Next Level Executive

Everyone loves to talk about “scaling your group dental practice” and “growth strategy” for your practice. Sometimes the most obvious answer is right in front of your face, but most of us fail to question things that are obvious.
I have the same 12 months and 365 days in my year that you do in yours, but from a leadership standpoint, my year looks nothing like yours. I simply chose a different starting date.
If you’re looking for a more effective way to drive results through a fresher, more focused team, then “push play!”
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CHAPTERS:
Cyclicality: Calendar Years versus Performance Years
A specific example of a pedo-ortho group
Freshness and focus
A few key leadership points to shift your mindset
The lesson I learned from Patterson’s proof of success
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Other Episodes You’ll Love:
10 Mistakes people make immediately on their growth journey
30 The Choice We Make & the Freedom We Have
…
Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]
Book a Call to Discuss the Executive Program
Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!
Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.
...
Considering selling your business to a DSO? Download the “Top 10 Questions” Guide HERE.
...
Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com
© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

Why do so many successful dentists struggle to become even marginally effective CEOs? To be effective in a leadership role means you have to be able to create greater results through the work of your team, so is it “the team” that’s limiting your progress? Or are you just not being clear in communicating your expectations?
If you’re frustrated by a series of underwhelming results, then “push play.”
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CHAPTERS:
The Leadership Principle of “Variables and Variance”
My personal lesson in learning that principle
“What does success look like to you?”
“What are the key steps in the process or sequence that are most important?”
“What are some of the obstacles you think you’ll encounter along the way?”
“What other resources do you need now or think you might need along the way?”
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Other Episodes You’ll Love:
13 Leadership - “Why does it feel like I’m doing it wrong?”
31 Leadership during times of uncertainty
…
Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]
Book a Call to Discuss the Executive Program
Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!
Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.
...
Considering selling your business to a DSO? Download the “Top 10 Questions” Guide HERE.
...
Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com
© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

Many early-stage executives wonder whether they’re truly ready to be a leader. We talk about this “transition from Clinician to CEO” as if it were easy. It isn’t. And your mastery of clinical services no longer applies to the other 80% of the business. So how do you actually lead a group practice when you don’t know how to perform the work all of those other roles require? I had to overcome that same mindset and figure out how to create results when I couldn’t perform the craft. I’ll tell you what I did and what you should be focused on. If you’re having your own doubts, then “push play.”

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CHAPTERS:

Managing versus Leading

What I learned in Richmond – the hard way

Two Truths about Leadership

The critical mindset shift

5 areas to focus on that lead to KPI outcomes

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Other Episodes You’ll Love: 

Predicting Your Outcomes through Lead Measures

Leading from the Front

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Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]

Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!

Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.

...

Thinking about selling your business to a PE-backed DSO?  I have 10 Questions you should ask first.  Download the Guide HERE.

...

Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com

© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

The late Peter Drucker has a timeless quote that you and I have probably referenced 1,000 times: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
I’ve had enough unique experiences over 25 years to validate the truth in that statement.
It does, however, beg the question: “Is it possible to build a business with a strong culture that also produces successful financial results?”
You’re about to hear the answer…
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CHAPTERS:
5:00 A humble, humorous origin story
14:00 What Orthodontist in their right mind starts a pedo practice – and lives to tell the story?!
24:00 The dynamic around an evolving, homegrown leadership team
30:45 This isn’t for the faint of heart
45:00 Visionary, Integrator...and Entrepreneur
52:00 Fulfillment is the ultimate measure of results
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Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]
Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!
Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.
...
Thinking about selling your business to a PE-backed DSO? I have 10 Questions you should ask first. Download the Guide HERE.
...
Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com
© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

Everyone talks about evolving from a clinician to a CEO. And nobody starts a business expecting to fail. However, every single one of us hits a point when our vision collides with reality then we discover the road to success has no pavement and no directional signs.
I’ve suffered the same crisis of confidence that many of you have and all of the rest will at some point.
This episode is a soul-searching exploratory talk about what that mid-career crisis really feels like. More importantly, it’s my attempt to give you a lift out of your depths of despair. It’s 100% vulnerable and 1000% authentic. Push play.
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CHAPTERS:
Some days, you just want to call it quits
No one ever told you what isolation really feels like as a leader
My depths of despair and a decision to walk away from what wasn’t important
Where you should start your recovery right now
This isn’t the beginning of the end for you, but rather the end of your new beginning
…
Other Episodes You’ll Love:
S1 E21 Taking stock of where you are and what you want
S1 E30 The Choice We Make & the Freedom We Have
…
Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]
Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!
Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.
...
Thinking about selling your business to a PE-backed DSO? I have 10 Questions you should ask first. Download the Guide HERE.
...
Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com
© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

