Podcasts about kpi

On today's episode, Dr. Allen Gotora shares a powerful message on why relationships are the hidden KPI behind every successful dental practice. Drawing from his own life-changing experience as a high school student in Zimbabwe, where relationships helped him raise funds for a United Nations trip to Sweden, he explains how connection, trust, and intentional communication shape every major outcome in business and life. He breaks down five key relationship pillars: self, family, team, partners and vendors, and patients.  From prioritizing health, spirituality, and self-awareness to protecting family time, nurturing your team, strengthening vendor relationships, and creating deeper patient trust, this episode challenges dentists to look beyond production, collections, and case acceptance to the relationships driving those numbers. Dr. Allen reminds listeners that when life is all said and done, it will not be the KPIs we remember most, but the people closest to us and the connections we built along the way. Be sure to check out the full episode from the Dentalpreneur Podcast! EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.truedentalsuccess.com Dental Success Network Subscribe to The Dentalpreneur Podcast

Brent Hayhurst, VP at Curator Hotel and Resort Collection, won't look at a new technology until he knows what KPI it's supposed to move.

How do you actually scale without losing yourself or your team in the chaos?In this conversation, Sivana Brewer sits down with Mara Castro, COO at Twentyeight Health and former Warby Parker trailblazer, to dissect what it takes to build, lead, and sustain high-performing teams in brutally demanding, mission-driven environments. Expect raw takes on leadership, the dangerous myth of “just do more,” and what it really means to earn trust as a COO.If you've ever wondered why some leaders quietly burn out while others keep their team charging ahead, you cannot afford to miss this episode. Hear exclusive, battle-tested insights you won't find in any COO playbook. Don't settle for “what everyone does” and listen now before these lessons become your competitors' next unfair advantage.Sponsored byGenius Network - An exclusive community for highly successful entrepreneurs, connecting you with top-tier leaders, strategic insights, and powerful relationships to help you grow your business faster and smarter.Learn more: https://www.geniusnetwork.com/Timestamped Highlights00:22 – The unexpected journey from nonprofit roots to COO02:37 – Why a career break fueled a powerhouse comeback05:34 – The untold value of prior relationships for landing big roles09:14 – Networking for introverts: How authentic connections really win10:15 – The counterintuitive 90-day blueprint every new COO must follow13:06 – The art of KPI clarity and not getting sucked into the weeds17:50 – The hidden trap of too much complexity in health tech33:23 – Why guiding, not micromanaging, unlocks leadership at scale39:30 – The radical power of raising the white flag earlyAbout the GuestMara Castro is the COO at Twentyeight Health, where she leads product, engineering, clinical operations, and pharmacy for a fast-scaling women's telehealth platform. Previously, the first employee at Warby Parker, she helped build and scale one of the most celebrated brands in DTC history, before driving expansion at Evolve in hospitality tech. Her results-driven, human-focused approach makes her a standout leader in growth and transformation.

What do you do when a brilliant, Oxford- or Cambridge-educated graduate walks into your office, chronically late, completely uncommitted to the business, but undeniably sharp? If you're Mike Harle, you don't fire them—you tell them to follow their heart and join the circus. This week, we sit down for an exclusive, world-first public interview with Mike Harle, the former UK Chief Marketing Officer of Shell. In a legendary two-minute conversation around the year 2000, Mike looked past the corporate KPI metrics of a young, nervous junior executive named Jimmy Carr and gave him the ultimate piece of career advice: Do give up your day job. In this episode, Mike shares the fascinating backstory behind one of comedy's most famous career pivots, why he turned down an exclusive UK deal with a struggling new startup called Red Bull, and what it truly means to manage potential over performance.

If your days feel jam-packed but your dental practice still isn't improving, the problem usually isn't effort. It's urgency. The loudest problems in a practice always win, and they trick us into believing we'll work on systems, leadership, and growth “once things slow down.” They don't slow down, and that's exactly why so many practice owners feel stuck, overworked, and quietly frustrated.We unpack the real difference between reactive work and proactive work in dental practice management. Reactive work is the constant stream of fires: insurance denials, upset patients, schedule chaos, staffing surprises, and equipment problems. It keeps the lights on, but it doesn't build the future. Proactive work is what creates a practice that runs without you: onboarding systems, checklists, phone scripts, KPI scoreboards, P&L review, and leader development that prevents issues before they explode.We also talk about why this matters for your key leaders, especially the office manager. Many office managers spend their whole day reacting like a highly skilled admin employee, when what you really need is protected time for true management. I share the shift I had to make when I hit a breaking point, and how blocking and defending CEO time became the turning point for building momentum again.If you're ready to stop living in reaction mode and start building a calmer, more profitable practice, listen now, share this with a colleague, and subscribe so you don't miss what comes next. And if you want help installing systems and protecting proactive time, book a free strategy call at dentalpracticeheroes.com/slash strategy, then leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Invest in your Team and the Leaders you Need at the DPH Leadership Intensive Here Join our Newest and Best Coaching Program, Click Here for More InformationTake Control of Your Practice and Your LifeWe help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams.Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

In this episode, Josh interviews George Meressa, founder of Clear Ads, about effective Amazon DSP advertising strategies. George explains how to vet DSP agencies, select high-performing products for campaigns, and leverage remarketing, cross-selling, and competitor targeting using Amazon's data analytics. He emphasizes the importance of choosing certified partners, analyzing product conversion rates, and methodically building campaigns. The discussion includes actionable tips for maximizing ROAS and practical advice for supplement brands and other sellers aiming to scale with DSP. The episode concludes with key takeaways for listeners interested in leveraging Amazon DSP for business growth.Chapters:Introduction & Guest Background (00:00:00)George Meressa's experience in digital advertising and focus on Amazon PPC and DSP.Vetting a DSP Agency (00:00:40)Checklist for choosing a DSP agency, importance of official partners, and due diligence questions.Transition to DSP Strategies (00:03:16)Emphasizing the importance of agency selection before starting DSP strategies.Selecting Products for DSP (00:03:41)Criteria for choosing products: retail readiness, sales volume, impressions, and conversion rates.Remarketing as First Strategy (00:03:45)Remarketing setup: targeting product viewers who haven't purchased, and audience segmentation.Product Data & Conversion Rate Analysis (00:04:59)Importance of product data, minimum impressions, and conversion rate benchmarks for DSP success.Audience Segmentation for Retargeting (00:06:27)Creating and excluding specific audiences for more effective retargeting campaigns.Cross-Selling & Market Basket Analysis (00:07:14)Using brand analytics and market basket analysis to build cross-sell campaigns.Advanced Audience Targeting & Overlap Reports (00:08:18)Utilizing overlap reports, refining audience targeting, and future of display ads.Bespoke ASIN Targeting & Subscribe & Save Strategies (00:09:13)Custom ASIN targeting, strategies for subscribe & save products, and using purchase window data.Competitor Targeting for Supplements (00:11:17)Targeting competitor's customers for supplements and the strong DSP fit for supplement brands.Episode Wrap-Up & Actionable Takeaways (00:11:41)Summary of key strategies, actionable steps, and importance of methodical DSP campaign building.DSP Product Fit & Data-Driven Decisions (00:13:37)Discussion on product suitability for DSP, importance of impressions and conversion rates.Layering DSP Strategies Up the Funnel (00:14:37)Methodical approach: start with retargeting, analyze results, and progressively add advanced strategies.Closing & Contact Information (00:15:27)How to contact George Meressa and Clear Ads for DSP services and further advice.Links and Mentions:Amazon Accredited Partners Page: "00:01:48"  Brand Metrics: "00:05:47"  Overlap Reports: "00:08:18"  Prosper Show: "00:08:18"  Nozzle: "00:10:12"  ClearAds: "00:15:53"Transcript:Josh 00:00:00  I am super excited to introduce you all to George Meressa. George has been in digital advertising since 2009, working on a wide range of platforms including Amazon, Google, Bing, LinkedIn and Facebook. Paid advertising. Using these platforms, he has worked with hundreds of advertisers across the world in numerous industries and sectors to maximize their ROAS. His agency, Clear Ads, now focuses purely on Amazon PPC and DSP advertising, helping deliver the best results for his clients. So with that introduction, welcome to the show, George.George 00:00:38  Thank you so much for having me, Josh. It's a pleasure.Josh 00:00:40  What are some of the what's a checklist that you should kind of go through and walk through to vet an agency that you're looking to have, do DSP for you?George 00:00:48  The first thing is don't go with Amazon. Right. But I'm sure they won't mind me saying this. Right. But actually they will. But I'm going to say anyway, Amazon's core strategy is to get you to spend as much money as possible. That's their KPI because that's how they get promoted.George 00:01:02  Right. So the way they treat your account is they go, hey, look at all these amazing impressions that you've got. Isn't that great? And as I said, you're like, hold on one step. Precious isn't really the key thing for us. Like we're trying to get. We're trying to we're trying to grow our business. Not not just increase our reach. So that's the big thing that they go with, especially with the slight uncertainty with attribution at the moment. It could look to to their favor. Right. That's the first thing. Now second, when you do go to an agency, the first step you should take is go onto Amazon's accredited partners page. Right. And check out DSP providers. So Amazon DSP providers just put stuff on Google. Go onto Amazon's page and there's a list of DSP providers. Right. So what you tend to find if you find any company. Right. If they're if they're if they are an official partner with Amazon, they will tend to have a partner badge somewhere which links straight to that page which shows you, hey, their official partner.George 00:01:58  Now, if they're not an official partner, they might be piggybacking off someone else's suit. Right. You don't want to get into that. Because if they're piggybacking off someone else's seat. Right. Let's just say there's some internal issues and they get kicked out of that seat. They no longer have access to your account. Who do you contact? Yeah. Who do? Who do you reach? You don't know. Right. So you want to make sure you've got someone who's got their own first thing. The second thing is, I'm sure every seller that's listening to this, they're savvy. They have a pool. An audience of other savvy sellers. Speak to them, find out who are they using that's doing DSP. That's working really well. Right. Get their first, first, first glance and say, okay, what's your experience been like? and ensure that they're happy with whoever it is. So they're the steps that I would recommend taking when trying to find a DSP agent. I would even go as far as ask them questions about the business.George 00:02:49  What's the purpose of the business? What are you looking to do? How big is it? How long has it been going? Is it? Is it a brand new business that's business. Me starting up for a bit and might not be there tomorrow. Yeah. Is it one that's been there for a while? Is it, you know, you want to you just want to really find out how many DSP, agents you have. How many of them are certified? how many have taken the exams? I would just do your due diligence. Ask those questions before it's too late, and then before you're stuck with someone.Josh 00:03:16  Yeah, I think that is foundation number one for sure. So I hope our listeners follow those best practices because it's true. You make this decision, and it's not like you could just change course after six months or a year. otherwise you're just starting from ground zero all over again. All right. Now let's jump into these strategies. Let's say you have found the right agency to work with.Josh 00:03:41  What's the first strategy you should be implementing with DSP?George 00:03:45  Yeah. So the first strategy is 100% remarketing. You want to you want it. You want to okay. No, n...

Bill and Brandon talk about how systematic routines like daily KPI checks and proactive resident engagement transform chaos into consistent growth. Bill shares how a background in manufacturing and construction translates into sharper maintenance standards, standardized toolkits, and faster work order turnarounds cutting response times to less than 24 hours. Brandon and Bill discuss the importance of in-person resident conversations post-acquisition, building trust that leads to higher renewal rates and fewer vacancies. Bill Ray Asset Manager in VSF Investments Based in: Celina, Ohio Where to find them: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-ray-5430b51a3/ Brandon Virgallito Managing Member of Real Estate Alpha Based in: Dayton Metropolitan Area Where to find them: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bvirgallito/ Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit https://malabarhillcapital.com/ for more info. Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, host Kalie Moore sits down with Angela Yu, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of StoReel, to explore one of the fastest-growing entertainment categories that gaming executives should be paying attention to: AI-native microdramas. While many still think of microdramas as shortened TV shows, Angela argues they have far more in common with mobile games, relying on retention loops, emotional hooks, creator ecosystems, user acquisition economics, and increasingly interactive experiences. She shares how StoReel is building both a consumer platform for AI-generated serialized stories and a creation suite that enables creators to produce content dramatically faster and cheaper than traditional production methods. Along the way, they unpack the KPI performance of AI-produced titles and what game studios can learn from the category's rapid growth.The conversation also explores one of the most fascinating cultural divides in technology today: why attitudes toward AI look dramatically different in China versus the West. Having spent half her life in both markets, Angela offers a unique perspective on why creators, companies, and consumers in China have embraced AI far more aggressively, and what that means for the future of entertainment. They discuss creator ownership, AI-powered storytelling, underserved content genres, interactive characters, and why the next generation of entertainment may look less like Hollywood and more like a creator-driven marketplace where anyone can build, monetize, and distribute serialized stories. The episode ultimately examines how AI is reshaping not just production workflows, but the entire relationship between creators, audiences, and entertainment itself.We'd also like to thank Heroic Labs for making this episode possible! Thousands of studios have trusted Heroic Labs to help them focus on their games and not worry about gametech or scaling for success. To learn more and reach out, visit https://heroiclabs.com/?utm_source=Naavik&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=Podcast If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.Who's On:Guest - Angela Yu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-yu-0a0379112/Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/ Watch the episode: YouTube ChannelFor more episodes and details: Podcast WebsiteFree newsletter: Naavik DigestFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc CabeLinks mentioned: https://storeel.com/

Rassegna stampa economico-finanziaria del 21 Giugno 2026, strutturata per macro-temi e basata sulle principali testate giornalistiche nazionali.Politica Interna e Scenari Elettorali Testate: Corriere della Sera / La Repubblica / Il Tempo• Dinamiche di coalizione: Prosegue il dibattito interno al "Campo largo" dopo la pubblicazione di una foto sui social che ritrae i leader di PD, M5S e AVS (Schlein, Conte, Bonelli, Fratoianni) in una trattoria romana. L'iniziativa, finalizzata ad annunciare un programma di governo condiviso entro luglio, ha sollevato critiche per l'esclusione di un'area moderata.• Centralità del Centro: Si registra fermento tra i leader centristi rimasti esclusi dal tavolo. Emergono potenziali percorsi alternativi: Alessandro Onorato (Progetto Civico Italia) è in fase di valutazione per un'alleanza con gli europeisti di Riccardo Magi e i socialisti di Enzo Maraio. Si monitorano inoltre le figure di Gaetano Manfredi e Silvia Salis, quest'ultima indicata come possibile figura di mediazione.• Analisi sociopolitica: Il saggio di Marco Revelli (La democrazia è antiquata, edito da Laterza, 158 pagg., €16) e il pamphlet di Bernie Sanders (Contro l'oligarchia, edito da Chiarelettere, 106 pagg., €15) evidenziano un'allarmante involuzione democratica. Revelli sottolinea come in Italia la partecipazione al voto sia calata drasticamente, coinvolgendo circa la metà dell'elettorato. Geopolitica e Relazioni Internazionali Testate: Corriere della Sera / Libero Quotidiano / La Verità• Asse USA-Italia: Si evidenzia una fase di tensione nelle relazioni tra Donald Trump e Giorgia Meloni, descritta come un passaggio da una "relazione speciale" a uno "scontro totale". Gli analisti avvertono che una crisi tra Italia e USA potrebbe comportare rischi significativi per l'interscambio economico, stimato in circa 105 miliardi di euro.• Scenario Russo: Secondo la politologa Ekaterina Schulmann, l'insofferenza tra le élite e la popolazione russa è in crescita costante dalla primavera del 2025. Putin potrebbe valutare il congelamento del conflitto in Ucraina per consolidare il consenso interno in vista delle elezioni.• Rischi Energetici: L'Iran ha minacciato di chiudere lo Stretto di Hormuz, richiedendo compensazioni finanziarie pari a 12 miliardi sotto forma di "polizze" per il transito delle navi, generando preoccupazioni per gli approvvigionamenti energetici.Economia e FinanzaTestate: Il Sole 24 Ore / Corriere della Sera • Performance Commerciale: L'Italia ha segnato un importante sorpasso nelle esportazioni superando il Giappone, trainata dalla forte domanda proveniente dagli Stati Uniti. • Debito Pubblico: La quota del debito pubblico detenuta dai risparmiatori ha superato i massimi storici registrati nel 2014.• Risiko Bancario: Si prospetta un possibile nuovo tentativo di acquisizione di BPM da parte di Unicredit. • Prevenzione Fiscale: L'attività di contrasto all'evasione e alle frodi, tramite l'utilizzo dei dati per l'antiriciclaggio, sta portando a un incremento significativo degli alert. Executive Takeaway • Resilienza Export: Il sorpasso dell'Italia sul Giappone nelle esportazioni rappresenta un KPI di fondamentale importanza, confermando la solidità del Made in Italy verso il mercato statunitense, nonostante le tensioni diplomatiche. • Rischio Geopolitico: Il potenziale conflitto con l'amministrazione statunitense rappresenta una variabile critica. La dipendenza strategica richiede una gestione prudente per evitare contraccolpi sui flussi commerciali bilaterali da 105 miliardi. • Stabilità Interna Russa: Il monitoraggio della situazione russa (insofferenza delle élite e calo del consenso) è essenziale per anticipare scenari di "congelamento" del conflitto, con dirette implicazioni sui mercati energetici globali. • Frammentazione Politica: L'instabilità e la frammentazione al centro della politica italiana indicano una fase di riposizionamento strategico (es. Progetto Civico Italia) che gli investitori istituzionali dovrebbero monitorare per valutare la futura stabilità legislativa.• Allerta Evasione: L'intensificarsi degli alert antiriciclaggio basati sull'analisi dei dati suggerisce una maggiore proattività dell'Agenzia delle Entrate; è consigliabile rafforzare i protocolli di compliance e prevenzione.

If you can't tell me your return on every marketing channel you're running right now, you're flying blind.Most real estate investors know they have to spend money on marketing — but very few have a system that tells them whether that spending is actually working. In this solo episode, the host breaks down a straightforward framework for tracking marketing dollars from the moment they leave your account all the way through to closed deals, so you can stop making decisions based on gut feel and start making them based on numbers.The episode covers why front-end marketing platforms like Facebook and Google can't tell the whole story, how to use QuickBooks as a financial CRM to tie marketing spend to actual revenue by channel, and what return thresholds should trigger you to pour more money in or pull the plug. Whether you're running direct mail, PPC, or SEO, this one will help you build a simple marketing KPI dashboard that actually tells you what's working.Timeline Highlights[0:26] Why most real estate investors are flying blind — and the 3x to 7x return benchmark that separates confident operators from guessers[0:53] The follow-up problem: spending money on marketing without tracking whether it actually produced revenue[1:35] Why front-end dashboards on Facebook and Google aren't enough — and what it means to tie back-end money to front-end spend[2:33] A simple example: $100 in, $5,000 out — and why that math gets much more complex as you scale[3:32] Opening dedicated marketing bank accounts or credit cards per channel to create spending clarity by default[4:29] How to use QuickBooks as a financial CRM — tagging deals by marketing channel and pulling KPI reports straight out of your financial software[6:02] Marketing is the lifeblood of your business — which is exactly why it demands more tracking, not less[6:34] The four metrics that belong on every marketing KPI dashboard: cost per lead, cost per appointment, cost per contract, and return per channel[7:28] How to read your return numbers: 3x to 5x means you're on track, 5x or above is a green light to scale, below 2x is a signal to cut[8:09] The difference between an owner running on gut feeling and one who uses return data to make every marketing decisionKey TakeawaysTracking marketing spend without tying it to closed deals is not a system — it's just a record of what you spent. The real number you need is what you made from each channel, not just what you spent on it.Front-end platform dashboards from Facebook, Google, and other channels only tell part of the story. Your financial software is where marketing spend and actual revenue need to meet.Dedicating a separate bank account or credit card to each marketing channel creates built-in clarity — you can see exactly what each channel cost and what it returned without digging through mixed transactions.QuickBooks and similar tools can be configured to tag deals by marketing source, letting you pull a report at any time that shows channel-level spend versus channel-level revenue. Most investors never set this up.A simple four-metric dashboard — cost per lead, cost per appointment, cost per contract, and return on channel — gives you everything you need to make confident, data-driven decisions about where to scale and where to cut.The 5x return threshold is your green light to pour more money into a channel. Anything below 2x is a signal to either fix the channel or cut it before it quietly drains your profit.Links & ResourcesSchedule a free discovery call — https://www.profitrei.comClosingKnowing your marketing numbers isn't a finance task — it's a growth strategy. The investors who scale predictably aren't necessarily spending more than everyone else; they're just spending with better information. If today's episode helped you see your marketing spend with more clarity, visit profitrei.com to schedule a free discovery call and start building your path to financial clarity and freedom.

