back to articles

Guest Essay

Are We Trying Too Hard?


By Daryl D. Wills, D.C.

Organized chiropractic will soon approach the century mark. From the time B.J. Palmer and a group of committed Doctors of Chiropractic first formed the Universal Chiropractic Association in 1906, there has been a concerted effort by visionary chiropractors to plan, organize and orchestrate the building of a profession. Unfortunately, the idea of one voice and one association has eluded our best intentions.

Whether it has been position, power, purpose or even profit which motivated past and present leaders, if we continue to pursue the same course in the same manner, the outcome will be predictable. It has been said “to do the same thing in the same manner expecting different results is insanity.”

Perhaps we are trying too hard! Richard Koch in his best selling program from Nightingale-Conant Corporation “The 80/20 Principle” provides insight for the profession to recognize what we must alter or implement to produce different and favorable results.

We all learned the 80/10/10 phenomenon in chiropractic. Eighty percent of patients get better; 10 percent do not change and 10 percent get worse. Typically, we devote 80 percent of our time and concentration on the 20 percent of the “problem or difficult” patients. Yet we know from the “Parto Principle”, as it is called, that 80 percent of our success comes from just 20 percent of what we do, and 80 percent of our income comes from 20 percent of our patients and/or products. This principle further states that we need to do less of what does not work and more of the very few things that work. In other words, we need to stop doing what is not valuable to us as a profession or has not allowed us to build and grow.

What if our chiropractic publications would start printing and exemplifying only great chiropractic moments and victories? What if we replayed the positive historical events such as Licensure of the 50th and final State of Louisiana in 1974; or the Wilk Suit et.al. in 1987? How about accreditation of the first chiropractic college National in 1972? What about Medicare inclusion in 1973; inclusion in the DoD and VA; the NHSC or a chiropractor in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.? What if we let go of the unhappiness that plagues this profession, and instead of concentrating 80 percent of our effort on what has not worked, we change and increase just another 20 percent of our efforts toward making positive changes?

Specifically, to be totally committed, our focus needs to be on the few vital building blocks essential to chiropractic. We must identify the 20 percent, or very few things, we can do that will make 80 percent of the difference in our profession. We must divorce ourselves once and for all from concentrating 80 percent our time and efforts on our differences and past political battles.

Through well-planned and communicated actions we can then, and only then, build a profession. The following 10 action steps, though not all inclusive, could be a starting point for at least 80 percent of the profession.

  1. An agreed and adopted identity for the profession.
  2. Develop and publicize a vision statement that appeals to 80 percent of the profession.
  3. Standard core curriculum on all accredited chiropractic campuses.
  4. One common universal state scope of practice to augment Federal, DoD and VA acceptance.
  5. A standard initial patient encounter in a chiropractic office.
  6. A common legislative agenda to protect the uniqueness of chiropractic (i.e. the subluxation).
  7. Committed realization that legal battles must continually be fought to end discrimination.
  8. Financial support of a public relations campaign nationally, as well as, statewide and locally that changes potential patient’s behavior and brings them into a chiropractic office.
  9. Cultivating volunteer leadership through membership and support, both state and nationally, whose sole purpose is to build a profession.
  10. Hold annual or bi-annual profession-wide meetings sponsored by the colleges to lay the ground work, not for unity, a tainted term, but for building a profession.
    Many of these items are already works in progress.


Regardless of our differences inside our offices and state law mandates, our similarities in chiropractic resonate strongly for over 80 percent of this profession. Yet all it would take is for 20 percent more to take a stand and be heard and for us to place 80 percent of our energy into the 20 percent of the few items that ultimately will make a difference.

To paraphrase Richard Koch, to make the 80/20 Principle work, we must:

  1. Dwell more on the victories and good times.
  2. Make a “not to do” list or nullify the negative.
  3. Use our time effectively.
  4. Live in the present.
  5. Nurture significant relationships.


These ideas are not new to chiropractic. The basic structure was initiated not too many years ago by the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations. Perhaps we tried too hard in the name of unity rather than an open forum. This is not about associations. It is about building a profession!

Is this an idea whose time has finally come? I believe it has! Who will answer the call?

Disclaimer: Daryl D. Wills, D.C. is immediate past president of the American Chiropractic Association. The views presented are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ACA.

Provide your feedback on this article.

© Copyright 2004 Today's Chiropractic

return to top