Do You Prefer to Collaborate or Go It Alone?

Do you like to collaborate with others, or do you like to go it alone? In America, we have this rugged individualism. We go by ourselves. We’re Americans—we do everything ourselves.

Well, that doesn’t work very well if you want to be effective fast. And today, at the speed at which the world moves, it’s better to be reactive, proactive, and effective.

How can you do that? If I do everything by myself, I’m none of those things. I’m limited by my own knowledge—and something else we don’t often talk about: our own belief systems and biases.

Why Collaboration Matters

Oftentimes, I’ll do something because I think it’s right, because it’s worked before—but I may have a bias. There may be something else that works better.

That’s why collaboration is so important. It’s important to have a network. I have a very large network of people with whom I collaborate.

I didn’t always. Early in my career, I was an individualist. I started my practice by myself. I built the office by myself—with some helpers. I designed it by myself. I’m not an architect. I didn’t know how to run a business. And it took me a long time to get that business off the ground.

Today, I see many of my colleagues grow their businesses very rapidly—but they’re not doing it by themselves. They’re doing it with other people.

“Who, Not How”

One of my mentors, Dan Sullivan, talks about “who, not how.” There is a “who” for every “how.”

Now, I’m a “who” for a lot of people. I’m very good at a few things. I’m a good surgeon. I’m a good visionary. I’m good at marketing. Those are the things I’m good at. And I like to lecture.

But there are a lot of things I’m terrible at.

We have a 3D printer in our office. I’ve never seen it work. I have José, who works it, and Emilia, who works it, and other colleagues who use it. I’ve never even watched the printer work. However, what have I done? I’ve used the printer. I’ve had things created from it.

I don’t know how to take a cone beam CT scan. I don’t know how to take a digital scan. But there’s one being taken in my office right now as I’m speaking to you.

Focus on What You’re Good At

What do I do? I do what I’m good at. And I’m not good at everything. I learned that. It was a hard lesson to learn because I thought I was good at everything—like many of us do.

I see people saying, “I’m emptying the dishwasher. I’m cleaning this. I’m going to pick up the garbage outside. I’m going to do the shopping.” You can’t do it all.

By delegating—by building a team where everyone does their job to the best of their ability—you become much stronger.

Expanding Your Knowledge

And that comes down to knowledge. I don’t know everything in the world. I don’t even know what I don’t know.

Here’s what I know:
I know how to do periodontal surgery.
I know where I live.
I know my children’s names.
Those are the things I know.

But there are many things I don’t even know I don’t know. You’ve all seen that diagram:

• Here’s what we know.

• Here’s what we know we don’t know.

• And here’s what we don’t know we don’t know.

And that’s what collaboration addresses.

Learning Through Others

Every time I go to a course—whether it’s simple or complex, whether it’s on periodontics or philosophy or music—I learn something I didn’t know.

This weekend, I taught a two-day program to people who were relatively novices in my field. And I left the course knowing more. Why? Because I learned from people who knew a little, which was amazing. Their questions helped me learn.

The Benefits of Working With Others

By working with other people, you do a few important things:

1. You share and develop strong relationships.

2. You gain better experiences.

3. You expand your knowledge base.

4. Most importantly, you develop a network you can depend on.

If you don’t have a network, and if you’re not collaborating, you’re selling yourself short.

The Power of Not Knowing Everything

One of the most effective things I’ve done in my career is realize that I don’t know everything. I never will. And that’s exciting, because there’s a great world out there that’s getting bigger and bigger.

And that’s all because of the people with whom I collaborate.

Have a great day, everybody. Collaborate—and remember: be the gift.