Larry's Whys
Larry's Whys
Why Dentistry
Simon Sinek famously wrote about ‘Starting With Why’
I am the second youngest of 13 children. Since I was a young child, I knew I was interested in medicine. I had the marks and the discipline throughout grade school, junior high and high school, graduating as an Ontario Scholar with over 80% in all my Grade 13 subjects.
Then my father died suddenly, just as I was starting undergraduate University education. He left behind such a large debt that within 3 months we lost our home, our cars, everything. Now my 58 year old mother had to go back to work, after being out of the workforce for 40 years. Without even high school education, her prospects were dim. I thought of quitting school to help her manage, but my siblings saw that I had this dream of being a doctor. Being the first of my family to have the capability of achieving this dream, they convinced me to stay in school.
Six years later, after completing my Bachelors of Science and Masters of Science (doing research on Cystic Fibrosis), I decided to apply for Medicine, Dentistry and Teachers College hoping I would get into something. After years of failing to gain entry into Medicine, I was now accepted into all three. Now I had the difficult decision and make a choice.
It was April, 1983 and the final episode of the first season of St. Elsewhere, a medical drama involving a fictional hospital in Boston, was airing. In this episode (featuring actors Howie Mandel, Denzel Washington, George Clooney and more) the interns, mourning the loss of one of their colleagues who had taken their own life and now pondering their future as their residency was ending, had one of them state,
Why Dentistry
Simon Sinek famously wrote about ‘Starting With Why’
I am the second youngest of 13 children. Since I was a young child, I knew I was interested in medicine. I had the marks and the discipline throughout grade school, junior high and high school, graduating as an Ontario Scholar with over 80% in all my Grade 13 subjects.
Then my father died suddenly, just as I was starting undergraduate University education. He left behind such a large debt that within 3 months we lost our home, our cars, everything. Now my 58 year old mother had to go back to work, after being out of the workforce for 40 years. Without even high school education, her prospects were dim. I thought of quitting school to help her manage, but my siblings saw that I had this dream of being a doctor. Being the first of my family to have the capability of achieving this dream, they convinced me to stay in school.
Six years later, after completing my Bachelors of Science and Masters of Science (doing research on Cystic Fibrosis), I decided to apply for Medicine, Dentistry and Teachers College hoping I would get into something. After years of failing to gain entry into Medicine, I was now accepted into all three. Now I had the difficult decision and make a choice.
It was April, 1983 and the final episode of the first season of St. Elsewhere, a medical drama involving a fictional hospital in Boston, was airing. In this episode (featuring actors Howie Mandel, Denzel Washington, George Clooney and more) the interns, mourning the loss of one of their colleagues who had taken their own life and now pondering their future as their residency was ending, had one of them state,
"You know, we just spent a whole year of our lives eating, sleeping and working…"
That was my lightbulb moment. As a former musician, rock radio DJ, Entertainment Editor of a newspaper, go-kart racer and more, I decided I never wanted a year of my life to go by where I stated that all I did was eat, sleep and work. I chose dentistry as my career.
Now, more than 33 years after graduation, I have never regretted that decision. Dentistry feeds so much of my desires and interests. I not only have to be a clinician, there is art, science, accounting, marketing, small business acumen, leadership, management and more involved in what I have to do every day. I get to control the hours I work, earn a good income, and be my own boss. And it has allowed me to grow over the years.
There is nothing I do today that I did the same when I graduated. It is (like everything else in the world and our lives) continually changing and evolving and I have embraced it.
"You know, we just spent a whole year of our lives eating, sleeping and working…"
That was my lightbulb moment. As a former musician, rock radio DJ, Entertainment Editor of a newspaper, go-kart racer and more, I decided I never wanted a year of my life to go by where I stated that all I did was eat, sleep and work. I chose dentistry as my career.
Now, more than 33 years after graduation, I have never regretted that decision. Dentistry feeds so much of my desires and interests. I not only have to be a clinician, there is art, science, accounting, marketing, small business acumen, leadership, management and more involved in what I have to do every day. I get to control the hours I work, earn a good income, and be my own boss. And it has allowed me to grow over the years.
There is nothing I do today that I did the same when I graduated. It is (like everything else in the world and our lives) continually changing and evolving and I have embraced it.
Why Speaking
It’s the mid-1990’s and I am attending my very first AACD convention in Boston. I had never attended a larger convention and I had never experienced a large event with a keynote speaker.
