Today, Dr. Killeen tackles one of the hardest situations for a practice owner: a long-time team member who was once great but is no longer meeting the standards of the practice. Loyalty matters, but allowing one person to continually fall short can quietly damage the rest of the team and create resentment. The answer starts with an honest conversation, not an immediate firing. Dr. Killeen explains how to clearly communicate what you are seeing, define the standard, and give the team member a real opportunity to improve. Sometimes people need someone to finally tell them the truth. The important thing is not to keep avoiding the conversation.

Dr. Killeen breaks down a few ideas from Gino Wickman’s Traction and how they apply to dental practices. Weekly scorecards, quarterly priorities, consistent leadership meetings, and clear ownership can turn goals that live in the owner’s head into a system the whole team can see and follow. The key is making those priorities specific and accountable. It's explained why assigning three clear “rocks” to one person, with a due date and regular check-ins, can help a practice stay focused and actually make progress. Pick three priorities for the quarter, put a name and date on each one, and start tracking whether they are on or off track.

A useful huddle should quickly answer three questions: Where is the money? Where is the risk? And what is our focus? Dr. Killeen explains why so many dental practice morning huddles become little more than a reading of the schedule. He also explains why the doctor should not be the one running the meeting. When a team leader leads the huddle, the team takes more ownership of the numbers, priorities, and problems. Keep it focused, repeat the same three questions every morning, and get out in under ten minutes.

Today, Dr. Killeen explores James Clear’s idea of habit stacking and why it can make new systems much easier for dental teams to follow. The problem with most new systems is not that people do not care. It is that they are trying to remember a new behavior in the middle of an already busy day. The solution is to attach the new behavior to something the team already does automatically. “When X happens, we do Y.” By connecting new systems to existing habits, you reduce the need for willpower and make consistency much more natural.

Dr. Killeen tackles a common question from practice owners: when is it time to hire an associate? He explains why the answer has less to do with increasing production and more to do with capacity. An associate makes sense when your hygiene schedule is booked, your own schedule is consistently full, new patients are being pushed out, and you are regularly running out of time. Before hiring, you also need a plan for the capacity you are creating. If the extra time will allow you to do more dentistry or spend more time leading the business, great. If the schedule is not actually full yet, the better move may be to focus on filling the practice you already have.

In today's episode, Dr. Killeen explores the four most expensive words in dentistry: “Let’s get you scheduled.” Once a patient leaves the operatory, motivation can fade quickly, along with the treatment. He explains why same-day treatment can be one of the biggest opportunities for a practice to improve case acceptance and make better use of existing chair time. Making it work takes more than simply asking. The schedule needs some flexibility, the team needs to be prepared, and the doctor needs to make a clear offer: “I can do this today if you’ve got the time.” Dr. Killeen challenges you to track how often diagnosed single-tooth procedures are completed the same day, then make one small change to start moving the number.

Dr. Killeen walks through one of the most common questions practice owners face: whether to drop an insurance plan. Instead of making the decision out of frustration, he explains why it is important to look at the actual numbers, including the plan’s share of collections, fee differences, active patients, and how much patient attrition to expect. He also emphasizes the importance of what happens to the chair time you free up. Dropping a plan can make financial sense if you can replace that production with better-paying dentistry, but an empty schedule can quickly turn a seemingly smart decision into a costly one. The takeaway is simple: take the emotion out of the decision and let the numbers guide you.

Dr. Killeen pulls several lessons from Bob Iger’s The Ride of a Lifetime and applies them directly to dental practice leadership. From the importance of optimism and clear priorities to repairing relationships before asking for something, Iger’s approach offers practical lessons for leading a team. He also explores the role of courage and decency in leadership. Great leaders are willing to take meaningful risks while still treating people with respect, especially during difficult moments. The challenge for today is simple: choose three priorities for your practice and repeat them until your team knows them as well as you do.