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Howard Speaks Howard Farran, DDS, MAGD, MBA, Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine

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Win Like George
– by Howard Farran, DDS, MAGD, MBA, Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine

George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, passed away from a heart attack on July 13, 2010. "The Boss" was one of the most polarizing people in professional baseball; he was as lauded as he was criticized. Steinbrenner was always the first to admit he didn't make all the right decisions (after all, he did hire and fire manager Billy Martin five times), but he was the most successful owner of the winningest professional sports club in North America. Steinbrenner is also one of my all-time heroes. He taught me what management is all about.
Steinbrenner won seven World Series titles and 11 pennants. He bought a losing franchise from CBS in 1973 for $8.8 million, put all of his money into his employees and the rest is history. In the 37 years Steinbrenner owned the Yankees, his net worth (listed by Forbes magazine in September 2009) was estimated at $1.15 billion. Thirty-seven years is a long time, but you don't go from shelling out a few million for a crappy team to becoming "rolling-in-it" wealthy (with several championships on your shelf ) without making at least a few good moves.

Maybe it's because of Catholic guilt or I was too wet behind the ears, but when I started practicing dentistry if an employee of mine wasn't performing up to par, I thought it was because of me. I thought I needed to possess genuine leadership abilities and charisma in order to manage my team. I took complete ownership of my employees' behavior and output. I even went to great lengths to change myself so my team could perform better. I thought it was up to me to motivate them to do the best job they could do. What I learned from George Steinbrenner is if you employ a pitcher who can't pitch, you don't go down to the dugout and motivate the guy, you don't take him to dinner for a pep talk or send him to pitching school – you fire him and find a better pitcher.

Steinbrenner taught me how to manage my HR roster. I have 46 employees. Every quarter I go through that list of employees the same way Steinbrenner would look at his roster, and ask, "Is this person a good employee? Is this person a team player? Does he or she play nice in the sandbox? Is this person honest? Does this person have integrity? Is this person one of my brightest employees? Is this employee motivated? Is this employee diving for the ball? Is this employee hitting homeruns?" I don't have time to motivate 46 people. Sorry, Jack or Jane Employee, I don't know how to correct what went wrong in your childhood. I'm sorry your spouse is a deadbeat. I'm sorry your children are into drugs and alcohol. These aren't my problems.

Rather than wasting my time trying to motivate one employee, I am going to hire one who is already motivated. I am not going to teach an employee the skills he or she needs to do the job properly; I am going to find an employee who is already skilled. This is what George Steinbrenner taught us all.

I always evaluate my team on a quarterly basis. You can't do this day to day. Everyone has bad days. Some people can get off their game, and they need a little time to readjust. But when they're always off their game, that's when you have a problem. When an employee is burned out and unmotivated to do his or her job lots of managers think, "I need to motivate this person. I need to be a leader. I need to encourage this person. It's all my fault." No way, José. Steinbrenner taught it is not your fault. Maybe that person is just plain lazy. Maybe they have issues stemming all the way from their childhood. Maybe their home life is completely and utterly screwed up. It really doesn't matter what the reason is; that is their problem. But when their problem affects their job performance, it becomes your problem. When it becomes your problem, your only solution is to get rid of that person. Try as hard as you might, but you are not going to change that person. You can't manage their lives, but you can manage your roster. Fire that person and hire a really happy, motivated, hardworking person. Put your practice's success in baseball terms: I want to win the World Series! This person can't pitch, but that other person can. Can you guess which one I want on my team? Bingo!

I'm used to hearing office managers say, "Oh, I can't get rid of her. She's been here for 10 years; she's a franchise player." This is wrong! Be like George Steinbrenner! He'd say, "Franchise player, doesn't matter. What are you doing today? What are you doing this season? I don't care how long you've been with the team. What are you doing for me now?!" Steinbrenner hired and fired plenty of managers because of their worth to the team. How worthy are your staff members of being on a championship team?

Steinbrenner once claimed to be 95 percent Mr. Rogers and five percent Oscar the Grouch. You can be Mr. Rogers 95 percent of the time, in fact it should be a pre-requisite to being a dentist. But sometimes you have to pull your Oscar the Grouch persona out of the trash can and take care of business! This is another thing I admired about Steinbrenner. He operated the most scrutinized professional sports team in America's most scrutinizing market – New York. He never blinked. He never cared what anyone else thought. He had very thick skin and he was true to himself.

Be true to yourself. Never mind what those who criticize you think. Make all the moves you feel you need to make. Hire the people you not only want to hire, but need to hire. Build the team that's going to make your practice the most successful practice in your neck of the woods. If Steinbrenner wanted to make the World Series every year he needed the best players on his team. If you want to run a successful dental practice, you need the best players on your team!
Howard Live
Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD, is an international speaker who has written dozens of published articles. To schedule Howard to speak to your next national, state or local dental meeting, email colleen@farranmedia.com.

Dr. Farran’s next speaking engagement is September 17, 2010, at the Greater Springfield Dental Society in Springfield, Missouri. For more information, please call Colleen at 480-445-9712.

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