If you missed Part 1 of this series you can check it out at www.thetowncommon.com. We were talking about what separates the good from the great businesses……no matter what business you are in. This was derived from my recent re-reading of Jim Collin’s classic book “Good To Great: Why some companies make the leap….and others don’t.”

The key currency for any business is not the paper kind; it is intellectual capital. For any business to be successful, intellectual capital must be unleashed. When people are asked how much of their brainpower they actually use, a common response is 20%. The actual percentage is estimated to be much lower. Leaders understand this. They recognize that one of their major challenges is to unleash the latent intellectual capital that already resides within every employee in their organization. In part, this is accomplished by establishing a culture of learning within a business.

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I thought that I would end this year with some stuff that everyone could benefit from. I am honored and humbled to be given this platform each week to bring you information (usually dental in nature). This column and the next may not be “dental” per se, but it is in the sense that it pertains to every business, every employer, and every employee on the planet.

I recently finished re-reading a classic book called “Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap…..and others don’t”, by Jim Collins. No matter what business you are in, whether it is a garage or a dental practice, there are distinct things that separate the average from the great. Number One: a great leader.

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Here is the scenario: You haven’t been to the dentist in a few years. You decide on a dental office and go for a cleaning, x-rays and examination. The dentist hasn’t told you yet, but you have relatively extensive treatment needs. How do you want to hear the news? Do you want the dentist to tell you everything she finds and present a comprehensive treatment plan to get you back to health, regardless of whether you have any kind of dental “insurance” plan? Or, would you rather her tell you the most significant issues that need to be dealt with first, and break the rest of the news to you at a later date?

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Every once in a while someone will say, “There must be a lot less cavities today than there were years ago because of improved home care, fluoride, etc., right?” There are. However, there are still way too many people that present with decay and most of them could use some major improvement in home care and diet.

Yesterday, I went into one of my hygienist’s rooms to check her patient, a 13-year-old boy, and asked the hygienist as I always do how his home care was. She said to me, “Jack, why don’t you tell the doctor how often you told me you brush your teeth.” The boy answered, “About once a week.” ONCE A WEEK?!?! Not to mention the fact that he is in braces too, which makes it even more important to keep the teeth clean.

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Dental hygienists love it when they make suggestions to patients about home care and their dreams are answered when the patient returns 6 months later with noticeable improvement. It might be as simple as adding a good electric toothbrush or waterpik to the patient’s regimen. I would like to say that we are amazed daily by the fruits of our counseling, but that isn’t the case. For whatever reasons there are, changing routines is often difficult.

Nearly 10 years ago I wrote a column aboutan article I saw in a magazine, which is apparently also a book, entitled “Change or Die”. What if you were given that choice? What if the doctor said you had to make tough changes in the way you think and act – or your time would end soon? Could you change? Here are the scientifically studied odds: nine to one. That’s nine to one against you. I don’t think we have made much headway on this over the past 10 years.

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