Looking back at my journey from a struggling student, to successful dentist, to a business venture, one thing is clear: success does not rest on one’s laurels but uses change to improve. My experience as a clinician and taking on leadership at SOHDental has been challenging due to various encounters and lessons learned, impacting both my career and my engagement with business leadership.
I remember when I first joined the Dentist Entrepreneur Organization (DEO), searching for something at the time but had no idea what it was. Like many dentists, I mastered the technical parts of my profession, only to realize there was more to what I wanted out of my career path. That’s when I found a group of people who looked at things differently—dentists who dared to rethink their profession.
We did not seek to disrupt the industry—only to address the problems we faced daily. Innovation often begins by solving current problems and grows into something grander. Ideas and businesses you pursue can all seem so simple to you but turn out to be revolutionary to the wider world.
Rapid change is the state of the dental field today. New devices, changes in patient demands, and the evolution of market factors bring both challenges and opportunities. However, sustaining change seems rather unrealistic. It’s about developing systems and attitudes that allow for change while upholding the underlying principles.
One of my greatest achievements has been designing systems that enable other dentists to succeed. Initially, some argued that our intention was ‘dumbing down’ dentistry by making every dentist follow a protocol. However, those people did not dream big enough or understand the vision. It was not about limiting dentists’ artistry; it was about creating actions that established boundaries to allow quality practices to flourish.
Education has remained a constant throughout my journey. Everything that has happened in my life—every failure and success—has come with invaluable lessons. I can still see myself intently focused in those DEO conferences, listening to the same success stories, only from different people. I learned that although our stories are unique, the elements of successful change do not alter.
