Harnessing Calmness During Turbulent Times - Learning to Lead your Practice by Executing the #1 Trait of Great Pilots and Baseball Umpires

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Have you ever wondered what separates an exceptional leader from an average one? Join me as I take you on a journey through my personal experiences as a professional baseball umpire and a pilot, highlighting the pivotal role of curiosity in leadership and how this trait can be a game-changer in business scenarios.

From high-stakes situations in the cockpit to intense moments on the baseball field, these experiences have taught me invaluable lessons about calmness amidst chaos, and the importance of non-coachable traits in leadership. Listen in for an intriguing account of a plane nose-diving due to a pilot's mistake, where I emphasize the significance of staying composed in nerve-wracking situations. We then switch gears to the world of professional baseball, shedding light on what evaluators look for in umpires, and how chaos can actually be a great platform to showcase one's skills.

Navigating through the complexities of leading in a down economy, we discuss why it's crucial to inspire and motivate your team beyond just numbers. We delve into strategies to handle difficult circumstances, like angry patients, and turn negative situations into positive outcomes. Wrapping up, we explore the idea of leading with empathy, clear guidance, and focusing on controllable aspects during turbulent times. Tune in to discover how commitment to practice and self-improvement is the key to effective leadership, even when things go south. Join us and turn your leadership around!

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We answer, speak as your employee and schedule your new patient phone calls either as your primary or backup - Stop using outdated answering services as nobody leaves voicemails anymore ... We speak just like your own employees, remote in and schedule new patients and they never know a "third party" answered!

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At New Patient Group, we are more than just orthodontic practice consultants. We are a transformational coaching and digital marketing company bringing outside of orthodontics expertise to orthodontic practices wanting to thrive in the new economy. We come from outside your orthodontic practice “bubble” with real expertise in all the non-clinical skill sets you and your team must have to succeed in today’s commoditized orthodontic industry. We are described by others as having an “underground cult following” with a client retention rate of over 98% and the biggest orthodontist names as clients while spending virtually nothing on advertising. We work with practices that want to increase their Invisalign or other types of clear aligner share to chair

We are founded by Brian Wright, a world-renowned expert in business growth, sales, customer service, and consumer psychology. He is also a trusted speaker for the finest companies in the world, including Invisalign, Henry Schein, Dental Monitoring, OrthoFi, and others. He has been described as a combination of the team from Shark Tank and Marcus Lemonis from The Profit. 

The best orthodontists in the world utilize our innovative coaching and marketing services to become better versions of themselves, streamline their practices, advance their careers, break through plateaus, improve conversion, increase new patients, and more!  

Schedule a Free Consultation today and let us learn more about you, your orthodontic practice, and how we can customize something specific to your wants/needs. 

In this months podcast we discuss culture building at your practice and how it can transform the lives of others.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, new patient group in right chat nation. Welcome inside the broadcast booth, brian right here. Welcome in episode 8 of season 6, episode 90 of the new patient group podcast. Overall, hope your July finished wonderfully and we are on to August in 2023 just keeps rolling along.

Speaker 1: 0:14

Today's gonna be a good one, as I get to talk about some things that I am very passionate in, give you some insights on some things. If you're a baseball fan, you'll you'll probably enjoy some of these insights today. They'll probably even make more sense to you. But you know, as you travel around and you just have different career paths and just different things happen, just in your personal life as well, you're able to put things into the memory vault that can later on Become really invaluable business lessons, both for yourself personally, but then also teaching, teaching all of you out there, and today's one of those things you know. Yesterday I just took the family to a Italian restaurant that we really like and a couple things happened at the Italian restaurant that fit in Perfect for future podcasts. You just kind of have to have your eyes and ears open All the time and there's just these constant things that can come to your mind to help your business, help yourself, just thrive out there. Well, today is one of those.

Speaker 1: 1:07

If you look back, many of you know this, if you don't I was an umpire and professional baseball for a while and I also have my, my pilots license. So I like to fly fly planes and from a pilot standpoint, there is a trait and it's by far the single most important trait you can have as a pilot that separates you from the others. Maybe the the separates you from the good, the average and the not so. So if you're an exceptional pilot, there is a trait the instructors all look for. This is also the same trait from a professional baseball umpire standpoint. So the baseball fans out there, you know you may, from afar, look at the umpires in the baseball field and think they're being moved up the ranks from single a to double a To triple a, then a triple a call-up and the next in line to get signed at a big league, major league contract. You may look at that and go, okay, maybe. How do they look? They're, they're, they're mechanics, they're, they're. Are they getting the calls right? And while that is a part of it, it isn't even close to the biggest part of it. And the biggest part of it, that trait that separates the exceptional umpires that make it Versed, the ones that are very, very good that don't make it is the exact same thing that separates an exceptional pilot from an average to not so average or below average pilot. Well, those things are also the very single best trait you can have as a leader.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Earlier on I think this was either last season, a couple seasons ago I did a podcast about the only word you really need to know If someone's gonna be a great leader, and it was all about curiosity. In order to be a great leader, you have to be curious, you have to constantly be learning. So that was a good podcast to check out. This is a different spin because, while that's a that's a trait that you want people to have today is more of a skill set that can be learned, but it's also a mindset out for a lot of times that need to be shifted Because, like I said, that, that great pilot trait, that great trait of umpires, is the same trait that is gonna make you an exceptional leader to thrive in your organization, make sure your business thrives during good times, but, more importantly, during the down times, the difficult times. All right, look forward to a great one today. A few updates for you on the other side before we get started. Let's fire up the music.

