Question: Dr. Cooper, I have seen one of my colleagues who worked with you and your company for a few years go from one dental practice to five dental practices, and another to seven dental practices, in short order. I’ve known these dentists for a long time, and it seems they are completely changed as leaders and are both doing very well in group practice. Can you tell me what you did?
— Charles
Hi Charles,
Bottom line, I assisted them in shifting who they were so they saw the business of dental practice differently, and more importantly, they saw themselves differently as leaders.
Now I will try to explain this — it might seem a little puzzling, but I’ll give it a shot. Nearly all dentists refer to their practice in the present with regard to what happened to them in the past. They “justify” what they do in their practice in the present based on what happened in the past. They “blame” their current practice issues on what happened in the past.
Don’t Limit Leadership
This implies that dentists put limits on their practice’s leadership and employee performance in the present, based on what happened in the past. But that’s what dentists do — they explain, justify, and blame their present dental practice situation on what happened in the past. Dentists believe, for the most part, that the quality and success of their practices today is predicated on, and dependent on, incidents that occurred in their past. Dentists unconsciously let their experiences in the past make them who and what they are today, which directly impacts their level of success and satisfaction. Dentists allow the past to determine the quality of their dental practices and their level of practice achievement today.
The assumption that what happened in the past determines the quality of their practice today is so entrenched in their thinking that it’s almost impossible to consider it may not be true — in fact, may never have been true. What if it’s the future that determines the quality of our lives today, rather than the past? And what if that future is solely a past-based future?
What I’m suggesting is the future has always been the determinant of the dentist’s practice and success today, and we’ve simply gotten it wrong about the past being the determinant. If it’s true that the future into which dentists are living and working lends meaning and action to the present, and if they put the past into the future, it will appear as though who they are in the present is directed by their past.
Rethinking How You See the Future of Your Dental Practice
Let me give some personal examples. What this indicates is that if I put the past into my future, what will happen in the future will be a repeat of what happened in the past, so I will need to protect myself against it happening again. If a girl embarrassed me by rejecting my invitation to dance at the school function when I was 16 years old, then if I applied the past to the future, I won’t ask a girl to dance with me again, because I’ll be embarrassed again. If I was told when I was young that I think too much and I analyze too much, then if I put the past into the future, I’ll withhold sharing my thoughts to avoid being criticized again.
By applying the past to the future — by assuming what happened in the past will happen again in the future — dentists fill their future with all the predictability of the past. In my example, my future is already pre-set with embarrassment and withholding — because I’ve projected my past into the future. The future into which dentists are living gives them being and action in the present.
So in my work with dentists, I reorient dentists to leave the past in the past, and enable them to create new futures that are not bound to the past. For your two colleagues, what happened is they created a future “in a future,” — one not bound to the past; not bound to who they were in the past; not bound to their historic limitations. This meant they could create a future of their choosing, a future that made a difference, rather than simply reiterating their past. When your colleagues created a future with no past in it, the future was a wide open canvas onto which they painted something they could envision — something that inspired them.
Using Your Inspiration to Motivate Your Leadership
This inspiration from the future had infinitely more power to drive them as leaders, managers, and owners of a managed-group dental practice than from their pasts. The future into which you and I are living and working gives meaning and action in the present. When the future is based on the past, then who I am correlates to that past. But when the future is based on a new declared future, and not encumbered by the past, then I have future-based future, which is far more powerful and transformational than a past-based future.
Charles, as I said, this might be a little puzzling, but this is exactly we did with your colleagues. We enabled them to create a future that determined who they were being in the present not based on their past. Read Howard Schultz’s book “Onward” or Richard Branson’s book “The Virgin Way.” These books are about creating a future that’s possible, which transforms who one is in the present — not determined by their past.
— Marc
