I have found that people want connection. They want to

feel like they're a part of something bigger than themselves and they get pumped about

it. So I have been for the last six, seven years, I've been a

youth group leader at my church. I go to a church called Life Church. It's

a big, big old church. And there's this youth group thing called Switch. And we

have a couple hundred. We've had almost 300 kids. But I lead

generally the age that my daughter is in. And so I have freshman

boys right now. And this is a week off because

all the pastors are getting training in Oklahoma City, where the church is headquartered.

And the freshman boys, I have about 20 of them. Sometimes a few

less, sometimes a few more. But we're supposed to do something as a group today.

And I was kind of shocked because we said last week, like, I know church

isn't going on next week, we don't have Switch. But you guys want to get

together and get dinner at 6:30. And the kids really wanted to, especially

when one of the guys that leads the group with me said he'd buy them

all ice cream. But I thought to that, like, that's really cool that 14,

15 year olds like want to get together. And it

reminded me of how that's a culture right there. It's a culture that

we have built in that situation. So today I'm going to talk to you

guys about culture, and I have a special guest

that is going to share about some changes that have happened in

the business that he leads. And so the topic is improving your

workplace culture. Three decisions that every leader must make.

The reason I wanted to have this guest on is because I've seen big

changes and I've seen him make some changes. And

he's actually a dentist. His name is Dr. Stacy Wentz.

And so I'm going to give him a chance to introduce himself in just a

bit. But I will tell you though, that when you have a

healthy culture, I find is people want to be involved in

it and they want to tell their friends about it and they want to

be. They like being in that environment.

Even if they gripe and then they complain and they don't like it all the

time because these boys, they don't always like the questions we ask them or they

don't like the structure and they make it difficult and they got to go use

the bathroom and they fight and argue with each other. But ultimately the fact that

they wanted to get together this evening, even though it's not like

a regularly regularly scheduled event. That's a. That's a testament

that it has an impact. We're going to give you some practical tools

to apply these decisions. I'm going to let

Stacy, as I refer to him, that's his name. So actually share

what that decision is, and we're going to go through this content, and

it's going to be a great adventure for you.

So welcome to the Decide youe Legacy podcast. I'm your host, Adam

Gragg. I'm a coach and a family therapist.

Founded Decide youe Legacy over a decade ago, and we help

leaders and their teams face the issues that they're not actually facing

so they can make progress, find that people avoid

things, and that they can make the progress stick.

And from my point of view, everybody's a leader because you have influence.

So as I said. Joining me today is Dr. Stacey Wentz, and

he is a person who I've seen take a lot of action and make

some significant changes, and he's going to get to talk about that today. So, Stacy,

will you just introduce yourself first personally and

professionally so the audience can get to know you? Well, personally, I'm

Stacy Wentz. I am a dentist in McPherson, Kansas,

so about an hour north of Wichita. I've been practicing there for 15

years. I've been a dentist for almost 25

years now. Had a lot of ups and downs through my career, so

I enjoy what I do. Luckily, I've had a good relationship

here with Adam to help me even refine things more. And so

certainly highly recommend that for anybody that's looking for good coaching

and to help you even make your team stronger.

Okay. What about personally? Personally, what do you want to

know? Kids. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah,

I do have kids. I have three children. I got a

wonderful partner in life. Mandy and I have

three children, are 21, 19,

and 18 right now. And then we have. Mandy has three children

as well that are. I don't even know their ages.

26, 23. And I think 20, 20.

Between the two of us, we have six kids. Okay.

And a grandkid. And we actually have two grandkids now and one on

the way. Okay. So, yeah. Okay. Yeah. So very

cool. So, yeah, I've been excited about having Stacy on the podcast for

a while, and I've been had the privilege of working with him and his

team for a year and a half, I believe maybe not that long. I think

about a year and a half. And so I've gotten to see

changes. So there. What would you say

is a Your personal definition of what a workplace culture is.

I would say it'd be like having a set of beliefs and values, you

know, that's pretty much shared within your organization. That.

Right. And you know, something that makes people want to go to

work at your place and, you know, and, and, and where they

feel valued and respected. Okay. Just having, you know, so it's

just everybody sharing those things. A commonality between all of us.

Yeah. And I find that a lot of businesses

operate in a way where they're not paying attention to the culture.

They don't even necessarily find it to be a high priority.

And it doesn't necessarily, in their minds, reflect impacting the bottom line.