On this episode of The Derivative, Jeff Malec continues Chicago Month with a deep dive into the past, present, and future of derivatives and volatility at Cboe with two of its stars. First up, Cboe Global Head of Derivatives Rob Hocking traces Chicago's rise as the world's derivatives hub, from the Board of Trade's agricultural hedging roots to SPX and VIX becoming the center of global risk transfer. Rob walks through life in the OEX and SPX pits, the culture of open outcry, the evolution from Hull and DRW to “the dark side” at the exchange, and how today's liquidity, zero‑DTE flows, and concentrated market‑making still hold up under stress. He and Jeff dig into whether the derivative can ever outgrow the underlying, why S&P 500 remains the benchmark despite megacap concentration and global basis risk, and how Cboe balances the floor's high‑touch block business with a mostly electronic market.Then Mandy Xu, Head of Derivatives Market Intelligence at Cboe, joins to break down the current volatility regime. She explains what VIX really measures (and why “fear gauge” is often wrong), how Cboe decomposes VIX into bullish vs bearish positioning, and why today's record call‑chasing and low skew feel uncomfortably close to meme‑stock and late‑'90s territory. Mandy covers the rise of zero‑DTE, option‑income and buffered ETFs, the breakdown of stock–bond correlation, the AI‑driven dispersion trade, and whether vol selling is truly “artificially” suppressing risk. The trio also find time for some Chicago vs New York banter—pizza, skylines, seasons, and sports—and a look at what's next from Cboe, from binaries on XSP to trading KPI‑style “valuation chain” products tied to names like Tesla and Cboe itself.00:00-01:43=Intro01:44–05:36 = From Corn Contracts to Options Hub05:37–20:42 = Pit Sheets to $5 Trillion a Day: Inside the S&P Options Machine20:43–30:29 = Game Within the Game30:30–35:36 = Big Blocks, Complex Trades, and the Future Beyond VIX38:07-42:15 =  Pork Chops at Soldier Field42:16–51:09 = Retail Flows and the New Vol Regime51:10–1:02:57 = Is VIX Still the Fear Gauge? What's Really Driving Risk1:02:58-1:07:18 =  AI Winners, Dispersion, and the 60/40 Shift1:07:19-1:13:16 =  Building Better Hedges1:13:16-1:17:34 =  Chicago vs. New York: Pizza, Seasons, Sports, & Final WhistleFrom the Episode:How Futures saved Stocks RCM VIX WhitepaperBlog Post - VIXmaggaeddon Follow along with Rob Hocking, Mandy Xu, and the Cboe on LinkedIn and be sure to visit cboe.com for more information!Don't forget to subscribe to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Derivative⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, follow us on Twitter at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@rcmAlts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign-up for our blog digest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of RCM Alternatives, their affiliates, or companies featured. Due to industry regulations, participants on this podcast are instructed not to make specific trade recommendations, nor reference past or potential profits. And listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. For more information, visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer⁠⁠⁠⁠

I am super excited to introduce my brand-new "Where Are They Now?" series on the Consulting Matters podcast, and I could not have picked a better first guest. You've heard me talk about Denise Musselwhite before. I chose her to kick off this series because I love her story. She found clarity on her purpose as an executive development coach for diverse leaders in tech, and that clarity fast-tracked her profits and got her fully booked faster than even she planned for. Which, of course, created the happiest of problems: how do you scale success your way? Tune in to discover why brand and messaging clarity isn't just one of the things you do to grow your business, it's THE thing that accelerates and sustains your success, how Denise is solving the happy problem of scaling on her own terms, and her powerful approach to tracking progress using metrics that go way beyond the financials. In this episode, you'll hear: How Denise went from working in the business to CEO in year three How getting fully booked led to figuring out scale on her own terms The KPI system that tracks more than just money The 5-15 Tool that changed the way she runs her business Outsourcing strategically while keeping what she loves Scaling success her way — what it really looks like Where To Dive In 3:34 Denise's origin story and why she couldn't unsee it 10:16 The watershed moment that unlocked the leap 20:08 Fully booked and figuring out scale 27:43 The KPI system that tracks more than money 37:20 Year three: from "in the work" to CEO 38:43 Scaling success your way 43:31 Outsourcing strategically (and keeping what you love) 53:04 The 5-15 Tool 54:18 Building your personal board of directors Next Steps Start tracking your own full-picture KPIs this week… not just revenue, but everything that makes you your best self. Think gym, family time, meals cooked, whatever keeps you at your best. Grab Denise's 5-15 Tool for a simple weekly check-in framework you can start using right away. https://www.denisemusselwhite.com/ Ready to get the kind of clarity that Denise credits for her success? Work with me on your brand positioning and messaging, and take your first steps toward building a consulting business that works on your terms. https://www.betsyjordyn.com/services Other episodes you may enjoy: Employee to Entrepreneur: Embrace A New Mindset with Denise Musselwhite (Ep62) What it Really Means To Be On-Purpose (Ep166) Are We Aligned on What People-Centered Leadership and Organizations Really Mean? (Ep164) How to Monetize Your Zone of Genius (Ep163) Too Many Business Ideas? 5 Steps to Find Your Focus (Ep160) About the guest: Denise Musselwhite is a board-certified executive coach, speaker, and strategist who spent 25 years in tech — often as one of the only Latinas in the boardroom. Through her company Tech & Thrive, she helps women and diverse professionals break through the hidden barriers holding them back so they can step into leadership, land the roles they deserve, and build careers that actually fit their lives. About the host: Betsy Jordyn is a business mentor, brand messaging strategist, and former Disney consultant who helps purpose-driven consultants and coaches build profitable businesses rooted in their unique strengths. With over 20 years in the industry and a knack for turning big ideas into clear positioning, she's your go-to for strategy that aligns with your calling. Work with me: https://www.betsyjordyn.com/services

Oud-finansminister Calle Schlettwein het kommer uitgespreek oor die Stad Windhoek se kontantlose parkeerstelsel en voer aan dat dit teen die Bank van Namibië-wet en die beginsels van finansiële insluiting is. Die stelsel, wat deur die private kontrakteur KeyPlot Investments bedryf word, vereis dat motoriste slegs vir parkering betaal met bankkaarte, KPI-uitgereikte parkeerkaarte of die KPI-mobiele toepassing. Schlettwein sê kontant bly 'n wettige betaalmiddel en verbruikers moet ingevolge die wet ‘n keuse hê.

Does your front office feel overwhelmed? Kiera shares what the problem is 99% of the time, as well as how to clear up the confusion, and three tactics that bring about clarity and control very quickly. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Trasnscript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today, I just wanted to talk about front office overwhelm. Like, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. That's a real thing, it's a real deal. This happens all the time. And I just want you guys to be able to fix that quickly and easily. So today, we're here to wrap. We're here to have a good time. We're here to talk about the front desk overwhelm and how you can fix that and do it with a ton of ease. So.   If your front office feels overwhelmed, if you feel like they're overwhelmed, if you're ever scared to walk up there because you're like, my gosh, they're always stressed out. This is the episode for you and your front office team, because honestly, it's usually not that they have too much to do. It's that they're just, I call it front office soup. Then they're just all like, it's a bowl of spaghetti and we're all slurring and slopping and it's just a mess up there. But because we just have to figure out what matters and who does what.   And it usually, in front office team members, I hope you hear me loud and clear, I'm not being a jerk, I'm Kiera Dent from the block and I've sat in your shoes and I understand it and I've been in your shoes and I know this overwhelmed feeling. It's not usually a workload problem. Usually what it is, is it's a role clarity problem. 99.9 % of the time, if we clean that up and we like untangle the ball of spaghetti, everybody's super happy, everybody's clear and things start rocking and rolling. So.   Again, this is where we're at today. I wanted to just give a quick tactical podcast for you for that front desk overwhelm. And I want you to just know that like at Dental A Team , every single consultant on our team has been in your shoes. ⁓ I don't just say these words on the intro to the episode. We don't just understand you. We genuinely are you. We've been in your shoes. We've sat in your shoes. We've sat at the front office. We've taken the phone calls. We've had the schedule fall apart last minute. I've had the treatment plans not close. I've had doctor on my case saying, Kiera.   get the schedule full and I'm like, I don't really know what to do, okay? I've had that phone running a million miles a minute. We get it. It's chaotic up there, but it doesn't need to be chaos. And so when we have all that, how can we take the urgency away and help you focus on the important thing? And so this is gonna help us kind of figure out like, why do people get overwhelmed? How do get the confusion cleared up? And then what are three things that bring clarity and control very quickly? That's not gonna take months and months to get that stabilized, but to actually do it really quickly.   If you don't know us, hi, we're the Dental A Team. I'm Kiera Dent. Dent really is my last name. It took me three fiancees. You can ask me about that later. It's a real joke, but it's a real life. I love dentistry. I love helping people have their best lives. And I love the dentistry as the platform that brings us all together. I've been a dental assistant, a treatment coordinator, a scheduler, biller, an office manager, regional manager. have all my own practices. I took my first office from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months and opened a second location.   To say I've been around the block is not a lie. I have bought practices, I've sold practices, I've been parts of DSOs, I've been part of boutique practices, I've merged offices, you name it. I don't think that there's a single thing that I haven't done yet in dentistry, so try me. I'd love to meet somebody that I'm like, yep, never heard of that before. ⁓ And our job is to make dentistry fun again. Our job is to make you love your life again. Our job is to bring simple clarity. But as a business owner myself, I hated where I'd go to conferences and people would just talk.   to me and I have to go back and rally my team and I realized I'm gonna create a business that's gonna make your life easier. So we actually work with doctors and teams. We help doctors set the vision, where are we all going? And then we figure out your finances. Let's make sure you're profitable. And if you have tax aversion, like you're so scared of it. Not that you don't pay it, don't get me crazy on that, but that you're so scared because you feel like you're making money but you're always broke. We help offices actually like find the money, keep the money, make the money. Like let's have you be profitable.   And then the other part is how do we do system and team development together? I call that the yes model. You first vision, making sure you're taking care of E stands for earnings and profitability. S is systems and team development. Doing that yes, success model. So you can say yes to more in your life. Truly, truly. And teams freaking love us because guess what? We get this. We understand it. Doctors love us because we're magic magicians that can fix it with your team, but also help you be profitable. It's like.   Let's put a bow on all the beauty together. So let's talk about your front office because everything freaking feels like a priority. my gosh, I gotta answer the phone and check patients out. I gotta try and schedule all the doctors asking me questions. I gotta keep my doctor busy. I've got constant interruptions nonstop. As soon as feel like I get patients checked in, that hygiene team's bringing them right back out. It is nuts. And it's because we just don't have priorities hierarchied. And also we're not using time when we need to.   So when front office is jumping between five tasks and finishing none of them well, that's chaos. And so how can we actually make it to where things aren't as chaotic? Because yes, you're always gonna have interruptions. And I think for us to never feel like, I can never have interruptions, like that's not my perfect date. That's not real life. We signed up for an amazing job that's very busy up front. And I feel like my job in front office, I say like, I'm here for air traffic control. Like that's my job. And I'm gonna make sure every plane lands easily, AKA every patient has an appointment. I get them scheduled. We're gonna have calm.   Like I want to feel like JFK's airport. Like we're there. I just think about that airport and that air traffic control. I'm like, they have people flying in and out like mayhem or you can go to Atlanta or you can go to like any big city. Like think about that air traffic controller. And that's who like, I want to be at the front office. So front office team members, hopefully that's a good vision for you of, Hey, yes, we've got a million things going on, but we are laser focused on what's the most important thing. And so I love to give like, okay, number one, our scheduling person, what's their number one job? Their number one job is to make sure our schedule is filled to goal every single day.   That's your job. So hygiene and doctor like bada bing, bada boom, that's your role. You keep them on there and you do not leave the day until your schedule is full. Like I'm not having you go home like, well, I did my best. ⁓ Outcomes over activities. I am big on this. We own our role. We don't just do a job. We own that. So if I'm a scheduling guru, you better believe I'm going to have my hygiene schedule full, full. That doesn't mean perfect. It means full and productive. And I'm going to have my doctor schedule the goal.   treatment coordinators, your number one job is to have your doctor's hitting goal or exceeding goal every single day. Not a full schedule. I don't want all the white space filled in. But if my doctor needs to be hitting 5,500, you make it rain sister or gentlemen, you go figure out how to do it. You go look at your unscheduled treatment plans. I'm not gonna say you sit here and call 20 unscheduled treatment plans unless you're an office that's 7.5 million, then yes, maybe we'll put that as a job. But 99 % of the time, your job is to call as many as needed to get your schedule full, period.   So scheduling coordinators, it's to make sure we're running on time, hygiene's full. Sometimes I have doctor over there. Treatment coordinators, you're always responsible for getting doctors scheduled to go. Billers, 98 % collections, non-negotiable. We gotta have money in the bank, otherwise we're broke and we can't feed our team. And we've done the work, we need to collect the money. So from there, and then office managers, your job is to make sure profitability is there, KPIs are being hit, and the whole team is flourishing. So that's just like a very simple like.   Yeah, but Kiera who's first on phones first on phones is scheduler first person they're always on it unless you guys like no we want them to be concierge style we have a concierge then they're not first on phones but we have somebody who's first who's second who's third on phones so as that phone rings we've got it can you set up a phone tree so where if they've got billing questions it just goes to the billing line and the biller can help with that if you're like Kiera I only have two people in my front office fan freaking tastic we need to have dedicated power hour time so front office and scheduler usually does insurance verification too typically that's who's gonna do it   but sometimes my treatment coordinators, like they want to make sure that they get all their insurance verification done and they have maybe a bit more time than our schedulers do. So again, it's who's got the most amount of time and who's the best with bandwidth on that. That's how I'm gonna set it up. If you have a bill or a dedicated bill or they're gonna do insurance verification for you, insurance verification should take you two to four hours max. And I'm talking to max a day. If we're taking longer than that, we gotta figure out how to be a bit more efficient and I got great ways to do it, like lump them together. I got a ton of podcasts onto it.   but we've got to just make sure that each person, and I love end of day checklist where, and it's not we wait till the end of the day, it's we get this stuff done during the day, but by the end of the day, all this needs to be stamped, signed, delivered. So scheduler, you're responsible for hygiene, making sure it's full and up to par, possibly insurance verification, possibly doctor, depending upon your office. Treatment coordinator, non-negotiable doctor scheduled to go every single day. I'm talking if I'm working four days, three of my four have to be to go, period. And the first patient of the day,   Please, please, please, please, please do not leave me one that's unconfirmed. And you're like, well, it's full. If they're unconfirmed, they're not showing. Like I might get lucky, but don't do that. Make sure it's a guaranteed confirm. Move those patients off. I've got a ton of verbiage for getting patients off the schedule. So we're not sitting there with like, to me, those are like gap fillers. Like it makes us feel good, but it's not gonna actually, like that's not me owning. I know that patient's not gonna show up. I call and call and call until I get people.   So I start doing my confirmations at usually eight or nine in the morning. So I've got time and I do a 48 hour confirmation guarantee. So if they're not there, and then we started implementing with a lot of offices that if they don't call and confirm you, we are moving you off the schedule to open that space up because we do need confirmation you will be here. I have moved patients off the schedule. Yeah, I'm gonna have about five people mad at me, but guess what? It's gonna fix 95 % of my problems. I can handle those five upset patients with me. I can handle that. If someone comes in duplicative, I can handle that.   Ladies and gents in the front office, air traffic controllers, you're also word ninjas. And you gotta learn to word ninja your way through a lot of things. Words are free. You can handle those hard conversations, but what we can't handle is not having productive schedules to where doctors aren't making money, we're not making money, and we're gonna go under. We can't handle that, but I can handle one or two upset patients. But I can also set up expectations so they're not upset with me, because I don't want to get berated. That's no fun for anybody.   So clear ownership, who does what, what are the simple KPIs for each of them? Put that in place, have us track it. That just right there, hopefully cleaned up 90 % of your issues. Now everyone was like, yeah, but we all do it together. High five. I love that you have teamwork. Like genuinely love it. Teamwork though is that game where it's who's on first, what's on second, I don't know, is on third. it's like who, like what thought everybody was going to do it? Everybody thought nobody was going to do it. So then somebody picked it up, but then nobody respond like,   It's a mess. So I love that y'all help each other. We just have to know at the end of the day, who's the one who puts the button on it? Who's the one who puts the final bow on it? Yes, we can all help each other, but I need a clear owner of each specific thing. I need a clear owner of hygiene and getting them scheduled. I need a clear owner of insurance verification. I need a clear owner of doctor's production. I need a clear owner of collections. Like I need those clear buttoned, tidied, and I need a clear owner of who answers the phone first.   There are several others. I know that there's more and you're like, but what about this? What about this? Again, it's just playing this game and you guys can get sticky notes, write them all up, put them there. I have end of day checklist. I'm happy to share with people, but we've got to have roles are shared, but they've got to be owned. So like it's a clear owner. You can have help. I'm fine with that, but you have to own it and you've got to own those results. Again, it's outcomes over activity. I am so grateful you called 50 people, but if we don't have people on the books, you gotta call 51 or 52 or 53 or 54.   And when you own that and you know that, guess what? How do I become a killer treatment coordinator? Because I knew I had to put people on the schedule and I wasn't gonna call them all night long. I was like, I got a family, I wanna go home. But I knew that that was my responsibility and I owned that result. So when we have shared responsibility, it actually creates drop in responsibility. So clean it up, if everyone owns it, no one owns it. So we have clear owners. And then what we have from there is we just have set systems. So what is our system for doing scheduling?   What's our power hour? I put schedulers back there, I put insurance for everybody. Put them behind the door for two hours where they're not being disrupted. Unscheduled treatment plans. Give that treatment coordinator one hour of blocked time. Go make it rain, honey. Like call the patients, text the patients. We are focusing on highest level priority things. Look over your treatment tracker. Practice your verbiage. What are the things that aren't closing for you? Why? But we actually spend it. And so put the systems into place. What is it? Some people have like...   To me, these are slightly aggressive checklists, but if it works for you, it's not aggressive. It's like by 10 a.m., all confirmations need to be done. By 12, all insurance verification needs to be done. By two o'clock, all of the schedule is filled to capacity. And then we're scheduled two days out or whatever it is. You can have it where it's benchmarks like that so we don't get stuck and then it's like four o'clock. I'm like, where did our day go? Sometimes those mile markers really can help, but we have to have set systems, set processes that everybody's following and we all know it.   And that's going to help because this helps when we bring on new people. How do we schedule? How do we treatment plan? How do we follow up? Getting those protocols written so it's not just living in our head. If it's in our head, we're dead. We got to get it out. We got to have those systems and protocols written. so systems don't live in people. ⁓ Systems like we're not relying on people. We're relying on systems. So when I look at that, systems are on paper or in video form, not in memory. That then helps.   Like if there's just one person that's like, well, Sue's out. We had a Sue in one of my offices. I'm like, I don't know how to do the billing. I don't know how to collect the money. I don't know how to schedule patients. Sue did it all. But if Sue goes on vacation, the practice is donezo. Like you cannot be reliant on a Sue in your practice. We need to have systems. We need to have processes. Yes, I want clear owners. But if that owner's on vacation, which they should be like our marketer Eve, she just went, she's like, it was awesome. I disconnected for an entire week. Didn't check Slack.   I knew everything would be taken care of and I came back and she had like three Slack messages of things that were missed. That is truly a systematized organization. Yes, I'm having a little kudos moment. It just happened yesterday. So yes, it's a brag moment on our side. But I think about that. Like could your Sue, Alison, Kiera, Tiffanie, Jenny take off for two weeks and would you guys be okay? And if the answer is no, we gotta get those systems written and then we need to send them on vacation and test it and see how we survive.   because we've got to be able to have it. So the three things that will fix this very quickly is number one, we've got to get clear ownership and that's ownership, not just job descriptions. Ownership, who owns scheduling, who owns phones, who owns our collections, who owns our treatment plans, who owns our doctor schedule. Get those things and eliminate overlap. Everybody in the front office is going to feel 20 times better and then have it on KPIs where we're tracking it every single week so we can see the progress and make sure it's true ownership, not just checking boxes.   Number two is we have a priority framework for an office. So what is it? Because like I can have my checklist and I can know this. Number one is my KPI. But before my KPI, patient in front of me, always. Always, always the patient who's in front of me. Then it's my KPI, that's my number two. And then it's gonna be team needs. And then from there, always phone for me. Phone is pretty high up there. Like I say, it's patient in front of me, phone. And then it's gonna be my KPI.   So you can be like, well, that phone's ringing. Okay, great. So then I can throw it and be like patient in front of me, KPI phones. Phones are so valuable. And if we don't answer and take care of it, but let's get a phone tree because we don't need to answer every phone call. The phone calls I really need to answer are my new patients. That's what I need. Also stop letting cancellations happen on your voicemails. Save yourself some time. The dermatologist that I'm going to, no voicemail. Like literally it's not even there. I can't leave a voicemail. And I have to call during business hours, period.   Like that's just how it works. And if I want to get into them and you might be like, but I'm so nervous. I'm going to have patients that won't call. That's fine. But I leave a voicemail and I have it. And I say, don't accept any appointment changes via voicemail. Please call during business hours. I also do not accept them via text message. I make my patients, if they're going to break up with me or having a phone, a voice to voice conversation, you're not just able to text me. Like we don't break up via text here. You get to call me, have a conversation. And that's how I'm going to help save my time on that as well. Have a phone tree.   Make sure that it's really set. So you know it's patient, my KPI, phones, whatever your guys' thing is, but make that priority framework for you so everybody's following it, we all know. So that way we're not sitting here with this like built up resentment of like, duh, you should be fixing the schedule. When it's like, they're with a patient. Now, team members, I have that priority framework, but that doesn't mean I don't get to own my KPI. My number is my responsibility. And yes, I can sit here and chat all day long with my patient, because they're number one, but that doesn't mean that I don't get to own my number.   I'm responsible for owning, like own that thing, air traffic controllers. You can't just be like, well, my job is to like make sure the plans land, ⁓ treatment and schedules. And then be like, but like I got busy and we were chatting with the pilot. They're gonna crash. No, you can chat, but you need to still own your role, okay? And then number three is build simple, repeatable systems. So that way like Sue, Jenny, Sarah, Kiera, Tiff, anybody can go on vacation.   and we're not gonna drown and think, yes, we'll be tired and we'll be glad they're back. Like I missed Eve, I'm super happy she's back, but our company didn't go under without her. And that's how your team should be as well. So, front office overwhelm is usually not about the team, it's just about clarity and consistency. It's about roles and systems being clear and defined, so that way confidence can go up and stress can go down. And I know you might be like, this was such a like 20 minute podcast to clean up my whole front office. And I wanna say like, it really can be that easy.   I think that teams get in this, I think ego gets a little bit in the way of like, I've always been doing this. I think it's a little scary to shake up a role cause you're good at it. ⁓ But I think, not I think I know, if I have done this in 500 plus practices with our entire team, I know we can do it for you and your team too. And it's not a set, deadly team is not a set like, you have to do this. Like that's a cookie cutter. That was me like pressing my Christmas tree into the cookie. ⁓ You don't have to just be a Christmas tree or.   an ornament or a square or a triangle. It is what is best for your practice. We will share best practices, but ultimately this is your teen year practice. They live there, I don't live there. So let's make it a place that they're happy to live. Let's make it a place that you're clear. And then doctors is great for you. So if you need a scheduling issue, you go to Kiera. If you have a treatment plan issue and your day's not scheduled, the goal, you go to Sarah. If you have an issue with billing, you go to Monica. Like you just go to your correct people. So that will help you. So look at that, see it really does like.   clear front office creates a calm place. And ⁓ I just want to say that it's very doable. We do this all the time. think I'd say probably like 70 % of our consulting is on front office and just helping because it is a slush pond up there and it does get messy and we're all trying to help each other and we all have the same goals and desires, but it's on the execution of those goals and desires and how it's being done to create the simplicity or the chaos. So reach out. I'd love to help you out. Let's see if you're a great fit. Let's see if we can help you.   take the pieces, implement today, whether you reach out to Dental A Team to get help for your front office because they just don't know it. If your front office listens to this and you guys have a meeting and you divide it up and make your end of day checklist, whatever it is, but do something to go from that chaos to that calm. It is very doable. We do this all the time. I would say we are freaking experts at it. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

