Next Level Executive
by Perrin DesPortes
Your Key Dentist Leadership Skill: How to Think Like a CEO (part one)
About this podcast
For dentists ready to grow from practice owner to business leader.
You built a successful dental practice. You show up, you produce, and by every visible measure you have made it. But somewhere between your second hire and your hundredth patient, a new question started forming: what am I actually building toward?
Maybe you are wondering whether to bring on an associate, add a second location, or finally have the partnership conversation you have been putting off. Maybe the practice runs well, but only because you are in it every single day, and that realization is starting to feel less like success and more like a ceiling.
You did not go to dental school to become a business owner. But here you are, at the top of your own org chart, with no one above you to ask whether you are doing this right.
Next Level Executive is a weekly podcast for dentists and dental practice owners who are ready to grow from clinician to CEO. Each episode goes deep on the leadership, ownership, and growth strategy decisions that no one teaches you in dental school: how to build a team that performs without you in the room, how to evaluate and structure associate partnerships, how to add locations without doubling your stress load, and how to lead a multi-location dental practice with the confidence of someone who has done it before.
No fluff. No motivation. Just the specific, practical business education that dentist entrepreneurs actually need to build a dental practice that works without them, grow into a group practice they are proud of, and lead with the clarity and confidence the next chapter demands.
If you have been searching for answers on dental business strategy, practice growth, or what it actually takes to lead and scale a dental practice, you are in the right place.
Over 100 episodes available now. Push play.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 122 episodes
- Your Key Dentist Leadership Skill: How to Think Like a CEO (part one) · 18 min · Season 3 Episode 24Whenever I’m asked how to transition from a clinician to a CEO, I reply with the simple answer, “Just give yourself the title and be done with it.” You and I both know that never…
- Group Dental Practice Leadership: 4 Surprising Mistakes You Make in Strategic Planning · 18 min · Season 3 Episode 23I’m constantly asked the question, “How do I build a group dental practice that runs without me?” It’s easier said than done, but a major component of it is to ensure that your…
- Leading Your Group Dental Practice: Strategy vs Tactics – What’s the Difference? · 21 min · Season 3 Episode 22Everyone I’ve worked with has the desire to transition from a Clinician to a CEO for one common reason: they’re burned out on clinical services and they want to focus on…
- Leading Your Group Dental Practice: Key Takeaways from the CEO Working Group Session · 46 min · Season 3 Episode 21“Dental Practice Executive Leadership” probably wasn’t one of the courses offered in dental school, but it has become of paramount importance in building and leading a…
- Why We’re Going to Have 2 or 3 More DSOs IPO in the next 18 months · 21 min · Season 3 Episode 20In December of 2025, Park Dental Partners, a doctor-owned and debt funded group of close to 100 practices in Minneapolis, went public. They’re not going to be the last. If you’re…
- What’s Going to Happen to the Zombie DSOs – and What You Need to Prepare for Now · 20 min · Season 3 Episode 19A few months ago, I dropped an episode on “The Era of the Zombie DSO” where I shared my view on the 50 to 70 PE-backed DSOs that couldn’t get a recap done. Their incompetence is…
- You Should Quit Trying to Scale Your Business · 22 min · Season 3 Episode 18In a world still focused on “10X’ing your business” and “Scale for Sale,” there’s only one problem with all of that: this growth strategy is completely wrong. The reason that…
- Built to Win: a Deep Conversation with Dr. Chris Murphy & Dr. Matt O’Shea · 1 h 1 min · Season 3 Episode 17I created a component of my Next Level Executive program called “Entrepreneurial Leadership” for a reason: because I truly believe that you and I can create a successful business…
- Doubling Down on Commitment: Should You Stay or Should You Go? · 16 min · Season 3 Episode 16Everyone in this audience is a successful clinician and business owner, but each of us has experienced a point of burnout from owning a dental practice. So, if you didn’t already…
- The Last Thing You Need is a Strategy · 15 min · Season 3 Episode 15If you’re going to build a group dental practice that isn’t dependent upon you or your clinical skills, then it had better be one that that executes at a high level. If execution…
- The Most Overlooked, Easiest Tool in Leading for Results · 21 min · Season 3 Episode 14Everyone 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…
- The 4 Questions that Help Leaders Drive Results · 25 min · Season 3 Episode 13Why 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…
- You’re Ready to be a Leader – Even Though You Don’t Realize It Yet · 18 min · Season 3 Episode 12Many 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…
- How to Build a Performance-Driven, Culture-First Group Practice: Dr. Paul Lund & Misty Wales · 1 h 4 min · Season 3 Episode 11The 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…
- My Rescue Plan for Your Mid-Career Crisis · Season 3 Episode 10Everyone 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…
- Fundamental Mistakes to Avoid in Recruiting · 20 min · Season 3 Episode 9To 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…
- Partner Spotlight: Darby Dental · 19 min · Season 3 Episode 8As 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…
- Three Critical Reasons Dental Partnerships Fail · 16 min · Season 3 Episode 7Have 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…
- Your Associate Isn’t Ready to Become a Partner - and You May Not Be Either · 15 min · Season 3 Episode 6I 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…
- The Biggest Decision You Will Ever Make in Your Business · 18 min · Season 3 Episode 5Practically 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…