Speaker 2: 3:19

The chaos of owning your own business is real, but it doesn't have to be that way in this economy. There's a better way to grow your practice and make more money while working, spending and stressing less, and the recipe to make it happen is right here. Welcome to season six of the new patient group audio experience, a podcast dedicated to forward-thinking Doctors that want less headaches and more personal and financial freedom. And now your host. He's the founder and CEO of new patient group, co-founder of right chat and a trusted speaker for Invisalign orthophi dental monitoring and others, brian Wright.

Speaker 1: 4:04

Everybody welcome in if you're over on our. Hey there, appreciate your support, appreciate everybody's support out there. No, a topic internally lately and it's also with quite a few of the podcast listeners. Most of you are new patient group customers, so I'm actually talking to interacting with you, but a kind of a topic lately and it has been a couple podcast listeners that aren't yet official customers of ours is Just the length of the podcast so far this season, and what I've talked to everybody about and and I'm pretty passionate about this is Is one.

Speaker 1: 4:38

I do not know how to Intentionally make things shorter than they are when I get back behind this mic, especially if this is your first time listening. This is intended to be a contemporary radio show. This is not really a podcast. This is You've turned it on your, your favorite host on, you know, on the AM dial, if you will, and and we go, I go back here. This is a.

Speaker 1: 5:00

It's a therapeutic thing for me. If I had my way, this would be something that I would be doing more of just more courses, more content, more ideas, but because, just like all of you, you know a lot of times the things that you love the most you can't do because you're so inundated in running the businesses and everything. It's the same thing with me. It's hard to get back and constantly, you know, produce the new courses and everything, because I'm so also inundated Inside the business as well. So really, the point there is when I get back here and I start going and telling stories and just different things come to my mind along the way. Now, a lot of you out there have told me over the years that is what you love most about this show and if I look at the numbers Actually are longer episodes actually have the most downloads? Now, that could be. That could equate to a lot, or longer episodes may have the best titles, you know there's so there's so many different things that that could equate to. But, as I've talked to some of you out there, you've got a gone from. Hey, brian, can you, can you shorten it a little bit to you know what you're right Like.

Speaker 1: 6:06

I'm listening to these to and from work. I listen to them as I work out. Sometimes they even help me, motivate me to go in and work out, because I have something that you know I like to listen to, that inspires me. So it inspires me just beyond my business in my life. You know it helps me and motivates me to do other things like working out.

Speaker 1: 6:25

So really, inevitably, the conclusion is is is in very long story. Short simple is we're gonna do what we do here. You know if you want something, that's gonna be 20 minutes long and you know If it's a three steps to something and I get on here and go step one, step two, step three, and and do it for the sake of time, we're gonna lose our followers. So I just wanted to update, I want to update you on that. You know, reality is is I get invited to speak places and I get invited back to speak at places Because of the stories. You know, if we all have our eyes and ears open all the time, there's all kinds of things that happened. Like I was saying on the front end that that inevitably Can tie into so many business and personal lessons. So that's just kind of I just wanted to talk to you all about that and just kind of where I'm coming from. Like I'm just never going to intentionally make these short Because I think we're gonna lose the extremely loyal following that we have and this season has been the most downloaded season that we have ever had. It's gotten the most positive responses of any season that we have ever had. So to me, things are going great. We keep adding listeners, keep adding followers, the downloads keep going up. So I hope all you enjoy, I hope all of you are enjoying the format and I say we just keep rolling with it.

Speaker 1: 7:43

A couple things, a couple updates For you. I'm gonna be speaking with Regina Blevins. Dr Regina Blevins and I will be doing a private event On I believe it's Friday Excuse me, I believe it's Thursday at orthopreneurs coming up here in just a couple months and then the following day we're gonna be or I'm gonna be doing a private lunch the following day. So if you haven't reached out to a line technology to try to get in for that event, it is a special invite. Only You're gonna learn some really cool things, she and I. She's been with us for years as a customer. She and I are very close friends. We've been wanting to speak together for for a very long time and now we have the chance and I think Audience members are gonna be blown away at her and I going back and forth and really delivering a unique experience for you. Also really looking forward to that July 15th or, excuse me, this month, august 15th we are gonna be doing I'm gonna be doing a live webinar nationally for ortho Phi great attendance already. We're over a hundred people registered for that. So if you haven't already, make sure you do.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Last episode I gave a lot more updates so you can go and check those updates out there. Ortho Phi and a line technology actually partnered together. I found that out just a couple days ago and I'm excited because I'm a speaker for both, very big believer in both of them, and I look forward to talking about that partnership. As I learned more details, I kind of got, I got a little insight and I understand what it is. But I think the partnership is really gonna help a lot of people. It's gonna help with their lab fee, it's gonna help. It's gonna help with a lot of stuff. So I'm looking forward to being able to talk about that on here. Maybe have some guests from ortho fire or a line to talk about it, get up on stage and talk about it, so that'll be great.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Just getting back from Apple Creek orthodontics in In Wisconsin, just getting back from Matt Josie's practice over in Virginia, and what inspired me to do this episode, I've had this kind of on the docket for a while and I just never. You know, it's just you got to pick one every month and you try to make that one as relevant to what's going on right now and I think that, as I tie stories in today, I think that it fits in perfectly with the down economy and the tougher times for a lot of you out there. Some are thriving, but even the ones that are thriving you'd be thriving more if the economy was good. But some of you are rolling along, but a lot of you aren't and I think that this will this will tie together very nicely into what's going on just with the state of orthodontics, and not just orthodontics. You know all of you know that's the majority of our clientele out there, but you know we have plenty of other types of doctors to, and the down economy affects them in very similar ways as it does the orthos.

Speaker 1: 10:22

But I'm standing in the airport and this was before I was leaving to fly to Virginia and I'm standing in the airport. I'm in Johnson and Murphy. I'm a I'm a shoe guy. I wish I wasn't there, kind of a waste of money, but I like looking at them. You know, it's kind of like I'm a car guy, I like looking at cars doesn't mean you're going to buy them, but I like looking at them. So I'm in Johnson and Murphy, I'm looking at shoes and standing next to me is this pilot for United and he's I could tell he's probably in his early 60s and Congress actually just raised the retirement age to 67.

