April 2004

Crossing the greatness divide

 by Dr. CJ Mertz

In Jim Collins' book, "Good to Great," he boldly states: "Good is the enemy of Great." Collins also discovered in his research that good companies rarely become great. I see this in chiropractic all the time. Good is considered above average and society's standards are at best average. Crossing the greatness divide is very doable, even though few dare to try.

There are three key distinctions separating good from great:

1. The state of mind of good believes there will be more time to get something done, which obliterates the effectiveness of time management. Greatness, however, always carries a sense of urgency, as if there's not a moment to waste.

2. Followers of good measure themselves to everyone and everything behind them. It's the awareness of realizing you have passed by many chiropractors in your town or reached a level of success beyond other family of friends. Those seeking greatness measure themselves only to who or what is in front of them, and often to a benchmark never achieved before.

3. Good factors in laziness and still achieves a certain level of success. Greatness depends upon faith and discipline to have half a chance of winning.

Another discovery Collins made was that good companies rarely ‑‑ if ever ‑‑ become great. In my observation, a chiropractic practice doing good needs to "blow itself up" and completely re‑tool if it has a chance of becoming great. I believe it's the blowing up part that frightens so many wonderfully talented chiropractors from truly expressing their full potential.

Good can be successful, good is respectable, good is...good enough. Pursuing greatness in chiropractic has become a science with predictable values, beliefs, behaviors and strategies designed to pass by good.

In 1986, Michael Johnson was among dozens of sprinters who could run a 20.5 second, 200‑meter sprint. Along the way, he gained recognition, endorsements and a nice lifestyle but, all the while he had his eye on the record, which was 19.6 seconds. No sprinter had come close to that in his era of track and field.

Johnson worked out six days a week for 10 years, never missing a workout. On a glorious Atlanta day in 1996 Michael sprinted across the finish line in 19.32 seconds, shattering the previous world record. In truth, after a 10 years of total sacrifice and commitment, he ran just one second faster in the 200‑meter sprint. Yet, that one second made him the fastest human being on earth.

Is your new patient reporting system great? Do you have a great patient education system? Have you built a great team that produces great teamwork? Do you have a great marketing plan? Do you generate great profit within your practice? My guess is, you feel greatness may have touched one area of your practice but the rest of your practice standards are good (or less). I have great news for you. GREATNESS is still within your grasp!

Greatness, however, doesn't look pretty as it's developing. It's dressed in warm‑ups, with spit on its face, two skinned knees and a sweat‑drenched shirt. In other words, you really need to consider:

***  waking up in the morning so there's sufficient time to prepare for greatness;

***  having the right CDs and videos at home and work to allow you to immerse yourself and develop the mindset necessary to produce greatness; and

***  scheduling your team for 12 weeks of the most intense, skull‑breaking, patient‑centered, practice‑transforming trainings you've ever led before.

It's about setting your sights on a goal that takes your breath away. You don't have to know how to get there, just the willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal.

Good accepts excuses as a reason why something can't happen, while greatness eats excuses for lunch and will not allow good to prevail. Everyone has distractions in practice, but greatness is the decision not to focus on them. Chiropractors who have purpose and chiropractors who pursue purpose are two entirely different people. You can practice with purpose and still operate inside a good practice.

Perhaps today is the day to choose greatness over good.

(Dr. CJ Mertz is president of the International Chiropractors Association, executive director of ChiroUSA, and founder and head coach of the prestigious Waiting List Practice [WLP] chiropractic training organization. For information on WLP services and products, call Mark at 877/TEAM‑WLP.

Coaching is a very powerful tool to help lead you along the path to greatness, making the right changes at the right time. Visit www.teamwlp.com or call Dr. Mertz and ask about the new WLP 30‑day CD‑ROM training module that's absolutely free of charge.)