On today’s episode of the Innovation in Compliance Podcast, our host Tom Fox has the pleasure of speaking with Alex Zlatin. Alex is the author of “Responsible Dental Ownership: Balancing Ethics and Business Through Purpose”, a book about how small business owners should think through the purchase of a technology upgrade.

Upgrading: is it a Must?Alex explains how a lot of technologies such as Office Suite or even Windows are coming to the end of their lives, and so many companies are starting to look into upgrading their software to the next new thing. Alex points out that although such an upgrade can be beneficial, business owners have to ask themselves: is it an absolute must? Does it fit within the company’s budget? Is there a specific deadline the company needs to meet for every software to be upgraded? He adds that it is important to evaluate all of the options and weigh the pros and cons of which software upgrade to go with.
Balancing Ethics and Business Through PurposeTom goes deeper into some points found in Alex’s book, and asks, what are the necessary tools for operating a successful practice? Coming from a business background, Alex shares how a lot of his experience actually revolves around the dental world: a lot of dentists have so much experience in their profession, but they don’t have the experience in the business aspects of their practice – HR, being a landlord, and customer service to name a few. Alex also points out that as a corporate leader, you have to find your company’s purpose and then, make your entire business revolve around that purpose once you do.
An Open Letter to the Industry Alex explains how every week, he and his marketing team have a brainstorming meeting, and during one of these meetings, they had the idea to share their values with the world via a letter, or as he puts it, “scream out who they are, what they represent and why they do what they do.” He adds that the reason they decided to do it was to build trust with their clients. In order to build a relationship you have to show vulnerability, and that’s what they tried to do.
ResourcesAlex Zlatin Responsible Dental Ownership: Balancing Ethics and Business Through Purpose