Anne: Hello everybody. It's Anne Duffy and welcome to Dental Entrepreneur, the Future of Dentistry podcast. We're so excited that you're here. I've got a new friend with me today and I'm really excited to introduce him to you. But let me tell you a little bit about him before we get started. Thomas Passalac qua. Is a certified executive coach helping industry leaders gain clarity and achieve the next level in their careers and businesses with a master's in education. He was a founding teacher with three New York City charter schools. His coaching empowers clients to set goals, overcome challenges, and take meaningful action outside of work.
Thomas enjoys nature the gym, walking his dog, playing guitar, and spending time with his family and two active kids. You're a really cool dude, and it's nice to have you on the show. Thomas, thanks for joining me today,
Thomas: and thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.
Anne: Oh, we're so lucky. So some of our dues introduced me to Tom.
I think wasn't Amy Vail that introduced me though, is it to youIt might have been probably that
Thomas: or that or a couple of other, females in, in the industry. Yeah. I've connected with quite a few, so I think you've probably gotten recommended by a couple.
Anne: Well, isn't that the best of everything when, you know, you get at least two amazing dudes recommending a dude, and we call you a dude. I, you know, I gave you a number and it's.A man that supports women in dentistry and that's who you are. I just love following your journey, and you wrote in our, fall edition of dental entrepreneurs.
So please check out his article in that edition and I will tell you, actually, I've got it right in front of me here, what page it's on. So you have to go to Dental Entrepreneur. Dot com and it is, Page 24, lessons from the professionally ambitious common themes among the industry's most dedicated Leaders, and it's such a great article.
Thomas, I'm just thrilled to have you in person through Zoom, On the podcast today. So cool thing is what inspired you to executive coaching? Because I know you started out in education, so tell us about that journey.
Thomas: Yeah, thank you, Anne. Such an incredible journey over the course of my career so far.
Yes. I started my, career as a teacher. I wanted to help others, right? and that was kind of the impetus to everything, taught for a number of years, start New York City.Founded some charter schools and was really involved in creating curriculum and designing school-wide programs and seeing what it took to build a school.
However, I did not see myself staying in traditional education for my entire career.
So after a number of years, I. Decided to challenge myself and transition out of education and then found myself in sales, kind of how many sales reps do, right? Mm-hmm. You kind of mm-hmm.Fall into it. So I,started in a dental company in New York City did fairly well for a number of years being a,top performing sales rep, transitioning those skills that I honed in education to sales, and then started to train and mentor other sales reps and that.
Really resonated with me 'cause it was kind of bringing the education piece back into it. Saw that everyone was really utilizing my approach and how to improve their, sales skills. I did some training for the company, some webinars and, some presentations. And ultimately saw myself go that direction.
But then an opportunity for a group practice came about, so I transitioned again into the DSO space.
Anne: Mm-hmm. But the
Thomas: one constant that always pulled at me was helping others and wanting to put my energy into enabling the success of other people. And once I discovered executive coaching that.
Really clicked for me. Because the entire approach, the philosophy of coaching is really amplifying someone's abilities to get them where they want to go. So it was this alignment in energy of really focusing on someone else's success versus my own success. And once I discovered coaching did my training and,got certified and, and went through the entire process, I found.
I was fairly effective at it because of my communication skills that I,gained over the years and my ability to really be an active listener and ask really specific and powerful questions to get someone to think differently. And once all of those pieces kind of fall into place and you see the results, kept reinforcing this entire philosophy of mine, of, I am meant for more.
I am meant to help other people. And here I am doing exactly that in the industry that I have a phenomenal network in. So, so many pieces are coming together over the last number of years. It's been amazing.
Anne: That's so neat. very intuitive for you to segue into the coaching.
I mean, I think. They say, and I believe this, you don't find your calling. Your calling finds you. And teaching is just such a stepping stone for coaching because in teaching, when you think about how many teachers and like I think of high school. And the coaches are usually teaching also.
Mm-hmm. And the teacher's role is to out the best in the student and have them have success. So it's just, to me, it's a natural progression. And good for you that, you got into dental sales. 'cause isn't dental, the dental industry a phenomenal industry to be in?
Thomas: It is. and the more I network within dental, there's so many layers, but at the core of it it's passion.
I believe there's so many dedicated, passionate individuals who are starting companies I mean very innovative, right? So yeah, clinically, operationally and technology wise, there's so many innovations in the industry. But that's all stemmed from passionate individuals who. See the problems, find a solution, and then bring it to market.