5000 people gathered at the start of the day to hear the first keynote speaker. They turned out the lights, brought up a spotlight on the stage and in rolled a man in a motorized wheelchair, a quadriplegic. His name was W. Mitchell, and he was disfigured first in a blazing motorcycle accident and then in a paralyzing plane crash. For the next hour, he had the entire room silent as he weaved storytelling into his message. His was a powerful message of improbable survival and resilience, and to not accept defeat. And with the power of his voice alone, he impacted us all. The lights came up, he received a standing ovation and then everyone moved off to the various other lectures and courses they wanted to attend, and I sat there and said to myself, “WOW! One day I want to do that!”
More than 20 years passed and I was working hard making my practice a success. And then it happened. You know the saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears”? I attended a study club session for an orthodontic group in Calgary and they brought in Dr. Paul Homoly. He presented for his first time to a general audience his thoughts and techniques about the art of being a speaker. I was ready to hear this talk and embarked on this new aspect of my career.
The most effective lessons I have ever enjoyed were ones weaved into stories and effectively told by a great storyteller. It is what I wanted to do and now I am having that amazing opportunity to do just that.
Why Speaking
It’s the mid-1990’s and I am attending my very first AACD convention in Boston. I had never attended a larger convention and I had never experienced a large event with a keynote speaker.
5000 people gathered at the start of the day to hear the first keynote speaker. They turned out the lights, brought up a spotlight on the stage and in rolled a man in a motorized wheelchair, a quadriplegic. His name was W. Mitchell, and he was disfigured first in a blazing motorcycle accident and then in a paralyzing plane crash. For the next hour, he had the entire room silent as he weaved storytelling into his message. His was a powerful message of improbable survival and resilience, and to not accept defeat. And with the power of his voice alone, he impacted us all. The lights came up, he received a standing ovation and then everyone moved off to the various other lectures and courses they wanted to attend, and I sat there and said to myself, “WOW! One day I want to do that!”
More than 20 years passed and I was working hard making my practice a success. And then it happened. You know the saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears”? I attended a study club session for an orthodontic group in Calgary and they brought in Dr. Paul Homoly. He presented for his first time to a general audience his thoughts and techniques about the art of being a speaker. I was ready to hear this talk and embarked on this new aspect of my career.
The most effective lessons I have ever enjoyed were ones weaved into stories and effectively told by a great storyteller. It is what I wanted to do and now I am having that amazing opportunity to do just that.
Why Success is All About Relationships topic?
It is Boxing Day (December 26), 1996. My friend Chuck Bean was over for dinner with his wife. We were talking about his new business as a coach, consultant, strategist and I was talking about how hard I was working but my practice had reached a plateau. He told me about the need for me and my team to be better at understanding our own personalities and those of our patients as well and described a simple tool for understanding these personalities. I hired Chuck as my first business coach.
This was my introduction into Insights Into Communications and the Colour Wheel. It was powerfully simple and transformed my practice. The knowledge gained changed the relationship I had with my team and the team with our patients. The atmosphere in my office was good, and now it was better and the patients immediately noted it. Relationships are what drives my practice success. Indeed, relationships are what drives all of the successes in my life. And I have come to believe that it is what drives success in all of business, big or small.
Understanding the people around us allows us to customize what we say and how we say it. We can then determine what our patients and team want and then find a way to provide for them what they uniquely desire. It improves the BLT (Believability, Likability and Trust). People trust people they like. And if our patients trust us, the likelihood they will accept our treatment plans increases exponentially. And if treatment plan acceptance rises, our profitability rises and success follows.
Why Success is All About Relationships topic?
It is Boxing Day (December 26), 1996. My friend Chuck Bean was over for dinner with his wife. We were talking about his new business as a coach, consultant, strategist and I was talking about how hard I was working but my practice had reached a plateau. He told me about the need for me and my team to be better at understanding our own personalities and those of our patients as well and described a simple tool for understanding these personalities. I hired Chuck as my first business coach.
This was my introduction into Insights Into Communications and the Colour Wheel. It was powerfully simple and transformed my practice. The knowledge gained changed the relationship I had with my team and the team with our patients. The atmosphere in my office was good, and now it was better and the patients immediately noted it. Relationships are what drives my practice success. Indeed, relationships are what drives all of the successes in my life. And I have come to believe that it is what drives success in all of business, big or small.
Understanding the people around us allows us to customize what we say and how we say it. We can then determine what our patients and team want and then find a way to provide for them what they uniquely desire. It improves the BLT (Believability, Likability and Trust). People trust people they like. And if our patients trust us, the likelihood they will accept our treatment plans increases exponentially. And if treatment plan acceptance rises, our profitability rises and success follows.