Why Dentists Need to Embrace Change in Their Practices

According to Gary Zelesky, a professional speaker who has spent years helping professionals use passion to improve their businesses, the hardest thing for dentists to do is accept change. When dentists do commit to change, however, Zelesky says they see that change through to the end. In this clip, Zelesky gives reasons for dentists and their teams to embrace change.

Interview Transcript (Modified for Readability)

“What do dentists need to change in their practices? I think that the biggest things they need to change is themselves. Everything starts with you. The thing about a dentist that I’ve discovered over the years of speaking at all of these conferences is a dentist is probably a rock star, or she’s a rock star, because you have a dentist who is linear because they move in a very succinct way in a scientific realm. So they have to be linear in their thinking. But they’re also right-brained because they’re artists at the same time.

RELATED: More Advice from Gary Zelesky

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When you’re talking about passion, most of the time, dentists — especially if they’re in my session – the first thing they’re thinking is where are the handouts. How come there are no handouts. That throws them. I’ve got to have handouts.

But the second thing is, when it comes to their linear, the hardest thing for a person who is linear is to accept change. People that are left-brained, the hardest thing for them to do is accept change and to change. But here’s the good news, once a dentist decides to make a change, they will be committed to do whatever it takes to make sure that change moves its way all the way to the end. In other words, what they start, they finish.

The right-brained person on the team, they’re totally different. A right-brained person, they’re changing all the time. I talk about passion, and they go, ‘Yeah, passion! I want to buy your book.’ I go, ‘It’s $15,’ they go, ‘Oh, it costs money?’ And then they go find a left-brained person so they can borrow some money.

So right-brained people, they change all the time. But there’s a problem. They have a lot of starts, but very few finishes. And so I tell them, that’s why dentists have doctorates, and right-brained people don’t.

What I tell dentists is, you’ve got to be open to change. You have to be willing to change. And I think that’s the hardest thing that you’ll ever experience with a dentist is to convince them that there needs to be a change and it will be worthwhile.”

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