But dental, really, it has this thread throughout the fabric where everyone's very intentional, purposeful, and passionate about what they do and passionate about the connections they make.
Anne: and when you said that it also is the mark of an entrepreneur. So I think if you were going into the dental arena, you know you have that entrepreneur tendency, so that's what you're doing, you're,coaching.
People to build their business and, they find a problem, they solve it. And that is kind of a definition to me of an entrepreneur. and that's why all women are entrepreneurial. If you ask me, I mean, I love the men as well, but I think that intuitively we are problem solvers, but that we're not really that great at building a business.
those are some skills that we need some help and that's when you can come in.
Thomas: Yeah, and it's not so much the hard skills ' cause I, yeah. I am not an expert in, in building a business by far. And I think there's so many others that have done a phenomenal job with their business, but it's those internal skills, those soft skills, the.
inner critic that really kind of slows us down in the process, and that's really where I get involved and help others. It's not so much on the business acumen, it's really the information's there. You can find the information you need. Yeah, you can
Anne: Google it now, I mean, shoot.
Thomas: Yeah, exactly. So as far as the context, it's there, and the content is there.
It's the inner work. To allow us to be open to the challenge, be open to learning, being open to navigating an unfamiliar path. And with that comes a slew of, self-inflicted doubts and uncertainties. And it's been in my own way for many, many years, and there are ways through it. You have to be intentional and you have to be ready to go through it.
Yeah. that's the space that I work in
Anne: and it's hard to teach soft skills. So what's your approach when you start coaching? What's the process? How do you, uh, get started with somebody new? And who do you mostly work with?
Thomas: Great questions. So the process. Really as a culmination, at least my process. from where I am now,
Anne: which is working by the way. Okay. So go on it. It is, it is. No,
Thomas: and it is been reinforced. Mm-hmm. So I am fairly confident in the process because it's been proven to me with everyone I'm working with, like we are getting results. We meaning That's awesome. The client, myself,the process is a culmination of a lot of different experiences.
Both in academics and in my certification process of,being a coach, but also in my own personal experiences. And what I developed was I call the ascend clarity process, which is kind of a four step, almost framework, butan approach. step one would be identifying and solidifying your goal.
And the goal could be a long-term goal, an ambitious goal, a dream, or it could be a goal for a conversation within a five minute timeframe.
Anne: Hmm.
Thomas: So it really is just honing in on where do you want to go? What do you wanna achieve, what that goal is and why, and,all the things underneath that. Two would be what's standing in your way of that goal, whether it's content knowledge. You know, the knowledge gap, the skill gap, starting a business, what have you? Is it your own self-inflicted doubts and challenges and fears? Is it a resource that's standing in your way?
Step three would be how do we break that process down to actions? What are the actions that actually enable you to take a small step forward every day? Whether that's performance, whether that's, learning something new or accomplishing something new. As small as it might be, it's forward momentum.
it's breaking everything down into actionable steps. Behaviors have its mindsets that give you power over the
Anne: mm-hmm.
Thomas: Long run.And then step four is kind of reflection. Which is I think, one of the most important steps because you then step out of your emotions and think objectively. Look back in the last number of days, weeks, months, years, what worked, what didn't.
Anne: Mm-hmm.
Thomas: And most of the time we're identifying certain behaviors, worked,certain mindsets worked, certain mindsets didn't work, certain reactions didn't work, certain emotional reactions didn't work for me. So let's work on. How do we reinforce what does work and start to diminish what doesn't work for you?
And it's this ongoing cycle, both long term and short term that we engage in, and then all of a sudden we are, making strides. again, it goes back to that reinforcement piece because it's proven That you do make progress and then all of a sudden you're realizing where you're spending valuable energy or wasting energy.
Anne: that's really cool. And I think you need someone to point that out for you, there's so many things that I hear from our, you know, group is like, I'm not worthy. I don't know enough. I'm, I'm afraid. And to reinforce that you do know these things and you have to pivot a little bit here or pivot there.
And then also the fact that youcan hold somebody accountable. one of the things that you said thatThat I think holds people back 'cause they'd never execute. And so when they're working with you, working with a coach, you're holding them accountable. What did you get done this week?
