LEADERSHIP - ICD CANDIDATES

LEADERSHIP

The following article on leadership was contributed by ICD Georgia Editor Marie C. Schweinebraten.

Leadership is the focus of the International College of Dentists this year. Everywhere we turn, we see it defined and put into place in various aspects throughout our profession. Leadership is the core of our organization. It defines those we feel should be honored by membership. But leadership means different things to different people, and we need to remember that.

The most obvious leadership is the type that is defined by positions from the "old school"... presidents and other officers of state and local organizations, typically those who take charge and run meetings. All of us recognize this type of leadership. We also acknowledge the important part these leaders play in an organization's ability to function on a day-to-day basis, to stay viable, or to justify its existence. This type of leadership requires special skills no organization can be without. These are the people who are recognized in the pictures and whose names are on all the plaques. Don't get me wrong, we all respect their dedication and unique talents.

But there are other types of leaders...in many ways the unsung heroes of organizations. Who are the people who will carry our organization into the next era? Who are the members who motivate and instill the values and ethics we all hold so important to the dentists of tomorrow, making sure our profession can still hold its head high? I admit that those leaders I previously spoke of are also part of this group, but many times those out of the spotlight develop a unique type of leadership.

Leadership, for example, can be in the form of being a role model. I remember hearing a story about a pre-teenage girl who was sent to the periodontist's office by her orthodontist for a graft procedure. It went smoothly and successfully, with the girl being sent back to her orthodontist and never seeing the female periodontist again. Several years later, the girl's mother was referred to the periodontal office, where she informed the female dentist that her daughter was now a practicing dentist in a different state, loving her profession and the opportunities it gave to her – all the result of those two or three appointments when she had been in the periodontist's care, creating such a lasting impression upon the young girl. There is no question, that female periodontist was a leader, perhaps not in the classic sense, but a leader nonetheless.

We all have stories such as this. Leadership takes on many faces in a variety of situations. The International College of Dentists should reach out to these unsung heroes. Think of leadership in its many forms, and find that special leader who deserves recognition by being a Fellow in the College. My appeal is two-fold. To our general membership, I would ask that you look at the atypical leaders around you and honor them. To those who evaluate dentists for Fellowship, I ask that you realize that in this new century, leadership is defined by many things. Each type of leader should be a vital part of the building blocks of the International College of Dentists. Our organization will be all the better for it.

ICD CANDIDATES

The 2006 ICD Fellow class is now full. To nominate a deserving dentist for the 2007 Fellowship Class in San Francisco, contact your Deputy Regent.