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This is not a podcast about dentistry. This is a call to leadership. For those who are carrying pressure, for those building something bigger than themselves, for those who refuse average, this is where discipline replaces chaos. This is where clarity replaces confusion. Where leaders are forged. Welcome to the Iron Dentist. I'm Dr. Bobby J. Grassi, and this is where dentists stop reacting and start leading at the highest level. Hope you guys are having a great day. Look at guys, this is kind of crazy. I'm pivoting. This will be one of the last growing Walgrassi calls that you see in this venture about business and building teams and communications. But we are going to pivot. It's not done. It's not gone. We are just going to pivot in a different direction. So those that are watching for the first time, welcome. The call will never be like this again. We're going to go into some other semantics and deeps, how to truly be the best version of yourself going forward, how to truly rise up in this crazy world, if you will. But newscomers, those that watch me, supported me for this whole time. For over a year now, we've been doing this. Thank you so much. I didn't realize my phone just went off, so I apologize. These calls, everything I do, are meant to define the game you want to play, guys. They're meant to define the things you want to do every single day to crush your dreams. And my intention is that I hope you're in any way, shape, or form to become what's up, Malik? Welcome to join. Hope I can show you in any way how to truly be the best version of yourself, how to truly show up, how to do what I do every single day, even when you screw up. And I trust me, I get a lot of screw ups in my life, right? I mess up every single day. And I did a quote, I think, on the story basically says, what is the difference between the one percenters? Basically, I'm paraphrasing right now. What is the difference between people that can and those that don't? The people that do are willing to endure all the pain and pressure and struggles to go after what they want. So I can tell everybody that's on this call that's what you are. You're these people that want to make a difference in this world, and that's why you're here. You can be doing anything on a Tuesday, but yet you're joining me. So this applies whether you're a young student, as I can see some of my young students on the call, whether you're a dentist, whether you're an entrepreneur, whether you just want to make a difference in the world, whether you're an active practitioner, you're looking to grow, those that are retiring, if you're a dentist, trying to get more. Entrepreneurs, if you will, rise. Relentless and serving entrepreneurs, that's what it stands for, rise, right? My hope is that I just, when you do these things, when you implement what I'm talking about, you implement them in life that you become the best version of yourself. And for those of you that don't know me, I'm Dr. Bobby Grassi, born and raised in beautiful Flint, Michigan, right? I've taken businesses from doing six figures to multiple seven figures four different times. I've owned crumble cookie franchises, I'm a dentist, I own Great Lakes Dental Design, I have a coaching and consulting business, I'm part of the dentist CEO brand. I do podcasting, and I'm looking all my job is to make a difference in this world. That's really to strive for. I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm a best friend, I'm an uncle, I'm a brother, I'm everything, right? I'm all of them. When you say one question, I'm gonna stop right here. I wanted you guys to answer this, and we're gonna talk really about how to have effective communication strategies and the key to cohesion and collaboration. But I want you guys to answer this question. It's gonna be a little bit different. I know I'm gonna talk about collaboration and cohesion, but I want you to ask this question who am I? Just think about that. Guys, in my group, if you can put that in the chat, the question I want back today is who am I? Say, I used to think of myself as a dentist, as a father, as a husband, right? We're more than this. Malik might think of himself as, you know, I think he still goes to Howard. I could be wrong, Malik, he might have graduated by now, but but Malik might think of himself as a student or a friend. We're more than this. What are your strong points? What are your traits? And when you communicate with the team, this is so pivotal to know not only who you are, but who are they? Who are they? So to have effective communication is pivotal in success, in dentistry, in business, in life, in relationships. It it in and I use baseball analogies because I'm a baseball guy. If you saw my post yesterday at 100 to one, which is means I love you to my wife. Those that don't know me, 101 means I love you. That's why I always say 101 on everything. We start at 101. But how to truly communicate in life with your best friend, with your kids, with your spouse, with your colleagues, and how do you truly dominate? See if you can master communication strategies in the key to cohesion and collaboration, that's where the magic happens. So we're gonna explore the significance of what it means in the field. Like, how does what is the role highlighting the role in cohesion and collaboration and goal achievement? How does it all come to play? How does it all come to light? Number one, I'm gonna use baseball analogies, guys, because I'm a baseball guy. Um, because communication is ultimately the core aspect in applying the things both in dentistry and business. But one, communication must be clear and concise. Like I was laughing, I was thinking about this. This