Speaker 1: 10:58

So this actually happened after I was talking to him. His retirement age was 65. It's now 67. And he was 62. And we're talking about just planes and piloting and you know I'd let him know that I had my license and we're just talking back and forth about shoes. We just get into an organic discussion and he brings up that he used to fly for continental. So continental was a great airline that I miss a lot and continental merged. It was more of a united bot continental.

Speaker 1: 11:27

But growing up I grew up in a place called Kingwood on the north side of Houston and I had quite a few of my friends Dads were captains for continental and because Kingwood is a 1012 minute drive to Bushinner continental airport, so it was just a convenient place for them to live and raise their family and all of that. So as we're talking and I find I used to fly for continental. I say to the guy so do you know Ray Combest? And he's like oh yeah, ray, I love Ray. Yeah, I flew with him for years. Ray Combest was my neighbor across the street growing up as a kid. Then I say you know, do you know Dan Linder? He's, oh, dan, dan's crazy. I love Dan, flew with him for years and Dan Linder was the dad of one of my best friends growing up, julie Linder, you know.

Speaker 1: 12:14

So we're building this rapport, conversations going on, and I asked him out of the blue so tell me what happened, you know, a few months ago with the United flight, the 787 Dreamliner going out of Maui, and he says I got to go. And for those of you who don't know, and you can look this up several months ago there was a 787 Dreamliner going out of Maui that climbed out of the airport, got to about 3000 feet and then literally did a nosedive towards the water and the pilots recovered and saved the plane from hitting the water and killing everybody. They recovered it like it was right around 500 to 800 feet. They were able to get the nose back up and start climbing and then they flew the course and landed. I can't remember where they were headed. I want to say San Francisco, but it doesn't matter. They landed without any other events, landed normally in San Fran or wherever it was.

Speaker 1: 13:06

So I've been searching online ever since that happened, waiting for the FAA investigation, something to come out. And you know, he's running off Like this is in the second. He did that. I'm going okay, this is something to do with pilot air, otherwise he's not going to react that way. But he stops and he turns around, he goes. Do you really want to know? At the time when he took off, I thought he was gone, like we went from having, you know, great conversation, knowing each other, you know, just killing some time, to this guy walking away from me. I'm going whoa boy, I sparked a nerve. This must be big.

Speaker 1: 13:42

Now what I'm telling all of you out here is some pretty classified stuff, because the FAA hasn't even come out with their report yet and I'm actually interested to see when they do, to see how much truth the FAA puts out to the public, whatever they put out their report, or if they're going to sugarcoat this. So what happened was is they have a newer? So the 787 Dreamliners actually what this guy flies to. He flies to France twice a month and that's, that's his route and that's a beautiful job. You know those United pilots that are in the 787s flying internationally. They're up to make an $800, $900,000 a year. That is a wonderful job if you get up to that level. And those pilots, if you get up to the 787 level, usually they're the senior pilots, really good at what they do.

Speaker 1: 14:29

But just like anything else in life, the first time you've been in a mouth, the first time the assistant's been in the mouth, the first time a receptionist took a phone call in her career, there's a first for everything and the first officer was it was one of his first flights on the 787. So we're sitting here talking, the guy's telling me the story and they're lining up, you know, on the runway and the captain's calling for a flat 15 takeoff, which I'm not going to get into all of that and bore all of you with. But the flat 15 takeoff isn't always what you do. Okay, there's other types of flap settings for takeoffs on the Dreamliners, other planes etc. Calls for flap 15 settings, co-pilot first officer puts it into the proper position, they get cleared for takeoff and they go. Everything's looking good.

Speaker 1: 15:17

They rotate, plane climbs in the air, gets to, you know, around 3000 feet and the pilot calls for flaps 5. So the first officer is looking down and this is where you know they call it getting behind the plane. And this is even more important if you're a private pilot, because a lot of times you're flying yourself right. There is nobody else to look and check and second check and make sure you're doing all the right things. You're doing it yourself, which is an added risk just in itself. But he calls for flight or flaps 5, and the co-pilot first officer gets behind the plane. And what that means is is that you're searching, you're thinking, you know air traffic control told you something, and then you're trying to think it over in your head and then you're looking for the right dials and then by then, when you find the right dials, you're already being told something else by air traffic control and you're just behind.

Speaker 1: 16:10

And when you're playing catch up and this is whether it be in the cockpit or in your business or in life when you're playing catch up and you're reactive, it always takes more effort. It always it also doesn't produce as good results, and that's what they call getting behind the plane. When you're a pilot, you're just constantly chasing and trying to catch up. It just puts you in a difficult position and where you want to be is ahead of the plane. And part of the way you get ahead of the plane and anticipation and things like that is knowing exactly where everything is and you think, on the surface at a 787 level, which is the top airplane you know from a global travel standpoint and if you fly a lot you're going to be on them, even if you're just in the United States, because a lot of times you'll get on one and they're trying to fly it into one of their hubs because it's then going to take off and go globally. So I don't travel globally much but I'm on 787s quite a bit with United because I leave one of their big hubs here in Houston and I go into a lot of their big hubs around the country. So, like I said, sometimes they're just trying to get it to another hub to then go internationally, so familiar with the plane.

Speaker 1: 17:18

And the story just keeps getting better and better because as the first officer is reaching down, looking for the and remember, first officer on the right side of the plane. So he's looking down and he's looking with his left hand. He's kind of searching through, imagine kind of with your index finger, is your reading and you're kind of pointing to the words. If he's looking down, kind of pointing around, and he calls out I can't find it. I haven't done this before. I'm not exactly sure what to do here.

