Leadership, Technology, and Industry Disruption with Stephenie Goddard, CEO of Glidewell

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome to Think Oral, where we connect the unconnected between oral and physical health.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host, Dr. Jonathan Levine, and I'm your host, Maria Filipova. Let's get at it.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Think Oral Health Podcast,

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_02]: where Dr. Jonathan Levine and myself, Maria Filipova, we connect the dots between different

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_02]: disciplines and different opportunities for patients to get better overall care by incorporating oral

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_02]: health into their treatment planning. Hello, Jonathan. Great to see you. And hello to our

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_02]: guest today, Stephenie Goddard. Hi, Stephenie. Good morning. Good morning. I'd like to introduce

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_02]: our guest to our listeners today. Stephenie is the Chief Executive Officer of Glidewell

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Dental. It's one of the leading dental labs providing wide range of dental products and services

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_02]: and one of the largest dental labs globally. We'll ask Stephenie about her journey within

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Glidewell as a company that was founded in the 1970s, that has grown exponentially over

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_02]: the last years. We will also ask Stephenie about her core expertise, which are topics of

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_02]: organizational development, business strategy, change management, transformation. Stephenie has

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_02]: had a stellar path in Glidewell since she joined in 2006 and she was named the CEO

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_02]: of the company in 2022. Like me, Stephenie is a little bit of an outsider to dental coming

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_02]: from a different industry, finance before that. And you can imagine the journey from finance

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_02]: to dental, you might be a little bit of an appreciator of the thrill and excitement. So

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_02]: little known fact, Stephenie is a thrill seeker and we'll ask her about that as well. She's

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_02]: an accomplished CEO and executive. And more importantly, she is an accomplished mentor

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_02]: of aspiring emerging leaders has been awarded multiple awards for her work and commitment

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_02]: to the next generation of leaders. We couldn't be more pleased to have Stephenie today at

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_01]: the program with us. Welcome Stephenie. Thank you. I'm going to have you do my intro for me

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: all the time, Maria. You sound amazing. I want to meet this person.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_02]: We like to very selfishly, Jonathan and I invite people that we like to have a conversation

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_02]: with or a coffee with. And so that probably that carries. Stephenie, I started, I'm sure

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_02]: out of all the accomplishments, our listeners want to know what is thrill seeking mean to you

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_02]: other than joining from finance to dentistry. I'm sure you've probably done a little bit more

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_02]: exciting things than that when it comes to thrill seeking. Yes. I don't know. I think

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_01]: that's pretty exciting to go from talking about finance and alleviating poverty around the world

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: to talking about teeth all day long. But yeah, I think it's probably not unusual for

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01]: somebody in a senior position to be a little bit of a risk taker or a thrill seeker. But I took my

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: kids to Europe last year and I've always wanted to jump out of an airplane. I really want to

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01]: skydive one day. And so my kids, we were in a place called interlocking and they had these

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_01]: paragliders that were coming down all day long. And I was like, you guys, I want to do that.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_01]: We should jump out of a plane. And they're like, okay, mom, we'll make you a deal.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_01]: We'll jump off the side of the mountain with you and paraglide if you'll give up

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_01]: your idea of jumping out of a plane. They're like, it's a really stupid way to die.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So let's jump off a mountain with you instead. But I have to say,

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_02]: there are not that many people we know for whom jumping off a mountain is the safer option.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Less exciting. You know what? I'll take it easy. I'll just jump off the mountain

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_02]: rather than a plane. That's all good. Tell us a little bit more about your journey. I started

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_02]: with your leading a company that has a legacy that was founded in the seventies,

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_02]: that has grown so much. Tell us a little bit about your journey from making the jump from

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_02]: finance to dental oral health. And then what has your journey been within Glidewell?

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it's an interesting question because when I joined Glidewell,

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I was coming from the World Bank in DC and their mission obviously is to alleviate poverty

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: around the world. And so to go from that mission to coming into this sort of unknown

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: industry of dental, it was a big leap for me. And I grew up in California, so I was moving back

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: to California from the East Coast and Glidewell, I had been looking at several companies,

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: but Glidewell provided this unique thing that you don't find very much anymore,

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01]: which is a sense of family and belonging. And so when I joined as their VP of Human Resources,

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_01]: really not because I had this amazing background in HR, but more because I had a background

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_01]: from my PricewaterhouseCoopers days where I was a change and strategy consultant. And so

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: when I joined Glidewell, it was 1,100 employees and it was truly the biggest lab at the time,