Or what's moving you forward? I think so often we get paralyzed and so we need somebody to like kind of, you know, nudge us along. I think that's why, you know, gosh, when you're needing a coach, everybody could use a coach. And do you have your own coach yourself?
Are you being coached Because I see, I hear absolutely. Coaches are always being coached as well.
Um,
Thomas: few coaches Still work with, so yes.
Anne: That is so cool. that four step makes a lot of sense to me when I think about some of the people that I know that you're coaching.
I've seen them, grow and succeed. Very quickly, as a matter of fact. And I can see that,the little things sometimes it's just a one degree pivot. It's,not like you have to change everything. You just have to like, you know, one degree shift, if you will.
Thomas: Yes, yes. It's not dramatic change. 'cause that's abrupt. Right. It's, not, you're completely turning your life upside down. No, it's, a simple shift. That has compounding effects. and you mentioned that one degree turn. Imagine, youthe analogy of steering a ship, Like one degree and then all of a sudden, you know, miles down the line, they're on a completely different path.
Oh yeah. It's a good analogy. So it's the same, philosophy of are the small actions you can make that have compounding effects because A few things are at play here. One time moves fairly quick when we're busy, when we're ambitious, when we have a lot going on. Mm-hmm.
When we're raising families, we're,working multiple, roles and, and have 101 things going on. There's endless distractions in the world. Overwhelm every corner of the world. I mean, pick your challenge, right?
Anne: Yeah.
Thomas: But what are the small changes you can make easy to make? trial out for a couple of days even that actually have a positive effect.
And then you mentioned accountability a number of times. That has been a significant part to it too. Where I've had, people I work with say, you know, I don't think I would have made this progress if I didn't have someone there supporting me or someone there checking in or. A call on my calendar that I had to prepare for.
Then that alone was an accountability measure.
Anne: Mm-hmm.
Thomas: So there is a lot to that.
Anne: I think there's a lot. It keeps you from being paralyzed. I always say like sometimes the phone feels like it's, you know, a thousand pounds heavy and you can't pick up the phone or make that email that you need to make.
if you just do it, is amazing what'll come from it, but sometimes you just need help from a friend or a coach to make that next move. I love that. Mm-hmm. what are the common challenges and goals you help clients navigate to achieve what they want?
Thomas: For the last number of months, self-doubt has been
Anne: Mm. A
Thomas: big piece.
Anne: Yeah.
Thomas: And I think that's one of the more ubiquitous, feelings that many of us have. women especially. and I think mentioned this, a couple of times when we connected, is that inner critic. I think women do tend to judge themselves more harshly than they.
Judge outwardly. And it could be, a sense of wanting to please others or feel that you are, in a meaningful endeavor. I'm not sure, but I do see it, more prevalent among women.
Anne: The stats show it, the stats back that up don't mean Right. I don't think that's surprising to
Thomas: anyone.
Yeah. Um,
it's. Doubting yourself. It's also the fear of, okay, how do I take that first step? Is it the right first step? How do I know it's, and then there's endless questions. The unclarity piece too is now I know what I wanna do, fine, but like, how do I do it? It's the mm-hmm.Understanding piece. It's like, well, I don't even know how to take that first step, or, I'm so overwhelmed, I don't even know what I would do in the next five minutes. So those are themore prevalent challenges, but it generally comes down to the inner thoughts, the inner spiral the inner resistance.
And I've lived through it and I've navigated it. and here is the result of my own personal experience and journey.
Anne: Yeah, it's nice to have that experience to be able to coach that. Up in somebody else, it's also interesting, I think when you think about, they say men and women, like the men will raise their hand, right?
And say like, yeah, I can do that. I can do that before they have any of the skillset. But women will take a pause and say, well, I don't have that skillset. I'll have to go learn that before I can actually step into that job. And so often that's not even reality. And a lot of times I think you have to teach them take it, do it.
Push yourself a little bit because the hard skills, when you think about it, the soft skills are the ones that you really, I don't know if you can teach those. you can learn the hard facts as we were just talking before we even pushed, record. You know, you can Google anything now or you can chat GP tee it, but.
Learning the soft skills. Sometimes you need a partner to be able to help you, have a feedback, have a, a run through a, conversation in real time to actually even understand what you're missing.
Thomas: Exactly. And, and you said it right there, the partner and mm-hmm. Especially in this technological day and age with.