Speaker 1: 17:44

So here is a train pilot flying hundreds upon hundreds of people around that gets in the weeds, gets behind the plane and is looking for the right setting and he cannot find the right setting on the flaps. Now, meanwhile, while he's doing this, the autopilot's already engaged. So when you fly commercially, the autopilot engages very quickly after takeoff and if you're flying with me, from a private pilot standpoint it would be the same way. We have a very good autopilot on board our plane and that thing is on, unless it's if it's perfectly beautiful out and you're going for a spin with your kid or whatever. That's not the case. But when the weather's not great or if you have passengers, the autopilot and our plane would be on very quickly after takeoff. So by now the autopilot's on, everything is fine.

Speaker 1: 18:38

But this pilot's saying I can't find it with his left index finger Now, while he's kind of in chaotic mode and trying to find this. You know the captain's like come on, let's go flaps five right, the captain's pushing them a little bit, as he should. So he's repeating himself. I can't find it, I don't know what to do. While he's doing this with his left hand, he, inadvertently, is sticking out his right hand and pushing the yoke in and nose diving the plane. Now what happens on airplanes? The second you make a manual input to the yoke is an example the steering wheel. It disengages the autopilot instantly. Right, and there's this beep, beep, beep sound that comes on, that notifies the pilots that the autopilot is disengaging. So you've got a first officer that is searching hard for the right flap setting and, with his right arm, extends out, hits the yoke and is pushing the yoke in hard and the plane is nose diving towards the ocean.

Speaker 1: 19:37

Now for a second here. Imagine the captain who then is wondering what the hell's going on. Why is this plane nose diving, autopilot's on everything, and this is how it can get crazy up there very quickly, and it took the captain just a bit to go. Oh crap, the. And it doesn't take long, you know, if you're at 3,000 feet and you're traveling a few hundred miles per hour all the way up to 550 plus miles per hour. It does not take long to go from 3,000 feet and a nose dive down to the water like we're talking a few seconds, kind of thing. So the captain, as the plane is nose diving, realizes the autopilot's been disengaged. The first officer is pushing in still with his hand, nose diving the plane, and the captain regains control of the plane, regains the proper flap settings and they're able to climb and they almost hit the ocean.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Now you say to yourself, holy crap, right, like how could something like that, with unbelievably trained and experienced pilots, even with the first officer you know how many flight hours does he have in order to get promoted up to first officer chair on the 787 Dreamliner? And it's a really scary thing. Now those things happen very few and far between, as obviously airline travel is extremely safe. Knock on wood as I fly planes and as I hop on one this evening to go to Charlotte and then back Tuesday morning and then out Wednesday morning to go see the great jet, pascal and his team. Hey guys, can't wait to see you, you know. So knock on wood every time I say how safe it is. But that's how quick.

Speaker 1: 21:16

Things can go from normal to extremely chaotic, especially the faster you go. We talk about with our plane that you know. It cruises about 210, 220 miles per hour. It's considered a high performance plane even though in comparison to most planes it's not that fast. But when things are happening at 220 miles per hour they still happen fast. And the next step up hopefully that we get some days probably a 280 to 290 type mile per hour plane. And the faster you go, the faster things happen, the more ahead of the plane you have to be With the reality the situation is when this chaos happens. This is what separates the amazing pilots from the average pilots Most of the time flying a plane. When the plane is working right, which it's almost always is in the private world or commercial world. If you see an accident or something crazy happen, it's almost always human error and the differentiation between the exceptional the ones that are flying you around commercially, that is, especially in the captain's chair versus a lot of the ones that would be private is the ability to remain calm and lead and stick with your vision when things are chaotic.

Speaker 1: 22:39

A long time ago, when I was umpiring in professional baseball, I was going into my second season, so my rookie year, I was in the Arizona League. I remember people telling me when I went out there they're like, ah, it's the dry heat. You know you'll love it. And as much as you know the Arizona League, you're in Scottsdale, peoria, a lot of the other minor league, you know, you're just kind of traveling around but you're right there, you're stationary. You're not hopping on planes or driving in cars to different cities and things like that, you're pretty stationary. You're in one hotel the whole season that is. And I remember getting there and the games were at. You know, god forbid they'd be at eight in the morning, right, the games are at noon and two o'clock and one and 1130.

Speaker 1: 23:22

I remember my dad coming in there and he was so proud that the very first game he saw me he got to come on the field and he was a big baseball fan and that's when he kind of hit him like hey, this is really cool, like my son's in pro ball, and you know I'm taking him on the field and he's talking with the players and things like that. I remember my dad, you know. I remember we're coming from Houston, right, so Houston's obviously hot. I remember my dad just going holy shit, get me, get me out of here, man, I'm gonna watch you work the plate and I'm done, I'm not coming, I'm not coming back here. And it was like that. You're like drenched in sweat if you're working the plate by, you know the first, you know middle of the first inning, middle of the second inning, and at that point you have so much sweat going it's actually cooling you off, but it's just. The heat is terrible. So that was my rookie year.

Speaker 1: 24:04

And then the second year I was going into the Apple Action League, which is in North Carolina, virginia and Tennessee, and going into that year though they put me in spring training over in St Pete, and St Pete the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays share a minor league complex there. So if you're a football fan and you're ever watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play football, you know they have a giant pirate ship at one end of their stadium. Well, right beyond that pirate ship is the minor league facility for the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. So if you're working home plate, you're looking out over I believe it's like left center field, right beyond the fence. You're looking at that pirate ship. So next time you see it, you know that right below there is the minor league facility and I mean it's a really cool feeling, your first spring training. I mean you kind of feel like you're really getting in it and you're really realizing the ins and outs of how much of a business it actually is. It's a business that has a game played in a few hours a day and I remember so it was, I don't know, a few weeks into spring training.

