What is it that separates the normal, more common, human beings from those who excel and go down in history as someone unique or exceptional? Certainly there are many of us that strive to be someone who history will look back on favorably, or at the very least make mention of. However few will go down like explorer and adventurer Percy Fawcett.
Colonel Fawcett is most famous as an explorer who went missing during the 1920’s while on an expedition trying to search for an ancient lost city in the Amazon, which he termed “Z”. In David Grann’s book, The Lost City of Z, he details how this real life Indiana Jones would react when he encountered native tribes of the Amazon. One situation found him and his crew being bombarded by poison arrows while floating down the Heath River. Just as his men raised their rifles to return fire, Colonel Fawcett ordered his men to lower their guns and asked another member of their group to begin playing an accordion as a sign of their peaceful intentions. Percy then began walking directly into the barrage of arrows waiving his hands above his head and repeatedly calling out the word “friend” in the local dialect. Soon after, the torrent of arrows ceased.
Dental offices will often find themselves the target of unexpected aggression. It could be coming from patients, staff members, insurance companies, vendors, or a litany of other parties that the practice engages with. When you find yourself being the victim of this hostility how will you react? Will you raise your guns to return fire or will you too start playing the accordion? More often than not, the latter is going to lead to the best outcome for everyone.