It does when an employee leaves and it does when they can't perform a service

because they don't have a team. Sure. But what are

some of the. There's a lot of misconceptions that people have. I mean that, like

I said, they don't value it, they're going to put energy into it. What do

you believe that some of the common misconceptions you've had personally about paying

attention to this part of your business? Oh, yeah, for sure. I

mean, you know, it's easy. We run a very, very

busy business. You know, it's easy. You kind of get stuck in just the

day to day. I always say it's almost like having blinders on. You're just all

the busyness of work and whatever else and. Yeah, you kind of.

Yeah. Then you don't take the time, you know, to,

to learn to build your team and really making sure you're

caring for your team. But I've

certainly learned that's certainly not the way to run a business.

How did you learn that? How did you learn that? I thought

I've always been pretty good at it, but certainly over the last

couple years of working with you, certainly I have

taken a different approach to it than what I had in the past,

you know, and it, yeah, and it certainly shows. It certainly pays off. You know,

what got you to the point where you felt like you needed some

help and you were, you know. I did get

to a point where I was pretty low in my life, you know,

and, and, and I sought out help. You know, a lot of it was really

personal help, probably in the beginning, but then I realized how that spilled over

into my professional life. How did it spill over into your professional

life? Well, I mean, just because, you know,

I, I personally wasn't, you know,

really mentally healthy at the time and,

and certainly. Which then, you know, makes you feel like

you're just kind of losing control, you know, I guess a little bit. And

that's when I sought out help to try to, you know, get

myself back in the, you know, in a better

headspace and then. Right place and, you know, which

I knew. Which actually has. Has actually helped my business.

Okay. Because I. It. It got my focus back where it should be.

Yeah. Instead of where it was. The personal stuff, you can't just keep.

It's not isolated to just your personal life. It's gonna. As running a business,

it's gonna trickle in. Not at all. And so one

point of resistance I get from leaders sometimes is that

this. This reflective work where they create

a vision for the company and they clarify the values and they get

those to stick, or they keep reinforcing those. They evaluate employees

based on the values. They evaluate candidates for hire based on

values and the vision and everything. And even myself, that I have this

misconception at times that I don't have to communicate that stuff often, even though I

challenge the businesses I work with to do so.

So what are the questions leaders, you believe, should be asking themselves that

assess the health of the culture?

They should be asking themselves? Yeah. Yeah. So they're getting a

checkup, basically, Right. Well,

you know, certainly. I mean, always make, you

know, I'm always making sure that people fit into my culture,

you know, So, I mean, I guess I'm always asking myself, you know, if,

you know, if I see things in my team, in

my group, that certainly is not aligning with our

values and, you know, if people aren't

being trustworthy or people aren't, you know,

filling in and fitting into the. To the rest of the group, maybe

it may be personalities. You know, some people, you know, it doesn't mean they're bad

people. They just may not fit our group well. And,

you know, and I always learned that kind of. That can kind of become a

cancer in your organization if, you know, if somebody,

you know, doesn't fit that and share those values. So. And how do you step

out of that whirlwind of this busyness in the day and then actually reflect and

say, like, how am I doing it? Casting vision? How am I doing at this

stuff? Well, you know, that kind of goes back to maybe what you and I

were talking about. Is there something else you're looking for?

No, not at all. Yeah, but

a lot of what has allowed me to do that is creating better structure

within the organization, being able to

delegate things that I was doing to other people.

And so that I'm not trying to micromanage

the whole business. And I think then that allows me the time to be able

to sit back and reflect more and,

and kind of see things, you know, step back from, you know, just the day

to day business of our, of our business. And what are the cultural

changes you've seen happen since you've been more intentional to step

back? Well, I think as. As we're doing that, you

know, I mean, we've had a lot more people taking

ownership in what they do, which then

creates, I think, better accountability as people, you know, are,

you know, taking more ownership. And,

you know, I'm listening to what people in the business

want, you know, more about their opinions

on things, you know. Yeah. Learning to ask questions

of, you know, you know, if they help to solve

things or they help to, you know, be involved in some

of the solutions, then certainly they have a lot more ownership

in the business and, and what's going on. I'm not just telling them what to

do. And I've seen that when I first started working with

Stacy and his leadership team, he created this stress

reduction plan because you had listened to the team and you had gotten

information that they don't want, that they

wanted more hope from you, basically about the future. They wanted

more vision from you. And you took the feedback and then

you committed to the plan. I mean, I had to remind you about the plan

at times. Right. Because you told you accountable, which good coaches

do. But you created this plan and then you were committed to it and that

gave them hope that this, these changes. I'm listening to my team and I'm going

to make some changes. So what's the very first decision that

we've discussed here? The very. If you want to create a better

culture, what's a decision that. We are

discussing that and I'll go ahead and answer that. So the

first decision is to be intentional with it.