Speaker 1: 25:08

One of the things you start to get when you start to get to those levels is you get a lot of the big leaguers come down and they are on. You know they could be on rehab stints from injuries or they could just be coming down to work on a couple things prepping for the season. Well, I had the plate a few weeks into that spring training and we're at the plate meeting and one of the managers are like hey, brian, you've got Andy Pennett today, just wanted to let you know. And for, obviously, for baseball fans out there, you know that name and it was one of the greatest playoff pitchers. You know big, big time, high, high pressure pitchers of all time. He always came through in the clutch. So that was the first time I had had a big leaguer in professional baseball. I had Josh Beckett who was in the majors back when he was at spring high school. I had him in high school but at the time that was the first time I was in pro ball and had a major leaguer.

Speaker 1: 25:58

So Andy comes out, I toss him a baseball, he pitches a couple innings. You know we work the plate, we're back in the umpire room and the umpires I used to when I worked the plate I would stay in the umpire room in the clubhouse just a little bit longer. And you know the crew was like hey, brian, you cool, if we, if we leave, we're gonna, we're gonna go back to the condo and catch up and get ready for for dinner. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like yeah, get out of here. I'll meet you guys here in just a little bit. So I'm hanging out in there and I have this presence, I can feel it. It's just kind of walking up and sits down next to me and it's it's George Steinbrenner. And again, that's what I was saying.

Speaker 1: 26:34

If you're a baseball fan, you know these stories are going to mean a lot more. George Steinbrenner is kind of the, the infamous owner of the New York Yankees for years. He's passed away now and it's funny. You see how people and how the media portray people on TV and you have these preconceived notions and I've always been the type that's just like. You know, most of that is bogus. I don't believe what I see. I'm going to, I'm going to learn it myself and make my own conclusions. Well, he sits down and inside my head I'm thinking you know, oh my God, this is freaking, george Steinbrenner, but I can't come across like that. You know I'm an umpire and the miners and pro ball. You know I can't be all giddy and be like, oh hey, george, how are you doing, mr Stig? You know all all all goofy, you know I got to keep that, that presence, that aura about me. So he sits down and he goes hey, kid, that was a, that was a great game.

Speaker 1: 27:22

You know how. How'd you enjoy working behind the plate for Andy? And you know what did you think of him? And you know he's asking me my, my feedback on. You know how's his cutter working, you know, do you think he looks healthy? And I wanted to say it's the first time I've had him dude. But but you know, for my knowledge, seeing as many pitches as I have in my life, I'm like, yeah, that pitch was moving. I mean the hitters were swinging, they were breaking bats. I mean he looks solid. He's like hey, thanks for that feedback. And we're just chatting. He goes, what are you doing tonight? And I go.

Speaker 1: 27:48

Well, you know, normally on this day I think it was every every third or fourth day the crew we would go get dressed at the condo. After the game We'd go out and have a beer, you know, kind of hang out, and Steinbrenner is like I got, I got it, let's all go to dinner together. And he goes here's my number, like call me. You know, here's the restaurant we're going to go to. Here's about the time to show up, blah, blah, blah. So I'm thinking you know, wow, these are the things that people don't get to see on TV Now, in the minors. You're not going to see anybody on TV, but just in general, I'm learning and I kind of learned it in the Arizona league when I got close to some of the players and the managers and stuff. But I learned it more once you hit the travel leagues in spring training for the first time, like what a business this is and what a very close knit family all of this is. So we go to dinner that night and I mean the players and the owners. They know that you know the lower level minors, whether it be the players or the umpires or really anybody the trainers, the coaches, anybody at that level you're not making very much money. So he just wines and dines us that night with ridiculously expensive bottles of wine. When I say ridiculously expensive, I think the most, the biggest one at that table that night was about $3,000. I mean our bill that night was nuts. And he was like I want you guys to remember this for the rest of your life. You know he was talking a lot of a lot of life lessons, a lot of things to expect as you go up through the ranks and these things.

Speaker 1: 29:14

And one of the things he talked about was and I had known this already, because when you go to umpire school it is very, very competitive and very difficult to go into P buck and get chosen to go into P buck and P buck stands for professional baseball umpires corporation and they over. They're the entity that oversees the minor league umpires and works with major league baseball for promotions and guys from AAA to get the next big league contract and things like that. And you go on to a six week course after umpire school If you're selected from umpire school to compete against the best of the best and it is hard man, and I had known what. So one of the things what I'm getting at is George Steinbrenner had said you know, as you get deeper, you know there's going to be things that that the evaluators come and ask us about and they're going to ask about your character. Do you like the guy? Do you think they have people skills? Do you think all these, you know the non coachable things? Does he fit in with major league baseball and that.

Speaker 1: 30:16

That surprised me a little bit. But what he also said and what our instructors used to tell us all the time is when you hit a certain level in the pros, everyone is good at out and safe. Everyone is good at strikes and balls Now, just like the players. There's different levels of good. Right, you have your superstars, you have your almost superstars, you've got all kinds of levels, but they're all still good. If you make the majors, you're one of the best in the world, and it's the same way with with the umpires. If you're in AA, you're one of the best in the world. If you make AAA, you're one of the best in the world. If you make the majors, you're among the best in the world.

Speaker 1: 30:48

But there's different levels and one of those things that the instructors used to talk about and what George Steinbrenner said do not forget is that they are going to start looking at what happens when things go wrong. What happens to your body language, your posture, your strike zone. Because what happens to a lot of umpires after an altercation is they may have gone three innings and called a really good game behind the plate, or maybe you're in the field and you're doing really well. You have a altercation and there's chaos, and then afterwards you go to hell. Like there's a lot of umpires, they have that happen. Where their strike zone the bottom of the knees starts wavering, the top of the zone starts wavering, they start striking pitches that are two or three balls off the plate when they weren't before. Same thing in the field.

