Health Care Is Being Dissected Under a National Microscope - But Where Is Chiropractic?

As the debate over health care reform rages on in Washington, D.C., and in contentious town meetings across the country, there is perhaps one thing we can all agree on: The chiropractic profession is not so much as a tiny voice in the back row. A panel of medical experts is advising the Obama administration on everything from single-payer systems to obesity management and end-of-life care. But no one from our profession has been invited in to explain chiropractic's vitalistic approach to health and human performance, even though it perhaps best reflects the president's ideal of a health care system with greater emphasis on wellness, prevention and personal empowerment that won't break the national bank.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. We have so successfully carved out a niche as back pain experts, it's no wonder our national leaders aren't asking what we think is the best approach to helping people realize more of their inborn potential for health.

How will chiropractic ever get its chance to influence the direction of health care in our nation? Only through the exercise of powerful thought leadership that clearly captures and articulates chiropractic's unique understanding of and contribution to health and human performance.

Finding Chiropractic's Voice: Becoming Thought Leaders

Anyone who has been involved with chiropractic for more than five minutes knows our advancement has been hampered by a muddy identity and professional infighting that have made it difficult for the public to know who we are and what we do. What we may not have realized, perhaps even until now, is just how much our "internal" problems are actually affecting the health of our neighbors, communities and nation.

On a scale never before experienced in our country, our nation's leaders are talking about health. They actually want to know how to get the population healthier, how to better care for those who are sick, and how to pay for the best care without sending us deeper into debt. What if, when they thought of chiropractic, they said, "Oh, those are the professionals who help people's bodies work better so its natural powers of health, adaptation and healing can be more fully realized"? Now that's a group that's getting a first-class invitation to the White House for a roundtable on health care reform.

Understanding Thought Leadership

The term thought leader was first coined in 1994 by Joel Kurtzman, author of Global Edge, senior fellow and publisher of The Milken Institute Review, and former editor of the Harvard Business Review and business editor of The New York Times. He used it to describe people who were contributing new knowledge to their fields. Today, it's widely understood to refer to people who understand emerging trends in their discipline and have the expertise and independent research to back up their point of view in meaningful and actionable ways.

Thought leadership is about competence. First and foremost, it stems from having a depth of understanding of your field that is nearly unrivaled and that is highly substantiated with facts. It also evolves around and inspires trust. People (patients, students, national leaders) want to be involved with organizations they believe in.

What Thought Leaders Do

Stake out a clear position. Thought leaders do not try to be all things to all people. They have unique expertise that is well-tested and are comfortable saying clearly what they know to be so without apology. One marketing leader refers to this concept as "concentrated fame" or being "king of the mole hill." It's far more effective to have the greatest depth of knowledge and expertise within your field than to dabble in many.

Add new knowledge. Thought leaders tell us something we don't already know. They are constantly learning and developing and testing new theories and approaches in their field. They don't shoot from the hip and hope they're right.

Become masters. Thought leaders specialize. They know who they are and what unique role they fill, and work tirelessly to fulfill it at the absolute highest levels of competency and professionalism. They have a passion for their field that goes beyond financial reward and can't be faked.

Speak clearly with one voice. The first thing a communications expert will tell you in a crisis is to get one clear message and have the same person deliver it again and again. The same approach works for communication over the long haul. You help people understand your message when you make it clear and consistent and deliver it repeatedly over time.

Ask lots of questions. Thought leaders are not afraid that asking someone else's opinion or considering another viewpoint will weaken their position. On the contrary; they understand that the more they test their knowledge, the stronger it will be. They pour many diverse viewpoints into their funnel and tease them out to see what makes sense and what doesn't. They also ask a lot of questions through formal research that applies the most rigorous standards to the concepts they hold near and dear. They don't want unquestioned confidence in themselves and their ideas; they want to be accurate.

Where Is Chiropractic?

Do those traits broadly describe the chiropractic profession to you? I think your answer is probably no, and I agree with you. We have excelled at halfheartedly delivering a confusing and changing message that we defend with a near-religious zeal, but are largely unwilling to expose to scientific discovery and research.

We are trying hard to change that approach at Life University. Six months ago we brought together some of the world's most renowned philosophers, clinicians and scholars inside and outside of chiropractic for the inaugural event of the Lifesource Octagon, a Center for Infinite Thinking. A key result of the conference was published proceedings that document how members of varied professions are gathering around the concept of vitalism. But we have to continue to expand the conversation and, most importantly, hold these concepts up to external and objective evaluation. We must embrace objective critique if our vitalistic approach to health and peak performance is to capture the respect of key decision-makers.

Likewise, we have recently commissioned an independent research study of millenials (those born in the late '70s to mid '90s) so we can develop a much clearer understanding of how this generation approaches health and health-oriented decisions. Armed with this objective data, we'll be far better positioned to communicate the unique role of chiropractic in helping them reach optimum performance.

That's where chiropractic can have its greatest impact. We are not low back pain gurus. We are not sciatica experts. We are vitalistic health care practitioners who have a unique understanding and set of credentials that can help people develop a far more mature and nuanced understanding of their bodies and then better manage their journey toward peak performance.

Thought leadership is not for everyone. It requires an unwavering commitment to excellence, honesty, and objective scrutiny and measurement. I think our profession has matured to the point that we are ready for that. If we can focus our communication and our dollars as a profession on researching the impact of chiropractic care on human health and performance, and sharing our vitalistic philosophy unapologetically and clearly, we can indeed help steer the national dialogue in a much healthier direction.