. So, what are these virtues Lencioni describes as the pillars of exceptional teamwork?  

The Ideal Team Player for Your Dental Practice

Humility: 

  • Lencioni underscores the importance of humility as a fundamental virtue for team players. Humble individuals prioritize the needs of the team over personal recognition or ego. They readily admit mistakes, share credit with others, and actively seek feedback. Lencioni highlights how humility fosters trust, open communication, and a culture of continuous learning and improvement within teams. 

Hunger: 

  • The virtue of hunger refers to an individual’s relentless drive and passion to contribute to the team’s success. Hungry team players go beyond what is expected of them and are motivated to continuously improve their skills and make a meaningful impact. Lencioni emphasizes that leaders should seek out individuals who are self-motivated, proactive, and eager to exceed expectations, as they bring energy and commitment to the team dynamic. 

People-Smarts: 

  • The third essential virtue, people-smarts, focuses on an individual’s ability to understand and work well with others. Team players with high people smarts possess emotional intelligence, empathy, and strong interpersonal skills. They excel at building relationships, resolving conflicts, and collaborating effectively with diverse personalities. Lencioni explains how teams with members who exhibit people smarts are better equipped to navigate challenges and foster a harmonious work environment. 

Recognizing and Cultivating These Essential Virtues in Your Dental Practice 

“The Ideal Team Player” offers practical guidance on recognizing and cultivating these virtues within individuals and teams. Lencioni outlines strategies for hiring individuals who possess these qualities, providing actionable insights into conducting interviews and assessing candidates effectively. He also emphasizes the importance of ongoing coaching and development to nurture and strengthen these virtues in existing team members. The book offers tools and techniques to assess the current state of teamwork within your organization and offers actionable steps to create a culture that values and reinforces these essential virtues. These tools cover –  

  • Hiring the right people for your dental practice
  • Assessing current employees 
  • Developing employees 
  • Embedding this model into your organizational culture 

By embracing these principles and practices, you, as the leader, and your managers, can create high-performing teams within a culture of collaboration, trust and growth. Lencioni equips readers with the tools needed to transform their teams into cohesive and successful units, ultimately achieving exceptional results. The Ideal Team Player teaches you how to unleash the potential within your organization with the tools you probably already have and are under-utilizing.  

Optimize Your Results in Your Dental Practice 

At Optimize Practice Alliance, we know that a thriving dental practice isn’t built on systems alone, it’s built on people. High-performing teams don’t happen by accident; they’re shaped through clear expectations, strong communication, and consistent leadership.

That’s why we equip dental entrepreneurs with practical tools to strengthen team cohesion and accountability. One of the most effective is the DESC Coaching Template, a simple but powerful framework leaders use to address behaviors, clarify expectations, and resolve issues without tension or ambiguity.

The DESC model helps you:

  • Describe behaviors clearly and objectively
  • Express the impact those behaviors have on the team and practice
  • Specify what needs to change, or continue
  • Communicate outcomes and reinforce accountability

When leaders communicate with clarity and consistency, teams align faster, conflicts become productive, and trust strengthens across the organization.

If you want to move from talking about team alignment to actually creating it, this tool will help you lead the conversations that matter most.

Ready to strengthen communication and build a stronger team?

Download the DESC Coaching Template

How Does Culture Contribute to the Bottom Line in Your Dental Practice? 

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Communication, Clarity and Cohesion within Your Dental Practice is paramount to your success. But how do you achieve it successfully? I’ve just finished reading The Four Obsessions of An Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni. It’s a very good illustration of how mindful leadership leads to success throughout an organization. It’s told in the manner of a Rich Dad, Poor Dad type of scenario. One company thrives while the competing company struggles under a frayed culture. While I didn’t find any information that was new to me, it illustrated extremely well how an organization bereft of cohesion, focus, communication and intention suffers and implodes. While an organization driven by a leader with clear vision, strong intentions, transparent and direct communication thrives in an environment of cohesion and unity.  

The book echoes my own beliefs and leadership style and I was reminded of a lot of sound principles and strategies. So, it’s a good reminder for a seasoned team leader and an excellent resource for someone new to a leadership role.  

Four Principles to Establish in Your Dental Practice 

The primary focus of the book to teach leaders how to ensure that their entire team structure is 100% clear on the focus and intention of the organization. I don’t disagree with anything that Lencioni illustrates in the book as important to a leadership role. These are solid principles that will enhance any leader’s role while training new leaders in sound strategies to take into any future leadership position.  Lencioni calls them disciplines:  

  • Discipline 1 – Build a Cohesive Leadership Team

Lencioni considers this the most important of the disciplines in creating a healthy organization with leadership that develops and maintains high-performance.  