Speaker 1: 31:34

Now it's not necessarily as much with your calls in the field as it is just your body language, your posture. You may look like you're an authoritative figure that's in control, and then you get into a really heated argument and then you're very fidgety and your mechanics just are out of whack and you just don't look the same as you did before. Those are the things that you're getting rigorously graded on every single game, that there is an evaluator in the stands, to the point where we used to joke about this and it was hard to actually do what I'm saying because you would have to intentionally miss calls and none of us wanted to do that. So it was more of a joke. But the evaluators would only see you maybe five, six times a year. So if you have an evaluator in the stands and everything goes great, like the game's normal, it's very hard to differentiate yourself over the other umpires. So we would joke where we almost hope. There's a bench clearing brawl, or a pitch hits the batter and we have to eject somebody or warn both sides, or there's a bang, bang play and you get it wrong and somebody comes out and argues with you.

Speaker 1: 32:45

We almost wanted the chaos to happen to be able to showcase that we were above and beyond the other umpires and therefore that would lead to promotions. Obviously, you can't make that happen. You can't kick calls, but you get the point. Now, in the plain world, whenever you're flying with an instructor, they can make the chaos happen, and they do. They will pull the engine power, they will, you know, put drapes over the window to where you can't see, to where you're, purely on instruments. They can intentionally make things happen to the plane without you knowing it. They can pull the plug on short final to where you have no power anymore. But you've got to find a way to get the plane to the runway or make an instant decision that you're not going to make it and you have to find somewhere else to land safely. So the intentional chaos. Now the evaluators. When we were in school they could create simulated chaos, but it was nothing like it was if that kind of stuff happened in the game.

Speaker 1: 33:43

So when you're watching Major League Baseball or you're flying with a, you know pilots commercially, the inevitable thing that has gotten those people, above and beyond all the ones that didn't make it there is the ability to lead when there's chaos, when the shit hits the fan. I would rather call it, because that's just the reality of what it is. We all deal with difficult situations in our lives and our businesses, and how you lead your organization when times are tough, when times are chaotic, is the number one skill set, I believe, of a truly great leader. One of the reasons I picked today was because I've heard from a lot of you that you're just frustrated. This is so kind of twofold One.

Speaker 1: 34:37

I'm going to start with the new patient group customers. We have several of you out there that are absolutely kicking butt. Matt, josie, props to you. I'm calling your name out because I just got back from Siena. He's a perfect example. I make the comment many times that he's such a learning junkie that and not just clinically right, I know that a lot of you out there are learning junkies clinically, but you're not that way on what makes up 80, 90% of your small business and that has the nothing to do with clinical at all. You're not there. He's a learning junkie on both sides Any practice that comes along in his area in Virginia and decides to open up their doors, they're screwed. He's going to dominate them. Because of those reasons, what he does very well during difficult times is lead his organization well.

Speaker 1: 35:29

The other one that's part of the new patient group piece is in our mastermind. I'll throw out a lot of hey. Congratulations, matt Josie, on your best June ever. Congratulations, rob Schaefer, on your best whatever month ever. Congratulations. And we give props to the docs and we're doing that because we want the other ones to see hey, during a down economy you can still kick butt.

Speaker 1: 35:54

But the challenge for some out there is they see these ones kicking butt and they feel like they're doing a lot of the same things and doing them well. Why is it not working? And my comment back is one it is working because you're either experiencing growth or you're at least breaking, even when the orthodontic industry and other industries are having their. You know what handed to them last year and this year. And those people are trying to advertise, which is the worst mistake you can make in a down economy. That's a podcast from a couple seasons ago maybe last season, but I think two or three seasons ago. One of the differences that I see between a practice that is executing on a lot of our program very well is how the leadership team is handling the difficult moments. Conversion, maybe a little bit down, because the people are thinking about it a little bit more. Maybe you're having more price shoppers because people are more price sensitive, because they, you know I think I said this on last podcast the average American only has $600-$700 in their savings account, yet you think you're gonna charge $1,500 as your down payment for aligners to allow people to start.

Speaker 1: 37:04

It's asinine, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. That doesn't even work as well during a good economy. It's the opposite of being flexible when times are tough. Everybody. That defines the best pilots. It defines the best umpires and honestly, I didn't plan on talking about this today it honestly defines the best chefs.

Speaker 1: 37:33

You know, whenever you're going through cooking schools and you've got seven different things going on at once, you're making a sauce, your sauteing something, You're chopping. You're chopping some herbs for later because just a cooking lesson 101, you can't put it herbs into earlier. You're burn those. You know you've got all these things just just rolling, one of the things that separates the best chefs from ones that may have the same skill sets. They may be really good, but they can't handle all of the maneuvering parts. They get flustered and they make mistakes. Now, thankfully for all of us as business owners, our mistakes isn't gonna kill anybody like a pilot.

Speaker 1: 38:15

But the reality of the situation is you get the point and you say to yourself okay, brian, what do I do? You know down economy. You know what are some mistakes that I might be making and and these are this let's talk about it is one you have to stop talking numbers around your team. This type of comment, this type of discussion okay, guys, we're struggling. You know we're 30,000 behind our production goal for this month and we're 35,000 behind our collection goal. We don't have enough new patients that kind of discussion many of you out there can relate to. You know that at some point in your lives You've had that discussion with your team and it's a waste of your time.

Speaker 1: 39:02

You can't force, in a down economy, people to go search in Google For things that they don't have the money to spend. So if you're saying yourself our new patients are down and this has happened to some of the new patient group customers out there your conversion is actually higher Because you implement all of our salesmanship and experience, choreographing and all the things that we teach on this podcast and much more in depth, obviously, with our program. You're executing on these things really well. So your conversion 75, 85, 90, 95% and the conversion is what's allowing you to kick butt. But meanwhile, if you look at your search results, your search results on Google are fabulous.