is not a marriage thing, but do you know the number one reason for divorce is not infidelity? It is not anything of that norm, it's not money. Like we're believed that it's infidelity or money. It's actually, believe it or not, the number one cause of divorce is a lack of communication of the expectations that you have for your spouse. Think about that. People don't know the expectations you set because you never verbalize it. So there's no clear and concise communication. Huh? Rule number one in business in building a team, have clear and concise communication. So if it breaks up marriages, think about it, think, think of how it would affect a team. See, it is so crucial to actually have the information exchanged among team members, whether it's in baseball, dentistry, business, life, partners, kids, students, teachers, whatever it is, the communication needs to be clear. People need to know what you expect of them, period. People need to know. They need to know what is it that you expect of me? Like it's really easy. We always say, oh, they're not living up to my means. Well, have you ever communicated that? Are you clear with what they're what is expected of them? I mean, are are you are you honest, Skylar? Are you honest, Mohi? Are you honest with what is the communication gap? You know what, what what what is it, uh Bob, that's on the call and Andreas? What what do we communicate? How clear can that be? Now think about that. Marriages break down not because of infidelity, not because of money reason. This is not a marriage thing, because there's a lack of communication of the expectations that the other person has set. Same business. So think of baseball. You got a pitcher and a catcher that communicate, whether it's verbal, nonverbal, hand signals, their communication has to be so precise that they know what pitch is coming at what time. Business, clear communication, aids in project management. You're outlining goals, you're outlining expectations, dentistry, teams need to communicate instruction that are seamlessly to get the best patient care. Like they need to know that my staff needs to know before I go in, go in there what is it, what is expected of them, how clear is that communication? And only successful businesses that have the processes and systems that are clear are gonna make it. And then when you don't do this, when you don't have the clear and concise communication, that's when everything falls. That's when everything falls apart. Number two, so we got clear and concise communication. Number two, active listening. And you're like, what is active listening means? I mean, this is the one thing I suck at, I'll be honest with you. Because I'm always the problem solver. Like if there's ever a skill I need to master, it's active listening. Because so many times people actually believe I don't give a shit about what they're saying, and it's my flaw. Even with my wife, I laugh. Like my wife goes, dude, are you even listening to me? Like you're always you're always looking to respond. How many of us just with a star or a thumbs up or a heart or whatever we can do because I know you're all at work or whatever. Have you ever tried to already come up with the answer while somebody else is speaking or defend yourself? Just with a thumbs up or heart. Have you ever been there? Yeah, of course you have. You're not actively listening. You really don't give two shits about what they're saying because you're either trying to defend yourself or you're not truly engaged, like truly engaged with what they're saying. So, number two, you've got to be an active listener. You got to care more about what they're saying versus responding. And in this world we live in, myself included, I always joke about it. God gave me two mouths in one year. I'm Italian. That's a joke, guys. Italians speak a lot. God gave me two mouths in one ear. I always say that. And that's that's a piss for excuse. I need to actively listen. And what I realize is when I even when my wife's on the phone or you see people, you're trying to talk to them in a conversation, and they're looking at their phone. They even said in business meetings, and I'm gonna I'm gonna digress, but in business meetings, even if you're engaging an employee and you have your phone on the desk, it's simple, it exemplifies that you're not listening. So look at rule of thumb, active listening. People want to know you're engaged. How I have successful treatment plans with patients is I'm actively listening. I'm listening to what it is. I'm concerned. I'm concerned, I'm curious, right? There's curiosity of what I'm seeing. So then you can re-engage it, right? How do you know if you're active listening? When you can repeat what they say back to you, they're gonna feel like you're actively listening. Your team members, your spouse, your friends, your family. That's what you have. Baseball ambulance, they coordinate. When we active listening, we're we're throwing signals or not. We know whether we're speaking or not that we're actually uh listening during place, business, colleagues integrate uh with diverse perspectives and decisions. You can coordinate that dentistry, uh, attentive listening to the patients, building trust, building rapport, improving patient care. All these are traits to have a better collaboration with team of cohesion. And then you got number three, what are the nonverbal communications? Well, dude, I don't know if you know this. I love the ones when your mom, remember your kids? You're gonna laugh about this when your mom would just give you that look. Like, you know, like, oh shit, I screwed up, right? That's a nonverbal form of you know exactly what she says. And we're not talking about getting some switches out beating