The President

Building a New Renaissance

Steven D. Chan, DDS

Copyright 2002 Journal of the California Dental Association.

Following is the text of Dr. Steve Chan’s incoming president’s speech to the 2001 House of Delegates.

Once upon a time, a statesman of California dentistry once held the arm of a very impressionable, very young man and whispered, "You must be in a position to choose." His firm hand and calm voice would change that life -- my life -- forever.

I am humbled to be here. I thank you for this rare privilege to lead this association. Yet, I am just another member of CDA. I am a common man. For this year, you’ve given me the chance to drive this wonderful machine called CDA.

Perhaps the real virtue of this place is that they don’t care what you look like. An ordinary guy from the ranks can make it. Do your homework. Do it better than it’s ever been done before. They’ll see.

But unlike many before me, I am just a common man. I do not have the gift of eloquence. So to prepare for this day, I’ve been studying.

I studied the great speeches of history. I studied the speeches of Churchill and Kennedy and Clinton. I studied the speeches of the CDA presidents before me.

I collected lofty lines and catchy quotations. I constructed a speech filled with great hopes and grand dreams.

Then -- Sept. 11 changed everything. As we watched those jets stab deep into the heart of our country, we were changed forever. The screams of 5,000 murdered countrymen deafened us. In a moment in time, the hopes and dreams of 5,000 families were snuffed out.

Those lofty lines and catchy quotes are now so trivial. The problems of everyday practice pale next to Ground Zero. The threats to our livelihood aren’t so life-threatening. The challenges to the profession are now seen differently.

After dental school, I trained in a trauma center in Los Angeles. In that emergency room, I was a part of a different slice of humanity. I saw some horrific things.

In a blare of confusion, a gurney would burst through the doors. A human being lay there, screaming and terrified. So many times, I needed to walk away. I lost my composure. I could see my own baby there. I could see my wife on that gurney.

But I had to learn. There was a child out there, scared and hurt, who was depending on me. There was a mom and a dad who were depending on me. I had to dig deeply, focus, and get back to work. Somebody was depending on me.

When we saw the World Trade Center collapse, so did our hearts. When we hear the stories of those who lost loved ones, we choke.

Our world is forever changed. We understand many things more clearly now.

When we see the Stars and Stripes, our sense of country is renewed.

When we sing God Bless America, our sense of purpose is renewed.

When we see our family, our sense of what is important in life is affirmed.

As we gather in this House, we are changed forever. We mourn the loss of our fellow Americans. We honor the heroes of Sept. 11. We hail the men and women who defend our freedoms here and in distant lands.

We echo William Pitt’s defiant 1797 declaration to those who would rip our freedoms from us, "You can’t conquer America!"

There are 20,000 CDA members who depend on us for the choices we make.

Our employees, making a living for their families, depend on us.

Our patients, who look to us for guidance and health, depend on us.

A reputation of a profession depends on us.

Generations yet to come depend on us.

We have choices to build our future. We have choices to defend dentistry. We have choices to build a better CDA.

Dig deep my friends, many depend on us.

I do not stand here alone. An entire membership must be here. It is our time to embrace the helm. It is our time to face the hard truths and take strong steps. If the challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. We give no excuses. We give no concessions. We give no quarter. If you and I do not make those choices, someone will make them for us.

I have many people to thank for getting me here. This journey is no fun without people to share the experience.

My family has been there for me: my wife (She is my Beauty, I am her Beast), my mom, my aunt, my mother-in-law, my brother, my sister, my in-laws, my sons, my staff, my associate.

I thank my grandmother. She came from a distant shore some 76 years ago with only a suitcase and a dream. She didn’t speak English. She couldn’t stomach the food. She had no family to comfort her in times of despair. She saw few that even looked like her.

She cleaned strawberries and was paid only pennies on the bushel. She sweated in sweatshops until her bones ached and her fingers bled. I see a woman who only asked for a chance to earn a wage. I understand the eloquence of her example. My family enjoys the fruits of her dream some 76 years ago. I salute her courage and the courage of all pioneers who come from distant shores.

I lost my Dad earlier this year. My only regret today is that he didn’t get to see me installed as president of CDA. My dad was only 3 1/2 when he lost his father. He grew up with only grit and determination. My dad became a pharmacist, an educated man, a professional. In one generation, my dad brought his family to be here with you today.

We learned on Sept 11 that some things are important to do. Take the time. Tell your spouse, your father, your mother, your grandparents, your kids that you love them. Give them a hug. You get to go on this journey only once.

Thanks to my home component, Southern Alameda County. We’re not a big component. We’re just ordinary members. They stuck by me when I was an underdog. Thanks for having faith in me.

Thanks to the Board of Trustees for taking the risk in choosing me. Our ritual for election to the Executive Committee is based on your performance with a five-minute speech and three fateful questions. My life changed forever that day.

