Mastermind in Life & Business

Transcript performed by A.I. Please excuse the typos.
00:00
If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. Often with the 80-20 rule, we find that 20 % of your office is producing 80 % of the results or doing most of the work and you’re lagging the rest. I learned a long time ago, copy genius don’t invent mediocrity. Why are we out there stumbling over our own foolishness when there’s other people who already done that for us? That’s right. It can do that.

00:23
This is Dental All-Stars, where we bring you the best in dentistry on marketing, management and training.

00:32
Welcome to Dental All-Stars. I’m Alex Nottingham, founder and CEO of All-Star Dental Academy. And with me is Eric Vickery, president of coaching at All-Star Dental Academy. And we’re talking about the Mastermind. Please welcome Eric. So we were preparing for this talk and you gave me some different topics and you’re like, let’s talk about Mastermind. I’m like, I always loved talking about Mastermind. It’s something we talked about before last year, but it’s good to…

01:00
to repeat it changes freshly. And I think for today, we can just look broadly at what mastermind is, what it isn’t, where you can get that experience. So I have certainly my thoughts, but I thought it’d be fun to hear from the president of coaching because you’re speaking across the country on behalf of All-Star. You, you still have a few clients to coach, although you’re so busy.

01:26
Uh, and you’re seeing what kind of they’re going through and, you know, kind of hear it from a different lens. So tell me about Eric kind of what is mastermind in your mind and what is not mastermind. Yeah. So I think sometimes two people hear that phrase and they, they giggle or they think it’s weird or something, but the mastermind has been around forever. You know, two or more people coming together, making that third more powerful mind combined that I’m just better.

01:56
When I’m with you, you’re better when you’re with me, we’re increasing the likelihood that we’ll find a solution when we’re working together. Obviously I think there’s a law diminishing returns. can’t, can’t have too many people because then people get lost in it. People don’t have a voice in it, but you want to be in, I think a multiple of masterminds. There’s, there’s so many different types, whether it could be in our case, clinical or non-clinical could be.

02:24
You know, leadership based, whatever it might be. And, you know, for me, it’s about finding a safe place that I can be truly vulnerable in the areas that I’m struggling with so that I could achieve potential growth. The opportunities are created the more transparent I can get, but I need to be in a safe place to do that. So a mastermind has to be a place of comfort, has to be a place of security, and it can’t

02:54
all be people at the same levels either. That also creates a challenge. There’s going to be some people in some areas that are way higher than me and in some areas I’m way higher than them and my experience is there and then when I bring to the table. But it really has to be a place where all of us can learn and all of us can give. Can’t just be take or just give. And so for me, the mastermind is just a powerful place of free expression to learn and grow and challenge myself.

03:24
So you were referring to the definition that Napoleon Hill wrote in his book, Think and Grow Rich, about that third invisible minus created in a group. And so we can talk at the end about an actual mastermind group, but we can backtrace this a bit into what’s happening. So you have this mastermind effect that occurs. Now it’s obviously, what is it? You have an effect that’s greater than the sum of the parts, right? So you have a team.

03:52
You would think the team together would be greater than the sum of their parts. If it’s just some other parts, it’s just, you’re just getting transactional. I have this, it does that. But is there a synergy? And sometimes you may have a group that the sum of their parts is worse, right? The effect is worse than the sum of the parts. So you can go backwards. So we’re talking about, and in most cases it is going backwards, right? The sum is less. Often with the 80-20 rule, we find that

04:22
20 % of your office is producing 80 % of the results are doing most of the work and you’re lagging the rest. So the most cases is actually the reverse of the mastermind is happening or you have some sort of just stability. So mastermind is how do we, I know you love 10Xing and growing and these models of how do I challenge myself? You talk a lot about, right? So the mastermind effect can happen in different situations. that make sense? Yeah, completely.

04:53
I don’t think you ever see it really see it come in. think sometimes people are thinking, Oh, well, you what am I going to get out of this or what’s this going to be? And you really have to open your mind to the possibility of what can be created. Cause I think the best ideas, just was talking with a doctor right before this and, I don’t remember his direct quote, but I love our meetings. The information you share is great. And I’m always surprised at where we go with our meetings. It’s not always as we anticipate and that’s a coaching session, you know, and yet a team member saying,

05:22
Yeah, I don’t know. You know, and there’s the closed mindedness that can be in the way of the group really thriving. And that’s where you get, when you’re talking about negative results, that’s where I think the phrase addition through subtraction comes into play. Cause sometimes you’ve got wrong people in the group and by removing them, all of a sudden the group is free. Now there’s more transparency, there’s more joy in it. And you’re actually learning and growing now and not just, Ooh, I hope this person.