Most high performers don't get passed over because of what they know. They get passed over because of how they lead. In this episode, Dr. Bushra Khan makes the case that emotional intelligence isn't a soft skill, it's the strategic operating system every leader needs right now, especially as AI reshapes what work looks like. In this conversation, she breaks down: Why 'be more strategic' on a performance review usually means something specific and fixable. How influence actually works in the brain, and why title alone won't get people to go above and beyond. A concrete KPI approach for measuring emotional intelligence that most organizations aren't tracking yet. Timestamps [00:00:42] Emotional intelligence as the operating system for the future of work [00:02:30] Why 'soft skills' is out — and 'strategic skills' is in [00:03:10] How technical experts plateau: the real meaning of 'not strategic enough' [00:05:47] What 'be more strategic' is actually code for [00:07:26] Micromanagement as a symptom of not knowing how to teach others [00:09:09] The Peter Principle in action: when great individual contributors struggle to lead [00:12:19] Why title doesn't equal influence — and what builds rapport instead [00:16:55] Integrity in leadership: what it looks like when leaders actually walk the walk [00:17:15] How to give feedback that makes people better, not defensive [00:19:57] Measuring emotional intelligence: the KPI framework most orgs are missing Guest Bio: Dr. Bushra Khan is a founder, educator, and leadership expert with over 15 years of experience in organizational development and adult learning. With a doctorate in Educational Leadership, deep research in emotional intelligence alongside global experts, and the creation of a top-rated executive leadership program (clients include Google, Government of Canada, and ERCOT), her impact is both measurable and deeply human. Dr. Khan helps high-performing professionals strengthen their strategic capabilities, lead with integrity, turn their expertise into meaningful influence, and shape their leadership philosophy. She describes her work as a calm, compelling signal in the noise — a space where leaders come for clarity, rising professionals see possibility, and organizations recognize that emotional intelligence isn't a nice-to-have: it's the operating system for the future of work. Brought to You by Paylocity Paylocity is the fastest growing unified platform for HR, Finance, and IT. Paylocity brings your people, processes, and data together in one place so HR leaders can spend less time managing systems and more time doing the work that actually moves their organizations forward. Learn more at paylocity.com Keywords: emotional intelligence, EQ, leadership, strategic skills, soft skills, HR leadership, performance management, people management, coaching, micromanagement, influence, integrity, feedback, AI and leadership, KPIs, organizational culture, future of work, Dr. Bushra Khan, HR Mixtape, Paylocity

How do you rebuild a company's entire capability infrastructure — and fund the transformation through the savings it generates? Zaka Farhat is Global SVP for Talent, Learning, Organisation and Capability Development at GSK, where she leads the company's enterprise-wide skills, learning and capability agenda. In this episode, Zaka shares the full story of how GSK rebuilt its capability infrastructure in 18 months - retiring more than 20 legacy systems, building a single skills and learning ecosystem, and funding the transformation through the savings it generated. Join them as David and Zaka discuss:Why GSK's skills transformation began with a commercial question about capability and cost The five conditions for organisational readiness that had to be in place before any platform launched How GSK approached skills taxonomy, job architecture and inference, and what they had to redo along the way What personalised learning looks like at scale, and how skills data is now shaping workforce planning decisions What GSK chose to stop, and why decommissioning is the step most transformations skip How Zaka's team is measuring impact across three KPI layers This episode is sponsored by TechWolf. The world of work is being rewritten faster than HR systems can keep up. Skills age in months. Roles get redesigned quarter by quarter. CHROs have quietly become AI transformation leads, and the data they need to lead it doesn't exist in any HR system. That's why the world's most forward-looking enterprises such as HSBC, AMD, T-Mobile, GSK, ServiceNow, Pfizer, have built on TechWolf. As the data layer for the AI era of work, TechWolf gives enterprises the skills, they need to move faster and lead with confidence. Skills Intelligence, Work Intelligence, and Market Intelligence, in one layer. Visit techwolf.ai. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if one proven methodology could turn B2B market share from stagnant to soaring, with a track record of guaranteed growth, yet almost no U.S. company has heard of it? In this episode of Predictable B2B Success, we speak with Hugo Van Den Biggelaar, a former Nike brand strategist turned evangelist for Bitsing, a 33-year-old European methodology that has fueled BMW, Shell, HP Enterprise, and thousands of organizations, with no failures on record. Hugo, now based in Brooklyn, New York, challenges core assumptions about B2B growth. He says most companies aren't failing because they do the wrong things, but because they do the right things in the wrong order and at the wrong time. What is the hidden sequence behind sustained revenue, and why is “brand awareness” sometimes a death trap? Hugo reveals why even the most successful B2B teams often aim at the wrong goals, how to build a “golden egg” competitors can't copy, and why emotional preference, not rational decision-making, drives billion-dollar deals. Why your growth efforts stall or how sales, marketing, and product can actually align, this conversation will leave you rethinking everything you know about predictable B2B success. Some topics we explore in this episode include: The Bitsing Methodology: Origins, proven track record, and impact on companies worldwideRight Actions, Wrong Sequence: How companies undermine growth by doing the right things in the wrong orderFinancial Goal Setting: The necessity of clear financial (not just KPI) goals: continuity, ambition, and dreamOrganizational Alignment: The need for unified goals and eliminating departmental silosThe Seven Principles/Steps: The stepwise framework that drives predictable growthData-Driven Focus: The Pencil Method: Using facts (not gut) to determine where revenue actually comes fromThe Golden Egg: Emotional Differentiation: Creating an emotional, uncopyable reason for customers to choose your brandStrategies vs. Goals: The common mistake of confusing means with ends 17:12.Driving Preference and Loyalty: Preference as the key to growth and how to create genuine, unconditional loyaltyPlan Execution & Guaranteed Results: The phases of implementation and what “guaranteed growth” means with Bitsing

Jeremy Packee and Emily Anderson break down the biggest paid media story of the year so far: Google Marketing Live 2026. The episode explores Google's vision for an AI-powered future, including major updates to AI Mode, AI Max, Demand Gen, Merchant Center, measurement, creative workflows, and agentic commerce. The hosts discuss how search is becoming more conversational, why first-party data is increasingly critical, and what Google's new tools mean for advertisers managing both e-commerce and lead generation campaigns. They also examine emerging features like Universal Cart, AI-powered shopping experiences, predictive conversion modeling, and Google's growing use of AI assistants across its advertising ecosystem. As automation continues to expand, Jeremy and Emily focus on the practical implications for marketers, separating platform promises from real-world application and highlighting where human strategy still matters most. Episode Highlights Biggest Shift Google is transforming search from a keyword-driven experience into an AI-powered conversation, creating new opportunities—and new challenges—for advertisers trying to maintain visibility and control. Most Interesting Announcement Universal Cart and the Universal Commerce Protocol could allow users to discover, evaluate, and purchase products directly within Google experiences without ever visiting a website. Biggest Opportunity Merchant Center is evolving into a strategic AI input layer. Advertisers with clean product feeds, rich attributes, lifestyle imagery, and strong first-party data may gain a significant advantage in AI-powered shopping experiences. Measurement Upgrade Google introduced predictive conversion metrics designed to connect upper-funnel activity, branded searches, video views, and site engagement to future conversion value beyond traditional attribution windows. Tool Worth Testing Ask Advisor continues expanding across Google Ads, Analytics, Merchant Center, and other platforms, helping marketers surface insights and troubleshoot issues more efficiently. Other Platform Updates • AI Mode continues expanding as Google's preferred search experience • AI Max is becoming more prominent within Search campaigns and broad match targeting • Demand Gen is receiving new attribution, testing, and measurement capabilities • Google is introducing AI-powered lead qualification directly within search ads • AI Brief provides advertisers with a way to guide AI-generated creative using brand instructions and campaign goals • Asset Studio adds expanded video generation and one-click creative testing workflows • Product feeds are expanding into additional surfaces, including paused YouTube ads and Google Maps placements • Creator partnership content can now be boosted more easily through Demand Gen campaigns • Google is emphasizing first-party data, modeled measurement, and causality testing as core inputs for AI-powered optimization Final Take Google's vision is clear: more automation, more AI, more conversational experiences, and more commerce happening directly inside Google's ecosystem. The challenge for marketers isn't whether to adopt these tools—it's understanding where they create real value, where they still require human oversight, and how to maintain control over data, measurement, and business outcomes as advertising becomes increasingly AI-driven. Follow The Click Brief for fast, no-fluff performance marketing updates. Visit The Click Brief blog for more in-depth analysis and updates from May

- Gặp mặt 101 nhà báo tiêu biểu, Tổng Bí thư, Chủ tịch nước Tô Lâm yêu cầu báo chí phải lấy lợi ích của nhân dân làm điểm xuất phát.- Từ quý 3 năm nay, Chính phủ sẽ thí điểm đánh giá, chấm điểm KPI trong công tác xây dựng pháp luật.- Bộ Tài chính đề xuất gia hạn nộp thuế và tiền thuê đất năm nay khoảng 125.000 tỷ đồng, để hỗ trợ sản xuất kinh doanh,.- Hơn 2 triệu 300 nghìn người dân TPHCM đã được lập hồ sơ sức khỏe điện tử- Tại Huế, hơn 1 triệu 200.000 người sẽ được khám sức khỏe miễn phí mỗi năm-Tín hiệu tích cực trong quá trình gia nhập Liên minh châu Âu của Ucraina và Mondova- Ngân hàng trung ương Nhật Bản nâng lãi suất lên mức cao nhất trong 31 năm

Are accounting firms doing enough to support SME clients beyond tax compliance? In this episode, Peter Towers explores why accountants, bookkeepers, and business advisors need to embrace advisory services, predictive accounting, business planning, cash flow forecasting, KPI monitoring, and capital raising support. Discover how firms can strengthen client relationships, create new revenue opportunities, retain talented team members, and help SMEs survive and thrive in challenging economic conditions. You can also access our podcast on:

In this Ask George episode, we tackle the ultimate debate in dental practice ownership: have you built a highly profitable business, or just a high-paying job? Dr. George Hariri breaks down the reality of "key man risk," proving that if your office relies on your personal clinical energy to generate revenue, you are acting as an employee. For a future owner, making the shift to CEO requires mastering advanced dental practice management so your team performs efficiently without your oversight.This ultimate survival guide for mastering dental practice ownership shows you exactly how to shift from a stressful owner-driven clinical model to an autonomous, team-driven powerhouse. To achieve sustainable dental practice growth, implement KPI accountability:Missed Call Rate: Track front office metrics to capture inbound leads.Reactive Retention: Consistently monitor your overdue recare efforts.Proactive Retention: Push daily hygiene reappointments past a 90% target.To cement your dental practice ownership, delegate case acceptance entirely. When hygienists are calibrated to co-diagnose, they educate patients before you arrive, massively boosting dental practice profitability. We also highlight why the associate to owner transition fails without an Office Manager handling HR and payroll, ensuring scaling does not create more work. Embrace entrepreneurship for dentists by building systems that leverage your team's time.Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

Rassegna stampa economico-finanziaria del 15 Giugno 2026, strutturata per macro-temi e basata sulle principali testate giornalistiche nazionali.Mercati, banche e creditoTestate: Corriere della Sera – L'Economia / Repubblica Affari&Finanza / Il Fatto Quotidiano / L'Altravoce* Risiko bancario italiano in accelerazione. Il tema dominante è la concentrazione del credito: Intesa, Unipol, Mps e Mediobanca tornano al centro della scena. L'obiettivo industriale dichiarato è creare poli bancari più forti, capaci di competere in Europa e sostenere imprese e distretti.    KPI: Unipol dichiara il 24,1% di Bper e il 19,8% della Popolare di Sondrio; il nodo Mps-Mediobanca resta cruciale per gli equilibri del sistema.* Opportunità positiva: se ben governata, la concentrazione può rafforzare patrimonializzazione, credito alle imprese e capacità di accompagnare il risparmio verso investimenti produttivi.* Rischio da monitorare: meno concorrenza per correntisti e risparmiatori. Il punto critico resta la tutela del cliente finale: costi, commissioni e qualità del servizio.Tecnologia, IA, data center ed energiaTestate: Repubblica Affari&Finanza / La Stampa / Il Fatto Quotidiano / Corriere – L'Economia / Foglio* Data center e IA diventano tema industriale nazionale. L'Europa viene descritta come in ritardo sulla capacità digitale: servono più infrastrutture, più energia e maggiore sovranità tecnologica.* Domanda elettrica in crescita. IA e data center riaccendono il fabbisogno energetico, creando opportunità per reti, accumuli, rinnovabili e nucleare, ma anche tensioni sui territori.* KPI tecnologici: il mercato dei chip neuromorfici viene indicato in forte espansione, con applicazioni in smartwatch, robotaxi, sanità e telecomunicazioni; citata una prospettiva di crescita verso diversi miliardi entro il prossimo decennio.* Aspetto positivo: l'Italia può attrarre investimenti se integra energia, autorizzazioni rapide e filiere tecnologiche. Il rischio è perdere terreno a favore di Usa e Asia.Fisco, patrimonio e territoriTestate: Corriere della Sera / Sole 24 Ore / L'Altravoce / La Stampa* Evasione fiscale come freno strutturale. Il Corriere evidenzia che dal 2015 l'evasione italiana vale almeno 100 miliardi l'anno. Il tema non è solo contabile: sottrae risorse a sanità, scuola, infrastrutture e riduce equità competitiva.* Condoni e rottamazioni sotto accusa. Le nuove regole fiscali favoriscono il pagamento agevolato del debito emerso, ma il rischio è indebolire la compliance spontanea.* Piccoli Comuni e spopolamento. Il Sole 24 Ore segnala che solo un piccolo Comune su cinque offre tutti i servizi di base. Casa, bonus bebè e rigenerazione dei borghi diventano strumenti di politica industriale territoriale.* Indicazione positiva: borghi, turismo esperienziale e servizi locali possono diventare una leva di sviluppo se collegati a infrastrutture digitali, sanità territoriale e mobilità.Geopolitica, energia e Medio OrienteTestate: Corriere della Sera / Repubblica / Messaggero / La Stampa / Il Foglio / Tempo / Giornale* Iran, petrolio e Stretto di Hormuz. Le testate convergono su un punto: l'intesa con Teheran apre una finestra di tregua, ma resta fragile. Il Corriere parla di “fase 2” con 60 giorni per sciogliere i nodi principali, soprattutto uranio, fondi congelati e pedaggi.* KPI geopolitici: citati 24 miliardi legati al dossier iraniano e il possibile sblocco di asset; centrale il tema della riapertura o sicurezza dello Stretto di Hormuz.* Petroliere e Russia. Londra e altri Paesi europei intervengono contro la flotta ombra russa. La notizia ha impatto diretto su energia, sanzioni, assicurazioni marittime e prezzi del greggio.* Lettura business: la tregua riduce il rischio immediato sui mercati energetici, ma resta una volatilità geopolitica elevata.Industria, imprese e Made in ItalyTestate: Corriere – L'Economia / Il Giornale / Repubblica Affari&Finanza* Bending Spoons e il nodo quotazione Usa. Il Corriere sottolinea il caso della società milanese che guarda al mercato americano: il tema è la capacità dell'Italia di trattenere imprese innovative, capitali e talento.* Distretti emiliani e banca-territorio. Bologna e Modena vengono indicati come aree strategiche: la finanza può diventare motore di crescita se accompagna filiere industriali, export e innovazione.* Turismo esperienziale in Lombardia. Il Giornale segnala record di visitatori e crescita del turismo legato a esperienze, territori e cultura locale.* Indicazione positiva: l'Italia mostra ancora capacità competitiva nei territori, ma deve collegare credito, capitali privati, innovazione e infrastrutture.Previdenza, lavoro e demografiaTestate: Repubblica Affari&Finanza / Sole 24 Ore / Sole 24 Ore Scuola* Fondi pensione: resta il divario donne-Sud. La previdenza complementare resta centrale, ma la partecipazione non è omogenea. Il problema è culturale, reddituale e territoriale.* Scuola e maturità. Il Sole 24 Ore Scuola segnala 527 mila studenti coinvolti nella nuova maturità: dato rilevante per capitale umano e ingresso nel mercato del lavoro.* Demografia e servizi. Spopolamento, carenza di servizi e divari territoriali pesano sulla crescita potenziale italiana.

What if the exhaustion you feel is not from doing too much, but from trying to prove something that has already been settled?In this episode, I uncover the real reason so many faith-filled leaders feel pressure even when they are doing all the right things. It is not a discipline issue. It is not a time issue. It is not even a conviction issue. It is an identity issue. I walk through the foundation of Kingdom Spiritual Intelligence and show how identity shapes everything: your decisions, your peace, your leadership, and your ability to hear God clearly.In this episode, you will discover: why performance-based identity leads to emotional highs and lows, how success and failure distort your sense of self, the difference between KPI thinking and KSI living, the messenger vs manager distinction and why it matters, why identity in God is received before anything is achieved, and how to shift from striving to abiding.Are you living from the identity God gave you, or performing the identity the world assigned you?Ready to find out where you are sourcing from?Take the 2-minute self-check right here. Stay close. One final message is coming in this series, followed by something new opening in July for those ready to remove the noise and live with conviction, peace, and direction.

Rassegna stampa economico-finanziaria del 13 Giugno 2026, strutturata per macro-temi e basata sulle principali testate giornalistiche nazionali.Mercati, BCE e debito pubblicoTestate: Il Sole 24 Ore / Il Foglio / La Verità / La Stampa* Piazza Affari aggiorna i massimi: Il Sole 24 Ore segnala un ritorno dell'ottimismo sui mercati e un nuovo record per la Borsa italiana. Il messaggio positivo è che, nonostante tensioni geopolitiche e tassi elevati, il mercato continua a premiare utili, banche e solidità del sistema Italia.* BCE ancora vigile sui tassi: più testate discutono la possibilità di una nuova stretta. La linea prevalente è che Francoforte non considera chiusa la partita inflazione. Per imprese e famiglie questo significa credito ancora selettivo, ma anche maggiore disciplina finanziaria.* BTP Italia: cedola minima all'1,6%: Il Sole 24 Ore evidenzia che il nuovo BTP Italia parte da una cedola reale minima dell'1,6%, poi indicizzata all'inflazione. È un dato interessante per il risparmio prudente: rendimento reale più protezione dal carovita.Geopolitica, energia e difesaTestate: Corriere della Sera / Repubblica / La Stampa / Il Giornale / Il Foglio* Iran-USA, intesa vicina ma fragile: Corriere, Repubblica, La Stampa, Il Giornale e Il Foglio convergono sul negoziato tra Washington e Teheran. I nodi sono tre: nucleare, riapertura dello Stretto di Hormuz e fondi iraniani congelati. KPI rilevanti: arricchimento dell'uranio al 90%, circa 24 miliardi di dollari di fondi bloccati e impatto diretto sui prezzi energetici.* Hormuz resta il rischio principale per petrolio e gas: la riapertura dello stretto ridurrebbe il premio al rischio sull'energia. Per le imprese europee sarebbe una notizia positiva: minore pressione sui costi industriali e sulle filiere energivore.* Nato e difesa europea: Repubblica segnala il possibile ritiro di circa un terzo dei caccia USA dall'Europa, con riduzione da 150 a 100 velivoli F-16 e F-35 e degli aerei da ricognizione da 26 a 15. La Verità richiama invece la riforma italiana della Difesa con 40.000 soldati in più entro il 2033.Fisco, casa e regolazione europeaTestate: Il Messaggero / La Stampa / Italia Oggi / Milano Finanza / Repubblica / Il Tempo* Affitti giovani, IVA verso il 5%: Il Messaggero riporta il lavoro del governo per dimezzare l'IVA sugli affitti per i giovani, dal 10% al 5%. È una misura potenzialmente positiva per mobilità abitativa, studenti e giovani lavoratori.* Patrimoniale al centro del dibattito: La Stampa, Il Tempo, Italia Oggi e Milano Finanza trattano il tema da angolazioni diverse. Il Tempo cita la soglia oltre 500.000 euro. Il punto economico è chiaro: tassare stock patrimoniali rischia di incidere su fiducia, immobili e capitali, ma il tema redistributivo resta politicamente sensibile.* CBAM, Bruxelles rafforza la tassa sul carbonio alle frontiere: Repubblica segnala il rafforzamento dello “scudo” europeo contro prodotti importati da Paesi con standard climatici più bassi. Settori coinvolti: acciaio, alluminio, cemento, fertilizzanti, elettricità e idrogeno. Dal punto di vista industriale è una tutela per le imprese europee, ma può aumentare costi e burocrazia.Banche, credito e infrastrutture finanziarieTestate: Milano Finanza / Il Foglio / Repubblica / Il Sole 24 Ore* Consolidamento bancario, decide il mercato: Milano Finanza intervista Salvatore Rossi: la vera sfida non è solo aggregarsi, ma ragionare da europei. Il messaggio per il settore è positivo: le banche italiane entrano nella fase di consolidamento da posizioni patrimoniali più solide rispetto al passato.* Risiko bancario tra Siena e Trieste: Il Foglio ricostruisce rivalità e strategie nel sistema bancario. Il tema industriale resta la scala: più dimensione, più capacità di competere su credito, tecnologia e risparmio gestito.* Borsa Italiana corregge la governance con ok Consob: Repubblica segnala il via libera della Consob agli aggiustamenti di governance. È un passaggio tecnico, ma rilevante per trasparenza e funzionamento del mercato.Industria, infrastrutture, agricoltura e AITestate: Il Sole 24 Ore / Repubblica / Italia Oggi / Milano Finanza / Il Fatto Quotidiano* Agricoltura italiana a 80 miliardi: Italia Oggi evidenzia il valore del settore agricolo nazionale, pari a 80 miliardi di euro. È una notizia positiva: l'agroalimentare resta una piattaforma industriale strategica, non solo un comparto tradizionale.* Piano casa, Demanio, Terzo settore e Sace: Il Sole 24 Ore segnala l'apertura del piano casa a nuovi attori. La lettura business è favorevole: più soggetti coinvolti può significare più capacità di esecuzione, soprattutto se si mobilita capitale privato.* Cyber e AI nella PA: Il Sole 24 Ore scrive che la protezione cyber va verso DIS e Difesa, lasciando all'Agenzia la funzione regolatoria. Italia Oggi segnala invece che nella PA l'AI viene già usata “sotto traccia”. Milano Finanza propone integrazioni alla regolazione AI. Il tema è centrale: produttività sì, ma con governance chiara.Lavoro, capitale umano e formazioneTestate: Il Messaggero / Il Foglio / Il Fatto Quotidiano* Occupazione record: nove laureati su dieci scelgono l'Italia: Il Messaggero dà una lettura positiva del mercato del lavoro qualificato. Il dato chiave è forte: 9 laureati su 10 restano o scelgono l'Italia.È un segnale utile per imprese e investitori, perché riduce il rischio di fuga del capitale umano.* PIL debole, lavoro forte: Il Foglio mette in evidenza il paradosso italiano: crescita modesta ma occupazione resiliente. Per le aziende significa domanda interna non esplosiva, ma mercato del lavoro più robusto di quanto spesso si racconti.* Scuola e AI: Il Fatto Quotidiano segnala l'ingresso dell'intelligenza artificiale nella scuola. Il punto manageriale è la formazione: senza competenze diffuse, l'AI resta tecnologia, non produttività.

Hiring the right team members can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, especially when the candidates you're attracting aren't who you hoped for. In this episode of the Business of Apparel podcast, Rachel explains why attracting poor job candidates is often the result of a weak or generic job description rather than a lack of talent in the market. She shares how apparel brand owners can attract A-player employees by focusing less on qualifications and more on the outcomes, goals, and opportunities a role provides. 