your butt, but you know, I know my mom's on the call. She would give you that look, dude, that nonverbal communication look. You're like, oh my God. Nobody can master look better than my wife, though. Like, she'll give everyone that look. And Leek's leak knows my wife, Skyler knows my wife who's on this call. I know he does. Like Sabrina could give me that look. I'm like, oh man. And there's also the other look, there's the positive look. And you already know, hey man, this person's good. So the nonverbal cues add depth to the messages and foster connection. It adds the depth. When you can listen, actively listen to somebody, but then you can also pick up their nonverbal cues. And dentistry, it's more edible more than uh uh possible. So, like my staff, I have a mask on, I have gloves on, I can't speak in front of the patients. I can look with my eyes, and my assistants pretty much know what's expected to be. Good mood, bad mood, pissed off, happy, they know. They know that's that's where you go to the next level when you come to building businesses, when you have the nonverbal cues in every relationship, when you know, you know, we'll give that look to my kid, and my kids, I want to throw a punch sometimes, and that's a joke. But they'll go, Why are you so mad? Why do you look so mad? Well, I wasn't supposed to, I will if I wanted to say it out loud, I would have, right? But you you hear this from this younger generation more, not to pick on the younger generation, but they try to call you out in front of people. They didn't they didn't get the nonverbal communication, if you will, right? But base running, coach communication, using gestures, quick decisions, thing to action. Um, you know, the the reality of it is is if you want to know truly how to do this in business, if you truly want to know how to do this in dentistry in your business life, guys, reach DM me or or email me when this call is done, because I'm telling you right now, the nonverbal communication and effective strategies is the utmost in building a team. It's the utmost, it is the number one thing you can do. I already said it in relationships, and everything is a relationship. Everything in business is a relationship, whether it's with your patients, whether it's with your staff, whether it's with your your colleagues, whatever it is, everything is about communication, verbal and nonverbal, actively listening. Dentistry, you know, creating smiles, creating a comforting atmosphere, creating time for the patients. These are all nonverbal communications that they care, right? Showing the comfort menu, right? And then there's another thing, number four is written communication, right? Documents, information that supports teamwork, processes, systems, like what's expected of me. And baseball, there's scouring reports and game plans and strategies, right? In business, written materials like reports, emails. This ensures remote collaboration, right? You're doing this written communication, and even more than ever, you need to document communication. It could be if you're running a business and you're in HR. You don't document, you're done, right? Dentistry, patients' records, treatment plans, continuity of care, right? So written communication. You guys, I'm gonna challenge you this communicate through texting. You can communicate through through voice recordings, but but we're talking more about written right now. So texting, Slack apps, uh, WhatsApp, whatever you want to do, communication somehow. You always got to have number four written communication. Five, you got to have cultural sensitivity and adaptability. You need to be aware of your culture. Culture awareness is what's gonna ultimately improve communication across diverse backgrounds. Nothing is harder culturally than a male dentist working with all females. Then you mix cultures and race and religions and different backgrounds and everything like that. It's a totally different atmosphere, it's a different beast right now, right? How to truly communicate from cultural differences between patients. You know, not all my patients are like me. Not all of them believe. What's up, Naran? Welcome joining the call, baby. Love Naran. Thumbs up for Naran. He's a Richie Dolan guy. Love Naran, he's a great dude. But not every not every culture communicates the same. Not every patient bleeds the same as you. So when you're dealing with culture awareness and adaptability, culture sensitivity, when you communicate, right, you got to make sure you're you're aware of that. In baseball, embracing cultural differences enhances your team cohesion. Not everybody in a sporting event is from the same country. Not everybody from a sporting event or on a team is from the same religious background. It's just not. So when you're dealing with teams and approaches, you got to be sensitive to it all. Like how I communicate with one, I got to communicate differently to somebody else. And if you have effective strategies and you truly run a business, if you're truly a leader, you know how to juggle it all. Now, guys, we all gonna fail. We're gonna fail a lot, we're gonna mess up, we're gonna say different things, right? Understanding that who we are, who we are, and understanding the culture of who other people are will allow us to false relationships in a whole nother level. You can go way deeper in that relationship if you understand cultures, if you really get to know the person. Where I failed in dentistry, where I failed in life, where I continue to fail at times, is when I make it all about me. The minute I make it about them, and the minute I get to understand them, and the minute I get to open up my heart to serve them, the people, my staff, my patients, the world, right? The