05:49
is okay in this group and in their huge distraction within the mastermind. let’s talk about kind of what it’s not. Right. So we, we, we saw, and we just came up with this today. I can, whatever this, this, there’s three tiers, right? One where you’re getting worse, worse results with people than the sum. They next are getting the same results. We’re getting this results that you put in and then how do we get that transformational result? And so what it’s not typically, let’s just talk with doctors for a second.

06:18
That’s typically our audience that are listening. So with doctors and even team members at events, but doctors, when they go to study clubs, typically they think, okay, was that a mastermind? Well, we’re sharing ideas, but often there’s a guardedness where I don’t want to tell you what’s really going on or I’m going to boast how good I am when like social media. So there’s not really a transparency there. There’s a competition or guardedness. That’s not really a mastermind.

06:48
Um, where there’s a bunch of people who just talk all the time or you have a group leader or guru, whether it’s you or me, we’re talking all the time. It’s not, that might be coaching. That might be a lecture. That’s not mastermind. And mastermind has to be some sort of organic. Like you said, I didn’t even expect this to occur in that something else that can be very powerful. call it organized chaos. Right. But if you know, there’s a way to create an environment on which it can occur.

07:17
So I think it’s important to point out what it’s not because you people may call it mastermind, but it’s not. If you just have the guru telling you what’s, what’s great. You just hearing that person talk. think about a book that you’re reading on this stuff as great for you, but, but you’re not, you’re not expressing your challenges in that area and, finding from people who are in your peer group to help you with solutions or podcasts. Listen to our podcast about this. This is not.

07:44
a mastermind. This is learning. This is a part of training and opening your mind ideas. But it’s not really a mastermind. There’s not another person taking your you may even go, Well, I never thought about a mastermind should be part of that. But there could be another potential thought from that third mind that you’re not getting access to because you’re not bouncing that conversation off someone. And there’s got to be like, you’ve got to be plugged in. So this is content that you’re listening to.

08:07
but there’s gotta be an interaction. Like, and like what you said earlier, a safe place of vulnerability where you can be all that you wanna be. You can share and divulge. And you’re like, oh, I had that same problem too. So another thing that comes up, is this like a forum online, right? Is this where I just, or social media? No, because again, is it a safe place? Probably not. And it’s, you know, are we getting the entire truth? Like you said before, when you and I,

08:37
connect and we start talking and brainstorming we create something greater than we could have done on our own and All-star is an example of that of the people we even say you our COO myself I mean we have a ton of people that they could have their own All-stars But they don’t because we see that when we come together. It’s something that we could never achieve on our own and it takes humility as well To be able to to realize that that’s good. And that’s that’s a big one

09:07
To be in any mastermind experience or group, have to come in with humility. if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. And I’d also say this, if you believe that you’re the smartest person in the room, I would also say, why do you think that? Do you have nothing to learn from anybody in this room? That, that gets out of the humbleness, uh, section that gets into maybe ego that gets into defensiveness.

09:37
lack of vulnerability, transparency, where you’re not feeling like you feel like you’re too good for this group. There’s a problem there. Sure. Potentially. And it’s really remarkable because I think we all, again, this is all mindset where, where you’re coming from. And once you start saying, know, right. There’s a lot of block, a lot of stuff that you block and it’s remarkable because we’re thinking about our mastermind group and just seeing what is the commonality.

10:06
with the numbers, they’re very successful. Uh, but they don’t, you know, throw that around. It’s like, how can I, we saw the other day, there was a post on, uh, our, messaging with, with the group and everybody supporting each other. And it’s not too basic for them to look at that. Right. they, and, and, uh, and so it’s interesting because you can have, uh, what was it I saw the other day about like,

10:35
We talk about quiet wealth, all right? We can, where you may see people driving the Ferrari or whatever, you think, oh, they’re wealthy, right? Or they haven’t made. But if you can almost see their bank account on top of their head, you would see they’re worth a hundred thousand or $10,000. And you see the other doctor driving a, you know, a Civic or 10 year old, 20 year old Lexus. and they’re worth $3 million. You don’t know because they don’t have to throw around their wealth and whatever it is. It’s a quiet wealth.

11:04
And I find that the successful dentists that are good for the mastermind effect, whether it’s our group or another group that, that they get the most is when they come in just with an empty slate and they’re go givers, not go getters. Yeah, that’s good. How can I share? How can I give? It’s remarkable. And you know, for the first couple of years, I was like, this must be a mistake, but we’ve been doing this for a long time, Eric. And know, year after year, it’s the same model.

