Posts Categorized:Leadership

I’m attending the 2023 British Orthodontic Conference in London and it has been such a fantastic meeting. After dozens of pages of notes, I’ve been copying down questions and topics to review with the orthodontic and pediatric dental residents I teach. I’ve also made a list of areas where I need to rethink my approach, including some really thoughtful questions on third molars and anterior open bite treatment proposed by Dr. Flavia Artese. My excitement continued to increase for direct printing of orthodontic aligners and 3d metal printing after listening to Dr. Simon Graf. The relationship between orthodontic treatment and…

As we step into another week, I’ve been pondering a thought-provoking quote: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” These words from Heraclitus capture the essence of change, its inevitability, and the transformative power it holds. In today’s fast-paced world, change isn’t just a constant; it’s the defining feature of our journey. It’s like embarking on a river voyage where the water never stays the same, and neither do we. As the leader in your practice, we believe that understanding and adapting to change is not…

“A majority of life’s errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do.” – Charlie Munger John Doe by Dr. David Phelps Munger’s words resonate in my own life, and in what I see in my work with hundreds of hardworking professionals and high-income earners. Many years ago when I was driven to work all hours of the day, trying to create a financial security moat of protection for my family, I had a sudden realization that changed the trajectory of my life. I was working hard on my dental practice while also building my real estate…

I had the pleasure of speaking with Emily Miller, founder and CEO of OffLimits, a brilliant cereal, toy and animation brand inside our portfolio of companies at Flagstaff Ventures. Her podcast interview on The Burleson Box launches next week. Be sure to check it out wherever you consume podcasts. She had some really interesting advice about doing big things. She said, “You almost need to be delusional going into a big new thing. If you knew how hard it was going to be, I think people would feel a lot more paralyzed to do it.” Emily leveraged her creative fashion…

Most small business owners are used to giving answers, not asking questions. If you followed around some of the world’s top CEOs and leaders, you would find the exact opposite is true. The best leaders are great at asking questions, so that the best ideas win and the best answers quickly become evident, even if they arise from the least-expected team members. Management expert Peter Drucker was well-known for asking smart questions like, “What changes have recently happened that don’t fit what everyone knows?” Read that question again and let it sink in for a minute. Most leaders start their…

Doctors crave certainty. I get it. We’re scientists and we’re trained to heal patients. Unfortunately, most of the doctors reading this memo are in elective healthcare niches and must also learn how to run a business, manage employees and market their services. In dentistry and medicine, the best outcomes are achieved by following the rules in very specific and certain terms. No one wants their surgeon “winging it.” However, in the business world, the most successful thrive on differentiation and a willingness to do what no one else is doing. How would you rate your capacity to tolerate uncertainty?  How…

Variety, the trade journal of the entertainment industry, sent me a copy of their beautiful, glossy and embossed Variety 500, the annual list of top movie producers, deal makers, executives, TV and film talent and the list goes on. It’s a stunning publication and it deserves a prominent place on coffee tables and in reception rooms. And this should truly fascinate you, Faithful Reader – not only that an industry filled with some of the most powerful people on the planet pays attention to a “Top 500” list, looking for each other’s names in the book, comparing notes, judging where…

Chauncey Starr was an electrical engineer, nuclear energy expert and dean of the UCLA School of Engineering in the 1960s. His research on risk analysis was pioneering and is still highly relevant today. Starr stressed the major difference in risk tolerance between voluntary and involuntary activities.  “When people think that they are in control (a perception that may be incorrect but that is based on previous experiences and here on the belief that they can assess the likely outcome), they engage in activities–climbing vertical rock faces without ropes, skydiving, bullfighting–whose risks of serious injury or fatality may be a thousand-fold…