minute I make it not about me, but about everyone else and understanding how they work, and I've actually listened, and I have nonverbal communication, and I've written communication, and I'm sensitive to cultures, that's when you blow up. That's when you blow up. That's why there's groups that you can see in whether you're in college, whether you're in business, that we do. When you understand cultural norms of business, that's what's gonna foster that deep relationship. Like Naran and I, he's on the car right now. I know Naran, we're totally different backgrounds, totally different upbringings, totally different cultures, totally different countries. When I think he's in Canada, and I'm freaking in the US, totally different situation. But yet when we talk to each other, we can embrace it all and we can we can establish that communication. Andreas, the same thing. In dentistry, there's cultural sensitivity amongst all your patients. Even during treatment plans, you gotta present treatment plans totally different from different people from different cultures. You gotta know what they want. Number six, you need feedback and constructive criticism. Sixth thing about really developing a team and getting the cohesion and collaboration with teammates. Number six, you need feedback and constructive criticism. That's what's gonna drive you forward. I just lost a staff member. Just lost a staff member today. And probably was my fault 100%, to be honest with you. Um, um, I'm a I'm a bull and a China chap sometimes, and I can I can I can abolish a lot of things in my way, especially if I feel like they're they're underachieving. And sometimes my approach, being a male, working with all females, can be a little bit aggressive too, right? They always say you always sound aggressive or pissed off. And I do get pissed off. I do sometimes come across aggressive because it drives me absolutely crazy when people do not live up to their full potential. It's a weakness of mine, it's a strength and weakness because I don't comprehend that. Coming from nothing my whole life, being a bulldog and not blaming anybody, but taking full accountability of myself, even by saying one of my self brothers left because of me is taking accountability. I don't tolerate nonsense. I don't tolerate people not digging deep for who they are. God gave you the greatest gift, and that's choice. Choice, freedom to choose whatever it is you want to be, to do whatever you want. We play victim every single day. So when I get feedback, this is feedback to me, not the feedback I always want, but it's feedback. Now, what can I do? I can take it, I can pivot, I can adjust, and I can grow, but I move on. Because I said before earlier in this whole conversation, it's those people that can endure the pain and struggles to ultimately get what they want. It's when you stop moving and you stop improving, you're dead. So anytime you have if life is going good, stay calm. If life is going bad, stay calm. If business is going good, stay calm. If business is going bad, stay calm. What am I supposed to learn right now? Be in the moment. Get your feedback from the universe or your friends or your colleagues, whatever it is, and then approve and grow. Always grow. Always grow. I'm not gonna go back and beat myself up because I communicated poorly. I think you know what I say to myself, how can I communicate better next time? Is this tracking with you guys? Just with the heart and thumbs up, how important feedback is in life and the constructive criticism that we all need. We are so worried, so worried about telling people the truth about certain things that we don't. Baseball, coaches provide feedback all the time. How to refine the players? How to how do you thank you for keeping it real with us? I will thank you, brother. It is real. No lies here, bro. Real, raw, relevant results, I promise you. So, baseball, coaches provide feedback all the time to refine their players' techniques and strategies. And if you realize this, this is why I always tell everybody when coaches truly believe in you, when people truly believe in you, when your spouse really believes in you, I got the Fox sports thing going up, they're gonna give you tough criticism. They're gonna tell you that you suck sometimes, and they're gonna tell you that you're great sometimes. And it's so funny to me how my kids would come home from a sporting event and they go, Oh, the coach is hard to me. You know, I say awesome. I'm so glad the coach is hardened. You want to know why? Because they believe in you. Nobody's gonna waste their time and energy if they don't believe in you. So take that feedback, take all that criticism and then just embrace it and become the best you. It's when they stop talking to you, it's when they stop giving you feedback, it's when they stop giving you that criticism that I'll be aware. I talk about like life is not business and strategies and building teams and collaboration, it's all about relationships. The minute the relationship stops talking, you're in trouble. It's over. I don't care if it's an angry part, that's good. They still love you. If it's just loving, that's good. They still love you. Any feedback is positive feedback, whether it's good or negative, take it and move on and grow. Business, construction feedback supports professional development. You gotta have it. Those that never change in business will stay stagnant and eventually they're dying. You've got to constantly be evolving, looking at processes, looking at systems. How can we improve this? How do we just dump water on the plant every single day to make it grow? How do we plant that new seed in business to make it thrive? Dentistry, feedback with my patients, those that are