Prosperity & Something Greater

Choose carefully the hills you’re willing to die on. Find the win/win in everything you. In all things, find the positiveness and blessings.

My guest on this episode is E. Dollie Wolverton. Dollie’s entire career has been in public service. She began as a teacher and elementary school administrator. It’s inspiring how she started by being the first member of her entire family to attend college to retiring as Chief of Education for the Head Start Bureau, Department of Health and Human Services in Washington DC in 2006.

She’s also a community activist for the protection of recreational land and raises funds for equestrian therapy for children with disabilities and breast cancer research.  She’s an advocate for Foster Care Youth and funds a county-wide program for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to play golf free.

Recommended Books:

Leadership: In Turbulent Times

Finding balance in our lives is never easy. Not for any of us. Yet, some people seem to have figured it out. They’ve cracked the code. And if you listen carefully they often try to share how they did it so we can follow their path to prosperity and balance.

Dr. Neil Baum is a professor of Clinical Urology at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also the author of Marketing Your Clinical Practice: Ethically, Effectively, and Economically. It is a classic and required reading for anyone who wants to effectively market a medical practice. It’s sold over 200,000 copies and has been translated into Spanish. All in total he has written ten books on practice management and the business of medicine and authored or co-authored over 250 articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed medical publications. I had the privilege of collaborating with him on an article about practice marketing several years ago.

I’ve known Neil for over 30 years and have never had a chance to hear his thoughts about balance and prosperity. It turns out, he has given it a lot of thought.

Recommended Books:
Marketing Your Clinical Practice: Ethically, Effectively, Economically

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

How do you spend your time? Do you, as so many do, say you value time with your loved ones more than anything, but when pressed, you would have to say they are not actually your top priority?

My guest is Landon Ray, the CEO & Co-Founder of Ontraport. Ontraport is a company we’ve used at Top Practices for a decade now to run our marketing and outreach. It is a sophisticated marketing platform. You’ll hear Landon share how he came up with the idea out of necessity and started the company with, as he describes it, three guys hunkered down in a yurt with spotty internet connection in Santa Barbara, California, to build a software that he needed to run his startup. Realizing what he had in this software, he gave the other company to his friends and focused on what ultimately became today’s Ontraport. This episode is not only filled with information, it’s fun as you are about to discover.

Recommended Books:

How Will You Measure Your Life?

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

Can we view prosperity as bringing love to life?

My guest on this episode is Sharon Lopez. Sharon is an attorney who represents workers and plaintiffs in employment law, discrimination, and police misconduct cases. She is the managing partner of her firm, Triquetra Law®, located in Lancaster, PA. She recently served as special counsel for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, where she prosecuted discrimination complaints before the Commission at public hearings. She also served the largest statewide bar association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, as its 123rd president, where she was the first Latina president, first president who is also a mother, and as the first ex-full-time legal services attorney. All of which fits beautifully into her discussion of prosperity as love.

Recommended Books:
The Metaphysical Club 

The Mists of Avalon 

The Third Life of Grange Copeland

Could prosperity be as simple as making the choice to be kind?

My guest for this episode is Dr. Jane Graebner. She is a podiatrist who practices in Delaware, Ohio. She is one of the earliest and longest-tenured Top Practices member – 14 years. She has been working toward retirement on her terms and is completing her plan of leaving her practice in the very competent hands of her younger partners. Her story is inspiring and instructive and especially so because she is a pioneer in a profession that was dominated by men for much of her career. That is certainly not the case now, but it is because of women like Jane that her female colleagues have so many opportunities. I know in my work the future of podiatry is in great hands, both men and women doctors because of those who went before like Jane. 

Recommended Book:
The Road Less Traveled

Have you ever thought - I’d like to retire when I’m still young? Maybe your early 50’s or earlier?