Thanks to Dr. Dave Gaynor. With all his legendary irascible charm, he’s a hero to me. He gave me the courage to run for this job when it seemed hopeless. Thanks to Dr. Dale Redig. The House of CDA that he built continues to marvel us.

Thanks to my mentor and political godfather, the late Doug Franklin. He gave me heart when I felt like giving up. If it were not for him, my pathway would not have taken me here.

In the first years of my political career, Doug invited me to go to a leadership conference to the state capital in Sacramento. I would get to learn the secrets of leadership.

There were some very important people at that conference. I was in the same room as people I had read about. I was pretty scared of them.

The keynote speaker opened his remarks with, "I can’t understand why the young people don’t join us. It can’t be because of the money."

My heart sank. The dues were $1,000. There were no dues reductions for new grads. If everyone else in the room could easily afford those dues, then I was clearly out of place. I started to get up to leave.

With Doug’s calm hand on my arm, he whispered, "He’s the reason for you to stick with it. You need to be in the position to choose."

It’s been a wonderful career, making choices to make a difference in our profession. But in time, I came to learn Doug’s greater lesson.

It’s not the mountains you move -- it’s the souls you stir.

It’s not the monuments you build -- it’s the words you share with your young colleague, "You can do it."

It’s the power of relationships.

I have the pleasure of introducing your Executive Committee. We work hard to earn your trust. We are an ensemble. We have journeyed and discovered much. I am proud to serve with them.

Kent Farnsworth changed the way leaders move through the presidency of CDA. He taught us to think -- not in single melodies -- but in entire symphonies. He taught us to see that the life span of a dream can live beyond the one-year life span of a CDA presidency.

Jack Broussard: My mentor. My friend. It’s said that a good leader makes you want to be like him. But a great leader enables you to see what he sees. We have not yet seen where the end of the trail is, my friend, but I have come to see where the trail will lead us. The association thanks you for your courage as you began our journey to the future.

Dennis Kalebjian has become the receiver to my quarterbacking, the catcher to my pitching. We have amazing chemistry. Often when we’re posed with a provocative challenge, we’ll have eye contact, and we’ll both know where we have to go with it.

Deb Finney. I almost stopped her from being here. Early in her career, I didn’t forward a nomination for her since I didn’t know her yet. She didn’t listen. Good thing. Now she inherits a stack of homework with every position she inherits from me.

Russ Webb. We have become close friends. Russ has enabled me to understand what makes an Olympic champion.

Sig Abelson. Master of quick wit. He is a gentleman. He is a man of honor. I’ve learned much about people from him. I am blessed to have shared this pathway with him.

Jack Conley. One understands the meaning of wisdom when he counsels us. He brings clarity to an often-complicated picture.

Tim Comstock. When he writes, I always have to look up a word. I’d hate to play Scrabble against him. A passionate man about the American West, he’s the trail boss managing our wagon train into the new frontier.

Gene Sekiguchi. He’s been a confidante in this adventure called leadership. We wish him good fortune in his quest for the presidency of the American Dental Association.

Dennis Hobby. We welcome a new compatriot. We welcome you to new adventures.

The CDA staff. Make no mistake. They are our partners in this adventure. They are good at what they do. They are more than just hired professionals. They love the profession as much as we do. We have the good fortune to call them family.

Many moons ago, the model of CDA leadership meant rising to the presidency then rallying the whole association around a project. This project would be that president’s marker in CDA history.

In time, our attention span would wane. The novelty would wear off. We would become weary. Then came a new president and a new project. Time to gather all our forces in a whole new direction. Another president, another project, another cycle.

In time we said, "Enough!" We are no longer stockpiling a garage full of projects ad infinitum. We are not warehousing the dried roses of days gone by. You have elected a new generation.

The new CDA agenda must now build the future. You have chosen servant-leaders who must move the agenda of the membership. We are stewards of a plan envisioned and christened by a broad swath of our membership.

We are not a warehouse. We are a wagon train. Our membership sees the future. We, in this room must now enable it. Our theme this year is: "A New Renaissance: Exploring New Frontiers." Our mission is clear. Our mission is to:

* Advance the plan.

* Defend the profession.

* Build a better CDA.

In Kent Farnsworth’s year, we enjoyed the joys and pleasures of conception of the plan. In Jack Broussard’s year, we nurtured the gestation. Get ready for the screaming and yelling of labor and delivery.

More than 2000 years ago, in the classic book of strategy, the Art of War, a Chinese general wrote:

"There are not more that five musical notes. Yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.

"There are not more than five primary colors. Yet in combination, they produce more hues than can ever be seen."

During this House of Delegates, you have seen the five lines of business, the five divisions in our staff reorganization to implement the plan. Each alone will not create a better CDA. Yet combined, CDA will be more than can be imagined.

Our power comes from diversity. Our strength comes from all the tribes bound together in common ground. A single finger can point to the stars, but it is all five fingers that will get us there.

