Behind Every Great Dentist Are Other Great Dentists

It's often said that you are known by the company you keep. But it's not just a matter of appearances – in many ways the trajectory of your life will be defined by the people you choose to surround yourself with. It's interesting, then, that this is one area of our lives that we tend to not be strategic about. We like to let relationships happen instead of actively cultivating the right relationships with the right people.

Throughout our lives we have an opportunity to enlarge our social circle, and to do it strategically. We can choose to spend time not only with people who are just like us, but also with people who represent what we would like to be – people who challenge and inspire us. We love to be around people who are excited by the same things we are. But we need to be around people who show us new possibilities – people who will see our abilities, and raise us to new visions. This is one of the great things I love about our faculty group – how everyone contributes to make the organization better and how that in turn makes each individual within it better.

Take a look around and ask yourself – Who fulfills this role in my life? Who are my most inspiring colleagues? Who is living the kind of life in dentistry that I would like to live? Then do what you can to get yourself aligned with these thought leaders and see for yourself the energy they can drive into your career, and your life, if you let them.