- Hôm nay, hơn 1.200.000 thí sinh trên cả nước sẽ chính thức bước vào Kỳ thi tốt nghiệp Trung học Phổ thông năm 2026.- Công an tỉnh Thanh Hóa, triệt phá và khởi tố 2 đường dây chế tác trang sức giả thương hiệu nổi tiếng và buôn lậu vàng trị giá lên tới nghìn tỷ đồng- Lần đầu tiên, Liên hợp quốc cử đoàn điều tra tới Li-băng đánh giá tình hình vi phạm luật quốc tế của các bên tham gia xung đột- Nhiều nhà lãnh đạo thế giới chúc mừng Thủ tướng Ấn Độ Na-ren-đra Mô-đi sau khi trở thành người đứng đầu chính phủ có thời gian giữ chức liên tục dài nhất trong lịch sử Ấn Độ.- Bài bình luận nhan đề “Chỉ số đánh giá hiệu quả công việc KPI và câu chuyện “thấu cảm” trong giải ngân vốn đầu tư công”

Rassegna stampa economico-finanziaria dell'11 Giugno 2026, strutturata per macro-temi e basata sulle principali testate giornalistiche nazionali.ECONOMIA, PIL E CONTI PUBBLICITestate: Corriere della Sera / Il Sole 24 Ore / Repubblica / Il Messaggero* L'Ufficio Parlamentare di Bilancio (UPB) stima che l'escalation del conflitto in Medio Oriente possa costare all'Italia 0,3 punti di PIL nel 2026 e generare 1,4 punti aggiuntivi di inflazione, soprattutto attraverso il rincaro energetico e delle materie prime.  * Secondo le simulazioni riportate da Repubblica e Sole 24 Ore, il rapporto debito/PIL potrebbe avvicinarsi al 140%, riducendo sensibilmente gli spazi di manovra della prossima legge di bilancio. Il rischio maggiore riguarda il rallentamento della crescita e l'aumento della spesa per interessi.  * Il Messaggero evidenzia invece un dato incoraggiante: il PIL italiano cresce oltre le attese, rafforzando la posizione del Governo nel difendere la strategia di sostegno a imprese e ceto medio.  * Marco Fortis sottolinea come l'economia italiana stia mostrando una capacità di resilienza superiore alle aspettative, grazie soprattutto a export, turismo e investimenti legati al PNRR.  KPI principali* Impatto guerra sul PIL: -0,3%* Impatto sull'inflazione: +1,4 punti percentuali* Debito pubblico potenziale: 140% del PILIndicazione positiva: nonostante il contesto geopolitico sfavorevole, la crescita italiana continua a sorprendere positivamente rispetto a molte economie europee.BANCHE, RISIKO FINANZIARIO E RISPARMIOTestate: Corriere della Sera / Il Sole 24 Ore / Domani / Riformista* Prosegue il grande risiko bancario italiano. Il Ministro Giorgetti conferma che lo Stato uscirà definitivamente da Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena e che la quota pubblica sarà ceduta “a chi offrirà di più”.  * Il Sole 24 Ore richiama l'attenzione sulla necessità di tutelare il risparmio degli italiani durante la fase di consolidamento bancario, evitando operazioni che possano ridurre la concorrenza nel settore.  * Domani analizza i possibili vincitori e sconfitti del risiko che coinvolge i principali istituti italiani, mentre il Riformista evidenzia le implicazioni politiche delle operazioni in corso.  * Nell'intervista al Corriere, Giovanni Azzone prevede che Intesa Sanpaolo rafforzerà ulteriormente il proprio ruolo europeo, generando maggiori dividendi per la fondazione Cariplo e quindi maggiori risorse per ricerca, cultura e welfare.  Indicazione positiva: il consolidamento bancario potrebbe aumentare l'efficienza del sistema finanziario italiano e rafforzare i campioni nazionali nel contesto europeo.MERCATI, INFLAZIONE E POLITICA MONETARIATestate: Corriere della Sera / Repubblica / Milano Finanza / Italia Oggi* L'escalation militare tra Stati Uniti e Iran alimenta nuove pressioni sui prezzi energetici. Il Corriere segnala che negli Stati Uniti l'inflazione percepita dai consumatori torna al centro del dibattito politico e finanziario.  * Milano Finanza evidenzia che i mercati azionari stanno tornando a temere una nuova fiammata inflazionistica, soprattutto se dovessero proseguire le tensioni nello Stretto di Hormuz.  * Repubblica dedica un approfondimento al dilemma della BCE: inflazione in rallentamento ma scenario geopolitico più incerto.  * Italia Oggi richiama l'attenzione sulla riunione BCE di oggi, considerata cruciale per comprendere l'orientamento dei tassi nei prossimi mesi.  KPI principali* Inflazione USA: ancora sotto osservazione per l'effetto energia.* Debito/PIL Italia: rischio area 140%.* Mercati europei: elevata sensibilità alle quotazioni del petrolio.Indicazione positiva: la BCE dispone oggi di maggior margine rispetto al passato per intervenire grazie alla discesa dell'inflazione core osservata negli ultimi trimestri.INDUSTRIA, INFRASTRUTTURE E PNRRTestate: Corriere della Sera / Italia Oggi / Il Sole 24 Ore / Il Foglio* Il Governo conferma la volontà di avviare i lavori del Ponte sullo Stretto entro la fine dell'anno, con via libera atteso a settembre.  * L'infografica del Corriere evidenzia un impatto economico rilevante:    * 13,5 miliardi € di opere complessive;    * 23,1 miliardi € di PIL generato;    * 36.700 occupati;    * 22,1 miliardi € di redditi distribuiti;    * 10,3 miliardi € di entrate fiscali.  * Italia Oggi segnala che gli appalti PNRR stanno diventando più rapidi, ma con una platea più ristretta di imprese in grado di partecipare alle gare.  * Il Foglio rileva come, nonostante l'imponente mole di investimenti del PNRR, gli effetti sul PIL stiano emergendo più lentamente delle attese iniziali.  Indicazione positiva: le grandi opere e gli investimenti infrastrutturali continuano a rappresentare uno dei principali motori della crescita italiana nel medio periodo.FISCO, PREVIDENZA E NORMATIVATestate: Corriere della Sera / Repubblica / Il Sole 24 Ore / Italia Oggi* Il Governo conferma la linea di opposizione a qualsiasi ipotesi di patrimoniale e annuncia ulteriori interventi di riduzione fiscale a favore del ceto medio.  * Prosegue il confronto sulla riforma fiscale. Secondo alcune analisi riportate dalla Stampa e da Repubblica, il sistema continua a mostrare elementi di iniquità e complessità.  * Slitta il termine per aderire alla rottamazione delle multe e dei tributi locali, offrendo più tempo a contribuenti e imprese.  * Sul fronte previdenziale viene confermata la partenza dal 1° luglio delle nuove disposizioni riguardanti i fondi pensione, senza ulteriori rinvii.  Indicazione positiva: la conferma delle tempistiche sulla previdenza complementare offre maggiore certezza a lavoratori e operatori del settore.INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE, TECNOLOGIA E INNOVAZIONETestate: Corriere della Sera / Repubblica / Avvenire / Il Sole 24 Ore / Domani / Italia Oggi* Il Consiglio dei Ministri approva il primo pacchetto organico di norme sull'Intelligenza Artificiale. Le nuove regole riguardano scuola, lavoro, pubblica amministrazione, giustizia e sicurezza.  * Viene ribadito il principio secondo cui le decisioni che incidono sui lavoratori non potranno essere totalmente automatizzate.  * Sarà possibile utilizzare sistemi avanzati di riconoscimento e analisi nei grandi eventi e negli stadi, con forti limitazioni e controlli normativi.  * Italia e Corea del Sud rafforzano la cooperazione su innovazione, semiconduttori e IA. Il presidente sudcoreano Lee propone un nuovo asse tecnologico tra Roma e Seul.  * Il Governo punta a rafforzare la formazione dei giovani sulle competenze digitali e sull'uso consapevole dell'IA.  Indicazione positiva: l'Italia sta cercando di posizionarsi tra i primi Paesi europei a dotarsi di un quadro normativo strutturato sull'Intelligenza Artificiale, elemento favorevole per attrarre investimenti tecnologici.ENERGIA E GEOPOLITICATestate: Corriere della Sera / Il Messaggero / Milano Finanza* La crisi tra Stati Uniti e Iran entra in una nuova fase con attacchi reciproci e minacce sui principali snodi energetici regionali.  * Lo Stretto di Hormuz torna al centro delle preoccupazioni internazionali per il possibile impatto sulle forniture petrolifere globali.  * Bruxelles avvia la revisione del sistema ETS, con possibili effetti su compagnie aeree, trasporto e impianti di incenerimento.  Indicazione positiva: la spinta europea verso efficienza energetica, rinnovabili e sicurezza degli approvvigionamenti continua ad accelerare investimenti pubblici e privati.

