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Adam Hogan: ⁓ I wanna welcome everybody back to All In All On X pod. I'm Dr. Adam Hogan and this is my friend, Mr. Gary Zalesky. ⁓ And while Gary Zalesky's an interesting I don't even know if we have enough time for this in one hour, two hours, three hours, we might have to make a sequel upon sequels. ⁓ But on this pod we talk implants and most dentists talk about implants but very few talk about leadership and leadership under pressure and passion for what they do. ⁓

Gary Zelesky: You

Adam Hogan: Gary, you epitomize that word passion. We're going to chat about that. Today's guest ⁓ lives where decision matters, where outcomes are immediate and leadership is not optional. So this is Gary Zalaski. Gary, welcome to the show.

Gary Zelesky: Hey doctor, thank you for having me man. I remember the first time I met you and of course, you know there's times in our lives where you meet somebody and you know within the first 30 seconds you're going, I think that's enough time. We've had enough time already. Okay. You know what mean? And then there's other times you meet somebody and you go, man, that's, that's, that's a brother that nobody ever talked to me about. And that's what I felt like with you, your hospitality, your sense of engagement. And the thing that hit me the most was your ability to really listen.

Adam Hogan: Hahaha.

Gary Zelesky: when somebody's speaking to you, which is a ⁓ fine art as far as I'm concerned.

Adam Hogan: I'm sorry. Wait, what'd you say? I tuned out for a minute. I'm kidding. I was listening to you the whole way. It was a joke No, I appreciate the same thing with you. You know, I am you're a tremendous educator. Give everyone a little background on how we met I was looking for somebody for the business course to come in and motivate and inspire people at the Atlantic Implant Institute at the business course Your name got dropped to me by two or three people and at the same time your wife who is your producer manager, I guess and your your best half reached out at the same time. thought this is God's way of saying, Hey, Adam, look in this direction. All right. Everyone's recommending this guy to come speak for you and his wife sent you this 37 page CV on how many places Gary has talked. I have got to meet Gary. So you came to the Institute and you put on a dynamite program. I wish, you you talked for an hour, hour and a half. I wish I had heard you for eight hours. I mean, what's your longest speaking gig? Have you ever done a day?

Gary Zelesky: Here's what's really wild. I'm not a dentist. And by the way, doctor, you would never want me to be your dentist, okay? I'm really good. I would really be good at the front of the office, but you wouldn't want me around sharp instruments and cleaning them, okay? Somebody would get hurt. the whole... When I got invited to Dentistry, was the last thing. I'm not a dentist. I used to go to dentistry every once in while, but it was the farthest thing from my mind. And I got an opportunity to speak for a dental conference. And there was such a connection between ⁓ myself, the doctors and the teams that it opened the door for 25 years of speaking in this incredible family called Dentistry. And I'm still to this day, having the time of my life doing it. I absolutely love it.

Adam Hogan: You've spoken of course to a lot of dentists. know you've been to, excuse me, you've been to SIN Symposiums, Neodent, Nobel BioCare. you got, how did you get into speaking to dental groups? Where did that start?

Gary Zelesky: Okay, you're gonna love this. fact, getting back to your previous question, the average speaking engagement ⁓ that's not dental, I do a lot outside the dental industry, is probably 45 minutes to maybe an hour. But in dentistry, because of CE credits, you have to lecture for three hours.

Adam Hogan: Right? Yeah, it's all about this. We all have to keep our licenses. That's what it's all about.

Gary Zelesky: And when I tell my other keynote friends, my keynote speaker friends, go, Gary, how long do you lecture for? I go, three hours. They go, I'm sorry, what? I go, yeah, and that's only a half day. That's a half day lecture. but I got it by, this was like over 25 years ago, and this is quick story, but it's kind of cool. I got it, my wife came to me, she goes, hey, listen, you got a speaking engagement. I go, really, what is it? She goes, it's in dentistry. And I went, okay. ⁓

Adam Hogan: Right.

Gary Zelesky: What am I doing here? goes, but they don't want you to talk about dentistry. They want to talk about humans and humanity and humanity in dentistry. said, okay, I can do that. you're gonna, Adam, you're gonna love this. So I show up at this cosmetic dental conference. Never been to one before in my life. show up at the hotel, man, I mean, there's probably 4,000 people there. There's booths everywhere. And then, so I get there and then there's a speaker's table. I go, whoa, a speaker's table, come on now. And as I'm walking to the speaker's table, I walk by this huge, massive venue where the main speakers are going to be. It's this massive stage. go, ⁓ man, I'm gonna blow this place away. I'm gonna bring the best speech I've ever had. This is be a rock concert. My ego is just pouring out, right? So I walk up to the speaker's table and they go, hi, yeah, I'm Gary Zalesky, I'm a speaker here. And they go, huh, hang on. And they pull out a list of like 100 names. go down the list track and they go, ⁓ is that Z? I go, yeah, they go, ⁓ hang on, hang on, hang on, ⁓ here you are, here you are. She goes, you're in room 51.

Adam Hogan: Okay, Area 51. I like it already.

Gary Zelesky: I go, Yeah, you're in room 51. I go, okay. And she goes, here's a map on how to get to it. I start walking there. I was probably two miles from the conference. I mean, my room is as far away from anything. I walk in, it seats, I think it's seated about 50 people. I walk in, by the time the speech started, it started, the crowd swelled to about 20 people. I'm in the back of the room. I am so mad. I got 20. people sitting there. called my wife, Cherise, you know, and I said, honey, she goes, what's the matter? go, what in the world is this all? You told me I was speaking at a dental conference and I got 20 people here. She goes, I said, I'm coming home. I'm not going to stay and speak to 20 people. You know what she said to me? I think you should. You need to come home.

Adam Hogan: Whoa, okay.

Gary Zelesky: I said, And it threw me. go, what do mean? goes, because those 20 people deserve a lot better than you. Those 20 people came and gave everything. And if you can't give 100 % to 20 people, it would probably be better that you just come home. You're right. But if you give 100 % to 20 people, then you're the speaker you're supposed to be.

Adam Hogan: ⁓ whoa. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: Well, I stayed, man. It was a rock concert. Little did I know a guy was doing a taping, taping my message in the back of the room. We don't, we never know. He gave it to a guy by the name of Dr. Richard Maddow, who had the largest private dental conference at the time in Las Vegas. Gave that tape to Richard Maddow. He listened to it. That year I got invited to go to Vegas and share the stage with Zig Ziglar at one of the largest dental conference. Why? Because I swallowed my stupid ego. Listened to my wife and I gave a hundred percent. 20.

Adam Hogan: That is, that's actually beautiful because you weren't, ⁓ you were willing to step up for just one person. And you know, I give lectures and I give presentations and sometimes there's 20 some people in the room, sometimes there's two, right? Or sometimes there's a thousand and to be on your best, no matter what the number is. I mean, that takes a lot of personal fortitude. Really it does. And also it speaks to the opportunity that you were given. As they say, know, wise man said it was probably came from wise woman. If a wise man said it, I'm sure before the man.

Gary Zelesky: Yeah.

Adam Hogan: But a wise woman told a man who told somebody once, luck is preparation meeting opportunity. And you had the opportunity to speak to 20 people and then this new opportunity, this luck presented itself to go speak to 2000 people, I'm sure. So you took the leap and that's all you can really do.