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_01]: 17 years ago. But when I joined, they were really the gym, Mr. Glidewell and the COO

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: the time, Rob Grice who hired me knew that they wanted to go on this new growth trajectory

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and get outside of our core competence or expand on our core competence of lab work and expand into

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: medical device manufacturing. So they were looking for somebody who could come in and help them

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_01]: strategically plan for that growth and get the company up and running. So it's funny,

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: my first day on the job was actually September 11th. And I was in DC on September 11th when that

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_01]: happened that year and it obviously holds very deeply. And so I really saw like starting a new

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_01]: job on September 11th as a really bad omen. I was like, Oh, what am I doing? I know this

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01]: is such a good idea, but I've come to see it as a huge positive in my life. But yeah,

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_01]: 17 years later, this year in September will be my 18th year. I came here thinking I'll do this

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_01]: dental thing for a year or two. I don't know how this is going to go. And I came in and I've

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: really never looked back. And when you look at people ask me like, well, why would you stay?

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_01]: But I started off as a VP of HR and the thing that I love about

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Jim Glidewell is his approaches. Let's find really smart people who are driven and let's

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_01]: let them run and see what they can do. And he's really never held me back. And so in the time

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01]: that I've been here, every time I seem to get a little bored, maybe they sensed it. And so

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_01]: they'd let me take on one more thing and one more thing and one more thing. And so I started

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_01]: off as VP of HR then became VP of business operations. And then I became executive vice

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_01]: president of operations. And then I became chief experience officer. So I took over all of

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: customer experience. And then I became CEO, like you said, two years ago. So it's been an

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: interesting, a very interesting journey, but one fill of gratitude. Yeah. Well,

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_02]: congratulations on that. Sounds like a very entrepreneurial journey as well. And Jonathan

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_02]: and I both share that entrepreneurial side of it. And Jonathan, what do you think culture

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_02]: and entrepreneurship is? I talk a lot about intrapreneurship, right? The ability to create

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_02]: opportunities, businesses within the confines of an existing structure. And it's one of the

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_02]: things that I think it's a testament to your leadership because you have to continuously

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_02]: problem solve. Think about what are we doing differently? And business as usual is not a

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: reason to keep doing things the same old way. Yeah. It reminds me listening to Steph talk

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: about this reminds me of the expression, what got you here won't get you there. And you

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: growing and challenging yourself to new heights and doing new things with a mindset of that,

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_00]: of just that growth is really something special. So let me dig in a little bit.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Personally, I'm trained as prosthodontist been teaching and writing and publishing. And also

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I live on the invention side. And let's ask some technical questions. Maria, I like to

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: question for you. How has technology impacted your their 17 years of Glidewell, which is

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_00]: this amazing evolving company that started really just as a dental laboratory and figured

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_00]: out how to scale. How has technology impacted your own experience at Glidewell, but really

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: on the customer side to improve what they do in the delivery of care? It's an amazing

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_01]: question. I'm so grateful. I thought you're going to start asking me tooth numbers and I thought,

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I promise I won't do that. I'm like, I know eight, nine, 10, 11. I know where those are.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody threw me a softball, but it's so funny because when I came here to Glidewell,

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: there were Bunsen burners everywhere, train ceramics with 30 years of experience,

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: literally hand, waxing, everything painstakingly doing all of this. And then quite literally the

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: world that the world of dentistry has changed and it really feels like overnight because

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: came in and it shot out of nowhere. And when you look at laboratories in general,

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_01]: technology is really even the playing field, I would say. Because no longer are you looking

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_01]: for that ceramist with 20 years of experience who can painstakingly, you still need those

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_01]: people to do those highly aesthetic cases. But for your everyday, which is bread and butter

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_01]: for dentists, single unit posterior number 30, I do know that one. You don't need a

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_01]: trained ceramist because you have this technology. You've got AI that's doing the

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_01]: designs. You've got mills that are milling the crowns. That artistry has some sense left

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_01]: the industry because you don't really need that level of artistry on teeth that nobody's ever

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_01]: going to see. You need form, fit and function, which is what's most critical.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Right. Accessibility. That's what technology means. Uniformity, cost, predictability,

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_02]: scale, predictability, consistency versus artistry. So that's a fine balance. It's an

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: interesting part. Yeah. Yeah. And then when they, when

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_01]: intraoral cameras or scanners really started to take off, Dr. Li, that's when you really saw