Part one of Kiera's conversation with Howard Farran on the Dentaltown podcast. They discuss how many details a dentist should know about their business, what about the COVID-19 pandemic still haunts practices, the AI of dentistry and the human care of patients, hidden gaps draining profitability, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today we are sharing a guest interview I did on another podcast. And it was too valuable not to bring you guys here.   this episode, you're gonna hear this host lead the conversation and then I'll wrap us up at the end. I cannot wait. It was truly one of my most   episodes and I truly hope you enjoy.   The Dental A Team (00:17) It's just a huge honor for me today to bring back Kiera Dent. How are you doing, Kiera? my gosh, Howard. It's so great to be back. I remember my very first podcast with you. I was actually at an office in Alabama and I went like hid in this room because I was starstruck podcasting with you. So to be able to be back on the show with you ⁓ several years later is just fun. I love what you guys are doing. I love Dentaltown. I love your posts. so it's really fun to be back. So thank you. ⁓ the honor is all mine. Just remember Kiera likes Shakira.   And Dent is just her nickname. The full name is Dental Queen Goddess. So thank you. And ⁓ she is the founder and CEO of the Dental A Team, committed to elevating dentists and their teams to their highest level through customized in-office and virtual consulting and training. Her vast experience ranges from the front office to assistant, regional manager, and dental practice owner, giving her a perspective few consultants can claim.   She and her team work with hundreds of dental practices nationwide and confidently say we don't just understand you, we are you. Among her many accomplishments, Ciara has grown a practice from 500,000 to 2.4 million in just nine months with a doctor straight out of dental school. She's coached hundreds of practices, authored numerous articles, and designed a customizable operations manual manual that serves as a roadmap for systems and team success.   Her Dental A Team podcast has amassed nearly 2 million downloads, making it one of the most impactful resources in all of dentistry. Kiera lives every day by her core values. Do the right thing, ownership, passion for excellence, ease, grit, innovator, die, and fun. Her motto says it all. There is always a solution. And my gosh, I just want to tell you the truth. And the reason I was so excited to bring you on. It seems like dentistry has turned into two groups of dentists.   There's all the old farts like me who, you know, we had, you know, we had great practices, great lives, great careers. And then you got these younger dentists that look at us and say, ⁓ man, you graduated in the good old days. You know, you didn't have five hundred thousand dollars of student loans, you didn't have DSOs, Delta hasn't given us a raise in four generations, and and and they're mad at the ADA. I think they're even mad at their mom. I I they're I think so and they're not happy. Do you have any good news?   For these dental graduates with $500,000 of student loans, or did they make the wrong decision and should have become a plumber? I mean, you know, plumbing is always a backup plan if dentistry doesn't work. So I think you're like at least in that realm. Like, you know, there's always options. But I love dentistry and I actually, ⁓ I think we're actually in the best time of dentistry. And I know that yes, there's the good old days. Then Howard, those were great days for you. But I think like, how many options do people have now? We have AI, we have these innovations, and I mean.   Your my example of a student straight out of dental school, we actually had one million. So I actually called her 2.5 because we had $2.5 million. So from student debt to practice loan debt to buying another location, all within a couple of months of us starting the practice. And so I called her 2.5 every time I walked past her. I was like, get that back straight, girl. Like we got 2.5 mil of debt on us. but to be able to grow our practice in nine months was   Absolutely incredible. And I think that that's where dentistry is amazing. There is no cap, there is no ceiling, and you have a way to truly impact and change people's lives. And I'm like, you have DSOs as options. Like there were not the times where you were getting the multiples that you get today. You also have like there are so many avenues that dentistry can afford you. but I think it's a it's a matter of what you choose to focus on, is what you're going to find more of. If you want to sit here and say, ⁓ my gosh, it's awful. We have 500,000 of debt. And I'm like, Yeah, but guess what? My husband had   Not quite the same, but we had several hundreds, thousands of dollars of debt. And he's a pharmacist. And so I understand what it's like to come out of school and have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt on us. But guess what? He's making, you know, hundred, hundred and fifty. If we're lucky on a good day, we're capped out. It took us forever to pay back our student loans. But as dentistry, you have untapped and uncapped potential. And so for me, you get to change people's lives, you get to give them confidence, you get to help them have better health, and you're able to make people smile like.   I can't think of a better opportunity to be a part of. And I'm not just Pollyanna over here. I coach hundreds and thousands of offices. I've seen the good, the bad, the ugly, and the in between. But I'll tell you, depending upon how you choose to view this, you can either find the good or the bad. And I'd recommend like, let's find the great because it's a gold line of opportunity if you want to see it. What what do you say to dentists who say, Mm-mm, you know, I I really don't want to complain really a bit. I mean, on paper my   My practice looks perfect. I got two hygienists. I do a million dollars. I do all this, but just internally it just feels chaotic and stressful. So it looks like on paper he's doing everything right. But she says, I still feel like chaos and stress. What's what's that about? I think like welcome to being a business owner. I think that there's two sides of success. In the word success, there's literally the word suck. Like there are parts of success that are going to suck. Like that's just how it is, guys.   And so that chaos and internal turmoil, I think I there I have lots of offices where you don't have to be that way. And I think going from like operator doing all the pieces, being stressed out into like a CEO of a business. ⁓ I think sometimes dentists are such gunners doers, they're so hands-on that they have this internal chaos. But there there are paths again that don't have to be that way. But I also think this is part of the game of business that we signed up for. And I think when you get to the level like Howard.   You've seen, I've seen over our career, we've got the gunners and the doers and the like zero to two year business owners. Like it's freaking chaos. It's psycho. Like you're learning these things just like you're back in dental school. But as you mature, you start to realize that the chaos is just part of the game. And the more you're able to learn to weather it, to see it, and to not do all the pieces, elevate your team, get great people, do like hire it out. You can hire, I mean, a practice is doing a million and you got great profitability and overhead.   You can hire a lot of great people to take away a lot of your problems. And so like, let's get some of those things done. And then you actually become happier and you make more money. So that you don't have to sit in that chaos. I think that there's a part of it that will always suck. but there's also a part that can really be the successful part too, that's fulfillment and enjoyment. But you got to make the steps and take the steps to do it rather than just sit and complain about it.   Love it, love it, love it. ⁓ what do you what do you say about the ⁓ the dentist who got out of school, goes and works for a major DSO, say say he's working for Rick Workman, Heartland, and he works there two years, and you know, he you know, he's working for a guy that owns eighteen, nineteen hundred dental offices, but he can't tell you the code for a profit. Can't he'll say, like, you know, are they paying my pay right? Really? You can't check at you. I mean, it it's like   It's like they'll listen to a forty hour lecture on the difference between two different composites, but they did I mean th they worked through two years, they don't know insurance codes, they can't check out a patient, they don't know the software. I mean, I had one guy tell me, ⁓ the only thing you could tell me about the practice manager software is the brand name. He couldn't tell me and then he's asking me, you know, it what which one you know, but anyway, do you think do you think a dentist doesn't need to know all the business details?   Or do you think that's a blind spot and you can't delegate anything till you can do it and master it? I think that there's two types of owners. And I think that there's some that are really great at hiring people that they are great at hiring people, knowing it, listening to podcasts, hiring coaches, training the team, and like having somebody spot check for you. Then there's others that like they've got to know the ins and outs. But I think that like Howard, there's   To me, there's also a middle ground where I think that you can go sit with your biller for one day and just like say, like, walk me through your process. So you have a general idea and an understanding of what they do. Go watch to see how they schedule. ⁓ I think when it comes to billing, I do think the dentists have a very big blind spot. And to me, that is like as a business owner, not to know how your money comes to you. To me, that feels like a pretty big blind spot of like even just understanding that knowledge. And so   If I were to say, I don't think you need to know the ins and outs. I love like I recognize this. I was a business owner of it. I own practices. I worked with hundreds of dentists at Midwestern University's Dental College. Like, I hear what you guys are taught. Plus, I'm a team member on the other side. And so I created a billing course and an office manager course because I just want a dentist to know like, what should I be able to expect? And I think like if you want to just have a general overview so you don't get blindsided, you you can have it. I think you can quickly within like a week.   Know the bulk of like everything you need to know in a practice very simply, very easily. So that way you can delegate. That way you can have it. You're not gonna be perfect. but I think just having a general awareness. And then I love to give doctors just a quick checklist, like once a month, go spot check, go grab an EOB. Even if you don't know what the heck that EOB is, go ask your front office for it, check it. And just the more you learn that language, just like the language of business, I think it doesn't need to be an overnight sensation.   But I do think the more you're aware of it, I don't think you have to do every single role though to be a successful practice owner. And I mean, shoot, if Heartland can do it, I think it's a good example. But I think who are you? And are you a hands-on tactical person? Are you somebody who's really good at hiring people, t trusting other people, getting the checklist and spot checking? I think you can do it either way. But my recommendation is like just like one week, go like sit in every seat of your practice and get a general awareness and educate yourself on the things that you don't know. I'm really big on money, understanding at least how insurance works. And then also how do we like   present cases, what are kind of the flow that way those big zones that really impact your financials, you can you can be aware of. So those courses, those online CE courses, your website is The Dental A Team. The Dental A Team. Now I think the A Team, you need that guy with the Mohawk and all the bling. I mean that's who I am in my like spare time. This hair is just a facade. Like, you know, I hang out as Mr T. Mr T. Mr T, Mr T, yeah.   That's why I was thinking the A Team, but is that on your on your website, the th those courses? Yeah, they are. So we have an online library, it's all C E. We've got downloadable checklists, we've got operations manual. You got it. That's exactly right. And Howard, in real time, I'll have our marketing team actually put together a code. If you guys put in Dentaltown, since you're listening, we'll make sure that you guys get a coupon code for that as well. Well, since it's my compass podcast IRS that you just put Fabio.   you want Fabio? Okay. well in that case. So ⁓ so is I also see you have a ⁓ Summit twenty twenty six is live on Friday, April twenty fourth. Grab your ticket. Where's where's that show gonna be? Is it Reno where you are? You know, that's actually virtual, Howard, and it's one of our like favorite comebacks constantly. And the reason I do it virtual, people have been asking me for years, like, why don't you do it in person, Kiera? And what I found is   Because it's so like again as a team member, I really struggle to get my team ramped up, amped up, and have it be financially affordable. So what I found is if we can have it virtual in your practice with your full team, you guys are able to get this boost and surge of energy and have a good time. So it's for leadership teams, it's for doctors. ⁓ we've been doing it for six years strong and we tend to have hundreds of offices. You get your whole office there, you have a good time.   But yeah, it's virtual and it's C E and it's a great time. ⁓ I attend a lot of Tony Robbins, a lot of Brendan Bouchard, Rachel Hollis. So we've learned how to do people have told me the online experience is so fun. ⁓ we just get continual people coming back year after year after year. So yeah, come join us. It'd be a great time. I love Tony Robbins because ⁓ you know, my boys they wrestled year round from age five to fifteen.   Yeah. Made our garage. I got two real wrestling mats from the manufacturer in Pennsylvania delivered by an AJ Miller. So I never ever parked in my garage ever. And we would we were listening to that Tony Robbins 30 day, 30 day personal power. Yep. And then I and then I bought my first laptop when I went to MBA school. And so I took notes on it. And then when I was done, I I ⁓ closed down Saturday and I went to a studio Saturday, Sunday, and I ranted out my notes.   And I said, this has got to be 30 hours because I mean it's still Tony Robbins 30 day personal power. And that was the 30-day dental MBA. ⁓ and it worked out to be about thirty hours. But I'm telling you, the pandemic changed everything. That was when ⁓ online CE at Dentaltown just went through the roof and it hasn't come back and dental meetings haven't come back. Cause why do I need to fly to Chicago to listen to you if I got a Zoom call or   or streaming video or this event. I mean, I mean, just think of the plane ticket, the hotel, the sitting and attending. If you're in Phoenix, you know, just to get to New York is a five hour flight. I mean, why I I gotta fly five hours each way when I could see you on YouTube or a podcast or or whatever. But I wanna but I want to go back to that pandemic because that pandemic, I really think the reason you can really do this so successfully today is because of that pandemic. That's why we realize   I don't have to be in the flesh to learn knowledge. And and like I I I feel fine talking to you. I me too. The only thing I regret is teaching my mother how to do that. I got her FaceTime and all that kind of stuff. And because she calls to tell me about ever every one of her exciting things is junk mail she has. She's eighty seven and she believes every piece of junk mail. I love it. She's always free freaking out on her junk mail. But but I want to talk about the pan the dark side of the pandemic.   And that is a lot of people think about 20% of the hygienists left to practice. Before, you know, when I got out of school, your labor was supposed to be twenty percent, your overhead was supposed to be fifty percent. And by the time it was it didn't even take 10 or 20 years, and and due to insurance, I think not keeping up, ⁓ overhead went to basically two thirds. It went to about sixty-five percent and labor went to about twenty five, sometimes twenty-seven percent.   I'm hearing thirty percent labor all the time. And I mean I mean I'm talking about serious dudes who know the business of dentistry. And I don't I don't want to get my buddy Rick Kirstram out of me. He owns a hundred comfort dentals and he said he can't he said he's got the mean and lean where labor is twenty. He says he's got mean and leans with labor at twenty-eight, twenty-eight and a half. So so the the pandemic is ⁓ it that was five years ago. Why do you think it   seriously impacted labor cost of the pandemic. I do, Howard. And I think I think we kind of have this perfect storm, right? Like I think we've got multiple waves coming at us that have impacted. I think the pandemic pushed out those that were like, you know, I'm done. Like, like I'm good. I'm at the end of my career. I don't really want to do that. ⁓ a lot of hygienists are female and I think a lot of them realize they did not need two incomes anymore. And so it's like, you know, I want to be with my kids. I want to be home.   And then hygiene schools don't pump out a lot of hygienists and it's usually like a two year span. So yes, I have actually seen like hygiene is it really did, and then it clicked up. So the cost of hygienist has gone up astronomically. I mean, I think the highest I've seen of a hygienist being paid was 85 an hour. And to me, I was like, at that point, that was up in ⁓ it was up in Washington, up by Bellevue, Mount Vernon, that area. And I literally saw the the posting for 85 plus a a bonus, and I was like,   Screw that at that point. Like in all respect to hygienists, I'm gonna hire a dentist for that cost. Like I truly will. And that's not being disrespectful. It's just like a dentist is a more multifaceted. I understand they are not great hygienists, but if I have to and I'm gonna be putting this number up, like we've got to get to a space where it does work. So yes, I do. However, there are more hygienists coming onto the market. I still know that this is one of the hardest things, but ⁓ I have a practice that's out in Maui, rough life, huh, Howard? I get to fly to Maui to go do work, like.   You know, shout out to that office. ⁓ but what we found is we were able to find a way to get the hygienist to be paid exponentially higher by doing assisted hygiene. And so I think I'm seeing people innovate. I think I'm watching them create. I think I'm seeing people do some more outsourced costs in the front office. And so they're able to then offset the costs of the clinical team. ⁓ I think that people are just getting innovative and creative. And what I want to highlight is while this feels annoying, this is also business. And if we don't innovate and if we don't continue to evolve,   We actually decay and decline as an as an organization and as an industry. And so I know it's annoying and I absolutely empathize. And you're right. Like for me on our payroll, we're at 30%. Like I've had that as our metric for our clients for the last five years because payroll costs have gone up. But I'm like, but just because they've gone up, like let's look at several other industries. I mean, we're not here to like love on or hate on McDonald's, but I'm like, they have kiosks. They figured it out.   I checked in at a hotel in downtown San Francisco. There was no person there when I checked in. It was literally a person on Zoom just like this. I clicked in, they said hello to me. They took my information, but they didn't have to have a physical body in the office. And I think with AI and technology, dentistry is going to evolve, but I think the art and the care of patients does not need to evolve. And so, like, let's put our dollars where that matters and let's be able to look and innovate in other ways that keep our costs low. ⁓ I still think dentistry, I mean, why is there a one percent default rate on loans? Like,   Banks are still lending. We had the first down year of DSOs last year and the first uptick of private practice last year. And so when I look at these things, like it is still a great business to be in, even though labor costs, like, guys, again, it's just another flavor of business. So like let's figure out how to innovate. Let's figure out how to do it. And like, yes, I'm gonna pay for great people. I see team members as assets, not liabilities. And I'm gonna cut and chop on other areas that I can, but I'm also gonna be smart with my labor costs and make sure each person hitting their KPIs, they've got numbers that they're driving.   We are running this as an efficient business while like loving and taking care of our patients at the same time. I'm glad you mentioned bank loans because it's less than one percent default rate. Yes. All the defaults have the same thing in common. They all had their license taken away. Right. Always. And and if it's for drugs or alcohol, they now treat that as a medical disease. And the dentists still say, Screw you, I'm not gonna quit doing biking. And then they run south of the border. And that's why whenever you find a dentist down there that looks like me.   They're running for free Vicada. They they they said I'm not peeing any. So unless you, you know, do something just horrible. I mean, and you know, you have you have to get your it licensed in your way. But I w I wanna tell you about you know, there's just so many other things that you can focus on besides labor, like increasing their productivity. ⁓ I know dental offices. you can get a full if you pay a dentist in the Philippines five dollars an hour.   You get the best dentists in the Philippines. And I and there's dental offices that with Zoom and things like that are doing all their insurance and their claims and all that stuff. I mean, ⁓ so the with with with ⁓ with the internet, I mean you can literally have someone ⁓ be at the front desk ⁓ on a on a kiosk that's actually a dentist from the Philippines from five dollars an hour who when he's not busy can be calling your insurance companies all that. I I want to ask you another thing that's really hot on Dentaltown.   today. Everybody keeps talking about these dental insurance EFTs versus virtual credit cards. but basically everybody's reporting that major dental companies like even Delta are gonna stop sending paper checks and you gotta do it all electronic. And I guess that that electronic could be free, but it could be you know it could be another three and a half or three percent credit card fee on all your claims. Or what or what are your thoughts on all that? I'm hard on that   I have and I'm a hard no on the credit cards. Like, why? Why are you doing that? EFTs are so fast. Like there's absolutely no reason to be paying this. Explain to my home. A lot of them don't even know what a EFT. Mo I I bet 80% of the the dentists listen don't even know what we're talking about. Will you explain it? Will you explain it like I just graduated from dental school eight minutes ago? Of course. Well, I think that this is also where going back a little bit where you said, like, do dentists need to know the business? To me.   You don't even have to know that much, but I want to just challenge you that if you're getting a three, three and a half percent cut on your payments for quote unquote ease, that's a real big hit. And I would just challenge you to think about like for what and why. And so coming in, there's different ways the insurances are going to pay you. So they're gonna pay you via paper check, they're gonna pay you via EFT, which is a electronic fund transfer, or they've got this new thing where they're gonna pay you via credit card. And like honestly, to me, the credit card is so scammy.   And I've talked to so many people and like educate me, like, why would anybody do this? Like, I cannot comprehend. Like, I'm already taking a cut on insurance as is. Like, thank you for my marketing fee to be an insurance. Like, that's how I view that that write-off. Like, I know you hate it, but you're also gonna, you're either gonna have to do that, or you're gonna have to pay for marketing to bring in fee for service patients. So, like, again, let's just think about that. But I'm like, so I've already got a cut there, but I'm then gonna take another hit in addition to that for a credit card ease.   So as we're talking about that electronic fund transfers, they deposit straight into your bank account. The reason that some offices don't care for electronic fund transfers is because like trying to match it up is a like it kind of dumps and chunks into your bank account. So all you need to do is help your team members. Like there's ways that you can have it where it automatically emails your team when that comes through. So then they can go online and they can find out what the EFT was, so then they can balance and like enter it in.   I do think dentistry software is so dated because what happens is when we get paid from the insurance company, we get either like it's called an EOB, it's an explanation of benefits, and it's like batch checks. So when they dump this money to you, Delta's gonna give me like 20 grand. But like, who do I allocate that 20 grand to of all these patients? So that's I think where some people have like, well, electronic funds are so annoying and this and that. But I'm like, they're very quick, they're very fast, they're a lot safer than paper checks. Paper checks people do get embezzled on.   That I literally see no reason. Like, I don't care if you get it like one day sooner with a credit card, you are paying a huge hefty fee on that unnecessarily when electronic fund transfers are pretty much just as fast. Like maybe a like smidgey of a delay. But to me, that's a that's a very worthwhile smidgey of a delay. Because you're getting your payments so much faster. And as long as you're staying on top of it, you should still be able to maintain a 98% collections rate, even if you do checks or if you do electronic fund transfers. It just is so.   So dumb. I've yet to see a reason. But to me, I'm like insurances are so smart because it's just another way for them to take a chip out of what they're paying you and to have it come back to them. So again, think of the motive as to why they're offering. These people are not dumb. Those insurance companies, if you've ever gone to a business who's the biggest building in the entire city, it's your insurance companies. They're not dumb businesses. And I think we need to be smarter business owners that out think that. They always but Delta always says, we're   Yeah, so is Rolex Watch. Rolex Watch is a non profit. And and some of the CEOs of some of the anyway, we won't go there. But ⁓ yeah, ⁓ so what other ⁓ besides you know, when when someone tells me about their overhead, I tell them, look, I can't call the government and have my tax rate lowered. I can't call the nuclear power plant SRP or APS and tell them to lower my electric bill. I mean, something I i if the hygienists can   Wants a dollar an hour and if I say no, I'll give you 75 cents and she can go get a dollar across the street. I mean the market sets many, many prices. So the only way to fight that back is to ⁓ increase your productivity. You know, I mean if if if you have a dollar in labor and they do a dollar in dentistry, your overhead is a hundred percent. But if your dollar in overhead can do two dollars in dentistry, now it's down to fifty percent. So how so ⁓ are there other   ⁓ hidden gaps that are quietly draining profitability, or has it just come down to production? Or is it both I like I'm so glad you brought this up because I think like it's so easy to sit here and say, like, dentistry's not profitable. But I'm like, go find me another business that has a one percent fell rate that usually can run twenty to thirty percent profit margins if you run a business right. And this is not just Kiera sitting here fluff. This is like I got real clients running at these margins consistently. They've got large practices, small practices.   And so when I look at this and I'm like, okay, how do we make this more efficient? A lot of people want to go to the first thing of like, let's cut insurances. And I'm like, yay, pop the confetti, but be real smart. Because again, you're gonna then increase marketing fees, you're gonna lose a lot of your patient base. Like, let's just think through the ramifications. And so there's lots of different ways that we can increase productivity and not have to go for the cut. So I look at three levers that I found that can increase a practice. So one is we can increase our production. We're talking net production, not gross, like please feed your family, not your ego. So that's number one.   Number two is what's your collection percentage? Cause half the time doctors feel like they're broke and they don't have money, but your money's sitting in AR, which is your aging reports or your accounts receivable. We're not collecting the money and we don't have a good billing process. We got to get our collections up to 98%. And then the third thing is like we cut costs. And so looking at that, a lot of people want to go to just cut costs. I'm like, but in dentistry, let's break it down. If I want to add 10 grand more to my practice.   I love to help teams. Most offices are working four days a week. So if we're wanting to add 10 grand to a practice, working four days a week, let's do 10,000 and we're working 16 days a month. That's an extra six twenty-five a day. Well, how can we make six twenty-five in a dental practice? Let's think about our fluoride applications. Let's think about FMXs. Like I'm just talking, this is your lowest hanging fruit for you. Let's talk about could we add one or two fillings? Could we add like same-day dentistry, which is going to make more raving fans for our patients? There is so much ease in there.   Now, to increase our production, we can also look at our case acceptance. Doctors have so much case acceptance. And also, what are we diagnosing? I'm like, doctors, if you want to be producing 100 grand a month, the statistics are you need to be diagnosing three times that amount. And then we need to make sure our treatment coordinators are really good at diagnosing explaining treatment to them. They're not diagnosing, but they're explaining the treatment. They're presenting it in a way. We're not using insurance as our main driver. We're using it as like a coupon. And then we're really good at our follow through and our follow up.   Gotta have a right person, right seat in your treatment coordinator seat that's obsessive with hitting the right goals. And so there's like so many little ways. Like you can in I have added block scheduling, which I know is like a consultant's number one favorite thing to talk about, but like make it really make sense and easy for your team. I've added a million to a practice with no extra days, no extra work. We literally are just being more strategic with how we schedule. And so there's just so many little ways that I want dentists to realize like,   To me, I get really excited. This is where I geek out as a consultant. I geek out and I love to help that is because I'm like, how can I like squeeze more juice from the lemon you're already in? Like, let's just make more lemonade. Let's figure out ways to do it. And then let's make sure our costs are effective. So we teach your teams how to look at the business as a business. We teach each team member about their one KPI that's really going to drive it forward. We help them track. I just did this with an office manager this week and she's so lit up to look at her numbers, to look at her metrics, to see how she can do it.   And when they start to see how they can click it through, it's not you trying to push and drive more money. Like doctors, I tell everybody, every team member, you want your doctor to be so freaking profitable. Because if they're profitable and they're like they're secure, your life is so much better. So like I'm like dentists, we got to get you profitable, we to get the cash flow, we got to get you less stressed because you're gonna be a better dentist and a better business owner. But how are there's so many little easy ways where it's just low-hanging   Typically I'm able to add 10 to 30% of production in usually 90 days to an office, like very consistently with just small little reps, no real extra work. How are we doing our exams? Are we being directive in our treatment planning? Are we using like, okay, next visit I want to see you for this? And when do I want to see you back? And how much time is this going to take? Like, let's break down the barriers of treatment planning. There's so many little simple things that if you just implement, you can be very profitable very easily.   And then look at your P L. If you're not looking at your P and L every single week or month, like just being aware, getting into the language of business, that's also gonna help you too. So yes, cut. ⁓ but I found that it's always a lot easier to make sure our collections match, our production matches, and we use those little low hanging fruits. ⁓ and it's there. Like dentistry is such a magical, like, like it's a great lemon tree. You can make a lot of lemonade out of a dental practice. I want you to tell me if I'm right or wrong or or   I think I think there's two threes to double your price. Number one, if three people call your front desk, one is going to come in because they're smart and they need to they know they need to get their teeth clean. One isn't gonna come in for anything and you can hear them vaping and smoking and drinking beer and eating Cheetos on the call. But one out of three needs a little extra push. And if you train the person answering the phone, they can close that one out of three. And if they do, they doubled your practice. Then when they get in, you still got the now you got three people in chair.   One's gonna do what you say because you're a doctor and they've done their their author search and and you say they got a cavity, they're not gonna argue with you. One's not gonna do anything. In fact, in fact in fact I was like I had about a dozen patients that in the middle of my treatment plan, they asked me if they could just take a cigarette break ⁓ from my presentation and they went outside, had a cigarette, came back. They're gonna do it. But the other one in three needs some some closing skills. And so if you if you can close on the phone   You doubled your practice. You you got two butts in instead of instead of one. And if you fix your treatment plan presentation, you're gonna do two cases at one. And I think it's so funny now because the dentists have never let their hygienist or assistant, let alone receptionist, do any diagnosing treatment plan. But now AI, Pearl, and Overjet diagnosing all the cavities. So you wouldn't let your hygienist while she's in there for an hour.   Diagnose and treatment plan and sell the dentistry, the assistant while they're taking FMX, they they can't point out, yeah, see, that's a cavity, you don't need a filling and a root now. yeah, they couldn't do it because they were humans. But now Pearl and Overjeck can do it all day long and you're good with that. I mean, so so what how do you how do you double the close rate from one out of three to two out of three on the phone? How do you double the treatment plan acceptance rate from one to two out of three? Yeah. Do you do you agree those are possible goals?   Absolutely, Howard. I think again, this is the low hanging fruit that people are like, but that feels so hard. And I'm like, choose your hard. Like, is it harder to spend a little time with a front office and train them how to do this? Is it a little like, or is it harder to be cash flow negative? Like you choose what's your hard to me? Absolutely. Let's go after that. And I agree with you. Like teaching a team to preheat an oven, I call it what would doctor do. And so like, let's train our hygienist.   Like I tell all hygienists, doctor should be the second opinion, not the first opinion. And you got Pearl and you got Overjet. And so just spending a little bit of time with your team. So what we typically do for case acceptance, like let's go hit that one quick and then we'll talk about scheduling. Is I'm really big on let's get the whole team where we're talking the same language. So we recommend, like, what would doctor do? I recommend you run this over the course of six weeks, is typically how long it takes, anywhere from six weeks to maybe three months.   but we're gonna sit there and we're literally going to go through. We're gonna pull up an FMX. We're gonna do it one day over lunch. Hygienists, doctors, and if you want front office and dental assistance, rock on. But really, I want my like people that are seeing the bulk of my patients with doctor and hygiene. We're gonna look there and I want all of our hygienists to start like if we have an FMX up there and the interaurals, what is doctor going to recommend and how is doctor gonna talk about it? We're not just gonna sit here and have a nice little chit-chat. We're each gonna write it down because I wanna make sure every hygienist starts to get very, very comfortable. And the goal that I tell all hygienists is   Your goal should be at the end of this, what would doctor do training over six weeks? And if doctors are really consistent with it, I'm like six weeks of training to be able to double your practice and increase your case acceptance to me is a very good use of my time. So if I can do that, doctors and hygienists, you should be able to have 95% accuracy with your doctors at the end of this. And they do it. So hygienists get really lit up and they get very excited about it because now they're able to preheat the oven. They're able to talk to patients about it, use Pearl, use Overjet.   And then doctors, when they tee it up to you, and I say like hygienist, you've got to be the ones who first like introduce it, talk about it with the doctor as soon as they come in, but be real quick. So we introduce the patient, we compliment the patient on something, we recap the treatment that's discussed and we say something personal. Hygienist, you do that, your doctor exams will be much shorter for you and doctors will love it because it's very quick. If we can get that dialed in, and then doctors, you have a very like confirm the treatment.   then recommend exactly what needs to happen. And then we take that same baton up to the front office and front office, we schedule first. We then present the treatment. We use insurance secondary. I'm never leading with insurance. You do these little items which seem like, ⁓ no, that's like very quick, easy things. You're going to rapidly be able to help those ones. And then I do a two two two follow-up. So if they did not close for me and I'm going to go through it and I'm going to work through and I'm going to track all the people that didn't say yes to me and all the people that did say yes to me.   I'm gonna look for patterns. What are people saying yes? Like those are easy ones. Those are the gimme's. Those are the easy patients that Howard said. I'm looking for the people that say no and what's my pattern in there? And how do I change my verbiage? Because treatment planning is 80% psychology, 20% skill. So like what are you thinking? How are we presenting it? What are the words we're saying? One or two little changes usually will close that. What are the patterns and how can I get that number up higher? And I follow up with them in two days, two weeks, two months to make sure that they don't follow off.   People are like, Kiera, you really make your treatment coordinator do that? And like, yeah, I was your treatment coordinator that closed $50,000 same day. And this is exactly what I did. This is how I've trained co offices across the nation to do it. You just have these simple little things that help them out. And then you flip over to our scheduling. Like, I think scheduling's easy, Howard. I genuinely do. I'm like, half of it is just be nice. Like you got the COVID crank, and so many people are so grumpy and so like.   Annoyed when they pick up the phone, then I'm like, you can already leap your ahead by just being nice and being excited to welcome a patient. Then take like charge of that conversation. So let's take the ownership of that conversation. If someone's Do you take my insurance? I'm going to quickly redirect and say, my gosh, how did you hear about us? I'm going to answer that, but I want to find out how did they hear about us? If it's our Google reviews, if it's a referral, if it's somewhere else, I want to like say, my gosh, you're so lucky to be here.   We love our patients. We love our reviews. I can't wait for you to be a great raving fan too. let's talk about this. I can everything can be overcome. Please do not let being out of network stop people. It's a thousand dollar coupon and we're turning people away over that. No, no, no. We are better than that. And if we are the best dentist, they need to be coming to us. We need to win these patients over, make them feel so loved. Let's get them scheduled. Let's make this a great experience for them. Let's make them feel so excited. I did it with PT called like six offices.   And the office I chose, like so many people were annoyed I was calling. Can I put you on hold? Can I do this? And I was like, no one really wants my business. If you're just nice and you take control of that conversation, you can easily turn and transform your practice. So hopefully that was like not too much. I like I love these things. I love training treatment planning. I love training how to like take control of a phone call. I love helping teams overcome those little simple objections because it's very, very simple things.   that make massive leaps and bounds of change. And it's a great way to double your practice very easily, like you said.   The Dental A Team (36:13) All right, Dental A Team listeners, that was the guest interview that I absolutely loved. And I hope that if there was one idea that stood out to you, don't just agree with it, but actually go implement it this week. And if you need help setting this up in your practice or you need help just navigating or need a friend, head on over to TheDentalATeam.com and I'll be able to help you guys out. Click on the book of call or any way that we can support and serve you. That's what we're here for. That's what we're obsessed with. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Recorded LIVE at the HPX High Performance Expo, Charlotte NC, June 2026. Speaker Tony Whatley challenges owners to ask whether their company would grow if they disappeared for 90 days, arguing many entrepreneurs accidentally build high-paying jobs that buyers won't want. He explains that businesses with the same revenue can have very different valuations, from owner-dependent chaos (near-zero value) to profitable but messy operations (lower multiples) to a predictable "money machine" earning premium multiples. Valuation is built in the 2–3 years before a sale, yet only about 20% of listed businesses sell, often due to owner dependence and risk. Drawing on his ls1tech.com exit, he outlines six drivers of enterprise value: predictable revenue and diversified acquisition channels, documented processes and SOPs, reduced owner dependency via teams/KPIs/decision authority, KPI-driven management, building a brand beyond the founder, and cleaning up financials, contracts, and records to reduce buyer risk.   00:00 If You Vanish 90 Days 00:47 Three Business Valuations 03:20 Exit Timing and Odds 04:34 Founder Exit Story 05:39 Six Value Drivers 05:47 Predictable Revenue 10:18 Document Processes 14:19 Reduce Owner Dependency 18:22 Measure What Matters 21:45 Build a Sellable Brand 24:45 Clean Up for Buyers 29:37 Enterprise Value Scorecard

BONUS: Why More Code Doesn't Mean Better Software — And Where AI Actually Helps Your SDLC Most teams are adopting AI to write code faster. But what if code generation isn't your bottleneck? Mooly Beeri has spent 25 years diagnosing where software organizations actually underperform — from Microsoft to Philips to automotive — and his message is clear: measure before you automate, and tie every AI investment to a business KPI. The Pattern Debugger's Origin Story "I've been identifying patterns way before AI was doing that. One of my first jobs was Microsoft, and I got the opportunity to work in engineering excellence. Every single simple improvement would make the lives of so many people better and the code better and the products better."   Mooly's career started at Microsoft in engineering excellence, where he discovered his passion for finding process areas that need improvement. From there he built the first software centre of excellence for Philips, spawned it into a separate business, and has been doing the same process excellence work across healthcare, telecom, and automotive ever since. His framework: understand where you're bleeding quality, revenue, or budget — then intervene there, not everywhere. Improvement Doesn't Mean Progress "There are too many efforts to improve too many things that don't really matter. The ability to tie a specific improvement to what actually means progress for a business — that, for me, is one critical component that's missing in many transformations."   Mooly's core insight applies directly to AI adoption: everyone has an improvement plan, but few can answer "how does this improvement improve business performance?" If you ask that one additional question, you can probably cancel half your improvement projects — the ones that make people feel good but don't move the needle on time to market, quality, or cost. The Code Generation Trap "It's like saying a book author is more productive because they write more words. The unit of work is not the number of lines of code they produce. The unit of work is a piece of code that works, that is tested, that is fully reliable, that meets a customer expectation, and eventually generates revenue."   Data from Faros AI shows individual developer PRs went up 98% with AI tools — but organizational delivery actually dropped 1.5%. More code, same or worse outcomes. Mooly explains why: most organizations invest in code generation not because it's the most effective thing to improve, but because it's the easiest step to automate. There are 35 steps in the SDLC. Picking code generation gives you a 1-in-35 chance of striking gold. As the saying goes: hope is not a strategy. Where AI Actually Works in the SDLC "The best usages would be in areas of the SDLC where there is a lot of data that needs processing and needs some detection of patterns — where AI is really, really good."   The most successful AI applications Mooly has seen with clients:   Defect root cause analysis — training AI agents on thousands of Jira bugs to find patterns humans can't see. In one healthcare client, AI analysis revealed that "false positive" bugs were actually compromised requirements — the dev team was closing real deviations as unimportant because they didn't have time to fix them Code review enhancement — AI scans incoming defects and generates a live, evolving checklist so reviewers spend their limited time checking for the most probable problems Test generation — unit, component, and functional test creation where AI can leverage existing test patterns and requirement data Requirements review — correlating requirements against strategic objectives, OKRs, and historical defect patterns to find contradictions before coding begins The Thinking Process You Can't Automate "The developers going through the process of converting requirements into code — it's actually a thinking process. It creates a lot of discussions with the product managers, a lot of back and forth, which help refine the requirement. This entire exchange is gone out the window when you have AI generate the code in 5 minutes."   When AI generates code instantly from requirements, it eliminates the human feedback loop that catches contradictions and incomplete specifications. The FDA has recognized this: every AI-assisted step in medical device software must be guardrailed by human activity. If you generate code quickly but still need a human review, the speed gain disappears. The value of coding was never just the code — it was the thinking. Map Every Investment to a Business KPI "If your uncle ran a bicycle repair shop and you said, let's advertise in the local newspaper, the first question he'd ask is: how many new customers will we get? The business logic hasn't evolved so much. If you want to do something — how will this impact your revenue, your customer retention, or your cost of producing goods? If you can't answer these things, don't invest."   Mooly's advice is deceptively simple: before adopting any AI tool in your SDLC, ask yourself which of three business outcomes it will improve — faster time to market, higher quality (fewer customer issues), or better margins (lower execution cost). If you can't draw a direct line from the AI investment to one of those outcomes, you're doing improvement theatre. About Mooly Beeri Mooly Beeri is CEO and co-founder of BetterSoftware, a consulting firm with over 25 years helping companies across healthcare, telecom, and automotive transform how they build software. His work focuses on diagnosing where software organizations underperform and designing targeted interventions — not blanket transformations.   You can link with Mooly Beeri on LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Finish Big Podcast, Mark Dorman is joined by Cal B. Parker and Kevin Saad from BizEquity — the world's largest online business valuation platform. The conversation explores how BizEquity has transformed business valuation from an expensive, time-consuming process into a fast, accessible planning tool for advisors and business owners. Cal and Kevin discuss the importance of proactive planning, understanding business value long before an exit, and how modern technology is reshaping the succession and exit planning industry. They also dive into the newest BizEquity platform enhancements, including AI-powered tax return extraction, KPI benchmarking, value growth strategies, and tools that help advisors guide business owners towards stronger financial futures. This episode is packed with insights for entrepreneurs, financial advisors, exit planners, and anyone interested in building, protecting, and maximising business value. Mark and Cal B. Parker and Kevin Saad: The founding story and mission behind BizEquity Why most business owners still don't know their company's true value The difference between certified valuations and planning valuations How AI and technology are simplifying valuation processes The role of advisors in proactive business planning Understanding value drivers and business performance metrics Owner dependency and customer concentration risks KPI benchmarking and growth planning strategies Preparing businesses years before an eventual exit The future of business valuation and succession planning Connect with Mark Dorman: Succession Plus US LinkedIn: Mark Dorman LinkedIn: Succession Plus Facebook: Succession Plus (330)-416-9271 mdorman@succession.plus About the Guests: Cal Parker Cal Parker has spent nearly a decade at BizEquity helping shape the company's growth across multiple areas of the business. He works closely with firms developing business owner planning strategies and helping advisors better serve entrepreneurs and privately held businesses. Kevin Saad Kevin Saad is the Senior Director of Customer Success at BizEquity, where he leads initiatives focused on helping financial professionals leverage business valuation as a planning and growth tool. He specialises in advisor engagement, business owner strategy, and valuation-driven planning conversations.

