JACD 71-4 - American College of Dentists

National Leadership Symposium
44
There is a lot more
interest in leadership
than there is agreement
on what it is. No topic
in business is more
misunderstood and
aggressively debated.
why should anybody else? It has got to
start with us!
Tomorrows’ leaders are going to
have to position the profession to deal
with the growing impact of globalization.
That is going to require us to take
leadership positions with innovative
policies—applicable on an international
scene—on science, education, licensure,
safety, and research.
New technologies and research will
redefine the link between oral disease
and systemic disease, which could
fundamentally alter the integration
of medicine and dentistry. Salivary
diagnostics are probably the best example
here. As this evolves, I think this will
put increasing pressure on the dentist’s
current scope of practice and provide
dentistry an opportunity to expand its
scope and create a division between the
diagnostic practice of dentistry and
therapeutic care.
Increasing concerns about initial
licensure will lead to more experimentation
with multiple methods to satisfy
those concerns, such as PGY-1 and
portfolios. If enacted on a broad scale,
licensure reform will increase pressure
on revisiting continued competency
and greater standardization of initial
examinations.
Changing people’s oral health
behaviors through fundamental oral
health education will be seen as the only
way to circumvent the cycle of disease,
and there are already calls for our leaders
to come up with new initiatives in oral
health education and literacy.
And lastly, the limitations on dental
workforce capacity will continue to put
increasing pressure on the profession to
propose alternates to redefine the
training and scope of various members
of the team.
Summing Up
I believe tomorrow’s leaders will have
new issues, but they will have the same
paradoxes implementation that we face
today. People, it seems, want forceful,
decisive leadership, whether it is in their
government, their schools, or their
associations. And at the same time, are
suspicious when a leader is too strong.
Boldness and innovation are desired
only if it takes people to where they want
to go. Positive attributes of a leader are
considered negative if they are practiced
excessively. Vision is important, but if
that’s all there is, one is seen as a dreamer.
Persistence and resolve sometimes get
misinterpreted as inflexibility and stubbornness.
Successful leaders are able to discern
and even come to understand that their
role is filled with paradoxes of all sizes,
shapes, and complexities. That’s not
going to change, and good leaders resolve
these paradoxes. They know that what
to do is rarely an either/or decision.
Rather it is usually a combination of
both (O’Toole, 2001). When, where, and
how much of each part is the real art
of leadership, and I know of no book,
paper, thesis, or article that reveals the
magic all by itself.
As leaders we have our work cut out
for us. We are going to have to pioneer
new ways of doing things. We are going
to have to be willing to live with risk and
deal with uncertainty. We are going to
have to anticipate where the profession
is going before others do. “One of the
tests of leadership,” Arnold Glasgow said,
“is the ability to recognize a problem
before it becomes an emergency.”
It’s going to take some courage to do
what we have to do—courage to do the
right things, courage to do the tough
things, courage to get out in front of the
pack in unprotected territory, courage to
take those prudent risks, courage to
articulate the vision, courage to use
change as an opportunity, and courage
to question yesterday’s dogma. These are
the kinds of courage Art Dugoni has
shown for decades.
If we are not courageous leaders,
then what are we? Certainly not cowardly,
but merely complacent. It’s easy to be
silent. As I survey both established and
new leaders who gather in Art Dugoni’s
honor, I know our profession, our
future, and our association cannot
advance dentistry through complacency.
We have no choice. We must stay
involved. We must continue to grow as
leaders. We must spend our “coins”
with the organizations that hold our
interests dear.
I look forward to the opportunity
to work closely with each and every one
of you because I know inside each of
you is the integrity, courage, vision, and
hope that will serve you in your future
leadership roles. ■
References
Kotter, J. P. (2001). What leaders really do?
Harvard Business Review.
O’Toole, J. (2001). Leadership A to Z.
Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
Zaleznick, A. (1977). Managers and leaders:
are they different? Harvard Business
Review, May-June, 72-81.
2005 Volume 71, Number 4