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01]: this huge shift in return rates, especially again, in that posterior region because,

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_01]: because again, you have that predictability. You can see the margin. It's the shape,

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_01]: the size of your head on a screen. You can see your preps. It doesn't fix everything.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_01]: We still have a lot of bad preps out there and not everybody's quite gotten it, but it helps you

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_01]: see things bigger and better in a way that you can become a better dentist and provide again,

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01]: a more reliable, consistent product to your patient. And then just the change in materials,

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_01]: right? The science behind the new materials that come out, but it shows zirconia as a single unit

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_01]: monolithic product in the posterior far exceeds anything else on the market. Right. You don't

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_01]: really see as many PFMs coming through. You don't see as many sort of glass ceramics in the

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_01]: posterior region because people are looking for strength and to provide their patients something

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_01]: that will last for the rest of their life like gold did, but is tooth colored and more aesthetic

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_01]: for people who are like me that you laugh out loud with your mouth open and it sees what's

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_02]: inside. Right. Right. It's amazing. Stephanie, I just want to do a follow up on this because

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_02]: you're a people person. You came in as head of talent in HR. So how do you balance that

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_02]: set of technology and preserving the human side of things, the human judgment, the creativity,

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_02]: the human aspect of it? So how do you think about those two coming together?

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's really interesting because when we first started bringing in technology,

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say the first technology we had really was 3d printing copings. Right. And so

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_01]: to get technology implemented is a huge culture change because when you think about things like

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_01]: the world's afraid of this new technology, it's going to take away jobs. And what I like to tell

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_01]: people is you can see technology as the thing that takes away jobs or you can see technology

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_01]: as the thing that elevates your company to the next level to actually create new jobs.

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the approach that we've really taken. And like I said, when I started here,

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: we had 1100 employees. We actually haven't shrunk and we've implemented huge amounts

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_01]: of technology. We now have over 5000 employees. So that growth is significant. And the reason

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_01]: you can make that is one, it creates new opportunities for people. Right. So maybe

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_01]: your traditional hand stacking positions might be fewer and fewer, but now maybe there's some

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_01]: engineering positions that we have available or some tad development positions, data engineers.

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly. Even if you think about the number, we have our own AI models that we've built and

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_01]: we've written all of our own software to design crowns in our lab. And when you look at that,

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_01]: the machine learning models that are required to do that and the amount of data

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_01]: that you have to feed it, we do about 120,000 units a week in our lab.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we've got millions of crowns stored in there. And you could say, well, let's take all the

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_01]: crowns that we've ever made and let's use that to make our models. But one of the things,

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_01]: and you'll know this Dr. Levine, like every time you replace a tooth, it tends to get

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_01]: bulkier and bulkier. Like the anatomy gets bulkier to fill in that space and to create

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_01]: crowns. If you create your AI models off of human made products, you get one type of AI model. But

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_01]: if you can create AI models off of natural teeth, because we have all this data, then you can get

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_01]: a more predictive model that will say, hey, this is what a human tooth would look like. And

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_01]: this is what should go back in this space. But that creates great opportunities and new jobs for

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_01]: people in Glidewell, because we've been able to create some education programs. So learn how to be

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_01]: a data scientist, learn machine learning, learn how to write code, learn how to do some

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_01]: engineering tasks. We've got electrical engineers, design engineers. We've got a whole little

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_01]: village here on Glidewell's campus. We're highly vertically integrated. So it's just opened

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_01]: up this whole new area for us. And I think most importantly, and I'll stop talking, but

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_01]: is it's amazing what you'll find when you start talking to people and finding out that they have

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_01]: a hidden talent that you didn't know about, that they just landed in a career because that

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: was what was available to them. But maybe they left their home country and they were

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_01]: an electrical engineer or maybe they left their home country and had a background in cooking,

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_01]: because we've got restaurants on site. So you find these hidden talents that you didn't know about

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_01]: when you're in times of change and that opens up new opportunities.

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_00]: That's so interesting, especially you as the CEO, that the leadership helps drive the culture

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_00]: of the company. And I find it fascinating that you are talking about finding people's

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_00]: unique ability, what they do best, what they're passionate about in such a large company.