Gary Zelesky: You know, on my board that's in front of me right now, I wrote a long time ago, you never know. That is the core of everything I am. You never know. You never know who's watching, you never know who's listening, you never know who you're treating, you never know what they're thinking. And so we have to live in a world of trying to be more aware.

Adam Hogan: Yeah. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: of not us in our needs but in the people around us. ⁓ Because the more we continue to think about us, we shrink the world that God has given us. ⁓ I know when I was at your conference, my world opened up. First of all, was fun. It was fun. But it opened up my awareness of there's so much possibilities when it comes to dentistry right now. We have the opportunity in dentistry to change the course of what it really means to treat people like human beings and make them feel vitally important. That can happen in dentistry. I truly believe that. And it is. It is happening.

Adam Hogan: Yeah. Well, the ability to change lives. I mean, it happens on so many fronts. I mean, we do it in teeth all on, all on four dental, you know, whether it be one implant, whether it be one crown, one veneer, something makes somebody feel good about themselves. I mean, I think you're doing the same thing on the, ⁓ on the stage. Cause you talk about, ⁓ passion. I've seen a couple of books. have a, how many books have you, do you have? I've seen at least two and they both have the word passion. Three books.

Gary Zelesky: I've got three books and we just finished another one which I'm very excited about, but that's another day.

Adam Hogan: ⁓ well, no. mean, tell me about the new book.

Gary Zelesky: Yeah, it's a really, it took me a year and a half to write. ⁓ When we go offline, I'll tell you more about it, but it's probably one of the most ⁓ unique works that I've been able to participate in a long, long time. And it's on leadership, it has kind of a faith-based taste to it, but ⁓ it's for everybody, it's across the board.

Adam Hogan: I want to share something here. ⁓ I have ⁓ one of your ⁓ books here pulled up. ⁓ where is the passion, the passion, the we've got here? ⁓ this is all, all about you. Look at all this. This is what Google thinks of Gary's a lesky right here. Yeah. A lot of good.

Gary Zelesky: There it is.

Adam Hogan: good looks man you're a good looking guy a lot of pink I guess you it's got to be impassioned if it's going to be pink well there that link that link goes to the goes to X but this book I you gave us all a copy of this book this was a great little read here it is an Amazon it's only a only 11 12 bucks on Amazon you guys all have to buy it tell me about this book what's in it what do we see in here

Gary Zelesky: Ugh. Well, the book really came about from my wife, Cherise. This was years ago and she was trying to come up with some brand, a brand for me. When you go out and you have to have a brand. so one night, it was like at midnight, she wakes up out of a sound sleep, she wakes up at me and she looks at me and she goes, ⁓ this is amazing. This is amazing. I have an idea. And I'm going, I'm a man. They mix with my wife. I'm going. Great! What would that idea be?

Adam Hogan: Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: And she goes, I know what your brand is. I go, really? That's what this is about brand? She goes, Gary, listen to me. You are without a doubt the most passionate person I've ever met in my life. You are passionate about passion. She goes, when somebody is sharing something that they truly love, you are sucked in, you love it. When they're not. you disengage immediately. You love to be around people that believe in something bigger than themselves. You're a passion guy. So we started, I started this whole investigation of what passion really is. And most people really have a misinterpretation of that word. They don't understand the essence of what that word really means. So when I began to study this whole thing on passion, I started speaking dentistry, right? Well, you know how anal retentive dentists are, right? So, So I would go and their humor of course is out of control. So what happens was I would go speak to these dental meetings and I would talk about passion but you could tell that for the dentist who is trying to figure out who's thinking A, B, C, D, I was speaking ethereal and they didn't get it. So I really wanted to come up with something that had methodology that had a system to it.

Adam Hogan: little bit.

Gary Zelesky: that a dentist could use in their office, and I did. And now it has become this idea of if you really want to measure the success of your office, don't do it based on a person's position. You do it based on a person's passion. What are they passionate about? Like dentists are so freaky. They're the freakiest people I've ever met in my life because a dentist, have, most people have two brains. They have a left brain and a right brain, right? Dentists have three brains. They have the left brain, which is a very clinical side because they have to do clinical. They have to maintain a clinical measuring process. But on the other side, they have a relational because on the right side, they have to maintain an artistic ability to recreate. So it's not just clinical, it's artistic. So they go back and forth from left brain to right brain, the middle brain is this bridge that goes back and forth. That brain right there is the one that freaks dentists out and the people that work for them. I'll an example. If you talk to any dentist, right, and they're talking, if talk to them, if you really want to find out what they're about, you stay after for networking and you go to the bar, okay? You go to where they're having a happy hour. Dentists suddenly reveal themselves in a way you can't even begin to imagine because then they start talking about their hobbies. They start talking about what they do on the weekend. They start talking about the things they love and it is as far away from what they do daily in that practice as you can imagine. So there's this psycho side of a dentist, whether female or male, that is absolutely crazy.

Adam Hogan: Sure.

Gary Zelesky: And that craziness, unfortunately, they save it for the weekends rather than having it come into their practice. I teach that you can take your passion and bring it to your position. So that, and I do passion makeovers for dentists. I go, I was in this one dental practice and I go, why is your dental practice so boring? Why is it so stinkin' Why is this off, is there something in writing where when you go into a dental practice, it has to be so clinical and so boring?

Adam Hogan: Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: that even the way you reward your employees is a bunch of plaques that look exactly the same on a wall. It's like employee of the month. Nothing individual. If you really want to get them excited, you give them a parking spot closer to the office. Are you serious?

Adam Hogan: Yes. Right.

Gary Zelesky: So I'm going, man, you've got to open up this office, make it look like something you really love. So I go into this office, this practice, and I spend like four or five days with the team. I don't like staff. I don't like the word staff. To me, staff is an infection, okay? It's something you catch and get rid of. I like the team. So in my time with them, discover every, I go around and find everybody's passion. You're gonna blow, this is gonna blow your mind. The passion,

Adam Hogan: Yes.

Gary Zelesky: The doctor is an ortho guy. Okay, you know orthos are freaky. Anyway, they see like 700 people in one day, right? This is so funny. So this the ortho doctor very very stiff very Right, but we found out that his passion which nobody knew even somebody who worked with him for 25 Never knew this his passion was guitars He loved guitars, but nobody knew it

Adam Hogan: Right? OK. All right.

Gary Zelesky: He not only loved guitars, not one, not one guitar, but he had a warehouse full of guitars down there. A warehouse. Over $1.5 million worth of In a warehouse.

Adam Hogan: So why aren't they on the wall in the clinic? Why aren't they all hanging up? Wow, no kidding. That's a lot of ortho. That's a lot of straightening of teeth. Right.

Gary Zelesky: So I said, ⁓ why don't you have a guitar hanging on your wall? He goes, I think that would be unprofessional.

Adam Hogan: Okay. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: Yeah, yeah, you hang a guitar on your wall, you will not be able to perform dentistry. So he did a complete passion makeover in his office. He had the whole floor redone and as you walk into his practice, there's guitars under pexiglass on the floor. So you're walking over guitars. mean, his practice looks like the Hard Rock Cafe.