Jeremy Packee and Emily Anderson break down April's biggest paid media updates, including Google's aggressive AI Max expansion across Search and Shopping campaigns, Microsoft launching AI Max for Search, and OpenAI officially entering the ad platform space with self-serve ChatGPT ads and CPC bidding. They also discuss Google's new AI-powered qualified call lead tracking, Meta opening AI connectors for advertisers, and the growing shift toward conversational and visual search experiences. The episode explores how AI-generated ad copy, automation-heavy campaign types, and intent-based targeting are changing the way advertisers think about performance media strategy. While these tools continue evolving rapidly, the hosts emphasize the importance of testing carefully and maintaining strong human oversight. Episode Highlights Biggest Shift Google officially replacing Dynamic Search Ads with AI Max marks another major step toward keywordless and AI-driven campaign management across Search and Shopping. Biggest Platform Signal OpenAI launching self-serve ChatGPT ads with CPC bidding signals that conversational AI platforms are rapidly becoming legitimate advertising channels. New Feature to Test Google's AI-powered qualified call lead tracking could provide advertisers with more meaningful phone call conversion data without relying entirely on third-party tools. Control Upgrade Google's new AI Brief controls for AI Max campaigns give advertisers more influence over messaging, audience direction, and search matching through natural language prompts. Creative Reality Check AI-generated ad copy and creative tools continue improving quickly, but Jeremy and Emily caution that brands still risk losing differentiation if everyone relies too heavily on the same automation systems. Other Platform Updates • Microsoft launched AI Max for Search campaigns • Google introduced real-time policy reviews for Responsive Search Ads • Reddit expanded Reminder Ads globally for all advertisers • TikTok added more Smart+ campaign controls and expanded Symphony AI creative tools • Demand Gen added view-through conversion optimization and Commerce Media Suite support • OpenAI released GPT-5.5 and ChatGPT Images 2.0 • Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4.7 and Claude Design • Meta expanded its AI business assistant and introduced Ads AI connectors in open beta • Google updated Ads data controls and added new experiment auto-apply settings • Microsoft added landing page reporting for Performance Max campaigns • eMarketer projects Meta could surpass Google in digital ad revenue by the end of 2026 Final Take AI is no longer just assisting campaign management, it's actively reshaping how advertising platforms operate. But as automation expands across search, creative, targeting, and reporting, the competitive advantage still comes from strategy, testing, and knowing when human judgment matters most.   Follow The Click Brief for fast, no-fluff performance marketing updates. Visit The Click Brief blog for more in-depth analysis and updates from April

Efficiency is one of the most common goals financial advisors share, but very few can actually define what it means—or measure it. In this episode, Libby challenges the traditional metrics advisors often use to gauge success and introduces four simple KPIs that provide a much clearer picture of productivity, efficiency, and scalability. If you've ever wondered whether you're truly building a business that gives you more freedom, more impact, and better results without simply working longer hours, this episode will help you start tracking what really matters.In this episode, you'll learn:How to calculate your revenue per hour and why it's a more meaningful metric than revenue growth aloneThe client-facing ratio that reveals where your biggest opportunities for efficiency are hidingA simple framework for evaluating the impact of your value-add activities and client experience initiativesWhy tracking referrals can uncover the health of your client experience, service model, and planning processWhether you're a solo advisor or leading a growing team, these four KPIs can help you shift from working harder to working smarter. By focusing on the metrics you can actually influence, you'll gain clearer insight into where your time is going, what's creating the most value for clients, and how to build a more scalable practice. Be sure to download the free KPI tracker mentioned in the episode and start measuring your progress.Grab your Free KPI Download HERE! Check out The First 100 Days Course: The Advisor's Blueprint for a Remarkable Client Experience HERE!Learn more about T2MWorks HERE! Learn more about Asset-Map financial planning software HERE! Learn more about our sponsor Beemo Automation HERE!   Check out the Efficient Advisor YouTube Channel HERE!Connect with Libby on LinkedIn HERE!Successful businesses don't get built alone. You need community! You need collaboration! Join us in The Efficient Advisor Community on Facebook.

In This Episode What happens when a fourth-generation family business decides to reinvent itself for the future? In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Jon Graboyes, owner of Graboyes Window & Door, about his journey from nonprofit development work to leading a 77-year-old family business through significant transformation. Jon shares how he entered a company built on hard work, reputation, and relationships, but one that lacked the systems and infrastructure needed for long-term scalability. Adi and Jon discuss the realities of modernizing a legacy business. From handwritten contracts and fax-machine ordering systems to KPI dashboards and documented workflows, Jon explains how he systematically rebuilt the operational foundation of the company. Rather than replacing the values that made the business successful, he focused on preserving its culture while creating systems that would support future growth. The conversation also highlights the importance of leadership development and documentation. Jon shares how creating processes helped reduce dependency on key individuals, improve onboarding, and empower employees to take ownership of their roles. By making process documentation a living system that evolves with the company, the business has been able to improve consistency, accountability, and performance across departments. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that systems are not about bureaucracy—they are about creating freedom. For Jon, strong processes provide peace of mind, support growth, and ensure that the company can continue serving customers and employees for generations to come.  

Jack Schwager is the legendary author of the Market Wizards series and one of the most influential figures in trading literature, whose decades of interviewing elite traders have made him the definitive chronicler of exceptional market performance; George Coyle is a hedge fund manager and deep-dive trading historian whose years of original research into the patterns of great traders catalyzed their co-authored Market Wizards: The Next Generation.Episode Sponsor: Fiscal AI is a modern data terminal that gives investors instant access to twenty years of financials, earnings transcripts, and extensive segment and KPI data—use my link for a two-week free trial plus 15% off: https://fiscal.ai/talkingbillions/3:00 — Bogumil shares personal origin story: as a Polish grad student in Paris, Jack's books gave him the courage to manage money. Jack jokes: "Not the first one."5:15 — George on his obsession: years of writing deep-dive papers on Soros, Marcus, Druckenmiller — getting inside feedback that he "hit the nail on the head."7:30 — Jack's biggest surprise from the first Market Wizards: how many enormously successful traders had multiple initial failures before breakthrough.9:10 — George on the youngest cohort: small-cap shorting is "the last rock you'd flip over" — yet that's precisely why these traders found edge where no one looked.11:00 — Jack on edge decay: trend following was transformative in the 60s–80s but got crowded; today, all edges evolve, and no edge is permanent.14:20 — Advantage of starting young: smaller capital means smaller losses. Simon Russo (pseudonym) and Frohlich both had failures early — with little money — then scaled correctly.30:33 — Jack: "A good trade is not necessarily a winning trade. A bad trade is not necessarily a losing trade." The process defines quality, not the outcome.33:00 — Position sizing as the great differentiator: Gudecker sizes A+ trades 5–10x larger; Marcus did the same. Ed Thorpe proved even a losing game can win with proper sizing.39:04 — Are trading skills learnable? Jack: Yes — Kulamaji went from $5,000 to $100M learning from others, but molded it entirely into his own methodology.42:09 — George's five questions for aspiring Market Wizards: clear goals, process that matches temperament, overcoming detrimental traits, belief in self, persisting despite failure.50:40 — Jack dismantles volatility as risk proxy: the drunk under the lamppost analogy — measuring what's easy vs. what's true.57:49 — AI debate: Jack argues markets are a complex adaptive system — unlike physics, the rules change constantly, which keeps the door open for human traders.1:03:52 — Jack's closing: readers of any Wizards book will get at least one or two things meaningfully beneficial if they're open-minded. This book adds a rare theme — wizards who stopped to ask: Is this what I really want to do with my life?Podcast Program – Disclosure StatementBlue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm's employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC. All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice.Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

CJ Gustafson sits down with Marten Abrahamsen, CFO of Vercel, at the NYSE to talk about running finance inside a hypergrowth AI company. They cover AI use cases in finance, rev rec, forecasting, KPI dashboards, PLG, consumption pricing, and Marten's “speeding tickets vs. parking tickets” framework for moving fast without losing control.—SPONSORS:Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjEY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartupsSpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cj—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNGuest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martenabrahamsen/Company: http://vercel.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Speeding tickets vs. parking tickets3:21 Visa IPO in the financial crisis5:09 Going public has changed6:45 Private market: 22–24 trillion9:03 More or fewer public companies?9:48 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev13:04 KPI dashboard on your phone14:12 Revenue flux via Slack and Notion15:37 RevRec tool: green, yellow, red17:56 V0 is a job requirement19:43 Speeding tickets vs. parking tickets20:33 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound23:49 Very few one-way doors25:02 Finance in hypergrowth25:39 Three-scenario planning27:00 Honest with the board31:00 PLG + consumption at Vercel33:32 What Marten checks every morning34:03 Why RPO doesn't work here35:36 Holiday usage is up37:10 ICP shifted to solo developer39:22 Capital allocation in a fast market41:32 Growth compounds; margin can't43:22 SaaS gross margins: spicy take44:24 Cash-burning AI: 2026 vs. 202147:29 Are some hypergrowth cos destroying value?50:00 Lightning round50:11 Bank of Ireland mix-up51:10 Don't punt problems forward52:04 Finance software stack52:38 Expensed an oven53:12 Credits

This week, we dive deep into a topic that's been on everyone's mind—and probably in every news alert you've received lately: AI. While the world seems to be split between AI will save us all, and AI is coming for our jobs, our guest and AI expert, Christopher Lind, brings us back to earth with a much-needed reality check. As Christopher points out, the real risk isn't just the tech itself, but the disconnect between leadership's lofty expectations and the actual human experience on the ground. He often jokes about AI being a hammer looking for a nail, but in our rush to be efficient, are we accidentally hammering away at the very human connections that make our organizations thrive? Christopher's insights remind us that while AI can help us move faster, it can't tell us where we're going or why it matters—that's still up to us. Key Themes and Insights The Disconnect Between Responsibility and Accountability: Senior leaders often have a skewed perception of AI's impact because they are removed from the daily tactical work. "One of the gaps that I keep talking about that continues to grow that is extremely concerning is the gap between responsibility and accountability in leadership. It's massive." AI as an Enabler, Not a Replacement: AI is a tool that requires a skilled, intentional human hand to be effective; it amplifies what is already there, whether that is skill or recklessness. "In the hands of someone who knows what they're doing it's great. In the hands of an amateur or someone who is being reckless, that amplification effect still applies." The Looming Labor Shortage and the Myth of AI Solutions: Despite the hype, AI cannot replace the massive human capital leaving the workforce as demographics shift, and relying on it as a quick fix avoids addressing deeper organizational issues. "The real problem's complicated and hard to figure out, and it's just easier for some to say AI's going to fix this." The Critical Importance of Human Connection and Trust: In an era of rapid technological change, fostering trust and genuine care for employees is a profound competitive advantage. "Demonstrating that you care about the people you work with is a profoundly interesting competitive advantage right now." Quality Over Quantity in the Age of Noise: Increased efficiency through AI shouldn't just mean producing more content or work, but rather freeing up time for higher-quality, deeper human engagement and development. "If all it's doing is making you faster at doing the same thing you were doing before, you are fundamentally failing with AI because it should be freeing up your time to be focusing on creating new or better solutions to problems." Actionable Takeaway Measure Trust as a Business Metric: Start treating trust within your team or organization as a tangible KPI. High trust creates resilience that no algorithm can replicate. When AI automates a task, don't just fill that time with more digital noise—reinvest it into people time through coaching, mentorship, and transparent conversations. Check out Christopher's Substack piece on AI: https://christopherlind.substack.com/p/the-labor-crisis-hidden-in-plain?r=2iledl and connect with him at https://christopherlind.co/. 

Automation and artificial intelligence do not solve overwhelm inside an insurance agency. Clear direction, defined priorities, documented workflows, and strong leadership do. Daniel Metcalf and Mike Stromsoe explore why many agency teams feel overwhelmed when the real issue is often a lack of clarity around ownership, priorities, and processes. They discuss the difference between machine work and human work, how undocumented workflows create constant interruptions, and why scaling requires leaders to redesign their operating systems instead of simply working harder. Through practical agency examples, they share how agencies can reduce chaos, improve accountability, and build a foundation that supports sustainable growth, automation, and long-term valuation.Key Topics:Why results matter more than activity when evaluating team performanceHow exceptions can quietly become the standard operating procedureThe role of batching work to improve efficiency and reduce context switchingWhy less than 20% of agencies are ready to implement automation effectivelyHow to define what "good" looks like for every seat in the agencyLessons learned from redesigning an agency operating model multiple timesThe impact of soft market conditions on agency growth and profitabilityHow weekly KPI reviews uncover operational blockers before they become bigger problemsConnect with Daniel:LinkedInWebsiteConnect with Mike: LinkedIn TwitterScaling an agency is not about doing more work. It is about creating the structure, systems, and accountability that allow people to focus on high-value relationship work while technology handles repetitive tasks. Agencies that regularly evaluate their workflows, clarify responsibilities, and build processes that support growth are better positioned to leverage AI, improve performance, and increase long-term enterprise value.

Most founders don't know where they're bleeding cash every month. Neither did some of the most successful business owners Hunter Scott has worked with.Welcome to the 100th episode of Founder Talk! Hunter Scott is a CPA and Partner at Strata Cloud Accountants. In this conversation, he breaks down the top financial mistakes founders make, shares stories of hidden margin killers, and explains why your tax bill might be the best KPI you have.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:01:22Q: What are the top three financial mistakes business owners make?A: Hunter Scott says most founders barely track their numbers, make gut-based decisions without forward-looking views, and hold onto the illusion they can do it all themselves.00:06:09Q: What is a good profit margin for a B2B service company?A: Hunter Scott says 60% or above, and recommends digging into utilization metrics to find where the gaps are.00:15:05Q: What drove the firm to nearly double in revenue last year?A: Hunter Scott says working with a sales coach and making three to six phone calls a day to build real relationships were the biggest drivers.00:21:36Q: What is an example of a hidden financial problem most founders miss?A: Hunter Scott shares how a restaurant's margin was dropping because the cost of limes went up, resulting in a 10,000-plus monthly impact once fixed.00:28:16Q: Should founders avoid paying more taxes?A: Hunter Scott says the best KPI is how much you pay in taxes because it means the business is growing, and resisting growth to minimize taxes is one of the most expensive mistakes.00:40:08Q: How do you build a lifestyle business that still grows?A: Hunter Scott says you have to stop being scared of the loss of money that comes with delegating, and refuse to make any decision based off fear.Subscribe to Founder Talk so you don't miss what's next.Connect with Hunter Scott:Email: hunter@stratacloudaccountants.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunter-scott-cpa/Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strata-cloud/The Founders Brief2,500+ founders read this newsletter every week to build businesses that run and grow even when they step away. The Founders Briefing delivers real strategies and tactics from the best Founder Talk conversations, behind the scenes access, and the insights that never made the final cut. Sign up here: https://podcastbuilders.activehosted.com/f/3 If you are a B2B company that wants to build your own in-house content team instead of outsourcing your content to a marketing agency, we may be a fit for you! Everything you see in our podcast and content is a result of a scrappy, nimble, internal content team along with an AI-powered content systems and process. Check out pricing and services here: https://impaxs.comIf you want to start a podcast that helps you win clients and become the go-to brand in your industry, Podcast Builders can help! https://podcastbuilders.com/Podcast Builders is a podcast production and strategy company based in St. Charles, Illinois that helps founder-led B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. The company provides podcast strategy, studio production, editing, and distribution services for businesses across the western Chicago suburbs including St Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Naperville, Aurora, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Elgin, and more.Head to our website to stream every episode on your favorite platform, join the Founder Talk community, and submit questions for future guests—all in one place: https://foundertalkpodcast.com/#FounderTalk #EntrepreneurPodcast #StartupPodcast

2008年，美國中央情報局（CIA）解密了一份束之高閣逾半世紀的機密文件。這份名為Simple Sabotage Field Manual （我稱為《軟對抗手冊》）的小冊子，由 CIA 前身「戰略情報局」（OSS）於 1944 年 1 月編寫，以多種語言印刷，秘密流入二戰歐洲淪陷區，供盟軍支持者閱讀使用。《軟對抗手冊》的核心主張卻是出人意表地平凡：任何一個普通公民，只要在自己的工作崗位上，透過一系列完全合情合理的日常行為，就能拖垮一部政府機器。《軟對抗手冊》當中有一章建議八項「官僚破壞戰術」，相信大家看罷都會心微笑：一，堅持凡事必須經正式程序處理，絕不容許走捷徑。二，在會議上冗長發言，附以大量個人軼事。三，將一切決定交由人數不少於五人的委員會「進一步研究」。四，在工作會議期間提出大量不相干的問題。五，反覆地將已決定的事項重新爭論。六，對文書措辭斤斤計較。七，凡事呼籲「謹慎」，力陳不可操之過急。八，不斷質疑某項決定是否超出部門管轄範圍。每個行為單獨地看都完全合理，甚至可以說是稱職的表現。在當時的環境，抵抗運動成員一旦身份敗露被捕，結果必然是死路一條。因此，他們設計的每一種戰術，都必須讓抵抗運動的成員可以有「合理解釋」（plausible deniability），例如：謹慎是美德，程序是保障，委員會是集體智慧等。當體制內有足夠多的抵抗運動成員，而且能在一定範圍內，持續施行這套「軟對抗」戰術，將一千次看似合理的小小行政難題加起來，累積效應就令政府機器從內部癱瘓。值得注意的是，2014 年俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭期間，美國「非正規戰爭中心」（Irregular Warfare Center）取得並翻譯了一份俄羅斯編寫的現代版反抗手冊，在戰術上大量借鑒了這份二戰時期的 OSS 文件。俄方透過 Telegram 等平台廣泛傳播，指導烏克蘭境內親俄的平民如何在基層崗位上從內部瓦解烏克蘭政府的運作。但很少人會聯想到，這份《軟對抗手冊》也可能影響到北京對香港的統治策略。在我們一般人眼中，香港公務員體系，是港英殖民政府留下的制度遺產；一支在另一套法律框架、另一套行政文化、另一套價值座標下訓練出來的職業官僚隊伍。1997 年主權移交後，理論上繼續擔任特區政府的行政骨幹。在制度設計上，公務員隊伍被定位為「政治中立」，即是不依附任何政黨或意識形態路線；在西敏寺式的民主體制下，這種中立性是制衡與穩定的基礎。但從北京的組織邏輯去理解，香港的公務員體系實際上掌握了廣泛的行政酌情權。而且香港不論是公、私營部門，都與牆外世界保持千絲萬縷的關繫。香港雖然自我定位做超級聯絡人，但北京又是否信得過這套機器？如果我們以《軟對抗手冊》的角度分析，香港的公務員恰好是外部勢力影響中國的最佳入口；只需要每個公務員，在自己的崗位上謹慎地「按足程序辦事」，就已經可以拖慢北京的那一盤大棋。2019 年之後，更將這個矛盾進一步激化。當年不少公務員以「個人身份」聲援反修例運動；這是香港首次由政府內部發出集體異議的聲音。從那一刻起，北京進入了系統性整頓香港公務員體系的模式。不過，在 2019 年之前便已出現蛛絲馬跡。早在梁振英擔任行政長官期間（2012 至 2017年），已經提出政府架構重組，試圖在現有的三司十二局之上加設副司長層級，以增加政治任命的覆蓋面，從而在技術官僚機器之上，疊加更多政治上信任的控制。他也在多個公開場合批評立法會以「拉布」（程序性拖延）阻礙施政。他所描述的與《軟對抗手冊》的「官僚破壞戰術」幾乎逐點對應。我不知道梁振英有沒有讀過這份手冊。但既然有證據顯示俄羅斯對烏克蘭也有用上同樣的方法，所以亦有理由相信北京很清楚這一種內在擊破敵人的手段。香港執政的最核心代理人，某程度也應該會收到一些相關的指示。雖然很難肯定北京除了指示，還有沒有詳細去解釋當中因由，但既然在 2019 年之後北京指香港是「國家安全的短版（漏洞）」，所以有理由相信負責香港事務的京官和香港的官員，多少都會考慮到各種可能性。 2021 年 1 月，約 17.7 萬名公務員被要求簽署效忠聲明，承諾維護《基本法》及特區政府。政府明確警告，拒絕簽署者「嚴重令政府對其是否適合繼續留任存疑」，並可啟動程序終止服務。這是1997年回歸以來，規模最大的一次對公務員忠誠度的系統性清查。同年 4 月，中央政府駐港聯絡辦公室主任駱惠寧，在國家安全教育日演講中首次公開提出「軟對抗」概念，明確區分公然的非法「硬對抗」，以及更隱蔽、更難以定義的「軟對抗」。此後，「軟對抗」成為香港官方話語的固定詞彙——由保安局局長鄧炳強，到行政長官李家超，反覆提及。2023 年《施政報告》中，李家超正式警告「以『軟對抗』手段進行破壞的勢力，仍潛伏在我們社會之中」，並宣告《基本法》第二十三條立法，部分目的正是針對「軟對抗」。然而，最令外界側目、也最被廣泛嘲弄的，是李家超在 2024 年 4 月「全民國家安全教育日」上親口說出的一段話。他在描述當代間諜活動的威脅時，指出外國情報人員可以「以平民百姓身份結婚生子，幾年後才做出例如爆炸的恐怖活動，或者竊取國家秘密後銷聲匿跡」。這段話在當時引發廣泛嘲諷。間諜結婚生子，在香港安居落戶，靜待時機；聽來像是冷戰驚悚小說的橋段，用來描述香港現實，令許多人覺得荒誕，甚至過度妄想。但如果北京真的擔心香港有「軟對抗」的潛在危機，李家超的講法就不只是簡單的「被迫害妄想」。「軟對抗」的核心設計原則，就是讓抵抗者以完全正常的生活為掩護；他們不需要做任何驚天動地的事。相反，只要繼續正常過活，在工作崗位上盡職盡責，只是在每個合適的時機，默默地堅守程序，呼籲小心謹慎，建議將問題交由委員會研究；這些看來最守規矩的人，反而就是政權心目中的潛在敵對勢力。很瘋狂吧？保安局局長鄧炳強其後在另一些場合亦重申：「部分潛伏於本地的代理人，會利用專業身份或民生議題，以更隱蔽的『軟對抗』方式分化社會。」當時他舉的例子，是對政府政策提出法律質疑的學者。然而，最清晰、也最具決定性意義的一份文件，也是較少被深入討論的，是 2023 年 12 月更新的《公務員守則》。這份更新版守則，在保留「政治中立」字眼的同時，加入了一段措辭極為精準的表述：「公務員絕不能因為自己的政見而選擇性地拒絕、拖延或消極地執行個人未必認同的政府政策，或以任何其他方式致使他人對政府採取不信任或敵視的態度。在任何情況下，公務員都不可直接或間接組織或參與阻礙香港特區政府施政的活動。」守則同時新增「效益為本及績效問責」的基本信念，明確要求公務員「絕不能只著眼程序和投放資源，更要切實解決問題，注重成效，為市民謀福祉。」請將以上這段文字與剛才《軟對抗手冊》的八式官僚破壞術逐條對照，你會發現驚人的相關之處。香港政府向來都有服務承諾，公眾對此並不陌生。因此，在參選時李家超一再強調「以結果為目的」，許多評論員和我都感到費解：「不是一直都有成效指標嗎？到底李家超想說的是甚麼？」傳統服務承諾，衡量的是「程序有否正確執行」。「以結果為目的」要求的是「問題有否真正解決」。換句話說，一個消極的公務員，完全可以在完美地執行所有既定程序的同時，讓所有政策都無法產生實際效果，這也是「官僚破壞術」八式最核心也最難以察覺的地方。所以，「以結果為目的」這句口號，不是出於管理效率，而是另一種在他們眼中的國家安全策略。問題是，當堅守程序可能被解讀為「消極執行」，批評政策可能被定性為「引起不信任」，公務員的理性選擇，就是盡量減少模糊行為，以「結果」表態忠誠。這也是目前特區政府的境況。長期以來，香港的政治討論習慣以「民主對威權」、「自由對安全」、「一國兩制的保留或侵蝕」等框架理解北京的政策。但是 2019 年後的整套政策組合，卻有點難以完全解釋。為何效忠宣誓和 KPI 同時出現？為何強調要警惕「軟對抗」？為何《公務員守則》更新的語言，偏偏如此精準地描述了官僚阻力的各種形式？但是如果從國家安全大於一切的角度去了解北京，包括對香港公務員體系的改變，上述的政策組合和官員的公開表態，就有了一致的內在邏輯。以上所提出的只是一套詮釋框架，而非定論。首先我沒有可能肯定北京有深入研究過 1944 年美國「戰略情報局」的這份文件，更加不知道目前香港公務員隊伍中有沒有甚麼軟對抗。但假如北京真的對香港既有的一套感到焦慮不安，可見將來香港的公務員隊伍、掌握了關鍵資源的公營機構、甚至是私人財團，都有可能被懷疑是在「軟對抗」，而他們也要終日在目前這種肅殺的氣氛裡，證明自己的清白。關於這個題目的 NotebookLM This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leesimon.substack.com/subscribe