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And so with your HR background, but really your EQ and your people skills, how do you

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_00]: really inculcate that thinking into the full leadership team? How do you take that kind of

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_00]: mindset? Because it seems to me to be one of the unique value propositions of Glidewell,

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_00]: of building that amazing culture. Yeah, honestly, I think it comes from

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_01]: the top and that's really Jim. That's his whole philosophy. He likes to say he graduated

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_01]: third from the bottom of his high school class. And he's like, I wish I had been the bottom.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, why did I try so hard? And his point is this, it's like, you don't have to have this

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_01]: amazing PhD education to be a really smart person. Really smart people are hidden in nooks

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and crannies of the organization. And it's just finding that, but it takes time and it

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_01]: takes curiosity. You have to actually talk to people and give them chances and see what they're

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_01]: able to do and push them until you can find where their limits are. But it really does start

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_01]: with Jim. And I think because it starts with him, he surrounds himself with people who think

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_01]: the same way and who have that same value. If you look at it, I'm actually probably one of

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_01]: the babies of the management team, because two of the people on the team have been with him

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and 35 years at senior management. So we have a lot of longevity in the organization.

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Pretty long average tenure of employee with Widewall too. That's impressive.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_00]: That show, you got a lot of love in the room also. And that sounds like it comes from Jim.

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Could you share a little bit about Jon's point about the culture coming from the top and

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_02]: permeating to the rest of the organization? It's probably a good time to talk about a

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_02]: year to both of our hearts, which is how do you grow the next generation of leaders? What

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_02]: are the trainings, the opportunities, the skills, and how do you empower diversity

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_02]: of perspectives around the table? Right. Insiders, outsiders of the industry, gender,

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_02]: age, backgrounds. How do you think about that? And what are the programs? I know you've

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_02]: implemented tons of successful leadership programs. Tell us about some of these

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_02]: programs and what in your opinion is making them so successful?

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I would love to. So yeah, Maria, you and I had the joy of talking earlier in the year.

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So it was so nice to get to know you, but we talked a little bit about the education

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_01]: because my background is in change and strategy. In my history, I did a lot of

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_01]: leadership development types of programs. And I'm one of those people, I don't,

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm an only child and I always seek advice from an older sister, older brother, coach, mentor,

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_01]: something like that. And I've been so, so blessed in my career. I've had some of the most amazing

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_01]: leaders who have coached me and mentored me. And I've had some really bad ones,

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_01]: but I'm so grateful for them too, because they taught me.

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_01]: You learn away from the bad ones. Yeah.

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_01]: You almost learn the most sometimes. But when I came to Glidewell, like I said, they were on

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_01]: a growth trajectory. They didn't want to lay people off. I was the first executive to come

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_01]: into the company from outside of Glidewell. Everybody internally in the executive team had

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_01]: been homegrown. And I know that's Jim's philosophy is to hire people and then provide

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_01]: opportunities for growth for them. And so when I came here, I started what we call Glidewell

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_01]: University. And so it started off small. We just started little courses, one hour lunch and learns

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_01]: on just how to have a difficult conversation with an employee. Like how do you deal with

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_01]: conflict? How do you manage people more effectively? How do you get people motivated,

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_01]: those types of things. And then I hired a really smart guy on my team. And one of the

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_01]: things that I like to say is I prefer to hire people smarter than me because I don't know

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_01]: everything and I can't know everything. And I love really smart people because they teach me

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_01]: things every day that I don't know. So I hired this amazing employee, Adam, and he helped me

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_01]: create the first course that I wanted to, which was like a little mini MBA program. And we call

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_01]: it LEAD. And it's for mid-level management in our organization. And I think it's a 12-month

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_01]: program now. And it's really all the things that you need to learn in order to be a great

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_01]: leader. So they have to read books, lots of Simon Sinek, Outward Mindset, change standards.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly. And so these employees are almost going back to school again, right? It's like,

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_01]: oh, we've got all this reading to do. We teach them about how to read a P&L,

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_01]: how to manage a P&L, those kinds of things. Right. So we like to call it a mini MBA. And

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_01]: then the funny thing is their managers started coming to me and saying, Stephanie,

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_01]: this program that you created, my employee is asking me all these questions that I don't

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_01]: know the answer is like, I'm embarrassed. Like, can you help me? And so I was like,

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I love it when people ask for help. So then we created the executive leadership program

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_01]: and mimicked it off of that. And then I said, I want a high potential program.

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_01]: This is for anybody who just has drive and wants to do something with their life.

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyone can apply to it in the organization. It doesn't matter what level you are. You can be

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_01]: a housekeeper, you can be a senior engineer. It doesn't matter. Anyone can apply and it's

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_01]: high potential course. And that's also eight months. And again, you get some of these

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_01]: skills and you get introduced to concepts and business concepts in order to make you

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_01]: into whatever it is you want to be. And the amazing thing is those types of programs cost

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_01]: money. And Jim has never once said like, how much money are we spending on this?