11:33
So many of you know, I work for Tony Robbins and he’s all about model the best. And when you see, this is the character set that leads to happiness, uh, in multiple modalities, whether it’s a wealth or, or just happiness, there’s a humility there for sure. think when you start talking, get, I get more ideas when you start talking is a perfect example of mastermind.

11:58
You know, I’ve, I learned a long time ago, copy genius don’t invent mediocrity. Why are we out there stumbling over our own foolishness when there’s other people who have already done that for us? That’s right. It can do that. The second thing I thought of when we were talking is people want to be a part of something that’s greater than themselves. Sure. I want to be a part of a group. I think you call it the fraternity a bit. You know, there’s that term gets thrown around a bit, but I want to be a part of a group that’s after something greater than just what we’re doing here too. So what are, what are we doing for?

12:28
the next generation of dentistry. Wow. Who, whoever’s buying my practice next, what are we doing for that group? That’s what we have to be in consideration of.

12:38
Sure. Did you mute yourself? Am I accidentally? The dog’s my name. Oh, you’re doing it on purpose. I’m like, where’d you go? We’re going to leave that in because you what’s going on. So the dog is in the background hiding. Let me make sure. Yeah, the dog wants to be a part of the mastermind group, think. Oh, it is. Yeah, we have to question that. Well, we know the dog has humility. Whether it has the intelligence, we’ll see. Maybe we’ll be humble to the dog. They have a lot of Yeah, there you go. I’m sorry, Wendy. Wendy? Winnie. Winnie, okay. So I think as well for teens.

13:08
There’s always talk about kind of ways that we can experience this mastermind effect, right? Cause we’re talking about kind of talk about what it isn’t. And so you have doctors and team, right? So let’s just start with team and then I’ll kind of end with doctors, but like team, we do a lot of events, right? And I know that in your events and our events, well, I say you, cause you’re the master ceremonies, our main speaker is there’s, we have moments of interaction that are facilitated.

13:37
by our team, but we also have a time in between. And that’s where the team gets a chance to meet other people and talk. And one of the things that we do at our events, the way we set it up, is that most of the time they’re members or they’re familiar with our philosophy. So we have a common cause, much like a church. You go to your church and you have a common cause, a goal, right?

14:04
For all-star, it’s service and integrity. And so everybody is, is, is there. And most people, they are working with a coach. Mostly it’s an all-star coach or could be different coach. And so they all come from that place and, they’re, they’re primed for the mastermind to start to happen for them. Does that make sense? When you didn’t go to an event and you have no training, no affiliation, no nothing, or you’re not, or you’re not open to it. There’s the mastermind is not going to happen.

14:33
You can’t force mastermind, right? You can create the environment and put the right people for which it will happen. Now for, for team and doctors listening, you, we all want to have something where we’re getting a bigger return. I love going to the numbers, right? Like what’s in this, what’s it for me, for my team? Well, when your team is operating greater than the sum versus less than the sum, you’re getting a better.

15:02
return on investment or return on happiness and enjoyment. Okay. And so that’s why we want to, in your words, pour into the team, pour into the practice where we get to them to the point where mastermind is actually happening. And I’ll say one other thing. We do have a team leader mastermind that’s for team leaders. So those are the ones that are, um, in the next level.

15:27
They want to contribute. doesn’t have to be a manager. could be a front office. It could be a hygienist that, that leads the team to some, by example, whatever, but there’s actually a formal mastermind that we created to be able to, to satisfy that itch, if you will. So there’s ways to kind of level up. think you mentioned that before, right. In that process. I guess I would ask the question too. Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of mastermind?

15:54
You made me think of something when you’re talking about, know, my doctor made me go to this seminar. know, my doctor made me think about that. Why wouldn’t you want the opportunity to learn something new to improve yourself that, and that is how you grow yourself, which is how you grow the business, which is how you grow your pay. You don’t just grow your pay because you work there 10 years. You got another year in. That’s not it. I see a way if we can unpack this in two ways.

16:21
Let’s start with the team and then we have to go back to the doctor. We’re only going to be up on the, on the doctor. So we start with the team being. Let’s again, let’s assume, cause we’re going to start breaking up this assumption, but let’s assume doctor wants the team to go to an event or to participate in the mastermind group or whatever, or, continue with that learning. What even all stars or coaching or all stars online training or whatever. Um, and.

