Burnout doesn’t happen because you forgot another metric. It happens when you carry the whole practice alone. We sit with leadership coach Leah Roling to unpack a hard truth many dentists secretly know: your practice can’t outperform your inner life. Leah shares how growing up with a mother who modeled unconditional love shaped her approach to coaching, and why the most valuable investment in any dental business is the owner’s capacity to think clearly, regulate emotions, and lead with intention.
We dig into the difference between ability and capacity—what you know versus what you can actually hold under pressure. Leah walks through the tools she teaches dentists and teams: thought audits that reveal hidden limits, emotional regulation to end the anxiety spiral, and agreement-based systems that turn vague roles into measurable wins. Instead of punitive policies, her method builds accountability through clarity and kindness. She explains why consultants provide the “what to do,” while coaches remove the internal blocks that keep you from doing it, and how combining both creates compounding results across production, retention, and patient experience.
If you’re eyeing an exit, this conversation hits the risk buyers fear most: shaky culture and a burned-out leader. Leah outlines realistic timelines—90 days to operationalize culture, about six months to stabilize—and the signals that tell a buyer they can trust your team beyond you. For owners who care deeply yet feel tapped out, her challenge is clear and hopeful: get happy before you go, or get happy and decide to stay. Either way, reclaim your role as the asset and watch everything else rise. If this resonates, share it with a colleague, hit follow, and leave a review with your biggest leadership question so we can tackle it next.