coming back, those that are not coming back. Okay, what did we do to make you not come back? How can you help us learn? It's that feedback is what's gonna ultimately lead to that growth. Because if life was easy, you never had struggles, you never had trials, well, where would we be? We'd have no growth. If if the light bulb worked for the very first time, you never have advancements a light bulb. I mean, who we kidding? So feedback, push, man, in this generation, the young, I'm gonna reach to you even more. Take that constructive criticism from us old folks, people in our 50s, 60s, 70s, 40s. Don't play victims. Say, man, that's great. Thank you for that feedback. I'm so gracious for that feedback. How do I improve? In conclusion, though, guys, an effective communication is vital in dentistry, business, and baseball, and relationships. It promotes cohesion and goal attainment. It doesn't matter where you're at in life, it doesn't matter what you're doing. If you're a mother, you need communication. You're a father, you need communication with your kids, you need communication. That's what's going to build the teamwork. It's the lack of communication that destroys everything. I said that before in marriages. It is not infidelity, it is not finances, it's the lack of communication, is the number one cause for divorce in every relationship because people don't know the expectation they're supposed to meet. That's all hard facts. So if that's like that in marriage, why wouldn't that be like that in business? So when you clear, you have clear communication, when you active listen, when you have nonverbal cues, written communication, cultural sensitivity, you're adaptable, constructive feedback, and crucial strategy. Strategies, you will dominate. This applies in every aspect of your life. This applies in every single thing that you do. So I just knocked over my water bottle. My bad. This applies in everything. So the emphasis, the emphasizing of the importance of communication, whether it's in dentistry and business, it's going to ensure accurate information transfer through active listening, which is going to foster collaboration. Your non-view cues or cues are going to deepen your connection. Your written communication documents, information with cultural sensitivity and adaptability will enhance understanding across diverse backgrounds. Feedback and constructive criticism will ultimately drive your growth. And if you apply these strategies in business, in life, and in dentistry, success will be beyond belief. You're going to strengthen relationships, overcome every single challenge, and achieve every single goal that you set. And just to ensure you're in progress, guys, just to ensure you're doing the right thing, I want you to email me at the infothedentco.com. Email me here so that I know I'm going to hold your ass accountable. Because there's three things one percenters need, and all you that are on this call are one percenters. You ready? I'm gonna give you a little hack. Number one, you need a mentor, you need somebody to take you where you've never been. Number two, you need a peer. You need a peer to share the information that you learned, and you can you're on the same level. And number three, you need a mentee. You need to teach this new stuff you learned to somebody else to rise them up. So if you don't have a mentor, find one. And I'm gonna tell you this right now. It's not your mom, it's not your freaking dad, it's not some dental uh teacher who taught me in dental school how to run a business. You know who I get all my mentorship from? People that can run multi-million dollar businesses, not even dentists, because they are they are where I want to go. I get the information from the Durands of the world, the Ken K's of the world, the Richie Downs of the world, the Grant Cardones of the world, the the the Gary J. White's of the world. They're my mentors. Why? Because they are where I want to go. They are exactly where you want to go. Can your peer be the mentee? Absolutely, but I would rather have you, uh Malik, to answer that question. Find somebody right now that you're right at with, right? But if you're above them, then they're not really your peer. Find somebody that is your peer and just go back and forth with them, and then eventually find somebody else sounds bad, that's just a little bit below that, Malik, and then mentor them and rise them up. That helps, brother. I saw that at IG, but thank you for that feedback, Amalik. So, guys, this if this call is making a positive change, just a thumbs up. I know it's 30 minutes, we're getting you out of here five minutes early. I'm changing it. I'm changing the way I do this next week. I'm gonna go deep in the souls of people come next week. I was gonna talk about embracing change and innovation, but what better way to embrace change and innovation? So look out for the emails, look out for the new way of doing everything, right? Because I'm about I'm changing. Just like I'm taking feedback from what I've got from other people on the Grown Wagrassi calls, and I'm rebranding and I'm pivoting. So, guys, much love. Stay tuned for new things coming. It's gonna be massive. Change is gonna be massive. I'm gonna make all my men in this world rise up and women, okay? It's gonna be deep. But much love, guys. We'll talk soon. Have a great day. If this episode challenges you to think differently or lead better, share it with someone who's committed to growth and personal responsibility. Subscribe so you don't miss future conversations on leadership, discipline, and performance. And remember, leadership isn't a title, it's a daily decision. This has been Dr. Bobby J. Grassi, and we'll see you next time on the Iron Dentist Podcast.