JACD 71-4 - American College of Dentists

National Leadership Symposium
42
If you don’t know the culture, you are
literally dead in the water for trying to
get things done. But committed individuals
within this culture can create
large-scale change, if they are inspired
to believe that they can and are given
the freedom to do it by working incrementally
and rocking the boat just
enough so that no one falls out.
Leadership at the ADA
I am working hard to redefine the culture
at the ADA as an organization based on
our core values of integrity, trust, honesty,
and responsibility and as a place where
collaboration is the norm rather than
the exception.
Ten Lessons in Leadership,
as Demonstrated by
Dean Arthur A. Dugoni
1. Base your leadership on values.
2. Listen more than you talk, but when
you do talk, make sure you have
something to say.
3. Be nice and help others; you’ll be
better for it.
4. Do your homework; know your issues.
5. Work on your attitude; it’s contagious.
6. Write down your vision.
7. Define your risk tolerance and take
some prudent risks.
8. Learn to live with change.
9. Look in a mirror, and don’t kid yourself;
and then hire the talent you don’t have.
10. Go ahead, diversify—you learn the
most from those least like you.
Here is an example of how we try to
accomplish that. I empowered a crossdepartmental
team of staff volunteers
who were charged with creating a staff
mission statement and our staff core
values, not just mine, but ours. Through
this exercise, we had an opportunity to
say what we believe. It was liberating
to articulate a vision of a partnership
with volunteers and members and the
experience and expertise we offer to
the organization.
Core value precepts emerged. Here is
what we found at the ADA:
• Members are the purpose of our
work.
• We take personal responsibility and
pride in our work.
• We know that attitudes are contagious
and that our success stems from
trust, mutual respect, and fairness.
These values are posted around our
building now, and they are not empty
words. They are part of our fabric. They
are part of our decision making. They
are included in our performance
appraisals. We live them, and we use
them to help us lead the organization.
I told my senior managers at my
very first meeting with them prior to
my first day that I have two main tenets
that I would use to help me judge their
performance. First, when they come to
me with a problem, they’d better bring
along their best solution, too, so we have
something positive to talk about.
The second tenet we practice is
something that I learned from Lewis
Timberlake many years ago. It is called
Rule #6. Lewis is a corporate consultant
who does programs on leadership
development. If you play golf, you may
know this, but for those of you who
don’t, here’s how Rule #6 goes: “You are
responsible for your own ball.” Wherever
it goes, whatever happens to it, it’s still
your ball. In fact, Rule #6 starts out with
a general statement about how it is your
responsibility to even know the rules.
The Future of Dentistry is Bright
Leadership comes from strong beliefs,
and there’s a simple six-word statement
of belief that many of us associate with
Art Dugoni. It’s one of his basic themes,
and you might even go so far as to call it
his motto. When he was president of the
ADA, he said it in our House of Delegates,
and he repeated it at dental meetings
across the country. Generations of dental
students have heard him say it and have
been inspired to rise to their very best.
And what are those six simple words
from Art? “The future of dentistry is
bright.” This is always said with conviction
and enthusiasm; backed up with
statistics, demographics, forecasts and
other information; and, most important
of all, always accompanied by a challenge
for us, the challenge to take advantage of
all we have going for us as a profession
and work together to make sure that the
bright future Art envisions really happens.
How bright is that light? The
profession is very healthy, growing
nicely at about 3.1% annually. In total,
professional dental care is currently
about a $74 billion industry. In fact, we
recently completed a study that shows
the total impact of dentistry in the U.S.
economy is over $200 billion annually.
As we say in the ADA Foundation, “oral
health matters.”
More females are entering the
profession, and we’re all working hard
to attract more members of underrepresented
ethnic groups.
Prevention works. The number of
decayed, missing, or restored teeth keeps
going down. The incidence of edentulism
keeps falling too. All of this is good news.
People are taking better care of their
teeth than ever, and more of them than
ever before understand the importance
of good oral health.
2005 Volume 71, Number 4