What actually causes leadership in a dental practice, and why isn’t it about copying the symptoms?
The cause is the internal decision to be the leader the situation needs. Most leadership books describe what leaders look like in action: how they speak, how they hold themselves, how they make decisions, how they handle conflict. Those are symptoms, not causes. Studying symptoms and trying to match them produces awkward imitation that patients and team members read as inauthentic. The actual cause is simpler. People become leaders when they realize a leader is needed and decide they are that leader. History, literature, and real life are full of examples of leaders rising out of necessity rather than out of a training program. The dormant capacity for leadership exists in most people. The activation comes from the recognition that the patients, the team, and the practice need leadership and that the doctor is positioned to provide it. Once the decision is made, the symptomatic behaviors that the books catalog start showing up naturally. The cause produces the symptoms. The reverse does not work.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.