
Guest Column
Lori Irvine
Team and Leadership Coach
Lori Irvine received this message from her coaching client in Lacombe, AB as a story about how to keep personal or workplace baggage out of the way and leave it somewhere to revisit, when needed:
“I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job, a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit and his ancient one ton truck refused to start.
While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. Upon arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.
When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.
Afterward, he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.
‘Oh, that’s my trouble tree, he replied. I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing’s for sure those troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home.
Then, in the morning I pick them up again. Funny thing is he smiled, when I come out in the morning to pick ’em up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.’”
We all Need a Tree !!
Dr. Robertson is a founding partner and lead appraiser of The Dental Broker Team. A graduate of the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto, he has also studied with the Canadian Chartered Business Valuation program. Beyond the scope of appraising and selling practices, he has worked hard to establish solid relationships with executives at the major Canadian banks with whom he has developed the appraisal formulas used by our firm. Because of this dialogue, his reputation, and his grounded research based approach to valuation, he has been called upon by the major Canadian banks to consult on trends, predictions, and perspectives in the Ontario and Canadian dental practice marketplace. He has authored articles on the topic of practice appraisal rationale in Ontario Dentist, The Journal of The Ontario Dental Association, and presented publicly with the Canadian Dental Association on the topic. As a dentist and brokerage partner, he contributed to the development of the Career Options Initiative with the Canadian Dental Association. Dr. Robertson is the author of The Science of Opinion, a research-based paper that establishes the only known evidence-based formula specific to dental practice appraisal value. He is the author of the book, From DEBTistry to Dentistry: A Buyer’s Guide to Successful Transitions.