To create a successful partnership means you must have the right Associate, but to have the right Associate means you have to recruit the right candidate. So…do you?
I learned the hard way what failure looks like in terms of recruiting, and I fear you’re all making the same mistakes I did.
If you’ve got doubts about your current Associate or you’re about to start a recruiting process for a new one, this episode is for you! Push play.
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CHAPTERS:
The “lessons I learned” in my early leadership career, so you don’t have to
How to actually build a strong culture
Don’t believe me? Ask Warren and Jack…
Putting first things first
You’re recruiting the wrong person
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Other Episodes You’ll Love:
S1 E33 The Missing Piece of Clinical Mentorship
S1 E59 Six Points of Partnership Alignment
…
Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]
Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!
Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.
...
Thinking about selling your business to a PE-backed DSO? I have 10 Questions you should ask first. Download the Guide HERE.
...
Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com
© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

As business owners, we owe it to ourselves to pick our trusted advisory team carefully. One of the areas of greatest opportunity is typically your dental supply company.
There’s a chasm between good and great, and it’s measured in much more than just the cost of cotton rolls.
For those of you looking to get a better handle on your cost structure or establish a formulary of your own, this is the episode you’ve been waiting for…
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Connect with Jeremy Noss directly:
[email protected]
877-573-3200, x1275
Darby Dental
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Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]
Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!
Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.
...
Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com
© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

Have you ever wondered why it is that after 15 years of ownership only around 2% of dental practices fail, yet industry experts indicate that between 50% to 80% of dental partnerships fail? 

The dental practice model is incredibly sound, but the associate partnership model surely isn’t.  I think there are 3 dominant reasons that account for most of those failures. 

If you’re looking to avoid the common issues that seem to plague so many of your colleagues, then it’s time to “push play!”

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CHAPTERS:

1:10     What I got wrong and what I’ve seen others get wrong

3:25     When your cap table isn’t equivalent to your experience level

5:15     Is it really all about the cash?

6:25     When vivid vision and risk collide

10:25  Who gets to do “all other duties as assigned?”

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Other Episodes You’ll Love: 

S1 E33 The Missing Piece of Clinical Mentorship

S1 E59 Six Points of Partnership Alignment

…

Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]

Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!

Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.

...

Want to know The Top 20 Mistakes People Make in Building a Group Practice?  Download the Guide HERE.

…

Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com

© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

I get more questions about Associate Dentists wanting to become Partners than any other topic.  It doesn’t matter if it’s the structure or a buy-in versus an earn-in or even how to actually bring them into ownership. 

These are all mechanical questions that totally fail to address the underlying dilemma: whether or not your Associate is truly prepared to become a good partner.  For that matter, you’re probably less prepared for it than you think. 

The road to partnership failure is littered with unknown intentions and miscalculated good feelings.  Ready to answer 3 critical questions for both your Associate and yourself?  Time to push play…

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CHAPTERS:

1:20     Point blank: the reason so many partnerships fail and how I know from personal experience

3:00     Two important points to reframe in the way you look at a potential partner

6:40     Question #1 on Productivity

8:50     Question #2 on Leadership

10:15  Question #3 on Mindset

…

Other Episodes You’ll Love: 

S1 E33 The Missing Piece of Clinical Mentorship

S1 E59 Six Points of Partnership Alignment

…

Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]

Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!

Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.

...

Want to know The Top 20 Mistakes People Make in Building a Group Practice?  Download the Guide HERE.

...

Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com

© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.

Practically every Associate at some point wants to become a Partner, and most Founders want their Associate to become a Partner.  But “time served” is for prison sentences – not ownership in a business.

The reason most partnerships fail is because the Founder never takes the time to develop their young Associate into the partner they want them to be – let alone the partner they need them to be. 

If you’ve got an established Associate knocking on your door, asking about when they “get to become a partner,” this episode is for you.  Push play.

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CHAPTERS:

1:00     What I got wrong – and you don’t have to

3:10     Your opportunity at hand

4:20     Getting serious

6:10     Avoiding dead weight by investing in professional development – yours and theirs

11:50   Action items and questions to ponder

…

Other Episodes You’ll Love: 

S1 E33 The Missing Piece of Clinical Mentorship

S1 E59 Six Points of Partnership Alignment

…

Got Questions? Send them to me here: [email protected]

Love this show? Leave a review or share it with your friends!

Want more advice on running a better business? See what I’m writing and what I’m reading.

...

Want to know The Top 20 Mistakes People Make in Building a Group Practice?  Download the Guide HERE.

…

Follow me for more insights: LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TheNextLevelExecutive.com

© 2025–2026 by Perrin DesPortes. All Rights Reserved.