16:47
They lack that, like you said, thinking and doctors are like, Oh, well, that’s pretty obvious. Right. Do you want to better yourself? But they don’t. We’ve had, we have doctors that said, I will send my entire team, all expenses paid to an event. They don’t want to go. We hear that sometimes. You’re like, Ooh, that’s, that’s a, what’s going on there? Yeah. Uh, is, is, so let me ask you, cause I still don’t know the answer to this.

17:15
Well, Eric, president of coaching, what is going on with that? Why is that happening? Yeah, they’re just a frame, frame of mind that hasn’t been challenged or seen the light yet. You know, people have to want to learn. have to want to grow. And if it’s just a J O B for you and you’re just punching in and punching out, or that’s not a place for you to personally grow and, and, see that, if I grow here, actually grow at home, my family.

17:45
You know, the things that we’re learning and teaching sharing are not just in the workplace. They’re in your life. And these are human beings that are working on becoming better human beings. So I don’t, I personally don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to go. I love to go to learn something. I love to listen to a podcast. I love to join mash my groups. And if you’re not in a mash my group, I think you got to ask yourself, not? What, what is it about me? That’s wired a certain way that says, I don’t want to be a part of that. Is it the vulnerability?

18:14
Is it, think you know everything? haven’t quite figured that out. Maybe we can have somebody messages and give us a good reason. It’s always time and money and, and, and relevance. when we will get to that, but let’s unpack, let’s go back to the name because let’s step back now. So we’re picking on a team and we’re like, why is it happening? Well, let’s go back to the doctor. It’s the doctor’s fault. Okay. So the owner’s fault leadership. Okay. And we can end the podcast now. There we go. No, but, the, the, the reason I pick on, on that is that.

18:46
It’s got to be a priority number one for the doctor. Does the doctor prioritize CE and personal development and training, customer service training? Okay. Let’s say they do. But has that translated to the team? We know that doctors will easily spend on themselves for CE, for definitely clinical CE. Sometimes it will be practice management. Okay. But it’s a smaller percent. Now it goes, am I going to invest in my team? Well, the first hurdle.

19:15
Right. So hurdle one, personal development, practice management, phone skills, scheduling, cases, all that’s important. Right. I know that’s what drives the business. We have to say, aha, I see that. Now, will I make an investment in myself for that? Okay. Let’s see that. Will I make an investment in my team for that? So let’s say they say yes, which is still a hurdle. Cause some are like, well, I mean, it’s money. I it’s money. got to send people a cost money. mean, this isn’t

19:44
a few hundred dollars. is analysis of dollars. This is coaching. is, this is travel, this all stuff. But if you’re a million dollar practice and you could, you can improve by 5%, 10%, 10 % improvement over a year. So a hundred thousand dollars coaching, a mastermind events is going to be a fraction of that. Okay. So let’s say, okay, let’s say we get past that hurdle. We’re not gonna spend the entire time on that.

20:14
Now, now we go to the team and here’s the problem. The question is, will the doctor, uh, make it a priority that we’re going to do this as a practice as part of our culture? Cause typically what will happen is assuming they’re willing to make that investment, it’s what your, uh, trainee or COO. I just did a podcast with her talked about approval addiction, something you teach, right? They don’t want to look bad.

20:43
They want the Dean’s approval. They don’t want chaos, right? So you see, I’m just acknowledging there’s a difficulty here to, to, takes another step where what am I willing to do to, uh, to have that? Because you said, and I think every doctor listening is going to say, yeah, I want a team member that doesn’t come to my office looking as it, that’s just a job. don’t want them.

21:08
Remember eggnet, uh, Mike, I say his name, but he’s a famous with the Florida Academy of cosmetic dentistry and also the AGD and so on. Or maybe it was F AG, but F a G D and the AGD. But he said to us, I will not hire somebody. Uh, if they look at this as a job, I won’t. Yeah. So I think your core values, your culture commandments, your, your, whatever’s driving you has to be visible.