Speaker 1: 39:47

You're coming up organically in the Google my 3 pack. You're coming up on the first page for all these, these search terms that people could become typing it. Whether it be in Visalign, clear liners, braces, orthodontist, whatever it may be, you're coming up beautiful. You have a wonderful looking website that certainly is outperforming and looks more aesthetically pleasing than the competition. I know this because we designed it. That's my vision, that's our team's vision to make you look prettier, more innovative, more unique, more convenient, more convenient.

Speaker 1: 40:22

But you say to yourself the phone's not ringing. Well, you want to know why People can't afford what they can't afford. So if they're not entering the search term, you're not going to get the calls and what you could do is dump money into pay per click and that would be worse. So during this time you can't let your team see your frustrations. Not only does it a disservice to you and your whole organization to sit there and jam numbers down people's throat. It's just not inspirational From a CEO perspective, a business coach perspective.

Speaker 1: 41:03

Part of your job as a leader is to inspire people, is to motivate people, is to challenge them to get better. It's not the jam numbers down their throat that nobody can, nobody can control, especially during a down economy. The other one that you can't do is show your frustrations, and this is so much easier said than done because, especially, as I said, like if everything's going well, you're happy with your practice, you know things are rolling for you. It's easy to be a great leader, it's easy to fly the plane, it's easy to umpire a good game, or maybe not easy, but certainly easier. But when things are not going the way you want them to go and you are clearly frustrated. And that could be from you know the whack job states out there paying people to stay home, you know. So you can't find anybody, or you can't find anybody good, or you just train somebody you thought was good and then they quit. Or they trained somebody that was good and they got pregnant and have to take time off, or or whatever it might be.

Speaker 1: 42:05

Whatever the headaches is a business owner. It is extremely difficult, when those headaches come to fruition, to not show them to your team. I'm at fault of that. I'm better than I used to be, probably better than I ever have been before, to where at least I hide it. You know there's certain people in the organization I'll vent to, but in front of the whole team, you know it's my job to say here's the vision, you know. Here's, you know kind of the state of the union. Here's what we're going to do to get better. Here's some new ideas. Here's some struggles I see some of you having and some expectations on getting better that you're going to be held accountable to.

Speaker 1: 42:38

That's a leader showcasing empathy. You know not saying hey. You know hey, mary, you know why your numbers down. I'm tired of this. We got to get more. Your sales have got to go up. No, actually saying hey, mary, you normally do a fantastic job and I've noticed that some of the numbers are down and and I'm worried about you. You know is this has happened a couple months now. Is everything okay, like like, talk to me, boom. You see the leadership there with empathy, which is a podcast at some point in itself, is learning to lead with empathy, and there's a great story from one of our longtime customers and their treatment coordinator that I'm going to talk specifically about.

Speaker 1: 43:18

In that episode, you can see and this is whether it's my company, right chat, or my other company, new patient group you can see, it's not about numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers. It's about inspiration, motivation, vision. What can we do differently to get through some of these harder times? How can we challenge ourselves to make the patient experience better, better today than it was yesterday? How can we challenge ourselves to follow up with people that were here and said, let me think about it better today than we used to do? How can we manage our obsless better? How can we greet people better when they walk through the door? All the things that you can control that's what a, that's what a great leader make sure is happening in their organization. And, by the way, that's what a great leader does, especially when times are tough, is refocus around the things you can control, no matter how hard it may be, because, no matter what you can control, if you're doing that well, sometimes the things you can't control Just always seem like they're going against you. I've had those moments. I've had those moments. I've had those stretches. I have found in my career that they kind of go. They kind of just go in streaks for whatever reason, like hey, okay, I'm on kind of a good lucky streak, things are happening. Then it's like, uh-oh, you know, one bad thing and another bad thing and another bad thing and those are the things again that absolutely unequivocally separate the best leaders from the worst leaders Is how you manage the chaos inside your organization.

Speaker 1: 44:59

Does it fluster you? Do you get frustrated? Do you waiver on your decision-making? Do you say one thing in front of one team member because it's easier for you to not have the difficult conversation but have another conversation and from another team or the team member that tells them something different? How you lead your organization during the most difficult times will determine how your organization thrives.

Speaker 1: 45:25

During those difficult times, do you come out stronger? Because, I hate to tell you, you don't get stronger when things are great. You get stronger when things are in the dumps, when they're down. You get stronger based on how you view those situations as well, meaning that if you view them as down and in the doldrums and in the dumps, you're not going to get better if you look at those as opportunities to learn and dive deeper and lead with empathy and lead with eviction and lead With clear guidance.

Speaker 1: 46:03

It gives you such an opportunity to fly the plane. When there's chaos in the cockpit, maybe you blow an engine, you know, which is not common by any means, but they, with the thousands of planes in the air at any given time, you have engine outs right. So what happens? Cause when both engines are working, it sure is a lot easier. When just one is Well, a down economy is like a blown engine. It's certainly easier to grow. When the economy is great and people have cash, or at least more cash. It's easier to get them to say yes, you don't have to do every little consumer interaction as good as you otherwise would. It's easier. When's the last time you stood up? And this is early.