Send us Fan MailShownotes can be found at https://www.profitwithlaw.com/536.Your team isn't underperforming because they don't care. They're underperforming because nobody told them what winning looks like.In the final episode of his five-part 2026 profitability series, Moshe breaks down the two things every law firm owner needs to lock in before the year gets away from them: a KPI system that actually works, and a method for executing on the goals they set at the start of the year.Resources mentioned:

Alicia and Dan DeLong recap Intuit's May In the Know webinar, led by the big reveal that the ProAdvisor program will sunset in early 2027 and return as Intuit ProPartner Accountants. They break down the three Intuit Accountant Suite tiers (the free Core, the paid Accelerate, and the per-client Books Close add-on), walking through custom fields, KPI dashboards, and a new ProConnect Tax workflow, with a heads-up on the deadlines before free access ends. There's also expanded ProAdvisor support hours, the Workforce payroll rebrand, and a reminder that recertification season closes June 30.Sponsors:Aqqrue - http://uqb.promo/aqqrueC&R Consulting - http://uqb.promo/cnrLINKSIntuit's In the Know Slide Deck including “Resources for Making the Switch”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SY6pwULfGXBnExxuHTvSLxRpd3r-LmA9/view?usp=sharingRightTool: RightTool.app, use code ROYALWISE for 20% offBooks Close episode: uqb.show/130Dan's School of Bookkeeping course about Bulk Editing Data in QuickBooks: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/a/2148284044/FzeLMxRp Dan's LinksSchoolofbookkeeping YouTube: https://snip.ly/SOBYTFree Live Workshop Wednesdays: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/workshop-wednesdayQB Power Hour: https://www.qbpowerhour.com/ Alicia's new Converting from QBDT to QBO book on Amazon: http://royl.ws/conversion-bookJuly 21 through October 8: HANDS-ON QUICKBOOKS COMPLETE TRAINING COURSE, http://royl.ws/HOT2026?affiliate=5393907We want to hear from you!Send your questions and comments to us at unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.com.Join our LinkedIn community at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14630719/Visit our YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@UnofficialQBOPodcastSign up to Earmark to earn free CPE for listening to this podcasthttps://www.earmark.app/onboarding 

No matter your role, experience or industry, we all (mostly) waste hours a week doing the same thing: manually creating slides. 

A 98% intake conversion rate shouldn't exist, but Carol-Lynn Roman has the systems, numbers, and operations to prove it. In this episode, the Roman Austin COO breaks down how the firm rebuilt its entire workflow structure, put attorneys directly into intake, and scaled into the Inc. 5000 while staying deeply connected to the Tampa Bay community. If you want to dominate your market with the right leads, Rankings can help. Head over to Rankings.io and claim your completely free audit. We'll show you exactly where you stand and what it takes to own your market. On this episode, you'll learn: Why every qualified lead at Roman Austin speaks directly to an attorney. How a phase-based workflow increased case value and client attention. The KPI and bonus system keeping Roman Austin's team aligned and accountable. Why community trust matters more than billboards for long-term growth. The intake strategy helping the firm convert 98% of qualified leads. If you like what you hear, hit Subscribe. We do this every week. Buy tickets for PIMCON 2026: https://hubs.li/Q04bf9vT0 Subscribe to our newsletter:  newsletter.rankings.io Get Social! Personal Injury Mastermind (PIM) powered by Rankings.io is on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Watch the YouTube version of this episode HEREWhat happens when two successful law firm owners take the exact opposite stance on unlimited PTO and both have the results to back it up?In this episode, Tyson Mutrux sits down with Kevin Cheney and Billie Tarascio separately, so neither hears the other's answers to get the real, unfiltered truth about unlimited paid time off in law firms.Kevin Cheney has run unlimited PTO at his 37-person firm for 8 years. He's never denied a single vacation request. Zero abuse. Eight figures in revenue. He'll tell you exactly how he makes it work with KPIs, trust, and the right hiring strategy.Billie Tarascio tried it. She watched roughly 25% of her team take advantage of the policy, her A-players got fed up, and she eventually scrapped it entirely, replacing it with a progressive PTO system that gives employees up to 6 weeks off and a full sabbatical at 10 years.Same policy. Completely different outcomes. So who's right?In this episode, you'll learn:How Kevin built a culture where 100% of vacation requests get approved  and no one abuses itThe 3 accountability pillars Kevin uses instead of tracking days: KPIs, client satisfaction scores, and anonymous peer reviewsWhy Billie says unlimited PTO attracted the wrong candidates and created a "cushiest job" reputationWhat actually caused Billie's A-players to revolt  and how she handled taking the benefit awayWhether a tiered PTO system (unlimited for lawyers, structured for staff) is actually legalWhat both owners wish they'd known before implementing the policyWhether you're building your first firm or rethinking your benefits structure, this conversation will sharpen how you think about freedom, accountability, and culture.Highlights00:00 – Introduction: The Great Unlimited PTO Debate01:06 – Kevin Cheney: Why He's Been All-In for 8 Years03:39 – How Kevin Defines "Crazy" (Hint: He Doesn't Write It Down)07:18 – Why Employees Don't Always Believe It's Real10:05 – How Much Vacation Do People Actually Take?12:32 – Tracking PTO as a KPI?15:15 – The Hidden Advantage: No Payroll Tracking Headaches18:00 – Zero Abuses in 10 Years, Seriously19:06 – Has Kevin Ever Doubted the Policy?25:13 – The 3 Accountability Pillars That Replace Day Counting28:58 – What Kevin Would Do Differently31:21 – Kevin's Advice to Someone Who Tried It and Failed34:18 – Part 2: Billie Tarascio's Story36:02 – When Unlimited PTO Worked for Billie38:44 – When the A-Players Revolted42:19 – How Bad Did the Freeloader Problem Get? (~25%)43:07 – The Attraction Problem: Were You Hiring the Wrong People?48:04 – How Hard Was It to Take the Benefit Away?51:06 – What Billie Replaced It With (Up to 6 Weeks + Sabbatical)56:45 – Is Billie Ever Going Back to Unlimited PTO?58:00 – Billie's Message to Kevin1:06:01 – Final Advice for Anyone Considering Unlimited PTO

Do you find yourself with a to-do list rather than a fully functioning leadership team? This episode is all about the Dental A-Team's bread and butter: scaling leaders. Kiera shares how to transition out of micromanaging in a way that you and your team can get behind, whether you're working with people who've worked in your practice for years, or starting fresh. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I hope you're having a great day today. I hope that you just love what you get to do. I hope that you realize, gosh, you're so lucky to be working in a day and age like today. I know we can sit here and we can talk about all the problems. We can talk about how this patient did this and this team member did this and my gosh, this happened and Kiera, the cashflow this and you wouldn't even understand. I haven't taken a vacation for four years. I hear you.   And I just want to remind you that good and bad coexist. We can see the good just as much as we can see the bad. And the greatest way to combat anger and fear is to look at gratitude. We can also talk about what were all the great things that happened. You have all these amazing patients today. You had a team who freaking loves you and fills your schedule for you. You showed up today and patients were just magically there. You were able to walk in and you're cash flowing positive. I hope that that's your day. And if it's not, let's talk because cash flow.   ⁓ it's my biggest pet peeve and I Dennis to always be freaking wealthy because when you are successful financially, your team is happier, your patients are happier because we're not stressed out all the time. So that's my big rant. Let's chat. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm obsessed with making your life easier. We're obsessed with positively impacting you in the greatest way possible. And I love helping dentists get the happiness, fulfillment, success that they're seeking and doing it for you and teams. So   That's what I'm here for. Welcome, welcome, welcome. If you love our podcast, please like, subscribe, share this, leave us a review. That's how we're able to help more practices just like you get to the success. We're all here. Like the world of success. Imagine it's like this boardroom. It's, it's infinity. Everybody's welcome and everybody should have that. And that's what I'm here for. There is more money in this world than we can ever count on. And all of us are entitled to it. All of us have access to it. And I want everybody to rise to the top and help each other get there. And that's what we're about. So   With that, I wanna just help you. I think this is a great one. I think leadership is such this like, tricky topic. Like, my gosh, I don't even know what leadership is. And so today I wanted to kind of break down like, stop managing people and start managing leaders. And this is like leadership 101 for you. So just gonna kind of walk you through. If you're still managing every single detail.   of your practice, you don't have a leadership team, you have a to-do list. And that's a bold statement. And that's even a statement for myself. And sometimes you might have a leadership team and you just need to let go. Also speaking to myself, but hey, if that applies to you, please email me. I love a good pen Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Please tell me I'm not alone out there, but truly, are you managing every detail? Are you managing your leadership team? So I just want to walk you through some three simple little steps of how to stop managing tasks.   and leading through an empowered team. was talking to our COO and she said, know, Kiera, you've got to be able to work through your team. Meaning you don't do it all yourself as a leader. You work through that team. And I think as CEOs, as owners of practices, we often don't work through our team. actually just do it all. And that creates a burnout that creates stress. It does not create a self-sufficient leadership run team. And that's what Dental A Team's obsessed about doing is let's build these self-sufficient leadership teams. And this is a blueprint to stop micromanaging   and start scaling leaders. Are you on board? I hope you are. This is something I freaking love because for me it's hard. Like it's a real life thing. Like I feel like I micromanage a lot. I feel like I don't scale leaders. I feel like I get in their way. I feel like I've grown a lot. I feel like I've also had to be the person. So it's kind of built in his habits. And so I think it's a space where like we oftentimes think do I need to hire a new leader? And I think sometimes, yes. Like when I look at office managers,   We can grow them. Dental A Team is really, really great at actually developing office managers and helping you know what it is. So before you go and hire someone brand new, I would definitely recommend growing them, seeing if they've got the skillset. And if not, then let's go hire this person. But I think when you're, when you go from this micromanaging to do list to bringing on leaders, it's going to be a let's identify and develop internal leaders for you because a lot of times they're just sitting right in front of you.   I was just at an event the other day and one of our team members was there and like not even on my radar of leadership. And I was like, wow, that person has been sitting right in front of me. So I think sometimes we think the grass is greener rather than just really like we got a freaking green pasture right in front of us. Let's just develop them. So you can test people out. And the way you start to look for leaders on your team is who naturally takes the initiative, who does this just on their own? And can I help grow them?   and help them like earn trust with me. And then can I do one-on-one coaching? So for me, I like plant little projects like, hey, you take this on and I'm watching to see does this person take the initiative? Do they follow through? Do they have the traits that I'm looking for in a leader? Do they have my trust? And if they don't, that's great. They're a great team member. But if not, like I can do one-on-one with them. Also the way you develop, like if you identify about this person, they're not quite to leadership. You can do one-on-one coaching with them. You can literally hire a Dental A Team to help coach and train your leaders.   We do this all the time. Give leadership books, have a book club with them, have clear responsibilities, what's their job description. And then we promote based on ownership mindset, not tenure. And that to me is something so hard. And I just wanna talk about it like, how do we do this? Because a lot of people feel like I've been here for a long time. And I will tell you the best and easiest way to do this is to actually put out the job description for who you're hiring and send it to your team and see who wants to apply for it. Because then the tenure people might look at that and like,   And someone told me that, like, yep, open that job description and close it right back up because surely don't want to do all that. They're a seasoned team member, but they don't want to take it on. So that's your easiest way to be able to promote for that ownership mindset and leadership of who actually wants it rather than just who's been there for a long time that quote unquote feels like they deserve it. Just because people have been there for a long time does not mean that they're a great leader. And I hope you hear that. And this is how you micromanage because a lot of times people put leaders into place with massive air quotes that aren't leaders.   They're just bodies with a title and you're still having to do everything. Right? People write, see, it should not cost you more time or more money. They should actually give that back to you. So if that's not the case for you, you don't have leaders, you have doers and you need leaders. So I think when you, um, there's been plenty of practices that I've worked with where we've taken team members on the team, given them some leadership guidance. So we teach them how to have one-on-ones. We teach them how to have hard conversations. We teach them how to look at the books. We helped them learn.   how to actually like be a leader of your practice. And people are like, you turned my office manager around. Like they're now an office manager. And a lot of times it's not that they weren't great. They just didn't even know. If I would have had a coach and a mentor as an office manager, I would have been 10 X the manager that I was. And that's coming from Kiera Dan. I think I'm pretty dang good. And I take a lot of initiative, but I just didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't know how to run a business. I hadn't looked at this before. I didn't have the experience with it. I just got thrown in because, hey, I'm Kiera. I know I can figure this out.   but a lot of times it's very costly. So give them the coach, give them leadership books, give them a mentor, give them a job description and KPIs and see them rock. So I would definitely look at that. And so if you're managing everything or you feel like you're doing a lot, is there a team member on your team today that shows leadership potential? And could you start mentoring, testing them out, seeing how they do to see if they're your person before we go higher? Number two, step two is going to be we wanna make sure leadership roles are   very clearly defined with authority and accountability. So something I see that happens often when people put leaders into places, they don't give them authority and the doctor actually undercuts them. And I know I've done this to my team. So team, if you're listening, I'm very sorry because I know I've done this to you and you've got to have clarity and autonomy for leadership to work. So what it means is we've got to have scorecards and KPIs with decision-making rights. So who actually can make decisions on this? And if you're the only person that's doing it, you've got to put into place   what your decision making is and who I like panic saying this. Literally I'm like looking down stressed out right now to say this. You have to accept that people aren't going to do it the way you would do it, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. I like things a certain way. I'm very aware of that. I'm like, even my husband, told me he's like, Kiera, it's been so nice. Like we had some friends coming over and usually I'm very particular about like what we're doing for dinner and how we're doing it.   I've been so busy, he's like, I just initiated and I'm so tired. I'm like, that's great. Thank you. Like, and I think when we realize like, what are the decisions really truly you have to make? I've got a doctor who loves picking out the prizes for her prize box. She's pediatric. And yet that's something that you could delegate, you could elevate and you could get some time back. I'm not here to say you can't do the things you love, but I am here to say like, you've got to give autonomy, you've got to give clarity. Otherwise you're always going to sit here.   So if you can't give that up and you're so obsessive about every single detail so much even as the prize box, the leadership might not be your jam and you might need to just be a manager and hire somebody who's a great CEO to run your business. And I'm not saying that vindictively or that you're not good enough. It's just truly like, what's your skillset for it? So you've got to have clear roles with authority and accountability. So KPIs, decision-making rights. You've got to have what the lead owns and what they don't. So this way you're not crossing in. We have an accountability chart and I swear it's like,   call it our holy grail of the company. I have to look at them like, okay, who is making these decisions? It's not Kiera who is doing this and setting them up for success, letting them fail, letting them make the decisions. Sure, if it's going to like make us go bankrupt. So I say if it's a financial, a legal, those are like the main two things that I really have decision-making rights over that I'm gonna trump all day long. The rest need to be having autonomy with it. And then also our theme this year is outcomes over activity. So.   Make sure that we have meetings where we're reporting on the outcomes, not the activity. So what's our KPA scorecard show us? I don't care that you got 200 things done today. High five. I'm super proud of you. Did we hit goal? Did we make overhead and are we profitable as a business? Like, and did our team love our day? And did we have a great patient experience? Like, I'm so happy that you did the billing, but like that falls under the outcome of profitability and overhead. Like those are just parts of the business that we've got to do. And so   Really when our OMS and our doctors and our people see their role clearly, like even in our organization, when we rolled out the accountability chart and we have it set, we've got specific KPIs and we started tracking on measures, the team starts to move. There's fewer daily interruptions. Things can move forward and I'm not having to make as many decisions anymore and the leadership team is able to make them smoother, faster, easier. Now, I'm not perfect at this. I have a lot of pieces in here. There might be better leaders out there.   But I will tell you growing leaders on your team, developing them and helping doctors and teams work, then only team a second to none. Like this is what we do. Me as a CEO of a consulting company, yeah, it's been tricky. Cause I'm like, I don't have the freaking playbook. I know how to do your practice. I know how to do your life, but doing our business has been hard. But I will say as you're building this, and if you're listening today, you've got to have a scorecard for each leadership role that has their job description, their KPI and their decision-making authority of what they can or can't do.   that clarity is going to create confidence in your team. This is something easy to build. I mean, we've got AI, we've got Dental A Team, we can help you guys with all of this. Those are pieces that you're going to do. And then after that, you're going to do step three, which is coaching the leaders, not the team. And this, ugh, like I sit back in my chair, like I feel stressed out to say these things to you. I think this one actually is pretty tricky for somebody who's founder led, who's been very involved with all the team. You move into a space where,   You just now work with your leaders, not the rest of the team. And ⁓ I think this is where leadership can feel lonely. I think this is where you can feel like, but I don't know all my team members and you don't anymore. And as you grow and evolve, you actually need to move on because what happens is if you still lead the rest of the team, you actually bypass your leaders and you undercut them.   you've got to route feedback and issues through them. And that's like a hard redirect because you're so used to being the person who answers it. So pull out your little accountability legend, look at it and be like, okay, thank you for asking me that question. This is the person who needs to do it. We play popcorn in our team of, all right, we have a question for this, who does this? And we have them answer until they know who to go to. And it's just a redirecting and a reworking for everybody. And just say like, hey, I know we've like shaken our team like a snow globe. Everything's kind of falling into place and I wanna make sure people have clarity.   because clarity creates confidence. So then we have our leaders. And then you actually have, I do weekly leadership meetings and we do monthly. And I realized like, that's my time to coach my leaders. So can I give them books? Can I do book clubs? Can I help them? And then you have one-on-ones either weekly or monthly to really develop them as leaders, to track in on their KPIs, to look at their issues, to resolve issues for them. And you literally train them how you want them to treat their team.   So hey, what I'm doing with you, I'm meeting with you weekly, I'm reviewing your KPIs, we're looking at our quarterly objectives, making sure that's moving. And then any issues you've got with proposed solutions, let's work through those. You develop your leaders who then can go develop their teams. And I will tell you that I've got several doctors who have built incredible leadership teams, and it is done through this and they coach the leaders. And some of them have even said like, I don't even know half my team anymore. And what I tell those doctors and I tell myself is,   you still get to surprise and delight in areas that doesn't undercut your leader. You can still be the fun boss. You can still do highlight shout outs to your team members. I still write shout outs to our team of where I've seen them do different things, but the dynamics do change. And I think you have to realize if you don't want to be the micromanager, the office manager, if you will, you do need to develop leaders and you need to let them be leaders and you need to give them that power, that autonomy, that growth. And if you can do that,   you are going to be able to grow. So this is where we do really truly going from having a to-do list to having a leadership team. So quick recap of steps would be identify your internal leaders and start developing them into it. Then we define the roles very clearly with KPIs, job descriptions and decision-making authority. And then we coach them on how we want them to lead the rest. And that coaching piece...   I think yourself, make sure that your coach is a great leader too. This is what I love in our consulting is we do coach doctors and teams. We help doctors show up as great leaders and like, how are you undercutting your team and vice versa? Hey team, how are you undercutting your doctor? How are you not showing up for them? This is what they need from you. And I think having that mediator often can really, really help you out. But I think like coach the leaders, coach yourself, make sure you've got it. What books do you have? What things can you give them? What resources, what courses, like giving them a consultant that can help them.   that's been there, done that, done it successfully. How do we have these uncomfortable conversations? How do we get our core values? How do we shift culture? Those pieces, you've got to lead them to be able to do it. Leadership is a journey, not a destination. And so when you scale, you do stop having touch points and management of every person, but you start managing the right few. Leadership should be managing of five people. So if your team's five people, rock on, keep managing. If you're bigger than that, you need to start building a leadership team.   Even at five people, definitely recommend still having an office manager who helps you because you're busy drilling and filling. You don't have time to do all these little touch points that they should. So I think for you, if you're feeling like you're still carrying the weight of your whole team, even if you've got a leadership team and you need them to start to level up, to deliver for you, it's time for you to lead leaders and to develop leaders and to make sure you got right people, right seats. Sometimes you might have a leadership team, but you're still doing everything. You don't have a leadership team. You've got doers.   And so how do we actually have a leadership team and what things do you need to change to allow leaders to be there? And what things does your team need to do to truly let you and like trust the outcomes and the processes that they're going to deliver for you? It's a two-way street. So teams listening and doctors listening, your doctors got to trust you to deliver and consistently deliver. Doctors, got to trust this team to deliver and consistently deliver. Both you want the same thing. And so really coming together, having those conversations and reading five dysfunctions of a team, getting into those uncomfortable spaces.   is going to help you. So if you need help on leadership or building this infrastructure, I don't know how to get there or gosh, I'm like there, but I still need my leaders to have growth. I need growth. We coach doctors and teams. And this is why, because both sides of the coin are important. Both sides are necessary and both sides need different things. Visitors, you got to look online. You got to forecast. You got to grow your leaders. Leaders, OMS, team leads. You got to hit those KPIs, those metrics. You got to get your team and your department to row in that direction.   These things are not, I think innate, they're trained and they're learned. And so reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is things, share this with someone who's going through this. I know every single one of you today has a doctor struggling with leadership or a team member struggling with leadership. Share this with them. This is how we help grow each other. This is how we help positively impact the world. Give this to a colleague, share it in a post. You guys read those Facebook posts. They constantly are complaining about this. Please share this.   Say like, hey, this is a really good tactical way of how to develop leaders, how to stop micromanaging, how to truly grow into that. And I would love to help anybody. We do complimentary practice assessments. We'll review your practice, give you tactical, tangible advice, whether you work with us or don't. So reach out. I'd love to just like give you a roadmap of where you are and you leave that meeting. Every single time I do that meeting, people leave with clarity, with confidence of where they need to go. So reach out. I'd love to help you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