Ai, everything. It's that human element. It's that relationship and connection piece. And that is a big aspect to the coaching philosophy and,how all of this works is because you are connecting with somebody else. And there is science to that. But, mentioned, you know, having a partner there just by interacting with somebody else allows you to kind of.
Break down those internal barriers a little bit more and focus on the soft skills. It's not necessarily like the hard facts like you mentioned, but just interacting with others, whether it's a coach, spouse, a partner, a colleague, a friend, and communicating. I mean, it could be a conversation, a phone call, just a simple text message.
And having that,human connection piece is still very, very vital and that allows you to process. Those internal emotions in a very different way. So there's a lot more to, you know, what you're alluding to here, Anne. Yeah.
Anne: Yeah. It,seems logical. It's just not easy to do.
And the other thing I think is so cool is you have a sales background, because most of the people, especially that I know that you're coaching, well, we all have to sell ourselves no matter what it is. I mean, you've gotta sell treatment, you've gotta sell your business, you gotta sell. I have to sell me.
And it all boils down to trust. And so that is something, it's hard to teach also, but that's something that is part of what you're doing. It sounds like to me, Tom is teaching and coaching them to be trustworthy so that people will say yes, people will buy into them as you, your clients are buying into you.
They trust you. And I think that's something that, You can't take that for granted. And that's something that is earned. and again, in your, ' situation right now validated mm-hmm. By your people coming back and then also referring you to others. I think that's really cool and you know, the built on the referral. you'll be so busy. that's even like a dental practice. You really, the gold's in the office right. Then the referrals. you want to come from the inside and not necessarily the cold calling. Right.
Thomas: Exactly. And I think trust and that kind of referral piece and that reputation and that branding is a byproduct of really aligning your purpose and being authentic and genuine.
Yeah,
because
Anne: Which is kind of easy because people think they have to be somebody else. And if you could just say, oh no, just be you. Mm-hmm. I love, that's a new thing coming, but we don't see it unless somebody tells us Yeah. You're okay. Just be you. Don't try to be somebody else.
It's helped me out a lot. 'cause I mean, I don't know. I, I, I say yes, I'm very easily, swayed to say yes to just about anything that comes my way. Sure. And so, you know, it's nice to know that, well, I just had to be myself and it's. so much easier than to try to be somebody else. But anyway, authenticity is, is a big deal.
And I think we don't realize that sometimes.
Thomas: it goes back to those kind of doubts. Mm-hmm. Well, if I'm not presenting in a certain way, yeah. Will I be successful or I'm trying to conform to other perspectives, not my own. And yes, easier said than done, but once you acknowledge. That you can be yourself and still get to where you want to go without putting on, you know, a different persona, if you will.
Anne: Mm-hmm.
Thomas: It then reinforces, okay, I can be my authentic self and still get to where I want to go or still have that success. I didn't have to pretend, and there's a lot of inner work that goes with that, but it feels right It's that internal feeling at peace of this is who I am and now I'm finally on track and then everything else comes from it.
And there's, I mean, there's plenty of books and a lot of inner work that you can do regarding that sentiment, but absolutely.
Anne: Well, we base do on leaning into your strengths. So we do the strength finders and lean into those because that gives you joy. That's with ease. Do a little education and some experience, and you'll be on rocket fuel instead of trying to be somebody else.
But the other thing that you said, what I also think is very helpful for a coach is that There are ways to show up when you're in sales also. you may prefer being in, your pajamas and your slippers and a, you know, a raggedy t-shirt, or even if you're on a zoom like that.
But there is some protocol that you know, can be delivered in your, if you get it from your mother, you're not gonna pay attention. But if you get it from Thomas. As a coach, they might pay more attention, right? Because there's just, everybody wants to be their best and put their best foot forward.
And sometimes you don't realize that, you know, you just need a, a little polish, I guess is what the word I'm looking for. And I think that's helpful too, from the outside looking in. You know, how am I doing? And if you're a really good coach, you're going to let somebody know with love, right? Because we care.
and that's delivered so much easier. And I think. take it in a little bit better.
Thomas: yeah. You look at it through an objective lens. Yeah. So it's, it's not judgmental. if there's improvement to be made of how you are presenting or communicating to others or how effective your sales approach is, there's work there.
and it's objective. Right. Okay. Where can we. Put a little more development or what are your strengths? Let's amplify those. But it doesn't mean you have to pretend to be a different personality. You can still be yourself and like you said, polish in different areas.