  • Discipline 2 – Create Clarity 

The book examines six questions that root out contradiction and cross-purposes in order to create cohesive clarity at the executive level, an essential step before attempting clarity within the organization.  

  • Discipline 3 – Overcommunicate Clarity 

Once clarity is established at the ‘top’ that messaging needs to be communicated over and over again to the entire company, while maintaining consistency, intention and focus.  

  • Discipline 4 – Reinforce Clarity 

The answers to those six questions need to be reiterated again and again to ensure it becomes “embedded into the fabric of the organization” while all functions of the organization are filtered through those answers.  

The book makes it clear that it is the leaders’ job to build and fully protect the culture of the organization. And it is up to the leadership team to ensure that throughout the organization everyone understands what the company aspires to be, and the principles with which it operates.  The focus, as Lencioni makes clear, is on ensuring that all communication flows down to team members in a manner that continually and consistently establishes alignment throughout the organization. 

This book is worthy of your time if you aspire to a leadership role, want to enhance your leadership capabilities or are entering an organization badly in need of a cultural makeover.  

How Does the Culture You Create Affect Your Bottom Line in Your Dental Practice?  

Culture is built through intentional leadership. As a practice owner, it’s your responsibility to define what’s acceptable, what’s encouraged, and what’s non-negotiable. Without clear direction and consistent follow-through, cultures drift, leading to misalignment, inefficiency, miscommunication, and wasted energy.

At Optimize Practice Alliance, we believe strong cultures are created through clarity, communication, and accountability. These principles don’t live on posters or in mission statements, they show up in everyday conversations between leaders and their teams.

That’s why we created the DESC Coaching Template. This tool gives dental entrepreneurs a simple, effective framework to address behaviors, clarify expectations, and reinforce accountability without tension or ambiguity. When leaders communicate clearly and consistently, trust increases, performance improves, and culture begins to positively impact the bottom line.

Culture isn’t abstract, it’s operational. And when it’s led intentionally, it becomes a competitive advantage.

Ready to strengthen your culture through better leadership conversations?

Download Your DESC Coaching Template

Unleashing your Unlimited Leadership Potential as a Dental Entrepreneur: 4 Lessons of Extreme Ownership

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How seriously do you take leadership as a dental entrepreneur? I went into the U.S. Navy straight out of high school. I spent 6 years in the Military and then ended up in optometry as a vision technician. I was a vision tech for about 3 weeks before being promoted to practice manager. I then spent about 6 years in that optical group managing 35 locations. I became a director of operations, opening de Novos on the East Coast before moving into dentistry in 2012 in my first role was as a VP of Operations for Great Expressions. I moved from vision tech to CEO within 10 years.  

Taking Extreme Ownership of My Own Future 

It was a fast rise, but I got one of my biggest lessons about leadership when I joined Hero Practice Services, a full-service pediatric dental group. The year prior to my joining, Hero had an EBITDA of $13 million. The CEO before me had taken the company’s value from $13 million to $6 million in 11 months. In addition to that, they had a turnover rate in providers of 70% for the previous 12 months. I walked into a dismal, disheartened team and company environment. So I did what I had trained to do as a leader in the Navy.  

I started cleaning out latrines with my soldiers. I put on scrubs and started taking out the trash, cleaning operatories and asking the teams how best I could support them. My actual question to my teams was, “how can I support you while you support the boss?” Some looked at me quizzically, asking, “aren’t you the boss?” And my response was always, “Our bosses are the 5 year-olds walking through our doors every day needing our services and care.”

To me, that is the definition of extreme ownership as a CEO.  I was willing to do any and all jobs to get us back on track and instill a sense of pride, ownership and stability in my teams, no matter how many practices I had to walk into.

Careless Leadership Leads to Care-less Teams 

It’s very easy to get caught up in labels, hierarchy, power, etc. and if you’re not careful, as a dental entrepreneur and leader in your dental practice you can inadvertently create a culture of those kinds of qualities and values. One of the aspects of my job at Optimize Practice Alliance is executive coaching our doctors to help them understand that it’s perfectly fine to be wrong, but it’s not fine to be wrong and blame other people or power-trip them, etc.  

Turning Extreme Ownership into Real-World Results 

Back at Hero, we went from about 40 practices to around 70 and grew our revenue from roughly $60 million to about $140 in a 28-month period. We more than doubled the valuation. We also expanded into 2.5% of the national Medicaid market and sustained that growth until about December 2021 when I left the company to help found OPA. So, what that tells me is we parlayed that cultural shift, always asking “Who’s the real boss?” into hard numbers and a solid increase in market share and company valuation.  