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_01]: We have a big graduation ceremony for them. They do at the end of their programs,

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_01]: they have to do a corporate project. So it's like, they have to find an improvement

[00:22:45] [SPEAKER_01]: in the organization that they would like to propose a fix to. And then they get to

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_01]: present to the executives. Here's what we saw and here's what we recommend.

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And we've had so many amazing changes come out of the organization and implemented just

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_01]: because of their graduation projects that they've done.

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_02]: It reminds me of Google has this notion of 20% of your time you could work on a project

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_02]: that you want to work on. And effectively, it's the project that you might actually leave

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_02]: the company to go do. So they say, well, why don't you stay here and do it for a company?

[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_02]: So that's pretty impressive. And are you seeing some of that, I know it's expensive

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_02]: to invest in your team, but are you seeing some of the fruits or the return on investment

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_02]: in retention rates? How many of your positions, new positions get filled from

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_02]: employees in-house who have grown through the path? Tell us a little bit of some of these

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_02]: benefits that you're seeing because you've invested in your employees over the years.

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we've it's almost too numerous to count, right? Because if you think about it,

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah, it's a lot of money, but it pays back a hundred fold because I look at a couple

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_01]: people and where they've come in the organization. There's this one guy, Jimmy,

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_01]: he'll hate it if he knows I'm talking about him. But he was a technician working in the

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_01]: plaster room in the implant department. And he had come from Vietnam and he

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_01]: had an engineering degree. Nobody knew he had an engineering degree and he just happened

[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_01]: to make this like thing one day in the plaster room to help improve a process. And

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_01]: his boss walked by and he was like, we're showing him this new process that he made

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: and this new piece of equipment that he built. And his manager said to him, like,

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_01]: who made this for you? And he said, I made it. And he said, what do you mean you made

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_01]: it? Like, how did you make that? And he said, oh, I'm actually an engineer from my home

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_01]: country. But when I came here, I couldn't get a job as an engineer. Nobody would hire me.

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I took a job at Glidewell as plaster technician. And now he's doing amazing things.

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_01]: He's in our engineering department. He's building equipment. He's like leading teams.

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's those, there's thousands of those stories and it's all because of this

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_01]: opportunities that's been created. So it's not always about what Glidewell gets out of it.

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_01]: We get a ton out of it, but I also have a firm belief in giving back and paying it forward.

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And just the fact that we did some sort of paying it forward for this one employee

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_01]: who's dedicated, he's now been with us for, I think, 15 years. But yeah, most of our

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_01]: positions internally, the senior level positions are, we try our best to fill from within

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_01]: where possible. I think it's also those still really important to get talent from the outside.

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_01]: We just hired somebody from the outside, Chuck Stapleton. And he's spent years in 3D Systems.

[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_01]: He was at National Dentex in a very senior role. And for me, it's like, I also need talent.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_01]: There's a fine balance between having homegrown and you do things our way versus having

[00:26:03] [SPEAKER_01]: somebody come in from the outside and challenge you a little bit. Like, yeah, I know you've

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_01]: done it that way, but have you considered this other approach? And I try to maintain at least

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_01]: some kind of balance where we're promoting from within and then doing a little bit of

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_01]: bringing in some new ideas from the outside.

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. So good. So good. Maria, it is how do you take a company of 4,000 employees

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and make it feel like it's a small entrepreneurial event?

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Family. Like a family.

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Pretty impressive. And I think you're really hitting on some of these so important elements

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_00]: with these companies that have built these amazing cultures because of the CEOs,

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: like what you have at Glidewell and what Howard Schultz was able to do with Starbucks

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and these companies that are really growing, but growing over a number of years.

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Overnight success. Here you are in 17 years at the same company, which that

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_00]: above itself is quite a feat. So let's take it up a couple of more notches because it's

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_00]: just so interesting. So leadership at every level and the university that you've started

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_00]: when you first came on board in your HR role that then evolved to a CEO role, what's next?

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_00]: What's next for Glide? What's on the horizon that kind of plays into your thinking as you

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER_00]: challenge people around you, challenge yourself and looking at today's research and science and

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_00]: technology. And it's so exciting what's happening. So what's next?

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_02]: The difference between organic and inorganic growth, right Jonathan?

[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Growing for that menu. Exactly.