Adam Hogan: That is, that's really bad ass actually. I would love to walk in there and see that. Like the glass and you're walking over all these old guitars. I mean the feeling, the patience would feel good. They would feel great. Yeah. I mean I've got a buddy and he's got surfboards hanging up all over his office. You know what? It makes them feel real. It makes them feel like okay this is a guy I can talk to about something else. Because Dennis, mean yeah they have this stigma of kind of being this geeky dorky and ⁓ you said anal retentive. You we prefer to call it obsessive compulsive.

Gary Zelesky: It's... We got to get past. Why not? Hahaha

Adam Hogan: We reserve anal retentive for the proctologist. That's their term, not ours. Okay. ⁓ I wanted to correct you on something else. You said dentists were ⁓ humorous. mean, I think we're just living through pain and misery. You just see that coming out in a lot of ways. But this whole thing of the dentist's office being ⁓ the stigma of the dental office and it looking and smelling like a dental office. My patients, when they come in here after they've been here a time or two, they're like, this doesn't feel like a dental office. It really doesn't because people are laughing. They're joking. They're having a good time. And it's not unusual to hear a bunch of people just, it's not unusual to hear a bunch of people just hooting and hollering and having a great time. And I have to walk by and go, hey, you know what? Stop. I don't know if you know this, but this is a dental office. There's supposed to be pain and misery and fear here. So everybody stop having a good time. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: What is it? Well, I will say, Adam, that you are... How do I say this? You are a little different than...

Adam Hogan: My mother's been telling me this for a long time.

Gary Zelesky: Because I definitely don't want to put a big old stereotype on dentists. don't because some of my deepest closest friends over the years have been dentists, ⁓ phenomenal people. And just because they're serious, that doesn't mean they're not fun. But I will say this, that when it comes to the office itself, the dental practice, we need to understand that people remember two things when they come to a practice. They really do. When you boil it down, a person remembers how they felt when they first walked in. They remember how they felt, not what they thought, but how did they feel when they first walked in that office. And more importantly, they remember how they felt when they left. And so what happens in between is important, I guarantee that. But I'm telling you, the way they're treated when they first walk in and the way they're treated when they leave is totally important. Because sometimes I will go into dental practices where I live, where nobody knows me, I'll go walk into that dental practice, just to do a secret shopper. And I'll walk in. What's that?

Adam Hogan: Mm-hmm. That's great. That's a great service. You do this for doctor's offices as a consultant?

Gary Zelesky: No, I've never thought of it. I just did it for fun. but most of the time when I walk in. The front desk is like the gatekeepers of the office. They're the gatekeepers. They're like, you will not go past this unless you have money. Do have money. And the problem is many times the people at that front desk, the only way they got the job is because they're related to somebody in the office.

Adam Hogan: Maybe.

Gary Zelesky: Their demeanor is less than fun. I tell people, if you have a person in your practice, a staff member who's outgoing, really outgoing, then put them outgoing. Put them in the front. If you have a person who's still trying to find their personality, put them in the back of the office, right? Put them in the back and that's fine because people, when they walk in, they want to, I went into one office and this is true, I started, they go, do you have an appointment? And the girl who was waiting on me never looked up from her desk, never looked up from the desk, never. She talked to me like this. So finally at one point, I just put my head down like this, I go, hey, can't we talk for a second?

Adam Hogan: Yes. Yeah. Mm-hmm, right. Yeah, right. Like how do I get on?

Gary Zelesky: because they don't realize it. But I think a dental practice, it's gotta be probably a place where there's ⁓ enthusiasm, passion, it's a series, it's not Disneyland, it's work, but where people really have each other's back and never stab each other in the back. That's a true dental practice for sure.

Adam Hogan: Yeah, I think that that's that's the hallmark of any good business, you know, that culture of teamwork, helping each other out. I got your back, you got mine. And, you know, sort of ⁓ we're all here for the common mission and we want to make each other's lives. But I mean, that's a bigger part of the culture lecture. I mean, the accountability of the culture lecture. Right. How do you teach? How do you go on teaching culture of accountability with, let's have a good time and be passionate about what we do?

Gary Zelesky: Yeah, I think when it comes to the culture of the office, think there's that many times we mix information with transformation. We want to disperse a ton of information, but how much of that information that's being dispersed is really turning into a transformation within the culture. And I think that When it comes to dentists, even some of the hiring practices that dentists have just freaked me out sometimes because, and again, I'm not trying to paint a large brush, but I've been in practice management for a long, long time. I've been in hundreds of practices and I think I've seen it all, but this one, I was in this one practice and the dentist was getting ready and they go, know, Sally, as you all know, Sally has left. And so we now have an opening here and And he said to the team, do you know anybody that might be available to come in and work for us? Do you know anybody that might be able to come in and work? And this one woman, I'm not exaggerating, she raised her hand. She goes, you know, I have a friend who just got out of detox and she's got a ton of time on her hands. And

Adam Hogan: Right, right.

Gary Zelesky: I think she would be an excellent person to come in. Well, what's the number one of the number one things surgeons or dentists across the board? One of the things they complain about the most is turnover in their practice. It's the amount of people that come and go, come and go. And I said, you know, the next time you hire somebody, you might want to get some of your key players on the team and let them do the interview. Because that person is going to be part of that team.

Adam Hogan: Great. Sure, yeah. No, I agree with that. ⁓ To an extent though, because sometimes when, you I've found this to be true that when you let the team pick who is going to come into the practice, that person, they're picking them for their own reasons, right? They're not really picking them for the overall business of the, you know, it's like, well, this person I like and they can get around, I can get along with them, you know? So I always say, if you have a suggestion for somebody to work in this office and it happens to be a friend of yours, understand, that you have to work with all of your friends' worst traits. This isn't just your buddy, because you have to be able to count on this person and rely on them to do their job. Because if you're hiring your best friend and you know that they're always late to work, because they tell you that on the phone, you're going to have a coworker who's always late. If you know that they always like to, they don't take their job seriously, you're have someone sitting next to you who's not taking their job seriously, and then you have to pick up the pieces. So... I want to hear your recommendations and I want to know that you want this person to be in the office, but also understand that this person isn't just a buddy and you know, this is a person that needs to be accountable to you and you're accountable to them because if it's just your buddy, you're going to end up working harder, 10%, 25 % harder, 50 % harder because we hired somebody that's likable to you. So you got to be really careful with that as well.

Gary Zelesky: Yes. I totally agree, Doc, because I don't know if I heard this from you, but I heard recently that a practice has come doing a new hiring process where they are not hiring people that are talented. They're not hiring people based on their talent or their knowledge within, whether it be a front desk or an assistant or a hygienist. They're not hiring based on their knowledge. They're hiring based on their personality and presence. Because they can teach the other, but you cannot teach character. You cannot teach loyalty. You cannot teach that work ethic. I think that we're coming to a place where, and again, I tell dentists all the time, don't hire what you think you deserve. Hire what you can't possibly afford that is over and above what you deserve.

Adam Hogan: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I have a matrix. did talk. I do talk about this a lot. Maybe you heard my, you know, a couple of years ago when we were together at the business seminar, I think we talked about this, but I have a matrix. I have a whole matrix on hiring and it really, there's two parts of the matrix. The X axis is loyalty and the Y axis is integrity and it's truthfulness and loyalty. And that's it. And I don't mean loyal. Everyone always says, you know, loyalty to you. No, it's isn't loyalty to me. It's loyalty to anything other than yourself and money.

