Words of Wisdom

My wife and I recently had the privilege of attending two graduations. Our oldest grandchild (can you believe we have 10!) Josh from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business in Washington, DC, and our fourth oldest  Samantha  from Edina High School just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It was interesting to observe the challenge facing the commencement speakers as they told 600 to 800 students dressed in identical caps and gowns that “individuality” is the key to success! The advice at these events is always inspirational. Kids with their entire adult life ahead of them – a blank slate about to be written on. Be a person of conviction and courage. Don’t make choices based on what others will think. Spread good karma. People never forget kindness and generous acts. Bring the passion to do what you love.

A recent Seth Godin blog post entitled Choosing Your Spot beautifully reinforced these sentiments. “At your job, there are probably people with more experience than you, more domain knowledge than you, even more skills than you. But there’s one place where you can make your mark: your attitude. You can bring more generosity of spirit, more enthusiasm, more kindness, more resilience, more positive energy, more bravery and more magic to the room than anyone else.”

As I listened to and read those words of advice, I couldn’t help but think about how they can relate to our dental profession. Just as the graduates dressed in their caps and gowns appear indistinguishable from one another, to the public at large, perhaps all dental practices appear homogeneous with one just like the other – a mere commodity. You cannot allow this perception to exist if you intend to be successful! Please listen and – more importantly –  act on these wonderful graduation challenges. In this era of insurance turmoil and PPO dominance, you will need to work hard to distinguish your practice from the competition.