Yes, to be intentional about the whole process of paying attention to

your culture. And if you're intentional, it's much

more likely to happen. It's like once you're aware of something, if,

if you want, people hate to go and get an annual physical or whatever

every two years because that brings awareness to something that they necessarily like

about their life or their team. But that's the first step of change.

Yeah. When you become aware. Well, you have to put importance on it or it's

right. Exactly. And yeah. So

how do healthy cultures handle conflict?

Well, certainly, you know,

if you have a healthy culture, you're going to have a Healthy team, you know,

and I think that. And if you have

people in your organization that have

accountability and have ownership in it, then

they're certainly. They're less likely to blame each other

for things, you know, I mean, they're certainly more apt and more

equipped to be able to find solutions and probably

find faster resolve of, you know, any issues and conflict

they may have. So how do you guys handle conflict

now versus in the past?

Well, we

certainly. When we have things in the office that need

to be addressed, we keep a list. We actually have a whiteboard, so we

actually write things down and we have a leadership committee.

And of course, then we have our entire team. So

a lot of these issues, a lot of times go through a process of

going through our leadership, talking it out and, you

know, and then certainly then, you know, probably taking it to our bigger group as

we, you know, to try to resolve things. Yeah, yeah. And

you've taken. Before when we started, you didn't have

a core leadership team that was. Yeah, we had kind of tried to start

putting that together. But certainly, you know, being with. With decide your

legacy has certainly helped us to organize it better and, And.

And helped the people within the leadership team

understand their roles better. Yeah, yeah. And so

accountability is one of those topics that a lot of leaders don't want to talk

about because it's painful. It leads to conflict oftentimes. But

don't see conflict as something that's negative. See it as something that is going to

help grow the business because people like to be held accountable.

It's like they like to be noticed and seen, and

I feel that it's often misunderstood. So

how do you believe in a healthy culture

accountability is necessary? What role does it play?

Well, I think that it plays a big

role. I mean, we have to make sure that

everybody has to have accountability. We can't be going through

our day and

not reflecting that to each other. I mean,

so, you know, we. We build a culture

that everybody is accountable for themselves and of course, each other, you

know, holds each other accountable for what needs to be done. Yeah.

Because then if somebody isn't pulling their weight or, you know, or they

feel that one person is not, you know, living up to those.

Those things, then it just creates toxicity, you know, within your

team. So. Yeah, I mean, so

if your team. If your leadership team came to you and said, we want to

be better at holding people accountable, that we supervise

and they're struggling with it, what advice would

you give them?

Boy, that's a great question. Yeah, well, it's a good

question. Here's the thing, you know, psychologically, that if we are going

to give somebody else advice, it sticks better and we can

distance ourselves from it and actually feel more comfortable answering the question.

Like, if I asked you, hey, how would you. What did. How could

you hold people accountable better? It's actually a harder question to answer

based on ourselves than it is if we're going to give someone else advice. So

if you're like, these are your closest, best co

workers, you really want to help them out and they're coming to you saying, I

really struggle with this, man. I don't like to actually get pushback

from people when I tell them that they. This behavior is concerning to me or

whatever. Right. What would you tell them to do?

Well, certainly, I mean, I think it always helps if you have

somebody actually that's always helping you keep yourself accountable,

you know, especially if they recognize the problem.

So having somebody to report to or have them actually help you

out, you know, knowing that, that,

you know, when maybe you're not being accountable for your. Whatever your duty may be

or whatever it is you're. Yeah. So if they told you, like, I'm

really anxious about conflict and I don't want to deal with conflict. Yeah. Because

I feel like rejected and stuff, then would you tell them to just get over

it and do it? Or you wouldn't do that. I know that. What would you

tell them to do? They're

wanting your advice. They're wanting my advice. Yeah.