Gary Zelesky: to watch you.

Adam Hogan: If it can't, your driving factor in your life can't be yourself, your ego, or your position in life, or money. It has to be, it can be the team, it can be the patients, it can be God, it can be humanity, it could be just doing good work, but you have to have loyalty to something other than yourself and money, and you have to be honest. And if you are anywhere in the, and you're on this X, Y axis, and if you're, you you gotta be over like a nine integrity, right? Eight and half integrity. But then there's this loyalty and you know, you're six, seven, hopefully you're getting there and I can find a position for you, whether it's, you know, whether you're the doctor doing surgery or whether you're cleaning the bathroom or just greeting patients at the front desk. If you have high integrity and high loyalty, we can find you a job. If we have an open position, we'll do, we'll find something within your capacity. So I have a lot more that goes on that, but I think that's the way the military looks for people to run ⁓ special operations. You know, we don't want necessarily the

Gary Zelesky: Absolutely.

Adam Hogan: best shooter on the team, want the person we can rely on to be there for the team when they need to be there, you know, and not run away and preserve them their own presence in their own, you know, life and, know, somebody that's going to be there for the team whenever they need it.

Gary Zelesky: Yeah, it's, you know, I hurt for dentists sometimes because female or male, whatever, because there's a lot of plates that are spinning. And I think that one of the things that I speak to when I go into a conference or practice, whatever, is that really appreciate where that dentist is coming from because a lot of what they're expected to do within that business was not taught to them at dental school. They did not learn some of the relational situations that they come upon every single day. And that's why I really appreciate guys like yourself that even do a podcast like this where, cause I've been listening to your podcasts and I think I'm to go back to dental school and maybe give it a shot. don't know, but I've been listening to your podcast and the thing and you, have this variety of, of guests.

Adam Hogan: Thanks. Don't do it. Don't do it.

Gary Zelesky: And many of them are very clinical, right? And of course, I am very not clinical. I enjoy it because ⁓ whoever you are, when you listen to your podcast, whoever that person is, bring in this sense of personality and fun that you bring out in your guest. And it makes the podcast worth listening to. You're not using it as some kind of sedation tool in the middle of the night. ⁓ But it's because so many podcasts, they're absolutely so boring at the end of the day, but you have this ability and this is leadership. You have the ability to bring out in a person sometimes that things that they didn't even know that was inside of them. That's the key to leadership. And when you're a dentist in a practice, here's the question. What are you bringing out in the people that work for you? I tell people all the time, When the door shuts in the parking lot as you're walking to the practice, what's going through your mind on the way into that office? Are you processing this? I wonder how many things they didn't get done that I told them to do. Or are you processing this? I'm elevating my gratitude today above my expectation.

Adam Hogan: Right?

Gary Zelesky: And for the first 10 minutes, when I walk into that office, instead of saying, I knew it wouldn't happen, you say, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. That's leadership 101, man.

Adam Hogan: Well, first of all, thank you for, that was very flattering, you know, and I appreciate that. And I do work hard at it, but so thank you very much. But two, it's not easy to be a perfect leader all day long, 365 days a year. You know, we make mistakes as well. So you would say, you know, when you're walking in the parking lot, you got the devil over here. you know, the negative part of the amygdala back here and it's like, I'll bet they didn't do this, I'll bet they didn't do that. I can't, someone says it's gonna be, you know, I can't wait to see so-and-so's bad attitude, right? I know they're gonna be tired talking about how they didn't sleep last night. And then you gotta walk through the door and be like, hey, love to see you guys, this is great. So you got the devil and you got the angel on each shoulder. Yeah. And, you know, but the...

Gary Zelesky: No, only for 10 minutes, only for 10 minutes.

Adam Hogan: as a leader, it's hard because I know that everybody's trying. And if I didn't think they were trying, mean, let's find you somewhere else to work. Okay. I'm not saying you're getting fired, but I'm going to say you're going to voluntarily find somewhere else to work. Cause if you're not trying, you don't belong here. But so when people make mistakes, whether it's, know, they forgot to call a patient or they dropped the $50,000 machine on the floor and it's broken and we don't have another one for a week. I know they didn't intentionally try to do it, right? Not kind of a better knock on something here right now. ⁓ I know they didn't intentionally try to do it if I thought they intentionally tried to do it They would be fired, you know, get out of here go somewhere else, right? So, you know, you have to understand people make mistakes and as long as they're trying you got to a little bit of forgiveness now Do I go home at night and be like? god, that person did it again. Yes You know like what is it gonna take to get you to do the thing? You know But at the same time I love them and I know they're trying

Gary Zelesky: Yeah. Hahaha!

Adam Hogan: You know, and so you got to try not to, know, Mitch album wrote a book, ⁓ Mitch, Mitch albums, you know, who Mitch album is. He's a good writer, editorial journalist. ⁓ he wrote some good, simple books that are great lessons. And he wrote a book on raising kids. And one of them, one of the chapters as the kid becomes an adolescent or a teenager is the title of chapter is try not to kill the creepy centipede right away. Right. I mean, the kids try and, you know,

Gary Zelesky: Exactly, know, by the way, I owe you an on air apology. Dr. Adam sent me a photograph a couple of days ago of his son, his boy, his boy.

Adam Hogan: Why? That's all right. That's all right.

Gary Zelesky: Right? So I'm glancing at it. I glanced. I glanced. And I'm telling you guys, I'm sure if you were to see this picture, you would go, that is the most precious looking girl I've ever seen. I mean, it's got to be the most good looking little boy I've ever seen in my life. so you were so kind to text me back and say, yeah, Gary, that's my son.

Adam Hogan: That's my son.

Gary Zelesky: And so I did text you right away. But you're your your son, bro. And I want to say this to you. ⁓ there he is. Now, come on, guys. I know it's that's got the blue. But look at those cheeks. Look at that. Look at that. Look at those rosy cheeks. Look at the little nose. Come on. Give me a break here. Right. And plus, he looks like his dad a little bit there, too. So anyway. Yeah, I just want to apologize. But he's so cute, bro.

Adam Hogan: Yeah. Yeah, what? Well, listen, I don't get offended on it. mean, he turned one, he's got these big blue eyes, those big lashes, you know? So, yeah. By the way, that's my col... I've had that sweatshirt since college, 30 years. And ⁓ I keep it in good condition, because I call it vintage. But ⁓ Ali, we took this picture on him on his first birthday, and Ali says, now you have to keep that sweatshirt until he's 18 and get a picture of him every day. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: Look at that. Yeah, you can't blame me. Wah. ⁓ dude. When you have kids, your love for those kids, your love for your family, that's the priority of everything we do. Everything we do has got to be that. I know people have said this before, but let me say it from my perspective. You believe at that point when you have your children, there's nothing you could love more than your babies, than your kids, until you become a grandfather.

Adam Hogan: I can only imagine.

Gary Zelesky: And I'm telling you, when I became a granddad, in fact, I moved to where I'm at right now just to be close with my grandchildren. You just can't believe because being a grandfather is even better, I think, because my grandkids are kind of like a rent a child because they come to my house. There's three of them, age five, seven and nine. You could actually feel the wind before they get to my house. Right. And they're

Adam Hogan: Yeah, I get it. Go on. ⁓

Gary Zelesky: and they come to my house, and my wife nurtures different than I do. I'm good for about two and a half hours, and then I start shaking, you know? And then I just hand them back, I hand them back to my daughter-in-law. But when I saw you and with your boy, what's your son's name?

