February 2005

Leadership: The 'hidden' ingredient of achievement

by Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz

As coaches, we hear of the many obstacles to your achievement and success in practice and in life. Your new patients are down, people won't come to your new patient orientation, you have problems with your spouse, your collections are off, your CAs are giving you fits, etc.

While many have experienced the cutesy answers, temporary gimmicks, schemes and solutions for problems that many "gurus" offer, we don't believe in enabling! You never become a leader by letting others solve your problems, much like your parents did long ago. Unfortunately, far too many DCs find themselves in this dimension of suspended animation.    

Leadership is one of the most valuable assets one can possess. A leader attracts and inspires others to act the way they should, not because he or she wants them to, but because they actually want to. A cornerstone of our philosophy is realizing that there are different types of practice members and each type must be allowed to be who they are. In exploring the inner workings of leadership and success, it's handy to have a metaphor to make a complicated subject seem simple, almost childlike.

Imagine yourself in Manhattan in a taxi. You get in and the driver sets the meter in motion. You watch the dollars add up as you approach your first traffic light. You sit in the typical traffic snarl as the meter keeps going. "Hey!" you exclaim, "The taxi isn't going anywhere but the meter's still running!" Your cab driver matter‑of‑factly explains that, since the engine's still running, the meter keeps running as well. This is exactly how personal power is utilized. Personal power has no judgement or morality of the act you're involved in. It just uses fuel, period.

It takes personal power whether you're adjusting a practice member, hunting, or gossiping with your CAs. Personal power is there for each of us to use the way we see fit. Chiropractors often save personal power by avoiding energy wasting activities ‑‑ watching hours of TV and violent movies, reading the newspaper (that's chock full of bad news), arguing with in‑laws, grumbling about politics, religion, etc., ‑‑ only to find themselves not restructuring their old sabotaging behaviors.

Restructuring of old sabotaging behaviors requires that you add the right type of fuel to your belief system. Fuel that's neither supportive nor resourceful, coupled with the lack of certainty leaves the taxi of success sitting in traffic, burning fuel and going nowhere. Fuel, be it scientific references, seminars, homework, faith, perseverance, the sweat of your brow...must result in absolute certainty as to how you want your success to be expressed.

As coaches, we want to see all DCs grow and succeed and are attempting to reach all of our readers by exposing behaviors that are detrimental (and sometimes invisible) to success and growth. Do you have a coach? Do you attend regular seminars? Do you invest in your CAs? What a fuel to add to your belief system, experiential input to a new class of behavior. As a leader, your whole office should partake and look forward to your next seminar.

One of the most prevalent problems in coaching is its "style." In today's learning‑disabled society, the average person cries out, "Hey, you gotta slow things down so I can understand!" Yet, the slower a coach goes for DCs, the slower they learn and the more questions they ask to stop any new behaviors. This is why it's so hard for adults to learn.

At The New Renaissance we teach a very contrarian style of accelerated learning. It's rooted in allowing the nerve system to experience new data and input (visual, sensory, audio, and inspirational) and produce new files of successful behavior patterns called success.

Attempting to become a leader without understanding the principles of personal power and old habit patterns leads to frustration, lack of achievement and recurring problems ‑‑ new patient droughts, dwindling or non‑existent NPO attendance, lack of spousal support, decreased collections, CA fiascoes, etc. By conserving personal power and restructuring your old sabotaging behaviors, all areas of your practice and life are affected in a positive way.

When you embrace the truths of leadership you don't need to manipulate people or tell people how great you are. They're under your leadership, and they know!

(A complete system of practice based on science and philosophy working on the doctor from the inside out, The New Renaissance is the next generation of office procedures and patient education with the X‑Factor for today's chiropractor who wants to implement the chiropractic mind‑set of success. The new Mentor IV Practice Development Program takes 24 years of the pioneering experience of Renaissance procedures and combines it with the practical daily activities of doctors in the field. To learn more about The New Renaissance, contact The New Renaissance World Headquarters at 800‑525‑3879.)