Anne: Yeah. Because ultimately they're gonna buy from you.
And people are gonna be attracted to you. you can only fake it for so long. I, you know, that so funny, Thomas, that one of our principles it was number four and it was, fake it until you believe it. 'cause I like that. And so fake it until you make it. And then I really, it just didn't sit well with me.
I'm like, nobody's faking it. Here we are doing it. And um, we replaced that one with the answers in the ladies room, which is really fun and kind of near and dear to my heart. But I do think that faking it is that is not, we're not doing that in dentistry. We are really in it to win it, to help people.
That's why I love. The dental community because they are caring and they're smart and they wanna succeed. I haven't met anybody yet that doesn't want to succeed in our industry and mm-hmm. So I therefore, it makes the pool of people that need somebody like you, fairly large, I would say, Thomas.
Right. if you could give, one piece of advice to a new dental entrepreneur. What would that advice be? And our listeners are leaning in here,
Thomas: listen and pay attention to that internal pull, That calling, that quietly whispers, sometimes yells. And I think we all have something like that within us.
That is pulling us to something greater, something more, something beyond what? We're doing day to day. And I think it's the meaning, the purpose, and for me that internal whisper got quite loud over the last couple of years.
Mm-hmm. And I don't think I had a choice but to listen to it. and to at least pursue, just to try it out. And then. I was reassured, it brings you on the right path. So Ithink we all have an internal calling to take us to our highest potential. Oftentimes we diminish that calling.
Yeah. So I would say lean into what truly makes you feel alive, everything else kind of falls beneath that.
Anne: Yeah. That's so beautiful.
Thomas: Yeah. Thank you.
Anne: Well, it's beautiful and I also think it goes back to your calling. Find you, and I think you have to listen to what other people are saying.
I am sure that when you were coaching up the other salespeople in your. dental company, they were always saying, you are really good. Thank you very much. You really helped me. And I think those are those little whispers that we sometimes just say, oh no, thank you very much, but if that's what you've gotta listen to, because that's coming in from the outside.
Once you hear that enough, you're like I am meant to do what I'm doing, and I feel that about you. You really have leaned into this and you're in the right spot and I'm really,proud of you for, taking that leap and then that beauty of the validation coming from your clients and the smile on your face and the energy that you.
bring to, your clients and to all of us. So I'm very thankful to, know you and to have you on the podcast. How can anybody get in touch with you? Because I'm sure there's a lot of, leaders out there that are maybe just getting started in entrepreneurship or if they've been in for a while and they feel stuck or they just wanna continue to grow, how do they get in touch with you?
Thomas: Sure. Thank you, Anne. You can reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm,fairly active on LinkedIn. My website has a lot of information, a lot of content and articles and,podcasts that I've done and testimonials, and taken a lot of time to build out a robust website to provide information for people.
Okay. that is ascend pro pathways.com. Or reach out to me directly on LinkedIn. And I can tell you where the pro. Pathways, idea came from. but one thing I, I would love to close on Anne, is that you mentioned, those little whispers of everyone telling you and reassuring you along the way.
I think we all could relate to, you know, you can have a hundred compliments. Everyone else telling you you're doing a great job. But there's usually one person who says otherwise and you listen to that one person. Yeah.And I'm sure we can all guess who that one person generally is. Right. It's ourselves.
Yeah. And why is that? If you have vast majority of your evidence of people telling you you're doing well,
Anne: yeah. And you have
Thomas: yourself standing in your own way, you give that negativity so much power. And that's what we can break through and. It's not a philosophy anymore.
It's, there's a system to it.
Anne: Yeah. I love that. You know, that says that we need to celebrate when we're doing well and not just poo poo it like that didn't happen. Well you have given us a lot today I am so glad you're here. I hope anybody's listening.
I know I'll reach out to you and I will be reaching out as well. Amazing. And we can all do better. So thank you so much. If you're listening, remember that we have our do retreat sign up The bundle is ending the end of December, I think. Anyway, it's in Charlotte next year in uh,November.
So sign up for that. If you're a woman in dentistry, someday we're gonna have a dude and a do party because everybody wants to do that. So we'll do that. But the most important thing for anybody listening today is to keep doing you.
Thomas: thank you Thomas. I appreciate your time today. Have a great one, and I'll see you on the road. Thank
you. Of course. Anne, thank you so much. It was great to spend time with you.