I always try to fall back on what our values are at the office, you

know, and how are they in line with those things, you know, when I'm trying

to, you know, keep people accountable to things, you know,

does it go against any of those values? Does it go against those? You know,

because then I always find it's an easier conversation, you know, if

whatever needs to be addressed is. Is not in line with

those things. Okay. You know, because everybody knows what they are, you know, they know

what, you know, how they should be handling themselves. That's a good point. So then

it becomes a much easier conversation, you know, if people aren't,

um, you know, if it doesn't, you know, go in line with what our

values and our. That makes a big difference. It's already there. You already know

it. Sure. Yeah. So how do you help people grow?

This is a big question with how do I help somebody grow

who's not performing at the level or not aligned with the values.

How do you personally

help somebody grow without them feeling like they're being Punished.

You know, I think that, I think just creating,

you know, part of the whole culture thing is I think creating, you

know, more of an autonomous environment, you know, that's supportive.

You know, I've always been a person that likes to, you know,

I like to lead with a carrot and not a stick, you know, type of

thing. So, you know, always making sure we're

supporting people. And

I think that then when I think

growth becomes a lot more easier, you know, people always,

you know, they're always much more likely to. And also involving them, you

know, in the growth, you know, helping, letting them make the decisions of

how we, you know, but at least let them be a part of making that

decision and helping to create the path for the growth

because then, you know, people are always more likely to support what they help to

create. That's a big deal. Yeah, right there.

These are hard conversations to have.

And I have found with me personally that if I can be light

hearted about it, and I feel light hearted about it, like there's no,

I don't want to get rid of them as an employee, I value them. This

is often, it's received much better. It's my end up

attitude as I go into that conversation. And I also

found that if I am prepared to have the conversation, so I write it down

or I talk it through with somebody else before I have the conversation, not that

person, that it helps me to present it in a much better way right there.

So that leads to the second decision here that I have seen Stacy

implement with his team. And it's be

accountable. And the thing about that is be accountable first to yourself

and then to your team. So when you created that stress reduction plan, that was

accountability that you were asking them to actually

have. Yeah, right. It was a vulnerable thing to give that to

somebody. And I've also seen you hold yourself accountable with when you get up

and whether or not you're going to have the conversation, it doesn't mean you

don't resist. As much as I may not like. It, as much as you

may not like it, and all the clients that we have, they commit to

some kind of an action after the coaching, then

whether or not they do it or not is up to them. But if they

write it down, and that's something I've had clients do for a

decade, not every session, but it is a big deal to write

it down and then you're going to be much more apt to actually do it.

So hold yourself accountable first and then hold other people's people

accountable. And remember that that's going to lead things, lead you to growth.

Strong cultures hold people accountable in ways that develop

them. So

moving into a kind of a different space

here is a question I like to ask every guest, and it is a little

personal here, but I'll put Stacy on the spot. So what would you say has

been one of the biggest challenges that you've had in your life? Oh,

wow.

Yeah. I mean, there's been a number of them. I've lived on this earth for

a long time, but. Yeah.

Are you talking about just professionally, as being

a dentist or early on, any. Point in your life?

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of. Lot of things, you know, I mean, you

want to go through my entire history? No, I want you to pick one.

One that. Would you say I really grew from that. I went through

a challenging situation. Right, right. Okay.

You know, I mean, I think that,

you know, I mean, me going to college and probably,

you know, transitioning, you know, I grew up in a construction family, so

I work construction. So, you know, it was my decision to

go to go to college, you know, when I was in my 20s and, you

know, you know, nobody was giving me a full ride. It was something

I. I had to work and kind of pay for and. And figure out and

navigate myself. Yeah. You know, and.

But. Yeah, so, you know, but I

feel like there's a lot of that. That, you know, and coming from a construction

background, I, you know, I learned to work hard and. And, you know, put my

time and my hours in and. So how did you become a

dentist out of a construction background?

You know, sometimes I ask myself that, you know, how

I found this path. You know, I had

interest in health care, and, you know, I liked science

and things like that. So it just. It kind of just fell

into place. You know, I knew somebody that worked for

a dentist, and when I was looking at being a physician,

she said, well, how about dentistry? And, you know, and so

I started looking into it, and I just started guiding my path that way and.

