Courage and Joy at Work

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Founder of Courage & Joy at Work, the Empowered LeadHERship Experience for Women in Dental, and host of The Real Talk of Dental podcast, coaching high-capacity humans ready to stop pretending everything’s fine and start leading with clarity & courage.

60 EPISODES 🎙️When I started The Real Talk of Dental, I wanted to help normalize the tough conversations everyone was ha...
09/12/2026

60 EPISODES 🎙️

When I started The Real Talk of Dental, I wanted to help normalize the tough conversations everyone was having but too afraid to talk about.

We all know how we talk behind the scenes and present another way to the world.

60 episodes later, I've created that space.

We’ve laughed, gotten pi**ed off, questioned some things, told some stories, and hopefully reminded each other that there are actual humans underneath all those scrubs.

I’m insanely grateful for every person who’s listened, shared, come on the show, sent in a confession, or trusted me with their story.

There are still a lot of stories in dentistry that need to be told.

So yeah… we’re keeping the mic on. 🎙️

Cheers to 60. And to all the real talk still to come.

09/11/2026

You can build Fort Knox around your dental practice and still leave the door open.

That’s the cybersecurity problem Tom Terronez and I talk about in Episode 60 of The Real Talk of Dental.

You can have layers of security, expensive technology, and all the right systems in place. But if someone on your team doesn’t recognize a phishing email and clicks the wrong link, all of that protection can be put to the test.

And the answer isn’t to blame your people.

It’s to train them.

In this episode, Tom and I talk about why cybersecurity awareness needs to happen regularly, why office managers are often the biggest advocates for this kind of training, and why practices can’t assume their technology alone will keep them protected.

We also get into the bigger conversation around technology in dentistry: buying tech without involving the people who use it, poor implementation, lost trust, and why the best technology should ultimately create more space for people to connect with patients.

Because technology should make your practice more human, not less.

Episode 60 is now live!

Listen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3rm9W4y5ZxyEILwL1kypfc
Listen on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/060-you-can-build-fort-knox-and-still-get-hacked-tom-terronez/id1827074869?i=1000789011030
Watch on Youtube - https://youtu.be/uP5NUEEne9s

Your dental practice can have layers of cybersecurity protection and still get hacked because someone clicked one bad li...
09/09/2026

Your dental practice can have layers of cybersecurity protection and still get hacked because someone clicked one bad link.

That’s the uncomfortable reality Tom Terronez and I unpack in Episode 60 of The Real Talk of Dental.

Tom is the CEO of Medix Dental IT, and in this conversation we get real about cybersecurity, the people side of technology, and some of the mistakes practices make when they’re trying to “modernize.”

We talk about why buying technology at a conference can be a terrible idea, why the people who are actually using the technology need to have a voice in the decision, and what happens when leadership rolls out a major tech change without thinking through how it will affect the team.

Because technology problems don’t always stay technology problems. A bad rollout can create frustration, resentment, staff turnover, and something much harder to rebuild: trust.

And then we get into cybersecurity, where Tom makes a pretty compelling case that the biggest vulnerability in your practice isn’t necessarily the software. It’s the people using it.

Regular cybersecurity training matters. Knowing what a phishing attempt actually looks like matters. And apparently, telling your office manager “I will NEVER email you asking for financial information” does not always stop them from clicking the link. 😂

But underneath all of this is something I really loved about this conversation: technology should make us more human, not less.

If automation can handle the repetitive stuff, what could your team do with that extra energy? Maybe they could actually look up from the computer and connect with the person standing in front of them.

That’s the kind of technology conversation I want to have.

Episode 60 with Tom Terronez goes live Friday, September 11!

I’ve sat in enough rooms with women who run businesses to see the same thing happen over and over.She can talk strategy ...
09/09/2026

I’ve sat in enough rooms with women who run businesses to see the same thing happen over and over.

She can talk strategy all day.

She can manage people, make hard decisions, solve problems, carry a million details in her head and keep the whole damn thing moving.

Then someone puts the financials on the screen and she gets quiet.

She lets the accountant explain it.
She lets her partner take the lead.
Maybe her husband handles it.
Maybe there’s a CFO or someone else who has always been “the numbers person.”

And little by little, she stops participating in that part of the business.

Not because she can’t understand it.

Because somewhere along the way, she decided the numbers belonged to someone else.

That’s where this gets expensive.

When you don’t understand your financial picture, you have to rely on someone else’s interpretation of it. You can start second-guessing decisions you have every right to be making. You can sit in a meeting you technically belong in and still feel like you’re waiting for someone to tell you what’s going on.

I see this with women in dental ownership, too.

And I want to say this plainly: The numbers are for you.

You don’t need to become an accountant.
You don’t need to memorize every line on a P&L.

You need to know enough to understand how your business is doing, what deserves your attention, and what questions you need to ask.

