Thanks to a gift from one of our coaching clients and BPA members, Dr. Chris Mazzola, I'm reading a book authored by David Brooks called "How to Know a Person." Thanks Chris! One idea in particular, spoke to me. Frankly, it pointed out how I could have been better in just about all my close relationships, including those in my dental practice. Instead of solving problems for others around me or sharing my "wisdom" with anybody brave enough to share with me their troubles, Brooks describes a presence called accompaniment. It's profound and I'll bet after reading more, you will identify many past instances where you would have been better to show up and support rather than inspire, educate, and solve.

Dr. Barrett Straub

January 27, 2025

Finish Strong: Tangible Actions to Ensure a Thriving Start to 2025 In this three-part series, we’ve explored how intentional leadership during the holidays can inspire teams and drive meaningful results. Part One highlighted the power of gratitude to uplift morale and build stronger connections. Part Two focused on aligning purpose with strategy to keep teams motivated while achieving year-end goals. Now, in the final installment, we shift our attention to practical actions that optimize operations, enhance efficiency, and create balance—ensuring your business is not only finishing strong but also positioned for a successful start to the new year

Dr. Barrett Straub

December 16, 2024

In Part One of this series, we explored how gratitude can inspire and energize your team during the holiday season. By intentionally expressing appreciation, you set a tone of connection and motivation. Now, let’s build on that foundation by focusing on how purpose and strategy can drive your team to finish the year strong—without losing sight of the holiday spirit.

Dr. Barrett Straub

December 09, 2024

The holidays are here. Our bellies are full of turkey, and Christmas is just around the corner. It’s a time of year I really enjoy, wishing it would slow down so I could savor it a bit more. But as a private practice owner for nearly two decades, I know this season also comes with its challenges.

Dr. Barrett Straub

December 03, 2024

Many private practices employ a 32 clinical work week. Seeing patients 8 hours per day for 4 days per week allows most dental teams that fifth day off. This opportunity for a third off day per week both adds to your team’s quality of life and helps reduce burnout in what can be a grueling profession. We here at ACT recommend a slight variation to this schedule. Let’s call it the 30-2 hour work week. In this model, you offer 30 clinical hours to your patients with 2 hours every week for you and your team to temporarily lock the doors and perform a 2-hour team meeting.

Dr. Barrett Straub

October 28, 2024

The Paradox of Success suggests that the very skills, beliefs, and behaviors that brought you to your current level of achievement won’t necessarily help you maintain or grow that success. In fact, sometimes past success can even stand in the way of future progress.

Dr. Barrett Straub

September 30, 2024

Leadership can often feel like an abstract concept, but the Salt Shaker Theory of Leadership offers a simple, effective way to understand and improve your approach. This theory, popularized by restaurateur Danny Meyer in his book Setting the Table, uses a salt shaker as a metaphor for leadership consistency and correction.

Dr. Barrett Straub

September 16, 2024

One of the most challenging aspects of dental practice leadership is determining the right level of involvement when you’ve delegated a task or priority to your team. It’s a delicate balance that can shift depending on the situation and the team members involved. Both micromanaging and being too hands-off can be detrimental, but finding the ideal middle ground is often more difficult than it seems. In this article, I’ll share some insights into both extremes and offer some red flags to help you assess if you’re leaning too far in either direction. First and foremost, leadership is hard. Human nature complicates it further—none of us wake up intending to be overbearing micromanagers or overly relaxed, unclear delegators. Despite our best intentions and knowledge of leadership principles, our desire to be effective, respected, and yes, even liked, can lead us to act in ways we never intended.

Dr. Barrett Straub

August 19, 2024

As I write, our entire ACT team is traveling here to Milwaukee for our quarterly planning meeting. Our strategic rhythm parallels the process we coach our clients through and there is a very specific reason for this rhythm. What is the 90 Day Pause? Neuroscience has indicated that businesses, and the humans that run them, get sidetracked and need to pause about every 90 days. This is intentional and very important. Without the pause, evidence shows we move farther and farther from our intended business goals. Why? Because life happens and over time it becomes more challenging to see the bigger picture while one is working day to day in the business.

Dr. Barrett Straub

August 05, 2024

Working toward being 100% Out of Network? There are some habits you should adopt now. All too often we see dentists work toward going OON using the same habits and behaviors they developed while practicing as a contracted PPO provider. This doesn’t normally work very well. Why? Fee for service dental patients have no financial incentive to be your patient. They represent a true consumer and will demand a higher level of service and attention. If you are on the path to insurance independence or wanting to start this journey, work to develop the following habits before dropping your PPOs.

Dr. Barrett Straub

July 23, 2024