Yeah, and you got. I think you told me one time you got into dental

school without finishing your bachelor's degree. Yeah, actually, I

don't have my. I never did finish my bachelor's degree. I do have an associate's

degree, actually, in dental hygiene. I went through dental hygiene, a dental hygiene school,

just to get out of construction and to help better my

chances to get accepted into dental school. But I was working on my bachelor's. I

came close, but they had accepted me. And then school started, and I just

never Went back and finished that part of it. Did that happen today where someone

gets into dental school without a bachelor's degree? I don't know that you actually have

to. At that time, you didn't have to have a bachelor's degree to get into

dental school. Obviously, I did it. But,

you know, the hardest part is that there's just a lot of kids

that are applying, and most of them are going to have

bachelor's degree backgrounds. You know, that the

competitiveness of getting into dental school and getting accepted, it

would, you know, it'd be hard to believe that they would accept a kid who

didn't have one over somebody that did have, you know, a bachelor's degree.

Yeah. Yeah. How old were you when you entered dental school?

I was 30. You were 30?

Yeah. Wow. I was one of the old guys in class. That's. That's

amazing. Yeah, I was. There was. There was four people that were older than me.

One of the next person was only a month older than me. Yeah. Yeah.

And how did accountability from other people

play a role in you getting through dental school?

You know, that was, you know, being a professional school. You know, that

was, you know, I mean, it would have been

hard, you know, with the type of curriculum you have to do to go through

a professional school like, you know, dentistry or probably even medical school.

But when you have 80, 100

people doing the same thing, we kind of hold

each other accountable and we form our groups,

we study together, we kind of pull each other along

and. Yeah. Okay, so

it helped you learn team, I guess, being in dental school, Because

I know there's a lot of us that we may not have survived,

you know, if. If we didn't have that. Those people there to help us out

when we were struggling. How does that impact going through the challenges

you've had? Because that would be tough. I mean, you were the oldest guy in

your class then. It was. Didn't have maybe. Are you the first person to have

to become a medical doctor in your family?

Yeah, I'm the only one who actually is a. I guess, be a doctor in

our family. I have a. I have a. I have a sister, and she's.

She is a. She's a. She's a nurse practitioner now. Okay.

She's come a long way for a girl who didn't graduate high school, actually. Wow.

That's pretty cool. Yeah. So you got a lot of drive in your. I'm actually

the only one in my family who's graduated high school. Really? Yeah.

Wow. That's. How does all that in

pushing through impact, your leadership.

Well, you know, I mean, I had to grow up at a young age, you

know, I mean, so, you know, I. I'm not sure I was

an adult, but, you know, I mean, I had. I made a lot of my

own decisions, you know, because there wasn't that support there, I think, as I was

growing up. And so, you know, I guess it made me. Had to

grow up and be responsible. At a young age. Yeah, at a

young age. And so I think that, you know,

maybe. Maybe better equipped, you know, for some of the things

that I face today. Okay. Yeah, good. You got the. A lot of

learning out of those experiences. And yeah, I've been

to Stacy's office and I have actually been to the

dentist more in the last month than I ever normally have to go because I

had a crown break and I've had to go and I got to get it

replaced, and I'm kind of frustrated about it. But, you know, I went by his

office and this is one reason I thought this is going to be a really

great topic. And it was very warm and energizing and a

good healthy culture. You want to actually be there. And it feels friendly. Like I

can actually have a conversation with people here in my dentist office.

I'm not going to name names, but it feels very clinical. Like, you know, it's

old. I mean, it's been. It's like the same way for 25 years. There's a

lot of offices I am like, that is. They could make little

changes that would make a huge difference in that environment.

And the people are friendly. I mean, I like the people and I like my

hygienist, who I've had for a long time. I like the dentist. I feel confident

in the service. I get there. But what a big difference it would make if

they made some tweaks like you've done in your office. And I know you're probably

not 100% happy with it and whatever, but I'll tell you,

from the mood that it sets in, the environment has a big impact

on the patients. Yeah. How they feel about it. So how do you think leaders

underestimate the impact of their words and their mood?

You know, words and mood are. Are very important. I say.

I say you always want to make sure

that, you know, because if you're not. If you're. If you come in

stressed out all the time and you come in full of anxiety all

the time, then that's just going to trickle down to your team, you know,

and then you're not going to end. And, you know, if I walk around

and I'm just grouchy all the time, you know, and those words are coming out

of my mouth, you know, it's just going to create toxicity, you know,

in the team. It's going to bring down morale, which is going to bring down

productivity with the office because people aren't going to like to work there,

you know, so it's, it's always much better that,

you know, I take care of myself in the morning and I come in in

a good mood, that I'm happy, I'm joking around with people,

you know, and I'm setting that tone for the, the day and,

you know, and if not, then, yeah, it just. So how do you

talk toxic culture? Yeah. How do you

hope your behavior consistently. What do you hope your behavior

consistently signals to your team?

