I have been pondering for some time the right message I wanted to communicate as we enter the new year. After all, 2011 was a challenging year for a lot of us, and I think it’s important that we have the right context and the right focus to rally around as we get into 2012. I hope the following gets you inspired – that it provokes your thinking and animates your actions. Please take the five minutes or so it will take to read. It could make the difference in how you choose to approach your future.
You Have to Believe It to See It
It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to those who know me to find out that I was a rather lively child. Some would say too lively. I could be strong-willed and determined. I was always looking for adventure, and often finding trouble. I would forget to take my books to school, or to bring homework home. But I would always find time to climb trees. I would take daring walks on high ledges, or jump off a ferry to go for a swim. I loved to challenge myself, even when it may not have been the “right” thing to do. Especially if it was not the right thing to do.
We had a lot of family and friends around when I was growing up and they often tried to warn my mother about my behavior. They would shake their heads and say something like, “That kid is headed for big trouble later in life – if he survives.” But mother was never concerned. “Don’t you worry about him,” she would say. “He’s going to do great.”
And she meant it. The love and support I got from my mother was immense and unconditional. She was firm when she needed to be (there were lines I knew I couldn’t cross with her), but she always nurtured my passions and encouraged my natural desire to push my limits. She made it clear to others – and to me – how wholeheartedly she believed in me. And that has made all the difference in how I came to see myself and the world around me.
Guess Who?
If it wasn’t for my mother’s love and support during those formative years, who knows how things would have turned out. Maybe my tendency for risk-taking would have taken a bad turn. What I can say for sure is that her belief in me gave me something very powerful, something that has been vitally important to me throughout my life: an unshakeable belief in myself and in what I could accomplish. I can’t point to any one particular moment when I realized this; I just knew that I would make it. After all, my mother was sure of it.
Belief is transferable
What I have learned from this is that belief is a gift you can bestow and the rewards are ongoing. My mother’s belief in me made me believe in myself. That belief in myself has, in turn, led me to believe with passionate commitment in the people around me, and in the things we can accomplish. Belief is transferable and it is a powerful engine for growth. It allows you to take bold measures with confidence. It makes you want to take on life, head-on.
Take, for example, the Center here in Scottsdale. I had no idea when we started the project that it would look like it does today. I couldn’t foresee the partnership with Frank Spear. I didn’t know my sons would come aboard after completing their educations to become an integral part of the leadership team. I didn’t even know what we were going teach. But I did know that dentistry needed a place like this, and I knew that we could be the ones to build it. That conviction came from a very pure place. The Center was real to me long before the first shovel hit the dirt. It was real because I believed.
Great dentistry makes for a great life
Last year, we at Spear brought in a team to help us further define who we are and where we’re going. We had several inspiring envisioning sessions and we finally emerged with a powerful clarity as to what we are all about. We identified our core theme as “Great Dentistry,” and here’s how we define it: “The pursuit of clinical excellence that transforms the practices of doctors and the lives of patients.” A simple sentence to describe a very profound concept.
We also profiled the kind of person we’re committed to helping, who we call The Striving Dentist. The striving dentist is “an individual whose pursuit of mastery in the science and art of dentistry is matched only by the unrelenting desire to succeed in all areas of life.”
That last part is important. What we are doing here, and what you are doing in the practice, can’t just be about clinical dentistry. It’s about taking clinical excellence and supporting it with value excellence and practice excellence. Provide the best care possible at the level the patient is at today, inspire them with your belief in them, and be ready to deliver ideal care when they are ready for it. That’s what makes for a great life in dentistry – and that’s what drives a great life overall.
That’s what we believe, and we want to transfer that belief to as many striving dentists as possible. And we’re doing it. Through our Faculty Club, our Study Clubs, our online campus, and with every course, seminar and workshop we offer, we’re sharing the power of belief.
Let’s believe in each other
This is what we want every dentist who comes into our orbit to feel – the wonderful, liberating feeling of self-assurance and possibility that comes from truly believing in yourself. It’s a feeling of trusting yourself that you can influence patients toward those higher levels of care, and trusting yourself to be ready to deliver that care when they’re ready. It’s about taking a foundation of good dentistry – the everyday care that sustains every practice – and using it to build a framework for great dentistry. It’s about living life with assurance and purpose.
That’s a great way to practice dentistry, and a great way to live. And as I learned all those years ago from my mother, if you’re going to take on the world with confidence, it really helps to surround yourself with people who “get it.” It’s amazing the energy you can get from people who share your belief in what you’re doing.
So let’s make 2012 the breakthrough year for all of us. Let’s do great things together.
I believe we can do it. Do you?
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