JACD 71-4 - American College of Dentists

sought a better life for their children. He
often says that his grandfather’s dreams,
risk taking, and expectations gave his
life meaning. Similarly, Walt Disney
grew up in Missouri in a modest household
that required him to make money
by selling drawings to neighbors. He also
loved nature, family, and community.
This analogy is easy to see! Walt became
a “dreamer,” and his dreams took him to
produce the first full-length animated
musical feature, “Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs.” With that success, he
dreamed of a clean, organized amusement
park that would bring fun and joy to
people. Disney’s ideas represent imagination,
optimism, creativity, and an
uncanny ability to bring us close to the
future while telling of the past. Disney is
a legend and folk hero and, in terms of
the dental profession, Dr. Dugoni is
the same—perhaps, the most respected
individual in the dental profession.
In 2004, Eric Curtis wrote a wonderful
essay on “Dental Education in San
Francisco: The Dugoni Era,” in which he
detailed, in a splendid manor, the many
accomplishments and leadership characteristics
of Dr. Dugoni. As many of you
know, Dr. Dugoni assumed the deanship
at Pacific at a very difficult time in its
history. Almost immediately, however,
the dreamer and the visionary emerged
with an understanding of leadership
that would carry him through the day.
Dr. Dugoni reminded everyone, according
to Curtis, that leadership involves not
just management but vision. Leadership
is where we want to go and management
is implementation. How do we get there?
With his personal charm and persona,
extraordinary communication skills,
accessibility, persistence, enthusiasm,
and willingness to lead by example, he
moved the school to a prominent place
in the history of dental education.
Dr. Dugoni dreamed of developing a
humanistic approach to dental education,
and with a highly motivated faculty and
student body, and, particularly, with a
Journal of the American College of Dentists
major investment in people, he succeeded!
Curtis described Dr. Dugoni’s philosophy
about dental education. He said,
“Education is not just about making a
living; it is about making a life” (Curtis,
2004). His reputation for instilling in
students a social conscience and a
commitment to responsible citizenship
is legendary.
However, the most spectacular
achievements of Dr. Dugoni may have
occurred outside the walls of Pacific.
For throughout his career, Art has been
willing to pick up the banner of leadership
in organizations ranging from the
American Dental Association, American
Association of Dental Schools, California
Dental Association, and a host of other
leadership roles to bring the educators,
practitioners, organized dentistry, and
corporate supporters close together as
a family. Through it all he has taken
provocative positions on communitybased
education, on expanding access to
care, on establishing board examinations
that are more relevant, on addressing
health disparities, on developing
resources for dental education, on
decreasing student debt, and on nurturing
a caring and humanistic profession.
In short, Dugoni’s leadership by example
is the epitome of leadership for the
public good!
The Bottom Line
Freiberg and Freiberg (1996), in their
book on Southwest Airlines, list a number
of practical leadership ideas that are
implemented by Kelleher and colleagues
and which apply directly to Dugoni’s
leadership and success. These include:
• Make work fun!
• Use celebrations to create relationships.
• Equip people to make decisions.
• Become a “risk doctor”—help people
recover from mistakes.
• Make your organization and personal
National Leadership Symposium
mission, vision, and values clear—
then hold the reins loosely.
• Stamp out bureaucracy—make rules
your servants.
• Deal with people, not positions.
• Train for skill—hire for spirit, spunk
and enthusiasm.
• When serving others (the community),
make sure that “good enough” is
never enough.
• Look for creative, unconventional
ways to tell your story.
Leadership in the style of Dugoni,
Kelleher, and Disney is about making
vision the boss, being able to articulate
that vision to followers (collaborators),
and about putting people first to make
things happen. ■
References
Bird, J. B. (2003). Herb Kelleher: An
entrepreneur for all seasons. Texas, The
McCombs School of Business Magazine,
(Spring/Summer).
Curtis, E. K. (2004). Dental education in
San Francisco: The Dugoni era. Journal of
the History of Dentistry, 52 (1), 12-16.
DePaola, D. P. (1998). Beyond the university:
Leadership for the common good. American
Dental Education Association. Summit
Conference Proceedings, 94-102.
Freiberg, K. & Freiberg, J. (1996). Nuts.
New York: Broadway Books.
McPherson, C. &Wittemann, J. K. (2003).
Inspiration or desperation: Companies
change when people care. Summerville.
Roast, J. (1991). Leadership for the 21st
century. New York: Praeger.
The Parade/Research!America Health Poll.
(2003). Taking our pulse. Charlton Research
Company.
The Parade/Research!America Health Poll.
(2004). Taking our pulse. Charlton Research
Company.
Willis, G. (1994). Certain trumpets–The call
to leaders. New York: Simon and Schuster.
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