You can't be a great marketer if your nervous system is stuck in survival mode.If you're a marketing leader, you know the feeling. The 12AM Slack from the CEO. The “where's-the-pipeline?” question that never goes away. The low-grade anxiety running underneath every campaign, every board deck, every quarter. In this episode, Carolyn and Amber connect the inner game to the measurement problem. The anxiety marketers carry isn't a personal failing. It's the tax you pay for being judged by numbers that miss your real contribution: shaping how the market perceives you, long before anyone fills out a form.And here's what nobody in GTM is actually talking about: you cannot build the future you want while your body is locked in defending the present. Your brain chemistry doesn't know the difference between the meeting you're dreading and the one that's already over — it reacts the same way to both. And when you live in that state, you can't create. You can only react.What this episode covers:The breakthroughs from both Amber and Carolyn's recent vacationsWhy so many B2B marketers are operating from low-grade panic, and why it's costing them their best workHow belief and brain chemistry shape what you're able to create, and why you have to embody the outcome before it shows upWhy marketing's real job is shaping brand perception in-market, and why traditional KPIs can't see that workHow to use zero-party data — what customers tell you directly — to inform the customer journey instead of guessing from last-touch behaviorThree books that reshaped how Carolyn thinks about wealth, awareness, and building a future you can't yet see: Happy Pocket Full of Money, The Power of Awareness, and Dr. Joe Dispenza's Becoming SupernaturalIf you're a marketing leader tired of doing your best work from a place of panic, and tired of watching it disappear into numbers that can't measure it, this one's for you.-----------------------------------------------------Want answers now?

Today's topic is something the Dental A-Team hears about a lot: Our practice is awesome, but we struggle to find new patients. Kiera talks about why this is such a common issue, and gives tips on what you can do to address it. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am so freaking pumped about today's podcast and I hope you are too. Today's gonna be a fun day. It's about something that I absolutely love and hate. For those of you that have been listening to the podcast for a while, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent. I'm so happy you're here. My job and our company's motto is to possibly impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And we do that through this podcast. We put it on for free for you. Tactical practical advice for you every single week for doctors and teams because honestly trying to get   both on the same page is really tricky. being a team member myself, being a business owner myself, working with hundreds of offices across the nation, our team works with hundreds of offices, our consulting team is like truly second to none. I do believe that we have the most experienced expert team that you could ever ask for. And they truly guide doctors and teams to fulfillment, to success, and they do it with ease. And of course we pop the confetti and have a ton of fun. So today I wanted to just dive in.   And talk about like, why are great practices still struggling to attract patients? I think that this comes up on many coaching calls in lots of different areas. And it's something of like, but the practice is amazing. Why are they not getting the patients? And I think something that I pulled from some business courses I've taken is it does not matter how great your business is. It matters how well your business is marketed. And so I think for us to just look at this and say, all right, how do we market better? And what are the things? So I have found that it is   not because like you are clinically sound or you're not clinically sound. It's really about like being easy to choose and how are we able to be easy to choose as a practice versus being hard. And there's some simple things today that I wanted to go through because like you can have great dentistry, a solid team, great intentions, but if growth is feeling harder than it should, or we're not attracting these patients, let's talk about some ways to do this. And yes, there are PPO, there's fee for service, there are different things that happen for both of those. But literally what I found is   we've got to like look through what a patient's experiencing before they even come into your practice. So I feel like the growth and systems conversation is like not just about marketing conversations. A lot of times we're like, here, I want the magic bullet. I want you to like give me these items and we can just get all these new patients. And I want to too. And I'm here to say that marketing has a place. ⁓ But I also want you to realize like what are your patients choosing you for? And so looking through your reviews, you can actually throw it into AI and say like,   What are the top like five things that come from these reviews that we're receiving as to why patients are choosing us? And there was a great quote from Top Tips for Effective Clinical Communication in the British Dental Journal, yes, PMC 2023. And they said, effective communication is central to every element of clinical practice from first contact with reception to the point the patient leaves the building. And when I read that quote, I loved that quote because I feel like so often we don't think about   all these mini touch points. And I know we've talked about it before, but it's like, let's work through, like maybe we don't need more new patients. Maybe we just need a better path from attention to appointment. Yes, I love that. From attention, like grabbing their attention to them setting the appointments. And so where can we look for like common misdiagnosis within the practice? What does this look like? And so usually people are like, we need more marketing, we need more patients. And that's not wrong. I was on a coaching call with a practice and we were talking about like,   A great ratio for everybody to have is we need the patient base to be 200 patients per hygienist per day in one week. So for example, if I've got 10 columns of available hygiene in a week, I need 200 patients. Yes, I did easy math for you. What is that answer? 200 patients times 10, bingo, 2000 patients would be an active patient base. Usually seen within the last 12 to 18 months is how many we need to see. So we were looking and this practice was running 14 columns of hygiene in a week. Well, that's 2,800 patients.   They only have 1900 active patients. So what would most practices say? We need more new patients. Let's run into marketing. But like, are there other things that we can do instead of just needing marketing? Like could we maybe, are there patients already sitting within our practice that we need to have? Maybe we do need to have more new patients. Yes, the ideal is 30 new patients per month per doctor. But is that always the case? Are they maybe hiding in the crevices of your practice that we could pull forward?   So me and this office manager had a call, talked about it. looked, we went back to their recall. She was like, here, I got six patients on there. And I was like, well, that's inconvenient. So what things could we do? And so what can we really look for of what about our, are we looking at our re care and our reactivation? Are we reappointing all of these patients? Like before we even go and jump into marketing, which I'm not here to say don't market, but what about all the patients sitting in our database right now? One, can we reactivate them? The answer is yes.   Two, with all the patients coming through, are we asking every single patient, who else can we schedule for you? We absolutely love you. How else can we like, who else can we schedule? Who else do you know that we could schedule for you? So when I look at this, like where is the true diagnosis and do we actually need more? Or is it that like, no, we just need to be better with this. The practice is also asking me like, Kiera, is it the economy? Like we're not getting all these new patients we used to. And I want to say that like generally speaking dentistry is pretty economy bulletproof. Like most patients come in,   Things have it. Now, fee for service, you're gonna struggle more because patients might only like to do one cleaning versus two cleanings, but your insurance driven practices, great news for you. You've already got your patients there. And I'm not here to say that insurance is bad. I actually think insurance is one of the best marketing pieces to drive patients to your practice. And then it's a thousand dollar coupon, like a thousand dollars to get a patient. I know you're like, but Carrie, we take all the cuts and the fees. I don't disagree with you, but how much does it cost to bring on a new patient? Look at that cost.   to benefit and if I can like go beyond their max and my team is really good with that, $1,000 for an insurance max. I understand that not always that's the case, but is that worth it? I say typically yes. So when we look at this, why like, do we really need more marketing? Do we really need more patients? I want you to look for like, let's make sure our systems are tight and taut before we go after and hit the marketing because that just means we got to make sure our bucket, like the walls aren't empty.   We don't have a hole in our bucket, but we actually are filling that bucket with these patients. So that step one is I want you to look there. Me and this office manager, did we find? We found over 800 patients in their database right now. That's how many patients they need. We don't need to go after new patients. We just need to use the patients we already have in our practice because then our practice is full. Now, if we want to grow, then maybe yes, but even that look to see who is in our database version. People don't want this. It's not sexy. It's not fun. It's like, no, but I just want marketing. I want them to be dropped into my lap. I hear you.   but let's make sure that we have that. Now, if we've elected that we do need to go for marketing and we've already tightened up and we have all these pieces, we've got our re-care, we've got our reactivation, we're calling patients, we're making sure that they're reappointed, we're looking and we're running this report consistently, we're asking every single time we schedule patients, who else can I schedule for you? We are actively asking for referrals and reviews. If that's already done, and that's a big if, then we go and look into marketing. So what I want you to look at for you is like,   Do we need to have different messaging on there? How is our, like when we do market, I want you to look at like, what's my website, what's Google, what's our phone experience and is that matching the first impression of us? What about our clarity? Like, are we really crystal clear on who we're trying to market to? Do we have that dialed in? Our dentistry should speak for itself and so tightening up our first impression, tightening up like what our practice is saying to patients and making sure that patients really truly feel like   this office is so different than any other practice, that's going to make sure like that impression online needs to match our patient experience and vice versa. Our patient experience needs to match our online presence. Sometimes offices are so good, but their online presence looks like they are like dated 50 years ago. So making sure that your practice matches, because if a patient's confused, they might not be converting for you. And so let's just look to make sure does our online presence   and our phone calls match our clinical excellence in the practice and does our clinical excellence in the practice match our phone calls and our outside experience? And I hope you guys can see like those two have to be the same. When you pop on Dental A Team, like you listen to me on the podcast, when you join our team, it's freaking fun. We have fun in person masterminds. We have fun in person visits. Teams love when we come. It's got to match what you hear on the podcast. And if it doesn't, people are like, Kiera, I love your energy. And I'm like, I know I have to hire consultants to have my same level of energy. They're not exactly clones of me.   But otherwise it feels like a mismatch and you're like, wow, that person's like really low and cure is really high. You join Dental A Team because you love our energy. You love our style. You love what we present and preach on the podcast. That's why you join. Now, if you didn't experience that, that that's going to be a mismatch. Same thing with you and your practice. Is that a mismatch? Can you tighten that up? So then when it's that we go back to the leaking, we already talked about leaking. So when I look at this, we want to make sure that like we are matching online. And then I talked about our acquisition, our retention, our reactivation, our   reappointment rates. But then in addition to that, there might be more that we could diagnose on there of our experience is amazing. Everything's matching. We might need to go into marketing, but like, let's talk about some other areas where you might have new patients just coming through, through this, which can tie to your marketing. So we've decided our online matches, we're going to go for marketing. We need to get more new patients and or it's already our new patients there. Let's look at how many missed calls we have. People think all the time, like we're just so busy. We're so busy.   missing those calls can actually be impacting your practice with those new patients. Then how do we follow up with them? So if we miss calls, like some people are like, it's fine. We just have a text. Well, that person's hunting right now for a practice. What's that patient experience? And remember, it's these great practices who are failing to attract new patients. Is it because we're missing calls? Is it because we're not doing well with that new patient? Do we not make them fall in love with us when we do get them on the phone? That patient should hang up and be like,   Gosh, Jason or whomever their spouse significant other best friend. I am so freaking pumped to go to that dental practice. If they are not saying that when they hang up with your office, there is something that could be lost there. What about what happens with all these patients that are not like coming through? Do we have a process in place to make sure they get back on the books? What about are we having like a set process in our practice where we're consistently asking for reviews and referrals all the time?   And then also like, do we have this poor handoff from like when a patient calls us and says, this is what I need. And then they take them to the back office and it's not even remotely what they have. Do we have that in there? And so when we look at this, I think it's part of we've got to be tracking and auditing. How many missed calls do we have? How long does it take us to get a missed call to schedule? What about for new patient scheduling? When do we get our new patients in? What about who's overall the followup of this?   And then also, how are we asking for reviews in our practice? If those things, in addition to re-care, reappointment, reactivation, I just listed off eight things. I've got them on my fingers if you're watching the video. Eight things, if we are not doing that, don't talk to me about trying to get new patients and like, ⁓ we can't attract them. You were attracting them, we're just not handling them correctly. We're not taking care of them because this practice is not converting what you're already paying for. And I think if we can't be good stewards over what we're already paying for,   Why are we asking for more? To me, I'm like, tighten the bows. Like that's way easier, but that's discipline and discipline does equal freedom. So for practices, it might be worthwhile before we even jump on the horn and say, we need more new patients. I'm just going to list it off for you. Missed call numbers. We're going to go through our like from missed to scheduling. What about who's over all the followups of all these? What about our review process? What about our re-care? What about our reactivation? What about our reappointment?   If those aren't tight, you have the patience in your practice, you're just not using them and handling them with care. And so make sure that you're not like, I hate wasting money and I think that this is one of the greatest opportunities to waste money. So when we think about it, like here's top funnel, right? We talked about, we gotta make sure our leak is not leaking, okay? Bucket has all the holes filled. Then we gotta make sure what are we saying online versus what they're experiencing and what they're experiencing is that showcased online. Tighten all that up.   And then when we look at this, I'm like, okay, we are solid on this. But what really, really is going to speak and help and what's going to create massive growth for your practice is when the patient journey feels clear, consistent, easy from the first click to the first visit. So when we think about this, we talked about this a little while ago, like what does this new customer want? What does this new patient want? We want to pay attention to like how quickly are we responding to people? What happens when they show up to our practice? Are we so like   excited. Is it genuinely? ⁓ Someone told me a quote for the Ritz-Carlton and it said, ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen. And I have not stopped thinking about their mission statement because I think about it if like, do you have high level professionals serving high level professionals? Or do we have high level professionals serving friends and family of the community? Or do we have like everyday community team members serving and loving everyday team, like community families?   Whatever it is, making sure that this patient feels like the journey is so consistent with what we're putting online, what we're saying we are. So how do we have this? And so really making sure that there is this whole process, like patients love you from the first day that they call you. Patients are excited to work with you. Patients are just giddy. Patients, when they leave the practice, are giddy to refer you, to leave a review for you, to leave a referral. And I think people forget...   that this could actually be a very easy process. So ways that teams can do this is like, let's actually run through a new patient calling, call the practice and like, let's hear how they answer. And don't be afraid to give honest feedback. This is what we're here for. We are here to give honest feedback. And so what was that experience like? Did I feel like you were so excited that you're my best friend that you can't wait to welcome me into the practice? Or if you're more of a holistic practice that it's a Zen, it's a calming, it's a we've got you and we're gonna take great care of you. How do people feel when they call your practice? That's number one.   Number two, let's go online. What do our reviews say? What does our website look like? And does that match when you come into the practice? And if it doesn't, what small little changes, notice they're small, not giant ones. What small changes need to happen? Do we need to update our Google presence? Do we need to update our website? What do we need to do from there? Okay, so we go through that. Then we walk through the practice as a new patient. So come in the door, act like a new patient or act like a regular patient. Let's do role play both of them. How is a new patient greeted? Are they just given an iPad and told to sit there?   Is it like, me have a concierge style with them. What about new patients? Are we saying, hey, it's so great to see you, Kiera. How's your family? Gosh, like let me make sure I get your next cleaning scheduled for you. I know that you absolutely love to like zip out the door you're busy. And who else can I schedule for you? Let me make your life simple while we're waiting. I'll grab you a cup of coffee while you wait. Are we doing that? Did you just hear how many little opportunities I asked? The new patients coming in, the patient there, like how to get more patients just by loving them and being a friend to them. Then what is it like when we take them to the back office?   How is our new patient experience? them in the hygiene chair. How do we explain our pieces? And then what's our wrap up at the end? How do doctors wrap up the exams? How do we take that patient to the front office? How do we hand them off to the front office team to make sure that they're having this amazing experience? Front office team, how are you wrapping up? Are we asking for reviews at that point in time? Do we maybe have a little postcard that we can give them of like, we're trying to help more patients like you. Best way to do it is to leave us a five star review. I love working with you, Kiera. You absolutely make my day. Every time you come into the practice,   I would love it if you'd leave me five star review. Just so you know, my hygienist at the office that I absolutely loved asked me that. I went right home, I had the little postcard, set it on my counter, did the review that night, because it was so simple. That review, also it sat there. My husband doesn't go to that practice. And I was like, I love my hygienist, Jayce. You should probably schedule, like we should get you scheduled for that. Little subtle things. And I'm already patient. I'm the cheapest, easiest marketing to go after. And my patient experience was amazing when I went in there.   Now, when I got annoyed with them, it was because I wouldn't get the same hygienist. I didn't have the same doctor. People didn't know my name. They were late. I left. I ended up leaving the practice. So those little things that we don't think matter are what are deterring. So not only do you role play through what's going great in your practice, but maybe that's also question mark, why would people leave our practice? Asking that question can also be a great audit of why, and are we following up on missed phone calls?   Are we calling people back? Are we scheduling them for unscheduled treatment plans? Are we running this report every single month? Like, do you see how there's an entire ecosystem around these patients? And so when I asked the question at the beginning of why great practices still struggle to attract patients, I think the better question on that is, are we actually doing the little pieces that drive us forward consistently? Are we hoping and praying for miracles of new patients to just rain from the sky?   It's like, I can have rain come every single day from the sky, but if I'm not collecting it in buckets, purifying that, making sure I have a system for that, as much rain that comes down is never going to be enough for you. And so when I look at this, I think it's a space of how can we make sure that our marketing dollars are being well taken care of? Every patient in our practice feels like they are a VIP and that they want to send more patients to us. Those simple, small things are actually how great practices can freaking thrive.   These are how my best of the best do it. When I look at my highest ones, the ones who have repeat customers constantly, they're tight. Their reappointments are there. Their missed calls, they track that, they monitor that. That's a KPI for them. They check to see how long before we get back to missed calls. They are reducing that missed call number. Their reappointment percentages are high from hygienists. They're running the reports. They do not have many patients sitting in their re-care and reactivation campaigns. They are running those on a regular basis, getting patients back into the practice. They also are making sure that they're auditing how's our patient experience.   What's our online presence saying versus what's our inside presence saying? How is our experience? Why would they be leaving us? Let's tighten this up. Let's tighten this up. Let's make sure every encounter is great. We are constantly asking for reviews and referrals. And if that feels daunting to you, then great news. You just heard an amazing opportunity to grow your practice with minimal effort. This is how you're able to do it. You don't need to be fancy, flashy, showy, none of that. All you need to do is have consistency and intentionality. And so I think it's one of those things of growth comes   from being clear, being consistent, and actually having a great experience every time they come, because patients stay for that. So when it's not easy, when you feel like this, a lot of times it's just like doctors are like, I'm busy in the back, Kiera. I'm doing dentistry. I'm drilling and filling. Like, how am supposed to have time for this? And office managers are like, you don't even talk to me. I'm trying to get all the billing out there. I don't disagree. And I feel like these are the cobwebs within the practice that make a practice great or have a practice crumble.   And I think so often people think they need more new patients or they need all these different things when actually all they need is to tighten up and refine and optimize what they already have and have somebody help them with that. So I would love to help you guys. I'd love to find out like where is this breakdown? Where can we tackle it and help hold you guys accountable to it so you actually see the fruits of your labors. So you're actually able to do that. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com if you want some help with this. And today I really want you each to go through an audit. Auditor missed calls.   audit our website, audit where we are like, how long does it take us to call missed calls back? How are we reappointing? How many patients are in our unscheduled lists? How are we following up on them? Do we have a process for that? What's our experience? Are we asking for reviews? And I want you to pick one thing from today's podcast, not all of it, because that can feel daunting, but one thing where we can tighten, sharpen, and refine and optimize to where we don't have these gaps in our practice. Yes, marketing has its place.   But like I said, all the rain can come to you, but if you're not collecting it, refining it and optimizing it, doesn't matter how much rain falls, you're always gonna want more. Just like you're always going to want more new patients. These are little, simple, easy ways to grow your practice. If you're struggling with it, reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Sometimes you don't need a different strategy, you just need to be held accountable. Sometimes it's not going crazy. Like literally this could be a whole marketing podcast, but instead I'm telling you little simple things you can do in your practice today to grow.   You don't need to do it. So I want to remind you that patients don't choose practices that are best in theory. They choose practice that feels easiest to trust. And sometimes I get annoyed because I do watch practices and there are some practices that I don't think should be the highest top practice. And yet they are because they are the easiest to trust. are the easiest. They are the best marketed. They are the ones that just make the process simple. You can think about a competitor you might have.   And question mark, why would patients go there versus you when you might be a better clinician, a better overall experience? I'm not here to say that dentists are not great. I know we're all striving. I also know that some dentists are better than others. And so how can we make sure that the best dentists, those of you listening are winning? I want to make sure that you're winning. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, this is your practice. This is your opportunity. This is your moral obligation to serve patients at the highest level possible. And I just implore you and invite you.   to take one step today, make your practice just a little bit better, a little bit brighter. And if we can help in any way, we're here for you. You have it, it's all yours. And I just remind you that we are so lucky to live in the time we do, to do what we get to do every single day. And if I can help you in any way, reach out. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.