As a CEO, I am constantly seeking ways to enhance my leadership skills and drive our organizations toward sustained growth and innovation. When I read Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin I saw in that book the embodiment of my values as a leader and how I teach and coach those principles for our dental entrepreneurs. This book provides profound insights into leadership that are both transformative and practical for dental entrepreneurs. So, I want to share some of my insights here.  

President Harry S. Truman and his famous sign, The Buck Stops Here!

Understanding Extreme Ownership 

There are many great themes in this book, but the central tenet is the concept of extreme ownership, which posits that leaders must take absolute responsibility for everything in their domain. Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, kept a sign on his desk that read, “The buck stops here.” For me, this quote encapsulates the essence of extreme ownership.

This principle is rooted in the experiences of Willink and Babin as Navy SEAL officers, where the stakes were, quite literally, life and death. By taking complete ownership, leaders can effectively guide their teams toward success while instilling a culture of accountability and resilience. And complete ownership for these leaders, means owning the good decisions (not the credit) as well as the bad ones. The buck stops here. Following are the themes I extracted and wanted to share you with you here.

Key Lessons for Leaders

  1. No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders: One of the most striking lessons from the book is the idea that team performance is a reflection of leadership quality. Willink and Babin recount how changing the leader of an under-performing team led to a dramatic turnaround. For dental entrepreneurs, this underscores the importance of developing strong leadership throughout their organization and not shying away from making necessary leadership changes when needed. 
  2. Decentralized Command: Effective delegation is critical. The book emphasizes the need for leaders to empower their subordinates to make decisions and take ownership of their roles. This decentralization not only fosters a sense of ownership at all levels but also ensures that decisions are made closer to the action, increasing agility and responsiveness. For dental entrepreneurs this is crucial for a well-running front office, buzzing operatories and happy hygienists.
  3. Prioritize and Execute: In high-pressure situations, the ability to identify the most critical tasks and focus resources on them is crucial. Willink and Babin’s approach to prioritization helps leaders manage multiple competing demands without losing sight of the primary objectives. For dental entrepreneurs, this means clearly defining priorities and ensuring that the entire organization is aligned with these goals. For instance, if you’re in the middle of scaling your organization while still working chairside, you need to prioritize and execute while your teams do the same. This is crucial to your scaling success.
  4. Simplicity: Complexity can be the enemy of execution. The book advocates for simplifying plans and communication to avoid misunderstandings and ensure clarity. In the business world, this translates to clear, concise strategies and communication that everyone in your dental organization can understand and rally behind. For a dental entrepreneur, simplicity not only translates to greater execution, it ensures safer and better patient outcomes.

Implementing Extreme Ownership as a Dental Entrepreneur 

Implementing the principles of extreme ownership requires a shift in mindset and culture. I’ve put together a short list of practical steps you can take to start integrating these lessons into your dental organization. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a solid start with minor shifts in your thinking, processes and accountability as a dental entrepreneur:

  • Model Ownership: Demonstrate extreme ownership in your actions. Acknowledge mistakes openly, take responsibility for failures, and share credit for successes. 
  • Empower Your Leaders: Train your leadership team in these principles, ensuring they understand and embrace their roles as owners within their domains. 
  • Simplify Processes: Review and streamline your organization’s processes and communication channels to enhance clarity and efficiency. 
  • Encourage Open Communication: Foster an environment where feedback is welcomed, and information flows freely up and down the chain of command. 
  • Read the Book: This book is a quick read and the stories are fascinating. Take some time to read it and digest this invaluable information. It can’t hurt and it will most definitely have a profound impact on you as a leader and enhance your skills as a dental entrepreneur.

A Blueprint for Transforming your Dental Culture 

Extreme Ownership is more than yet another book on leadership; it is a blueprint for transforming organizational culture and guiding exceptional performance. As dental entrepreneurs, adopting these principles can help us build more resilient, accountable, and agile organizations. Whether you are navigating a turnaround in your practice, scaling for growth, or simply looking to refine your leadership approach, the lessons from Willink and Babin offer invaluable guidance. Embracing these principles will give you the tools to lead your organization to profound success and realize your vision. 

Support for the Dental Entrepreneur Starts with Clear Direction 

High-performing leaders move fast, but the best ones don’t move blindly. Unlimited leadership potential isn’t unlocked by speed alone; it’s unlocked by clarity of purpose, alignment around values, and a clear direction for where you’re taking your team.

That’s why we created the Extraction GPS. This tool helps dental entrepreneurs clarify what they stand for, define where their practice is today, and map out where they’re going, so execution is driven by intention, not chaos. When your vision is clear, your team can move faster, make better decisions, and execute with confidence.

Leadership becomes simpler when everyone knows the destination. Trust increases. Accountability strengthens. And momentum becomes sustainable.

Ready to lead with purpose, clarity, and conviction?

Download Your Extraction GPS