About Summit Crown Advisory
Helping Practice Owners Build Stronger Leaders
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Book A Complimentary Leadership Friction Diagnostic
Our Mission
Helping Leaders Build Organizations People Want to Work In
We partner with leaders who recognize that sustainable growth requires more than operational excellence.
It requires leaders who communicate clearly, align around shared priorities, develop others, and create cultures where accountability and trust can thrive.
Whether we're facilitating a difficult partnership discussion, coaching a practice owner through a leadership challenge, or developing the next generation of leaders through the Summit Crown Dental Leadership Academy, our goal remains the same:
Reduce leadership friction.
Increase organizational capacity.
Our Philosophy
Leadership Is Learned
Nobody graduates from dental school knowing how to lead people.
Most practice owners learn leadership through experience, trial and error, and watching the leaders around them.
Some lessons are helpful.
Others create habits that quietly limit growth.
We believe leadership can be taught.
Not through motivational speeches.
Through practical skills, honest conversations, deliberate practice, and consistent coaching.
Our Approach
Every engagement is built around four principles.
Principle 1: Listen First
Every practice is different. We begin by understanding your people, your goals, and the leadership challenges unique to your organization.
Principle 2: Tell the Truth
Leadership improves when conversations become more honest. We'll ask difficult questions and challenge assumptions with respect and candour.
Principle 3: Build Capability
The goal isn't dependence on an advisor. It's building leaders who continue succeeding long after the engagement ends.
Principle 4: Focus on Practical Change
Ideas are only valuable when they change behaviour. Everything we do is designed to create measurable improvements inside your practice.
Let's Talk
Leadership challenges rarely resolve themselves. If you're navigating growth, leadership conflict, partner alignment, or developing your leadership team, we'd welcome the opportunity to help.
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Book a Complimentary Leadership Friction Diagnostic
*Limited number of diagnostics available per month - Available for qualified practices only
Meet Mark Raffan
Mark Raffan is the Founder of Summit Crown Advisory and has spent more than two decades helping leaders navigate complex negotiations, difficult conversations, and high-stakes business relationships. He is also a best-selling author, serial entrepreneur, and the founder of Negotiations Ninja, where he works with Fortune 500 corporations to get better deals through negotiation training.
His work has included advising executives, facilitating challenging discussions, resolving partnership disputes, coaching leadership teams, and helping organizations communicate more effectively under pressure.
Across industries and organizations, one pattern remained remarkably consistent: the greatest threats to performance rarely arrived without warning. They accumulated through unresolved conversations, unclear expectations, and leadership behaviours that quietly created friction over time.
That realization led Mark to develop the Leadership Friction framework—a practical approach to helping leaders identify and address the small issues that quietly compound into significant organizational challenges.
Today, Mark works with healthcare leaders, business owners, and executive teams to reduce Leadership Friction before it affects culture, performance, profitability, and trust.
Why Dentistry?
People often ask why someone with a background in negotiation and executive leadership chose to focus on dental practices. The answer is simple. Growing a successful dental practice requires far more than clinical expertise. Practice owners are expected to become leaders, coaches, recruiters, strategists, communicators, and business operators—often without formal leadership training. The technical side of dentistry is well supported. Leadership often isn't. Summit Crown exists to help close that gap.