21:37
put up and it’s, this, are you in with this or are you not in with this? I think there’s a lot of frustration in that. Uh, we’re going to do a podcast with our partners at Ben Erickson soon, Alan Twigg. I’m going to record one with him on, there’s shortage of people and how do you get what you want out of people and deliver exactly what we’re talking about here, the extension of this. And I’m afraid of losing team members who I pushed too hard or whatever it might be. And I would just challenge this and say,

22:06
agree with you that you’re investing in people. It’s just like investing in your business. You’d go buy equipment. You’d invest this. If you’re a team member listening to this, which I hope you are, I want you to really think about what are you doing yourself to grow? And are you just hearing information or are you giving some information? You really learn so much when you’re teaching others some things too. That’s the powerful part here. You got to have flow of conversation. So the willingness to invest, I think understanding that

22:36
The AACD, in our presentation, we talked about this, know, 15 % of your successes and your technical expertise, that’s important, but 85 % is your people skills. So how much time and energy are you investing in your people skills, your practice management, your team building, your leadership, your culture, your case acceptance, all of these things we talk about, but find a way in one of those places to get into a mastermind where you’re challenging yourself and you’re challenging others. That’s a part of this.

23:05
Let me give kind of a roadmap, you will, from here to here. I was getting on where we eventually have to go with the team, which is this is what we stand for. And I’m willing to train my team, encourage my team, stand for something. And if they are, and I’ll take whatever team I have that will go to an event. And if the team member still is reluctant to participate, maybe it’s time I changed that. That’s why we have a hiring service is very popular here at All-Star. got a lot of different things that go on, but I think we’re.

23:34
like looking to from here, okay, from the beginning to here, which is master. Mastermind is the pinnacle. So we were talking in the green room about, they’re going to be reaching out. I want to do mastermind. I’m like, but he’s like, but you know, specifically all-star, you can’t do mastermind unless you’re coaching with us or whatever. You could do all at once, but you had me interviewed and you had to do the right person. So it’s not like, Hey, let’s just do it. Others are more, the reason we do that is we have to make sure there’s a humility and it’s a right fit. Um, because it’s a very, you know, a safe group.

24:05
So it’s all good. have the right fit. Yeah. Right. we have a, we have a team leader one, which is a little easier to get ahold of for the team leads and we have one for the doctors as well. So I would encourage those that are listening, go to also don’t like academy.com. You look at a few things here in terms of the journey and many of you are already members. It’s fine. But first of all, there’s a lot of free content. have the podcast and there’s no rush, no hard sales, nothing. It’s creating the roadmap and the beginning of the roadmap.

24:32
Is this listening right podcast then it’s watch I do a webinar that talks about phone skills and case acceptance and broken appointments That’s the starting point then we have our online training, right? Process which is little by little with your team and then you build up to to coaching to events, right? And then the pinnacle is the mastermind now when when that so we’re talking about roadmap of where we have to be from

25:00
just an idea to total immersion for mastermind to work. You have to be totally immersed in the philosophy, in the training and what you’re doing. It is. So it’s, it’s look, if we’re going to get a group together and half of the people are unprepared, have no idea what you’re talking about, right? Have different values. They’re just going to complain, right? And, and, and we’re not going to get a lot done. Does that make sense? Yeah. So, I.

25:29
You know, you, you started and we’re going to about to conclude our podcast, because I you have to run to a coaching call, but we started with it. This is a very powerful topic, Eric, that you wanted to start with the mastermind. But I will, and I will leave with one other thing too. And I’m going to, give you the last word, which is we’re talking about a mastermind group in terms of building up and getting your team immersed and so on. Um, so at that we have the sum of the parts is greater, right? Your result is greater than some of the parts.

25:58
But look to the mastermind effect happening in your life where you have a bunch of people, whatever that is, that they’re all in on whatever the philosophy is. Okay. And see the magic that happens. That can happen in clinical. That can happen in practice management and life skills that we do. Right. That can happen in religious studies, whatever that might be. So that’s how I would view the mastermind. Eric? Yeah, no, I completely agree with you.

26:25
I, the biggest thing I want people to leave with is am I in one master? Am I in none? That’s, that’s what’d be a challenge. Am I just in one mastermind group, whatever fashion that is, group coaching, coaching, online training, uh, you know, mastermind group, seminars, whatever that is, what, what, who, who am I getting CEO therapy with? Who am I having? Who’s my high level thinking partnership group? You are, you are the, the, the culmination of the five closest people to you in your life. So who are those people?

26:55
Who are you diving in with? Because that’s, that’s what, that’s this is all about. We’re going to figure out how to do this life thing better. I want to be around people who are figuring out how did this life thing better with me. thank you for helping you facilitate this, wonderful discussion on how to find the mastermind in your life and in your business. So thank you, Eric Vickery, president of coaching at All-Star Dental Academy.

27:21
Thank you everyone for joining us. Remember to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube. Get the episodes as they are released. Share with your friends. Until next time, go out there and be… an All-Zoll star.

27:36
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Dental All-Stars. Visit us online at AllStarDentalAcademy.com