ADA president urges dental students to find the leader within

MUSC dental students got insight into leadership when the president of the American Dental Association, Jeffrey Cole, D.D.S., came to campus Friday to offer encouragement and wisdom.

“Each and every one of you, as members of this profession you are entering, are mentors,” he told students from the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine.

Fourth-year students can mentor other students, and even first-year students can mentor those considering dental school, he said. Third-year student Morgan Jasper, president of MUSC’s chapter of the American Student Dental Association, invited Cole to campus.

Cole outlined the numerous attributes a leader should have:

• Capability
• Availability
• Affability
• Reliability
• Adaptability
• Sustainability

Some of those attributes might seem obvious, he said. Yet some people will agree to commitments without realizing they don’t have the time or skills to give to them. This can result in people being labeled as bad leaders and with them failing to achieve their goals. Cole also noted that authoritarian leaders might get things done in the short term, but leaders who can get people to like them, and want to be on their teams, will have more long-term success.

He gave a few examples of reliability and adaptability in action.

An ASDA district director decided a few years ago that he would plan the district meeting in Puerto Rico as a way to encourage more involvement from Puerto Rican students. Cole tried to dissuade him, saying it would be more difficult to plan a meeting there, but the student persevered. He planned what would have been an “awesome” meeting, Cole said, had Hurricane Maria not hit the island three days ahead of the planned session.

That left the district director needing to replan the meeting. Not only did he plan a new event on the mainland, Cole said, but he also raised money so that 30 Puerto Rican students could attend.

“Even with things such as a catastrophic hurricane, he still made it happen,” Cole said. “Anybody can lead when everything’s going according to plan. It’s when things are tough that all of a sudden you have a good excuse not to be reliable. But somebody who truly is reliable to their core will do that,” he added, giving praise to the determined student who ultimately delivered on his goals.