Leadership Development Program

A Program of the Dallas County Dental Society

September 11, 2009
With presentations by Joel C. Small, DDS, MBA and Hedley Rakusin, DDS, DCDS President

"From Good to Great"
Robert V. Walker, DDS

The stream of outstanding leaders flowing from and within the Dallas County Dental Society is impressive. Even though DCDS is known for its production of upper-echelon dental leaders at the district, state and national levels, it is the making of leaders extensively within the rank and file of its own system that is THE MARK of our organization. This dispersal of leadership is what makes our country work, and on a much, much smaller scale, DCDS, with limited membership and fewer, more focused interests, cultivates leaders who guide each of our initiatives with a level of expertness that is GOOD.

There are consistently many DCDS members who have served in the Society’s committee positions, its Board of Directors, as a host or Chair for the Southwest Dental Conference, or as President or officer of the organization. All of them emerge as pretty special people with upper-level and especially down-the-line leadership qualities which allow this organization to work so effectively. This model of wide and responsible involvement by members throughout the organization is a phenomenon of DCDS.

We are all enamored by the larger-than-life, charismatic leader who overwhelms a room of peers, has great personal recognition and magnetism, and leads everyone around him in a grand manner. That is an alluring style, but not one with consistency and balance. For an organization such as DCDS, which is so highly energized and engaged in multiple dental-related initiatives, we are dependent on leaders at the top AND as chair persons AND as working committee members who function well each day at many levels of Society duties – on matters such as legislation, finance and budget, membership service and development, peer review, judicial, continuing education, giving development (foundation work), governance (local, state and national), strategic planning, publications and staff support, to name only a few. If it were not for this wide-ranging leadership, our Society could not function at the level it does. Our top leaders are critical to keeping the Society on track, sort out priorities of action, maintain the ethical and cultural values of DCDS and oversee our day-to-day business. But they need the help of many, if not every one, of our dispersed leaders to make our highly resourceful system work – and maintain the Society’s excellence which we seem to take for granted. Leadership from every level within a society makes that organization or community great. We have captured that spark in DCDS.

Historically, leadership programs for the membership within DCDS were started in 1990 to engage as many as possible to help create improvements in all initiatives of the organization. These programs continued productively until the late 1990s, when they phased out until a few years ago. Happily, the Leadership Development Program was held this September, with mostly young DCDS member attendees. The program featured Joel C. Small, DDS, MBA, and DCDS President Hedley Rakusin, DDS. Dr. Small spoke of the many qualities of a good leader and how those virtues are applied in shared work responsibility. He suggested that “authenticity” is the essence of leadership – that one must be what he/she is. One’s values will shine through above all else when there is no pretense to their character. There was, of course, much more to his talk, but that point was at the core of how one “leads.” He quoted Warren Bennis in emphasizing the point, “Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.”

Afterwards, Dr. Rakusin outlined the many opportunities for work and advancement of our vocation within the framework of DCDS, where the beginning leadership skills of volunteers are nurtured through high expectations – or the organization falters. DCDS has thrived and shined brightly because of the simple interdependence of the organization and its loyal and committed volunteers as leaders working to get the job done right.

It was uplifting to witness more than 40 attendees at the Leadership Development Program excitedly networking with each other after the presentation in discussion of where their work could fit in with the DCDS Vision, Mission and Commitment to Serve Statements. It is this sort of will and enthusiasm that is a guarantee that the production of leaders among our membership will not only be maintained but will GROW. The backup and support by our highly-effective staff provided luster to the program. The future of DCDS has never looked brighter.