Start by showing up to the financial meeting.

Ask the question you think you should already know the answer to.

Look at your numbers every month, even when they make you uncomfortable.

Give yourself permission to learn.

Because there is something that happens when you stop handing away your financial understanding. You walk into the conversation differently. You make decisions with more information. You trust yourself more.

And that confidence starts showing up everywhere else, too.

Your financials are part of your leadership.
They’re part of your business.
And if you own the damn thing, you deserve to know what’s happening inside it.

SOPs are not an employee handbook.It sounds obvious, but these two things get confused all the time in dental practices....
09/08/2026

SOPs are not an employee handbook.

It sounds obvious, but these two things get confused all the time in dental practices.

Ray Brunner and I talked about why that distinction matters in Episode 59 of The Real Talk of Dental. Your employee handbook and your SOPs have different jobs, and understanding what belongs where is part of creating a practice where expectations are actually clear.

Because sometimes what looks like a small administrative detail is really a leadership and compliance issue hiding in plain sight.

Want more real conversations about what’s happening beneath the surface of dental practices?

Sign up for the TRT Insider Email List!
https://link.courageandjoyatwork.com/widget/form/HbIpAn4VXgStNyuDmLSf

September is going to be a busy one, and I’m excited to be stepping onto two very different stages for two conversations...
09/05/2026

September is going to be a busy one, and I’m excited to be stepping onto two very different stages for two conversations I care deeply about.

From the future of communication and AI to the leadership issues affecting associate retention in dentistry, these are conversations that matter right now.

I’d love to see you at one of these events!

Archy Future Proof
September 11-13, 2026
Las Vegas, NV
Did AI Write This? Communicating in the Age of AI”

Register here:
https://www.archy.com/futureproof?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_MrL_4aMno2cKN8dDwfZ2aUD7ylguU8QPasxGRkYS6SRCT0mc9zYFN_3VRwQCNGdCkFzY9toXasZbG0qr8RbrDGIRC0Hm1BKeF1V24t-7Ungx9FBY&_hsmi=427174659&utm_content=427174659&utm_source=hs_email

HR For Health Dental Leadership Summit
September 16-18, 2026
Austin, TX
The Associate Gap: Why Your Retention Problem Is Actually a Leadership Problem

Register here:
https://dentalleadershipsummit.com/register?utm_content=379459696&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-68581738

09/04/2026

Sometimes the best conversations are the ones that don’t stay in one lane.

In Episode 59 of The Real Talk of Dental, I’m talking with my dear friend Ray Brunner about everything from his accidental entry into dental in the 1990s and his 25+ years in dental marketing to healthcare technology, career reinvention, HR, employee handbooks, compliance, and the moments when practice owners need to stop trying to figure everything out themselves.

Ray brings a perspective that comes from decades of watching this industry change. We talk about why HR is so much more than payroll, why employee handbooks and SOPs are two completely different things, how quickly employment laws can change, and why asking Google, ChatGPT, or a Facebook group for answers to sensitive HR situations may not be the best strategy.

But underneath all of that is a conversation about leadership and life. Ray talks about his “staircasing” view of life, using the experience you’ve already earned instead of assuming you have to start over, and not letting fear keep you from opening the next door.

There’s a lot packed into this one, and I could have kept talking with Ray for another few hours.

🎧 Episode 59 is out today! Come listen to The Real Talk of Dental with Ray Brunner.

Listen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/0uvfnBr8kF4bDmDugIHQTF
Listen on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/059-the-employee-handbook-mistake-costing-dental/id1827074869?i=1000787801568
Watch on Youtube - https://youtu.be/TGt7d4FJxS0

09/02/2026

1.5x speed. Don’t be a loser and follow The Atlas Project for what’s to come. Learning and developing just got way cooler with the outdoors involved. out

Your name might not be next to the finance column on the org chart.That does not mean you get to stop understanding the ...
09/02/2026

Your name might not be next to the finance column on the org chart.

That does not mean you get to stop understanding the numbers.

I see this happen with women in dental ownership all the time. A partner handles finance. A CFO owns the reporting. Someone else runs the meetings, so slowly, the owner steps back.

She stops asking questions, stops looking at the numbers.
She starts thinking, that's their area.

Until a major decision lands on the table and she realizes she doesn't have enough information to make the decision with confidence.

That can happen quietly.

And by the time you notice it, you're already playing catch-up in your own business.

You don't have to become the CFO. You don't have to own every financial decision or know every line of the P&L by heart.

You do need to understand how the money moves, what the numbers are telling you, and what questions to ask when something doesn't make sense.

Your accountability chart tells you who owns the work.

It doesn't give you permission to check out of the conversation.

If you're ready to get more clarity around your role as a leader and owner, comment CLARITY. I'd love to chat.

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