In an office on the 14th floor of the CDA building is Mission Control. In that room are maps of the plan. The goals are mapped out. The objectives are spec’d out. The teams are assigned. The timelines are targeted.

Our journey is taking the wagon train across the New Frontier. Your Executive Committee are the advance scouts. The Board of Trustees are the frontiersmen foraging new territory. You, the House, are the pioneers making it safe for the rest of our members to follow.

Know you this. Each of us on the Executive Committee is well-aware that our decisions have implications for 20,000 members, untold millions of patients, and the reputation of a profession. We have hard questions and hard choices ahead. But we must decide in the best interests of all the tribes. There are battles we engage that you may never see or hear.

Every president has had threats and challenges to the tribes. Remember the movie called The Blob? Earth was attacked by this creature that had no shape, no structure -- a blob -- and it kept growing. The townspeople cried to the sheriff, "Do something."

You can’t grab it, can’t contain it, can’t hold it -- and it continuously shifts its shape.

In our cautionary tale, the sheriff couldn’t do it by himself. It took all the townspeople banded together to defeat the Blob.

As the forces of third-party payers invade our lands, as the scourge of the dental auxiliary staffing shortage sucks the life from our practices, you, the townspeople, must roll up your sleeves to defeat the Blob.

In 2002, an infection infiltrating faster than anthrax is spreading across the United States, invading California. It is made up of the peddlers of fear, who are more parasite than prophet. They wave the banner of anti-amalgamists. They poison with suspicion. They hide behind innuendo. They manipulate the vulnerable and gullible to advance their agenda. When they can’t convince, they harass. And we all know a thing or two about terrorists.

However, the greatest challenge is the erosion from within. The catch phrase is membership. We hear that often heard refrain, "What’s in it for me?"

It’s true. We do need to work on making our house hospitable. There have been barriers to the young, the ethnic, and women. But the plain truth is, to the outside world -- we all look alike.

To the anti-amalgamists, the waste water regulators, the Prop. 65 bounty hunters, the Feds, the lawyers, the media, the legislators, the enforcers -- we all look alike.

Our strength is in numbers. Our strength is in having the best and brightest. As they circle our wagon train, you can join us or take your chances alone. You can work to make the association better from within or just be a gadfly from without.

Recognize a simple and powerful truth: We need each other and must watch out for each other.

Those outside the room will probably never know the battles we fight. The rank and file will little note what we say here today. Yes, outsiders will benefit from our battles. One day, when the dark forces are in their face, they will ask: "What are you going to do about it?" We will respond, "You now have a choice."

We are building a better CDA. The strategic plan focuses our finite resources to do the things we do best. We are using better decision-making business models. We demand business plans to justify programs, target real expectations, and watch our money. We adapt to new conditions with sunset review. We used to live in a one-year time horizon. Our horizons are much grander now.

We are making our part of the universe better. Of all the projects that I’ve been privileged to be a part of, my pride and joy thus far has been Tin Man. Tin Man is the name we gave to the project to create the CDA Foundation. We named the project after the Wizard of Oz character who searched for his source of compassion.

It’s said that the noble character of a profession is its charity. In the past, we helped members who suffered catastrophe. We helped students with scholarships. We funded community projects. We had a heart -- but we didn’t have a dream.

It has taken two years to bring him to life. Tin Man will do good deeds. Tin Man will help those who cannot help themselves. With each project, with each relationship, he will gain experience. From that portfolio of experience, he will leverage and partner, he will make our part of the universe better, because of dentistry.

Tin Man’s only limitations are our imagination and our drive to make him better. He exists to make a difference. Tin Man, allow me to introduce you to your 20,000 parents. They have hopes and dreams for you.

We look through the clarifying lens of science, but we also look into the mirror of our humanity. Our science drives us, but it is our humanity that moves us. It is our humanity that moves CDA, not the gears of this new machine.

A learned man came across three workers digging a ditch.

He asked the first man, "What are you doing?"

The worker replied, "I am digging a ditch."

He approached the second man, "What are you doing?"

The man responded, "I am working to feed my family."

He queried the third man, "What are you doing?"

The man looked into the eyes of the learned man and answered, "I am building a cathedral."

One artist did not create the Renaissance, nor one composer, nor one architect.

One president cannot create a new CDA, nor one committee, nor one House.

After the House of Delegates, we return to our offices. We slide into our chairs. We put on our gloves. We open those sterilized packs of instruments. We pick up mirrors and explorers.

Are we simply doing a filling?

Are we only making a living?

Are we making a difference in the life of some person?

Come join us. This Thanksgiving season, in the year 2001, we stand together.

Let us all -- volunteers, leadership, and staff -- make 2002 our shining moment in time.

We have battles yet to be won.

We have brave new frontiers yet to be discovered.

We have hearts yet to be stirred.

We are building a New Renaissance. We are building a new CDA.

Goethe, the German philosopher, once said: "Whatever you can do or dream, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."