Speaker 1: 46:47

I was talking about Matt Josie does this well at his meetings. He stands up, gives the state of the union, tells his clear guidance on what he wants from his team, his expectations, things that we're gonna work on, watches those on-demand courses. An example from the new patient group says let's role play him, takes notes, expects his people to get better. That's leadership Because, again, the things you can control how your receptionist speaks, how your digital marketing presence is, what happens after the new patient call and before they show up, how your existing patient experiences and how your assistants are interacting and thanking people for their business and asking for referrals and video testimonials. And handling tough situations when a patient may be upset, how money's presented, the salesmanship and the exam process. Those are all things you can control and all you can do is set the vision of running an organization that is gonna be the best of the best, with things you can control. And when the economy is good, that is why you will absolutely dominate without having to advertise. And when the economy's bad, you still don't have to advertise and you'll still say a float and you'll probably still grow. And if you don't grow and you do go backwards, you won't go backwards nearly as much as if you didn't focus on making sure everything you could control is always improving and you threw out a bunch of advertising dollars.

Speaker 1: 48:16

Leaders out there and this goes for if you're in any leadership role you could be a lead clinical assistant, you could be a lead on the admin team. Whatever it may be make sure the things that you can control are going at the highest possible levels they can. Make sure your team here's empathy from you. Make sure they see your clear guidance on what you want them to do. Don't jam numbers down their throat, quotas, jam experience down their throat, the salesmanship skills, all the skill sets that you're in charge of as a leader, and make sure your employees thrive with. Make sure that's on the front and center as much as you possibly can, and that's gonna be a huge piece not the only, but it's a huge ingredient to the overall recipe of thriving when the economy is down. And that's learning to lead when there's chaos, learning to lead when things are not going that great.

Speaker 1: 49:25

I hope everybody enjoyed today. Take this at heart. Have a conversation with your team at your next weekly meeting. Tell them how proud you are of them. Tell them what your vision is for the rest of the year. Explain to them that you're always gonna focus on self-improvement in your organization.

Speaker 1: 49:43

Focus on controlling what you can control, practicing and role-playing because, by the way and I didn't discuss this earlier but inevitably being able to handle the chaotic situations, that's a trainable skill, set Right. Being able to handle a difficult situation in the cockpit when things go wrong, that is something they work hundreds of hours on in flight simulators. Now, some pilots never get it, but the commercial ones all have it. Same way with umpiring, you know the amount of hours they threw people yelling at me in my face and teaching me how to handle those situations and calming the angry. That's a big part of our training, by the way, of overcoming objection or, excuse me, handling complaints inside the office. That is where that six step script came from, almost right from professional baseball.

Speaker 1: 50:36

You've got an angry manager and you've got an umpire and there is a very specific set of skill sets that they train repetitively on with you to take them from angry to calm. Does it always work? No, nothing ever does. But it is an amazing, amazing thing when your employees can take somebody that may be angry that they can't get the right time to schedule for them and their family. You know that is a situation that can damage your brand significantly, either from a one star review or them telling 20 people at a soccer game, whatever it may be. But if your employees are armed with those skill sets you can actually turn it into a positive situation.

Speaker 1: 51:10

But that goes back to practice. Your organization has to commit to it when times are tough, practice when times are good. Practice role play, commit to it, and the only person that can make that stick is you as a leader. By the way, your employees are not going to beg you to make them to practice. It has to be on your shoulders and it's gonna be better for their career because they're gonna be better during difficult times. Leaders, like I said, clinical leaders, admin leaders when times are difficult, how you lead your people determine how good of a leader you are, determine how much respect people will have for you and determine how hard they will work to help your company do whatever it takes to thrive whenever there are chaotic moments, bad economy, upset, customer, whatever it may be, but inevitably that falls on your shoulders as the chief executive officer of your company, as the entrepreneur that you decided to be by owning your own business. You have to be a great leader when times are tough, because anybody can be a good leader when things are rolling and everything's great.

Speaker 1: 52:24

Hope you enjoyed today. Thanks for your listening, thanks for listening out there, thanks for just your loyal partnership, your loyal following. Make sure to please go and give us a five star rating on this podcast, whatever method you listen, if it's on Apple with iTunes or wherever it may be. Please give us a five star review of the podcast and also hit Google. Give us a nice five star review on Google. Okay, we'll see you back here in September for episode 91. Until then, have a great month, everybody. We'll talk to everybody soon. Bye-bye. Hey, this is Brian Wright. Thank you so much for listening, and please visit newpatientgroupcom backslash free courses to get our latest on-demand video trainings for free. These are shot in 4K, exceptional quality, and we really want you to test out our content. So just go to newpatientgroupcom backslash free courses, sign up and you'll learn some really amazing things.

Speaker 1: 53:15

We would also like to answer your new patient phone calls with my company, rightchat. We can be the primary and answer all of them, or we can be your saving grace. We're the ones you miss. We will answer them as we're sitting at your front desk. Your own employee remotely log into your software and schedule that new patient, and they never even know a third party answered. It's a revolutionizing the answering service industry and, honestly, made call services and answering services completely obsolete, because nobody will leave a message in this new economy.

Speaker 1: 53:45

So if you use a call center or an answering service switch to RightChat as a game changer. We'll do it for two months free. We have our own in-house IT team that will hook everything up for you your software, your phones, your phone number. You don't have to change anything. The onboarding is simple. We make sure that process is streamlined, and when you hear my agents answer that new patient call, you're never gonna want your own team to do it and it'll be a great training. When you listen to us, we'll be a great training to get your own people trained as well.

Speaker 1: 54:14

Okay, so look forward to helping you out. I ask that you please write a five-star review about the New Patient Group podcast on Apple or wherever you're listening to the podcast, and also write a five-star review about New Patient Group and RightChat online. That would really help us out. If you're watching on YouTube, give a thumbs up to the video, subscribe to our channel, put some comments in there how much you like it, and I would personally like to offer you your own free business and practice consultation with me so we can chat about your business and I can personally prescribe something that is really gonna help you thrive in this new economy of competition, commoditization and consumerism. Once again, thanks for your support. We'll see everybody soon. Bye-bye.