You know, that. Well, you know what it

signals to them. Yeah. You know, I always want to make sure

that they know that I'm. That I, that I, that I hold a lot of

gratitude for what they do. That, that, that

I'm hoping it's always, you know, that I'm being supportive to them,

you know, and. Because I

know that's, that's important for me. I know it's important for them, you

know, that I recognize those, you know, that, you know, they do come

in and they work hard just like I do. It isn't just me, you know,

that's there. Yeah.

So, yeah, those. That's the main thing that I want to always convey to my

team. And you know, something you said earlier

that if somebody was anxious

about holding somebody accountable, go to the values

and see it. Use those to guide your

interaction. Because misalignment there, you can

easily talk about the values, and that can help guide the

conversation. Absolutely. So how does

going to. And for you as a leader, reflecting on the

values impact your leadership?

Okay, repeat that again. Yeah, yeah. Like, how do values actually

get lived out under pressure for you?

Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, I think that, you

know, having a strong team with strong values, you know,

you know, it creates, you know, a team who can be more

calm and collected when you're under pressure, you know. So, you know,

for me, that's probably the biggest thing that, you know, that if, if you've got

a strong team that believes in you and they have accountability

and, you know, and they have high

values and are living our values,

then certainly, you know, when you have a busy, busy business like we

do, you do, you know, that people will, you know,

certainly handle those challenges. A lot better and a lot more

of a calmer, you know. Yeah. They aren't just riddled with

anxiety and stress that hey, we're busy today and we're all tired and

yeah, values get you centered. Yeah. And I think, you know, we

see that all the time. You know, I mean people, things happen, you know, right

now a lot of people get sick and sometimes, you know, you know, we've got

to pick up the slack, you know, often if somebody's gone and

but, but, but you know, luckily we having a strong

team, you know, they, they, we all pivot. Do we have to pivot every day?

How is that connected to your values? Well,

everybody's pivoting. Just the fact is that

when that we care enough about all about each other

that and that we are able to,

that we're always willing to jump in and

help each other out. Is that one of the core values to help

out and jump in? Well, I don't know if we

have that you know, actually is one of ours. But you know, teamwork is definitely

one of our core values and

you know, and so, and accountability is one of our

core values and you know, but,

but you know, we're a pretty close knit group, you know,

I mean I know I sent you something about family

here not too long ago. I always say, you know, we're actually kind of like

a big family there. But at the same time, you know, but,

but, but it's still on. It's, it's a family with, with structure. We actually

probably handle our, you know, our issues probably better with, than a

family does. And it's a family that fights sometimes. Right? Exactly. Yeah.

But if you go into wins family dental, I think you'd find it

warm and fun. Yeah. And like I feel, you

know, comfortable. So I've told you that from the get go. Like you know that

we hear that a lot. You look, you can go read our Google reviews, you'll

actually hear that a lot. Yeah, yeah. How many Google reviews do you guys have?

We're somewhere around 925. Crazy. I know.

And it's a small town of like 10,000 people. Yeah, correct.

So you guys, that's pretty cool and inspiring. So the third

decision to make to improve your culture is to be aware

and not assume like be a, be aware of how

you're coming across to other people. Be aware of how your mood is being,

is impacting the environment. Be aware of, of the culture that you're

creating, of the environment you're creating when patients come in or whatever. You call clients,

come in, be aware of how warm we actually are. And something you did recently

that was pretty powerful is you've done some very unique things like, I mean, some

of them are having trainings for your team, having team building and everything. But

what did you do recently, this annual event?

Oh, yeah, well, I liked,

I like surprises. I like, I like doing things, you know, that catch

people off guard. And so at our annual meeting

this year, we actually came down to Wichita and we, we had

lunch and we actually had our meeting there. Got off, got out of the office

and. But after we were done to kind of kick off

2026, I went and bought them all some new kicks. So

some, we bought them all new shoes to actually wear. And so they had, had,

had comfortable, comfortable, comfortable shoes for the year and stuff.

So everybody was really excited about that. So we took them to Shields and

I got to just hang out and watch everybody go through all the shoes. Everybody

got to buy what they want and yeah, so it was a really smile, it

was a really fun team building activity that, yeah, they weren't expecting.

That's pretty sweet. Yeah. And they're going to remember that all year. Yeah, for sure.