Adam Hogan: Okay. That's Brecken. That's my youngest Brecken. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: This is the thought that came to my mind. There were times in my life as I was in the speaking engagements and still a little bit, not as much as I used to be, that I would save the best of me for my audience all day. They would get the best of me. I would speak for that final applause, that standing o. If somebody saw me in the hallway, no matter how tired I was, man, engagement, engagement. Because I knew that was my living. That's how I made a living. And plus, I loved doing it. Here's the issue. Sometimes I gave so much of myself away during the day that when I got home, I would serve my emotional leftovers to my family.

Adam Hogan: Yeah. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: They never asked for that. They wanted when I got home that, wait a minute, aren't you supposed to save the best of you for me? And I'm not saying I've done it beautifully because my wife's not here so I can say pretty much everything I want, but... But I'm always aware that when I get home, what am I serving? What are the things that I'm serving? Because I think sometimes, know, familiarity does breed contempt and I need to slow down and go, what's really important? I need to, and I even tell my audience is this, say, today I'm going to, honestly, you guys, today I'm not going to give you my best. I'm to give you everything I can, but you will not get my best today. I'm sorry, because I'm saving that portion for my family.

Adam Hogan: for my family, yeah.

Gary Zelesky: And when I saw your picture, go, well done, Adam. Well done, my brother.

Adam Hogan: Well, thank you very much. Now, that's something that we should talk about, you know, the what we give to our families. I think that this is a great, you know, like I say, these podcasts, these are just flow. Go with the flow. There's no script, you know, but doctors out there working so hard at their careers and putting in all that energy. And what do you save when you go home? So, you know, I'm getting to be. I'm not an old sage yet, but this is my second go around at having kids. All right I've got a 24 year old that one is about to be 20 and And they're my best bros. I mean we golf we shoot we can hunt we can talk man stuff You know, they're still my boys, but you know, we can we're good buddies but and then I got this one who just turned one Brecken and I gotta be honest with you when I was 30 and trying to find myself and trying to put my energy into growing myself it was hard to go home and have a lot of energy. Now that being said, I did coach for the boys. I was there, you know, I would try to be there and I was there to get them up in the morning, feed them breakfast and all that. ⁓ but you know, I, ⁓

Gary Zelesky: that colleges come out and value it.

Adam Hogan: I was always there for them, to be there with all that energy. And right now I'm making that conscious effort when I go home to try to be there with all that effort and all that energy.

Gary Zelesky: you

Adam Hogan: 39 minutes.

Gary Zelesky: By the way, this is totally sidebar. I really miss hanging out with you, man. I I love doing this. I really do. But when I was little, I want to hang out with this dude. You're the kind of guy. you want to hang out with. And I don't say that about a whole lot of people. mean, there's people I meet every day and I go, wow, what's it like getting up in the morning going, that's the best it's going to get. You know what mean? But you've got this level of passion and enthusiasm that's very contagious. So I really appreciate it about you.

Adam Hogan: That's nice. Well, thanks. You know, I'm appreciative to be alive, you know, and be, I'm pretty sure to be able to do this. I mean, I never expected to make it to 30 and that's a whole nother story, you know, during the Marine Corps and I, you know, you're 10 feet tall and bulletproof and you really don't want to grow old and you don't think you're going to grow old. And then one day you turn around and you hit 30 and then all of sudden you hit 40 and then all of sudden I hit 50 recently and I'm like, well, damn, I guess I, I guess I'm to be around a little while. Maybe I don't know, but, uh, you know, and I'm just, I've had a lot of bumps in the road. I'm fortunate to be alive and I'm fortunate to be doing this well, really. I mean, that's all just God's blessings. But, you know, getting back to doctors, going home and giving everything when you get home, like you said, you you talked, you talk all day and you get home and you're kind of out of energy, but those people deserve the best. You know, my wife has said this to me before because she works in the office and she's in the, I'm in the front, I'm in the clinic, she's in the back, but you know, we see each other often and we'll get home and I'll be quiet and she'll say, you talked to everybody all day. had everybody rolling, had everybody joking, know, everybody was having a great time. You know, why aren't you talking to me? And I'd be like, I'm tired. I'm spent, you know? And that was my response, old me, you know, a couple of years ago. And I'm like, I'm just tired. Like I've talked all day. Do I have to talk more? She's like, yeah, now it's my turn. Now you have to, you know, so I don't know. I started doing that.

Gary Zelesky: So. It's hard. You know, I, my daughter, she's a what? She's 30, 33 now. Yeah, she turned 34. And a couple of days ago, said, I said, Nicole, how you feel? She goes, dad, I'm tired. I go, you're tired? She goes, I've been tired for nine years. I go, I said, you know what's funny? We're all tired. We're all, all of us are tired. All of us are tired. But it's what you're tired of. That's the thing. I I tell people when I'm speaking, I'll say, you know, how many of you are tired right now? Hands are going up all over. They go, you know, isn't funny that we spend our whole life really tired. Some of you wake up tired.

Adam Hogan: Yeah, that's right.

Gary Zelesky: actually wake up tired, right? We're tired all the time. go, what's really wild is we're tired all of our lives and then we save money on the side. We put some money on the side so that at the end of our lives, we can what? Retire. We weren't tired enough our whole life. Now what do we want to what? We're gonna retire. We're gonna redo it again. And I said that the people that ⁓

Adam Hogan: That's right. Yeah. Right.

Gary Zelesky: I been around that have a level of energy and are tired but they have something more. People that know who they are, they know their passion. They know the one thing that gives them the human fuel, the thing that keeps them alive, the thing that brings them the greatest joy, which is what I all about. When I go into practices, have a ⁓ cycle that I talk about. We want to have a practice that's moving forward. Find out what are the passions of your people? What are the things that they love? And you don't have to love what they love, but they need to know that you care about what they care about. What is it? What is it? And then the second thing, once you know what your passion is and you're fueled with passion, you create higher levels of productivity. Your productivity increases when you're passionate about what you're doing. We want to have a practice that's moving forward. Find out what are the passions of your people? What are the things that they love? And you don't have to love what they love, but they need to know that you care about what they care about. What is it? What is it? And then the second thing, once you know what your passion is and you're fueled with passion, you create higher levels of productivity. Your productivity increases when you're passionate about what you're doing. When your productivity is higher, that affects your what? Profit. Then your profit increases. When your profit increases, that it creates a greater pleasurable working environment. And it becomes this circle where I know my passion, I'm more productive, I'm more profitable, and I'm more pleasant. And I tell them most of time that somewhere along the line we miss out because we think that it's just... When your productivity is higher, that affects your what? Profit. Then your profit increases. When your profit increases, that it creates a greater pleasurable working environment. And it becomes this circle where I know my passion, I'm more productive, I'm more profitable, and I'm more pleasant. And I tell them most of time that somewhere along the line we miss out because we think that it's just...

Adam Hogan: That's right. That's right.

