How To Be A Likable Leader

I’m about to tell you the secret to achieving your grandest practice ambitions – and it has nothing to do with dentistry.  It’s an important topic as we continue our month of gratitude and appreciation.

The truth is, everything you want to achieve depends on other people.  Nothing of great significance will ever happen all by yourself.  

The great Zig Ziglar always said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”  That ought to serve as a guiding light for us all. 

Now, it’s important not to confuse helping people and being likable with the need to be liked by everybody.  It’s the old adage that you can’t please all the people, all the time; nor should you be trying.

  
Furthermore, getting people to like you can’t be at the mercy, sacrifice, or detriment of your well-being, goals, peace of mind, health, or integrity.

On the flip side, you can’t get what you want at other people’s expense either.

The key is in the alignment.  Where this seemingly competing duality can exist in near perfect balance because there are wins, victories, and positives for everyone involved.

The principle is clear that when everyone’s best interests align, everyone benefits.  It’s why I always emphasize that your practice’s financial prosperity is tied directly to your most important purpose: helping more patients get healthy.  When your patient wins, your practice wins.

Here’s a question that you didn’t expect… 

Where in your life are you being too selfish in pursuit of a goal that is harming someone else?  

It might not be anyone within your practice (as in your team or your patients).  Often, it’s the people back home that get the worst of you instead of the best of you, or what’s left of you instead of all of you.

More importantly though, I want to ask you another question… 

Where are you being too much of a people pleaser instead of taking care of yourself?

People who exert their energy taking care of others often forget the one that matters most to take care of is yourself.  You don’t have to live at the expense of others in order to be likable. 

You can change it by changing your perspective, your decisions, and your intentions.  Where people go wrong is attempting to change others, instead of ourselves as a way alter our outcomes.   That’s a hard life lesson we all have to experience sometimes.

Which brings us back to the being a likable leader and still achieving your goals.  You gain people’s trust, cooperation, and loyalty by giving them what they need…

Praise, appreciation, and respect…

By listening, caring, and acknowledging…

Through your words, actions, and intentions.

There is much more to discuss.  Next week, I’m going to bring all of this to life for you as we move closer to the day of Giving Thanks.  

In the meantime, make gratitude a daily, moment by moment, person by person habit.  Start by checking on how you are doing with these nine powerful words.  

Then next Monday, we’ll talk about how this applies to your patients and your practice culture as a whole.  Stay tune