That's right. Yeah. So. And I love to see them all come in and they're

all wearing their new shoes. That's pretty sweet. Very cool. Yeah. All right, so,

so, you know, how can somebody, how.

What is the kind of parting shot here is why is it important for a

leader to, to take

this topic ultra

seriously of stepping back and looking at

themselves when it comes

to culture? Well, certainly, I mean,

it's really important to always look at yourself because obviously you've got

to set the tone, I guess, for that culture. You know, if you're, if you're

not living it, then you're not setting a good example for everyone else.

And. Yeah, how does that impact revenue?

It impacts revenue because, you know people,

if you aren't, if you aren't living the

values, then certainly they won't feel that it's important that they're

living the values and obviously that will bring morale

down, bring productivity down. And

yeah, it certainly will hurt the, hurt the bottom line. People don't,

if they realize what it costs them by not

addressing the cultural issues, they would be much more

motivated to make changes. Yeah, they really. Because people

resonate with the revenue right there. Big deal. So how can somebody

reach you if they want to connect and learn more about your, your practice or

your style or anything that you have shared today? Well,

name our practice email. Yeah, Email. Yeah, I can get my email out.

Yeah, it's Dr. Wentz, and that's spelled W I N C

E, dental dot com. Okay. Reach out. So in

review, be intentional, be accountable to

yourself first. And then be aware. And hey, I

want to. I got tickets to go see Dave Chappelle in San

Francisco coming up. I did, actually. This is really funny. It's in.

It's a day. You were the one that told me, like, it's a day before

the Super Bowl. Yeah. You didn't. You didn't ask me to go either. I didn't

ask you to go, but my buddy wants to go. Fred wants to go. And

so we're going to go down and see Dave Chappelle. And

the cool thing about that to me is, like,

going to see him live. I like to see these live things. You've seen a

ton of concerts. I've done a ton of concerts. Yeah. Ever since the.

Ever since I was a kid. Yeah. And you know, when you see a performance

like that, they're intentionally creating a culture and

an environment. Oh, yeah. On the stage, I mean, they have so much detail that

goes into it. Oh, yeah. And people don't realize they set the. Mood and set

the tone for the entire auditorium. Right. And so performers

like Dave Chappelle, people don't realize how much they practice. Oh, yeah.

And how much effort they put into it, you know, So I have a cousin

that was a Rockette, and I've never asked her this question, but she was a

Rockette for five years. Yeah, my first cousin. And she. I was going

to ask her, like, how much time they practice before they actually perform. And I

would. I would guess it's 10 times as much practice. And if you're going to

great. A great culture, you have to be

practicing. You have to remember that the little details matter. Yeah, yeah.

And that's what comes out on stage when you're performing. It's going to

come out. It's going to impact everything. So what insight have you

gained today and what action are you going to take? So 80%

of transformation in your life. You want to make any changes in your life, it's

going to be action. So you can think and think and think and whatever. But

I'm really proud of Stacy today to do this, because one thing I did is

I asked him to do this yesterday, and I put him on the spot. And

one reason why is so he wouldn't be able to overthink the whole thing. And

so he just actually have to jump in and he consented, which is a brave

thing to do. And I know that. That it was a challenging thing.

So I exhibited a little bit of bravery. Because nothing's more important to your mental

health than actually taking action. And nothing's important. Nothing's worse than

playing it safe. So he didn't play it safe today, and I didn't play it

safe by asking him. And so. And you don't have to play it safe. And

I'm gonna challenge you to not play it safe by taking one piece of information

that you learned today and applying it to your business and

doing something, telling somebody about it, even teaching it to somebody else, and

saying, I'm gonna commit. Like Stacy did when he gave this stress reduction plan to

his team. Take action. Follow me. Follow

Dr. Wentz and share this podcast with your friends that own

businesses. I mean, because culture is such a big deal, I want you to make

more money. I want you to have a healthier team. I want you to grow

your business and reach your goals. Culture has a huge impact.

It creates a healthy business and a smart business as well. So

remember to decide means to you. You're eliminating other options. Your

legacy is the impact that your life has on other people. There's

no positive change until you decide to change. Decide

today because your legacy depends on it. Make a decision. I'm going to close

the way today that I always do. Make it your mission to live the

life today that you want to be remembered for 10 years after you're gone. You

decide your legacy. Nobody else. I appreciate you greatly and I'm very

grateful for you coming on today, Stacy. Thank you. And I'll talk to you next

time.

It.