Gary Zelesky: You gotta be a better hygienist. No, you need to be a better person who's working in hygiene. You gotta be a better hygienist. No, you need to be a better person who's working in hygiene. ⁓ Well, you need to be better ⁓ front office person. Here, we're gonna bring in a practice people to teach you how to do Well. ⁓

Adam Hogan: Mm-hmm.

Gary Zelesky: Yeah, I remember when I first go into these practices, I didn't even know what practice management was, but they write me a check and I go, okay, I'll figure it out, right? And I would go in and always, I knew the people that were passionate and it had nothing to do with how long they were there. It had to do with why they never forgot why they were there. And I would, I remember walking in and they were, this one woman, she just pulled me aside. They always, and there's always one team member,

Adam Hogan: Right.

Gary Zelesky: They'll pull you aside to the side. And she goes, Hey, Gary, I go watch. goes, things would be a lot better in this office if there was more of me here. If there was more of me. And I looked at her and I said, well, I think there's just enough of you here. Just enough.

Adam Hogan: Hmm. Okay.

Gary Zelesky: Because people that show up at a dental practice, they know how to live in rigid flexibility. They knew how to maintain the rigid goals of that office. But they know that when disappointments comes, that you can be flexible in the moment. Surgery, I can't admit, I I would beg you guys at least one time to let me come in and watch. I wanna watch what you do.

Adam Hogan: Come on. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: And because I think that what you do is so magical. But sometimes the teen isn't as magical about it as you are. if you look at dental practice, I mean this with all my heart, where a dentist is losing revenue at sometimes at 50 % of it walking out the door.

Adam Hogan: you

Gary Zelesky: It's not because of the ability of the dentist to do dentistry. They know what they're doing. It's not the dentist. It's the team. And here's what's going to blow my mind. And I'll shut up after this. And just help me with this doc.

Adam Hogan: Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: Why is it when I walk and I'm not talking about every day I don't mean to be negative I'm talking about every practice but there are some where I walked into that practice and there's one person in a practice that is bringing everybody down the second life out of them man you're walking around and somehow the dentist has a hard time getting rid of that one person

Adam Hogan: That's right. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: They will keep that one person almost to the sacrifice of the entire team.

Adam Hogan: Yeah, you're asking the why. I mean, I see it all the time, too. And it's a it's a leadership fault. It's a leadership fault keeping somebody around too long. And because you're afraid about addressing the situation, you're afraid about going after the elephant in the room. You know, you just want it to go away. You want to work itself out. You have other important things to do and you ignore it and you ignore it and ignore it. And then three months becomes three years. And next thing you know, you had nine people walk out the door in the last three years because of this person and because you didn't step in early. you know, and, and just address the problem in the room. mean, I mean, people have different words for it. Call a spade a spade, right? You know, call the bowl, right? Let's have, let's hold court. You know, I always say, let's hold court. We're going to have a come into Jesus meeting, you know, what's with this BS going on right now and call that person in and say, look, if you don't, if you don't, you know, what's going on? And they're usually like, well, okay, I'm having a really bad time at home. I'm in a bad mood, my husband, my kids, whatever. Okay. Well, address it, fix it. But you need, when you come in here, you need to be better.

Gary Zelesky: You

Adam Hogan: Okay, I get it, you're going through a rough patch, but you gotta come back and you gotta be better. We're not gonna put up with this crap for a long time here, so fix it. So it's a leadership problem. It's absolutely a leadership problem. You keep one person too long and next thing you know, you're rehiring nine people over the next 18 months.

Gary Zelesky: Thank It's a... I tell new employees, maybe I'm wrong here, you're the doctor, I'm not, but I tell new employees, especially at work in the dental practice, find the person in that practice that's still excited about being here. Stay with that person, hang out with that person, learn from that person, be careful of the people that are saying negatives, especially about the doctor. I said, find that person that still has that sense of awe and they've been there 20 years. Because those people do exist. I've just because of practice, dental practice is very bizarre. It's a very bizarre place. But I've seen some of the most amazing life changing experiences happen to people's lives in dental practice. And I think that's why I'm still in love with doing what I'm doing. I mean, I'm 74 now.

Adam Hogan: Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: And to still have a guy like yourself say, hey, let's bring that old guy in and let him say a few things. I find so much joy because ⁓ I really love dentistry. I love what you guys do. I love the teams that are still out there making it happen. I love the belief systems. I love the patient testimonies.

Adam Hogan: Is that what I sound like?

Gary Zelesky: where they went in, my wife for instance, she never smiled ever, ever. Her whole life, she never smiled until she met a dentist who literally recreated her smile and she owes her life to that guy. Sometimes it's kind of weird, but anyway, I mean, it's just like, it's like, you guys are just phenomenal and I'm such, I'm so honored and privileged to still be at least part of the dental family at some level.

Adam Hogan: Well, you 74 or not, you still, you got so much, not just life, like physically, but you know, you've got more life in your words than I see in people that are 17. I mean, and so, you know, I don't know, was that taught or did you just, were you just born with that? You know, this enthusiasm and how can a dentist find their way, find themselves, you know, how do they fake it till they make it? You know, when you're young and they're, they think, oh, I need to be the clinician and I can't put guitars on the wall and surfboards and. I have to do it a certain way. And how do you get them to find their own confidence and find their own passion? And when did you find that?

Gary Zelesky: Well, I'll tell you what. Let me give you a definition of passion. This is going to blow everybody away real quick. Ready? The archaic definition of the word passion means pain or suffering.

Adam Hogan: Hmm, really?

Gary Zelesky: Passion is not the pursuit of pleasure. Passion is the pursuit of purpose. Passion is not what you do. It's what you're becoming in what you're doing. It's the person that you're becoming. So the first thing I tell dentists is let's find out

Adam Hogan: I love it.

Gary Zelesky: what your passion is. And if you really want to discover it, go to your childhood. Go back to your childhood. Because there's things you did in your childhood that people said, you are so good at that. You are so fun. And when you were real little, when you were tiny, your parents would say, what do you want to be when you grow up? And when they said, what do you want to be? Your imagination exploded. I want to be this. I want to be that. You believed you could be anything. And then one day somebody said to you, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? When I said you do, they sabotage the being. Because now that you're doing, you have to have the gifts, talents, finances, the ability, all of that in order to fulfill that. That's nonsense. What you be, what you understand who you are, what you're here to be, all of that gifting will come to you to make it happen. So the first thing I, first thing when I especially when I work with dentists and coaching, I go, what do you want to be when you grow up? Gary, 45, I know. What do you want to be when you grow up? What's your passion? What's the thing that energizes you? See, for me, honestly, I know what my passion is and I've never lost it. And when COVID hit and my whole world was spinning out of control and I went into some kind of massive depression, I went back and I read my book and I found out... The passion inside of me, the thing that I love the most, never left. I had to get back to the one thing that gave me the greatest fulfillment. And so most guys and women, they're not living their passion, they're living their problems. They're not passionate, they're problem driven. so, especially when I worked with dancers, because they got so much going on in their world, I tried to center them. When you were a little kid, what was the thing you did that was amazing? And people went, wow. You thought it would be impossible, but you never it was always I'll give you one quick story That would be really fascinating, but I was speaking and then so dentists came up after my passion speech And he was a well-known speaking dentist. He lectured everywhere and he walks up to me his band. He goes I hate you I what's my god? I hate you I what's the matter? I go, I thought it was dead. I thought it was dead. And he was screaming at me. go, what? He goes, my passion. I thought it was dead. I go, what are you talking about, man? I just finished a three-hour lecture. I'm exhausted. He goes, Gary, when I was seven years old. My sister had a birthday party. Now, Doc, I'm trying to give him my attention. Hello, wait, how long is this going to go for, right? He goes, and she got a paint by number set. I'm going, great. And then he goes, so when nobody was looking, I stole her paint by number set. Okay. I took it to my bedroom. When I opened up one of the little paint things and I dipped the brush in the paint and I touched the paint to the paper, I knew at that moment I wanted to be a artist. Then my dad walked into my room and he was a dentist. And he saw me with that paint. And he looked at me and goes, what in the world are you doing? He goes, dad, I want to be an artist. His dad said to him, your sister's the artist. You're going to be a dentist. And he went on to not only be a dentist, probably one of the best, you would know him, lectures, he's had television shows, he went on. And he said to me, goes, you know what, Gary, I was able to buy this big old house with all the money I've made in dentistry. Every room is filled with art from all over the world because every time I walk by an art studio, something is calling me. And I walk in there and I buy art and there's art in every room in my mansion. And I looked at my screen, which piece of art did you do? tears. He goes, I've never painted. He grabbed me emotionally. He goes, so what do do now? Well, as you know, I'm not a counselor. You wouldn't want me to be your counselor, right? I look at him, go, well, Passion doesn't have to be perfect.