 In 2007 I met Dr. Marybeth Crane and she became one of the earliest and most successful Top Practices members in the history of the company. Dr. Crane opened her podiatry practice in Grapevine, TX in 1997 with her mother answering the phone. When she retired at age 52 on Dec 31, 2020, her practice had become the multi-million dollar, Foot and Ankle Associates of North Texas (FAANT) with 2 offices, 6 doctors, and 40 employees. 

A long-time competitive distance runner, Dr. Crane keynoted the Top Practices Annual Marketing and Management Summit in 2019. In that address, she shared how she faced down a seemingly endless series of challenges that threatened to break her spirit and bankrupt her practice, to now prepare for her exit from private practice on her own terms.

Recommended Books:
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Think and Grow Rich

How to Win Friends and Influence People 

David Marquet (MAR-KAY) was assigned to command the nuclear-powered submarine USS Santa Fe, then ranked last in retention and operational standing. He “turned the ship around” by treating the crew as leaders, not followers, and giving control, not taking control. This revolutionary approach not only took the Santa Fe from “worst to first” in the rankings, but also created more subsequent leaders than any other submarine. Stephen R. Covey called the Santa Fe “the most empowering organization [he’d] ever seen” and wrote about Captain Marquet’s leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit.

Student of leadership and organizational design, former nuclear submarine Commander, and named one of the Top 100 Leadership Speakers by Inc. Magazine. David is the author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller: Turn the Ship Around!, and The Turn the Ship Around Workbook. Fortune magazine named it the #1 must-read business book of the year, and USA Today listed it as one of the top 12 business books of all time. David’s latest book, Leadership is Language, is a Wall Street Journal Bestseller.  

David imagines a workplace where everyone engages and contributes their full intellectual capacity, a place where people are healthier and happier because they have more control over their work–a place where everyone is a leader.

Find Out More:

DavidMarquet.com

Recommended Books:

Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders

The Turn The Ship Around! Workbook: Implement Intent-Based Leadership In Your Organization

Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say--and What You Don't

Mansfield Park

This third and final installment of the mini-series has had some twists and turns as it came to life. It started in mid-march when the COVID-19 epidemic was obviously going to impact the United States and San Francisco became the first Major US City to shut down. I was researching Pandemics and Quarantines. At the time – mid-March - there was no reference to COVID-19 at all.  That has certainly changed now. Interestingly, what primarily came up were references to polio. Polio has plagued humans for thousands of years. The great Polio Epidemic in the US occurred from 1916-1955.

Polio is a viral disease that affects the nervous system, causing paralysis. It spreads through direct contact with people who have the infection. Outbreaks occurred regularly in the United States through the 1950s, with two major Polio outbreaks in 1916 and in 1952. Of the 57,628 reported cases in 1952, there were 3,145 deaths.

In 1955, Dr. Jonas Salk’s vaccine was approved. It was quickly adopted throughout the world. By 1962, the average number of cases dropped to 910. The CDCTrusted Source reports that the United States has been Polio-free since 1979. Europe since 2002. But it still persists in small numbers today. 

In 1941 my dad contracted Polio.  He was 7. His Younger brother, my uncle Dick was only 5. I spoke to my dad and my uncle Dick about their memories of that time and their insights. The conversation took some turns as you’ll see as these sons remembered their parents, and in particular, their father. My grandfather as you will soon discover was someone very special. 

What if this Saturday you could drive up to your childhood home and pick up your six-year-old self so the two of you could spend the day together? What would that be like? What would that mean to you? 
Maybe there is still time.

In 1937 Napoleon Hill published “Think and Grow Rich.” Arguably one the most influential personal development and self-improvement books ever written. Most of what has been written since 1937, in my opinion, is derivative of this remarkable book. And Napoleon Hill himself stands on the shoulders of James Allen in “As a Man Thinketh” as well as Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and the stoics, Socrates and so many more.

His 17 Principles of Personal Achievement have been the guidepost and playbook for thousands of people who have reached the heights of business and personal success. This podcast episode explores several of the 17 principles in some detail.