Giving Patients What They Want is Not Good Enough

When Apple was first developing the iPad, it was suggested to Steve Jobs that they bring in focus groups so “regular folks” could provide their thoughts on what they wanted in a tablet computer. Jobs rejected the idea. How can they know what they want, he reasoned, until we show them the possibilities?

Sometimes a patient will come in and tell you exactly what they want — an esthetic procedure they’ve seen or heard about somewhere — and that’s great when that happens. They’ve already done the work of creating value to the point where they’re asking for it.

However, many patients will never ask for the ideal treatment that could have a transformative impact on their lives. How could they? How can they know they want it if you haven’t shown them the possibilities?

This is what leadership in dentistry is all about. It’s about using your clinical expertise to come up with a vision for each patient, and then using your value-creation expertise to make them see the gap between that vision and their current reality.

Being a great dentist is not about giving them what they want. It’s about getting them excited about something they didn’t realize they wanted.