Adam Hogan: Hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Gary Zelesky: but it does have to be performed. if you're listening to me right now and you're going where I'm confused, I don't know, I don't understand, have lack of direction, I would love, love to hear from you because I know I can help you. So by the way, he goes, what should I paint? I go, paint your car. I don't really care what you paint. Three months later, I received a painting in the mail. It was his first painting. Now,

Adam Hogan: That's gorgeous.

Gary Zelesky: Granted, kept going. It was the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life. But the beauty of it was he painted. Passion.

Adam Hogan: Yeah, he found his purpose. He found his passion. Reminds me of this back here. Okay, I get I did this guy's teeth is his smile. You know, he's a retired ⁓ corporate executive businessman. And he ⁓ as I finished his teeth, he pulls up a Facebook page and he's like, basically, you know, let me show you what I'm really all about what I really love. And this guy starts doing that he's got a page dedicated to Facebook. Now, mind you, business his whole life. But look at what he's turning out now. Okay, look at this.

Gary Zelesky: ⁓ wow.

Adam Hogan: That's all hand drawn with pencils.

Gary Zelesky: ⁓ wow, that's beautiful.

Adam Hogan: that crazy? Yeah. And I was looking through his Facebook page and this, and I said, stop. And I looked at this picture. I said, that is phenomenal. That is, and so he showed up a few days or weeks later and he brought it to me. Is that crazy? Good.

Gary Zelesky: ⁓ doc, that's gorgeous. Wow. You know, that, ⁓ I love that. I love that. ⁓ look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Here's what's interesting. I cannot believe you're showing me that picture right now. I'm getting goosebumps. And here's why. The first time the word passion was uttered from a human being was at the passion of the Christ. People would look, they looked at the suffering of Christ and they began to say, Passion passion what they were declaring was pain pain, but here's what's wild not getting religious but getting powerful here It is ready at the time of Christ greatest defeat of his greatest pain Was the discovery of his greatest purpose? That's ⁓ man, I'm ready to go man. I'm ready to rock

Adam Hogan: Right. I loved it. You know what? Well, I know you're a man of faith as of my but you know when you said earlier, passion is pain. That's what I thought of right there. That's what I thought of and the passion of the Christ, you know, so and it's funny because I knew passion of the Christ and new passion and pain, but I never thought in the.

Gary Zelesky: and everything.

Adam Hogan: this sense of passion in the world we live in now, know, the Merriam-Webster dictionary version of passion. That never really crossed my mind as being the same definition, but it's absolutely the same origin.

Gary Zelesky: Wow, thank you for showing me that. That was amazing.

Adam Hogan: Yeah, you're welcome. I got a lot of goodies on my wall. I mean, I got Mr. Potato Head down here, so don't think...

Gary Zelesky: Look at that! can't believe it! Of all the things to show me, it's the passion of the Christ. I'm like, wait a Adam, of course your name Adam, that pretty much says everything, right? I mean, come on, bro. Perfect. I love it.

Adam Hogan: Yeah, it's everything by God's grace. Just a big, ⁓ hey, that was a tough thing for my upbringing, by the way. ⁓ I mean, we're all like Irish Catholic and I got a John Paul brother and a Patrick Thomas brother. And my mom says, you know, this is how it comes about, you know, because it's all Irish. My mom says, I want a, ⁓ this is probably gonna be my last son, you know, my last child. So I want somebody who's not named after an Irish Pope. ⁓ So I get Adam the Hebrew name the Jewish name and I live in a community that is so non-Jewish. It's unbelievable It's like how'd you get my whole life growing up? How'd you get your name? Everyone else is Michael Patrick, you know this and that Everyone's Adam. Are you Jewish? No, I'm not How'd you get your name? And if I Bob finally I was like 25 and she explains me she's like I wanted to have a boy that wasn't named after a pope

Gary Zelesky: Ha! So, I know this is not protocol, but I want to ask you a question.

Adam Hogan: Okay, go ahead. No, it's fine. That's right.

Gary Zelesky: Here we go. What is the jazz for you in what you do in dentistry? What is the fuel? What's after all these years, all the things you've gone through, what now in your life is, speaking to some of these other younger dentists, what's still the jazz for you?

Adam Hogan: Yeah, that's tough to define in one word, but I'll get to that one word in a minute because I think it evolves. I think it started with people. I trademarked, treat people not teeth, 20 years ago in dentistry. And it started with people. And then it started with making their life better and their confidence and things like that. And then I think it turned into giving people hope for a better future. Now it's a word that I think I was given. It's borrowed from a patient. ⁓ When I have this on video, I was doing this reveal for this patient, her brand new teeth. And, you know, we were all like, so happy and rah rah rah, you know, and like, ⁓ my God, look, she's going to see her new teeth now. You know, that moment where it's like, ⁓ she's going to see her new teeth. And she started to cry and she stole the show when she turned and looked at me and she put tears in my eyes. And she said, what you're doing. is not dentistry. And I looked at her and I said, really? Because felt a lot like I was doing dentistry. She said, no, but it was a serious pause. And there was 30, this was at an institute class. So there was like 30 people in the room. And she said, what you're doing is not dentistry. It's ministry.

Gary Zelesky: Was that a compliment?

Adam Hogan: And when she said...

Gary Zelesky: Say that again. No, no repeat that again

Adam Hogan: She said, what you're doing is not dentistry, it's ministry. And when I thought about how what I do gives people new life and hope, I thought that was perfect. So what drives me is really ministry. you know, I wear, I don't hesitate to talk about God. I mean, before we go into surgery, I say, I do everything through. God's hands, God works through my hands. I'm gonna do the best I can, but I'm only human. I don't care if it bothers them or offends them. And what I found is 99 % of the time, they're right there with me. Nobody's ever offended if I say that. And if they were, they're probably in the wrong place. But I haven't been challenged on that yet. really, I'm not a saint. I don't wear a white collar. I don't even pretend to be.

Gary Zelesky: Doc, Doc, you don't even wear a collar.

Adam Hogan: that but I don't wear a collar. ⁓ I wear collars at funerals that's about it. Weddings and funerals. No tie though you'll never catch me in a tie. But yeah it's ministry you know it's the hope it's giving people hope and of a better tomorrow you know that's the that's all that we really have that's good in this world is the hope for a better tomorrow.

Gary Zelesky: Go. I love that because the word ministry is defined as to meet a need. That's the word. The word ministry is to meet a need. And I want to give a word to some of the older, older dentists. And I want to share this with you as you get older, as I'm getting older. When we were younger, we would run marathons. That's the kind of race we'd be. We'd be in these marathons. We're going to be creative. We're going to be successful. We're going to make some money. going to go. We would run marathons. But as you get older, the race goes from a marathon to a relay. And the relay is not an individual effort. It's a team effort. And a relay is not dependent upon your individual speed, your individual success. But the thing that makes you powerful in a relay is your ability to pass the baton with accuracy. That's called legacy. Because at the end of the day, it's not what you take with you that's going to be important. It's what you're leaving behind. So when it comes to dentistry, as leaders, I ask them all the time, are you passing the baton? with accuracy so that the generation that's coming can run along with you until you're no longer running. That to me, because gosh, come on bro, there's so many things that are happening where we're not passing the baton and so what's happening is that we no longer exist. We've planned beautifully for a future that doesn't exist anymore.

Adam Hogan: You

Gary Zelesky: But when you're investing into the younger generation and passing the baton, they're not going to give my... No, pass it so the race can continue. That's what's important. That's leadership. And I think that for me, I don't know if this is a compliment. I was speaking a few days ago and the dentist came up to me and he goes, you know what you are, Gary? I go, And I've never heard this. He goes, you're a sage. You're a sage. I that rhymes with age. I go, so I looked up what a sage was and it's an old person that wears robes that walks around giving wisdom, depositing wisdom. And I go, yes, I am a sage because of the age. But we all are. And Adam, that's what you do, bro. You deposit wisdom into people's lives beautifully.

Adam Hogan: Right.

Gary Zelesky: And they leave not with a ton of information, but I've seen people leave with transformation. When I was with you and Sharice and I left, or when I left, I said, honey, I was transformed. I want to be around that. I want to hear more about that guy. But of course, know, can't, hey, Adam, can I hang out with you, please? Can I please come back and hang out with you? I'm not a groupie. I'm not an Adam groupie, okay? Forget it, I'm not gonna happen.

Adam Hogan: Ha ha. Well, I don't want you to hang around too long. might be disappointed. Take me in small bursts.

Gary Zelesky: Ha Man, I admire you.

Adam Hogan: I could say the same about you. I've been looking forward to getting back in touch with you for a long time. It's been a year. I could take you down. Well, everything we've been through, but you know, it's been a year. ⁓ And here we finally got a chance to catch up again. I would, this has been a really great conversation. I'm really glad and happy that we got to faith ⁓ in this conversation as well and dentistry and ministry and hope and the passion of Christ. I'm really happy that we did that. ⁓ Like I say, everything is done scripted, but I think that's a perfect place to sort of leave off. ⁓ I don't know that it can get any better than that. But before I do leave that off, I want to let the world know that Gary Zalesky is available to speak at your engagements for your companies, for your referral bases. ⁓ And do you want to talk a little bit about that and consulting as well?

Gary Zelesky: Yeah, if you have me speak, it's 100 % non-refundable deposit because I don't know if I'll make it.

Adam Hogan: It's for the wife and the grandchildren.

Gary Zelesky: ⁓ My wife would kill me. No, no, I would love to dialogue with you. My email address is gary at garyzalewski.com. I answer my own emails, kinda, and I would love to make contact with you, see if we can bring some magic and yeah, it would be a lot of fun. I would love to hear from you.

Adam Hogan: and people you do need, he talked to my group a couple years ago and he had like the people in the room who like never sit together and look at each other. He had them, we went out to a staff outing afterwards and they were like holding each other's hands and buying each other drinks and you know like what can I do? And they were all getting along for at least three days after you left.

Gary Zelesky: should say this because I don't know if you endorse something like this, but I do lot of referral dinners and referral events. if you're in a referral situation, you're wanting to bring those doctors and their teams together, it's a great night of education, laughter, fun, but it's the perfect way to say thank you to those dentists for what they do.

Adam Hogan: No, not so fast my friend, because you just stole my thunder. All right, because I was going to leave on this. I was going to leave on this. I would, I, this is not scripted everybody. We're not scripting this. I was going to close by inviting you. I'm going to invite you to Virginia beach this next year. And I'm going to do the same thing for my referral base. And I want to get an auditorium and I'm going to, I'm looking for the place right now. And I want you to bring your beautiful wife.

Gary Zelesky: ⁓ I was just joking, I was joking, no.

Adam Hogan: and I want you to come speak. want our referral doctors and all of our potential referral doctors as well. And just, I'll just open up to dentists in the community and they can bring their staffs and you know, we're gonna, we're gonna foot the bill and all that. But I want to hear this area of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Tidewater, Virginia to get the same message that you gave to my team two years ago.

Gary Zelesky: Thank you. Yeah, I will say that I've been doing the referral thing for many years. To me, it's one of the best investment you can make because any time you can say thank you to the people that make your practice run. Wow, that's perfect. And I am so thrilled. Get that on the books, bro, because you never know. I you never know. I'll tell you what, by the way, you don't have to twist my arm to come to Virginia Beach ever.

Adam Hogan: None of us ever know. mean, shoot, you know? We never know.

Gary Zelesky: I mean, what a beautiful area. My wife's going to be thrilled. She wants to meet you.

Adam Hogan: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Well, you and your wife are always ⁓ welcome. So just let me know. We'll talk offline and in a text, but this has been great. Gary. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Great, very genuine conversation. You're very easy to chat with. Yeah. And everyone else listening ⁓ on pod app or on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button. If you enjoyed this conversation and share it with your friends and they don't have to be dentists, Gary talks in other industries as well, even aviation and space and whatever. So

Gary Zelesky: Thank you. Bye bye.

Adam Hogan: You guys share it and like it please and leave a comment. Thank you very much. Gary, I'll chat with you soon. Take care. Bye bye.

Gary Zelesky: I'm gonna go get a nap in real quick.

Adam Hogan: Same. I'm going to nap at the office before I go home to that little one. All right. That was Gary. Listen to it. We got a lot of great stuff coming up at the Institute, by the way, uh, business courses in just a couple of days, but it'll be held again. Remote Anchorage, Core Anchorage, May 15th through 17th. That's gonna be three days, live surgery, didactics, type it on, and cadaver lab as well. And then we start over with the Core Continuum in Module One. We start it the second half of the year in August. So take a look online for classes that we're offering and look for that business. Look for that business class to come up soon. Again, I don't have another date yet, but you don't wanna miss it. It'll change your life and the way you practice forever. All right, I'm gonna sign off here. Thanks for listening. Remember with all on X, you've gotta go all in. You've gotta go all in, all on X. All right folks, have a great night. Talk to you soon.