[00:27:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Consistently. That's not easy. Yeah. No, it's not easy. Trust me.

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER_01]: You guys are trying to learn all my secrets. Everyone asks me like,

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_01]: what's coming next for Glidewell?

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_02]: We're friends. No one's listening.

[00:28:05] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a really good question because if you look at the dental lab industry,

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_01]: the dental lab industry since I started has actually shrunk, not grown. You've got a lot

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_01]: more going offshore, right? So many more crowns because of that digital aspect. Things again are

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_01]: equalizing and you can ship things overseas easily and still get things back quickly.

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_01]: You're seeing the shrink. And the one thing that I think that Jim was really smart about was

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_01]: how do we pivot and not become just a dental lab and rely only on this?

[00:28:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we really have taken that technology approach, right? So whether it's writing our

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER_01]: own software, creating our own chair side mills. So people ask me all the time, why would a lab

[00:28:46] [SPEAKER_01]: ever make a chair side mill? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You're just

[00:28:50] [SPEAKER_01]: taking work away from yourselves. But you're mediating yourself, right?

[00:28:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. But it's actually, it's one of those things that's like,

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_01]: we might as well disrupt ourselves instead of letting somebody else disrupt us. So let's own

[00:29:03] [SPEAKER_01]: our fate. And it's actually been the smartest thing that we've done. And a lot of people

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_01]: ask, they think actually some other German company makes our mill for us. No, we build

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_01]: it ridiculously right here in Newport Beach is probably not the cheapest place to build things.

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_01]: But we build it right here. But what it does is it creates this ecosystem for us with our

[00:29:26] [SPEAKER_01]: customers so that they've got more interaction with Glidewell because we are a big lab.

[00:29:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes people think, oh, Glidewell is like the Walmart of dentistry. I like to

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_01]: think of us as like, I don't know. And like the what's the Nordstrom rack version?

[00:29:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the Nordstrom rack.

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_01]: We get that. I totally get that. Yes. Maybe it's straighter dealers. It's not

[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_01]: local. It's straighter dealers. There you go. A really great product with a value price.

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But we've really tried to pivot into that. And so we have our own engineering department.

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_01]: We're constantly pushing the boundaries of what's the new technology that dentists

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_01]: don't even know that they want today, right? 3D printings up and coming. Everyone wants a

[00:30:10] [SPEAKER_01]: model. So like, how do you expand on that? And how do you make a product that people actually

[00:30:16] [SPEAKER_01]: use and again, to provide better products to your customers? How do we continue to improve

[00:30:21] [SPEAKER_01]: the materials? We have a material science group that's constantly working on

[00:30:26] [SPEAKER_01]: newer materials. We have a couple of new ones that will be coming out with later this year,

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_01]: continuing to push the boundaries of aesthetics in zirconia and in glass products.

[00:30:37] [SPEAKER_01]: And then last year we bought a new tech company out of the UK. And this will be our next foray

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_01]: into tech, which is it's called the OrbSport Smart Appliance. It's a tongue twister,

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_01]: but it's this really interesting new technology. It's a custom mouse guard for people who are

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_01]: in contact and combat sports. And that'll launch on July 1st, but it's got technology

[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_01]: built into the layers. So it'll measure those metrics for those athletes. It'll tell you your

[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_01]: heart rate, your steps, your accelerations. It will also give you your g-force impacts to your

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_01]: head right and left. It doesn't tell you if you have a concussion, but it tells you how

[00:31:24] [SPEAKER_01]: often are you being hit on what side of your head are you being hit. Then if you start to

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_01]: feel some medical dizziness or you can have that data and maybe take it to your doctor and

[00:31:34] [SPEAKER_01]: say, Hey, I'm not feeling great. Here's some of my data. But for an athlete who's really

[00:31:40] [SPEAKER_01]: interested in improving their performance when they're on the game day, right? Game day,

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_01]: you can't wear other types of things like rings and watches and stuff. You can wear those during

[00:31:52] [SPEAKER_01]: practice, but you can't wear it on game day. And game day is really where you

[00:31:56] [SPEAKER_01]: exert yourself like 110%. And this will give you that data, that piece of data that

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_01]: you've been missing. Like how am I performing when I'm at my highest? So I think technology

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_01]: is just going to continue to grow and there's so many new ideas that are going to be coming

[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_01]: out and you have to be, that is the future. So it's get on the bus or get out of the way.

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly. On that cutting edge. That's pretty incredible, especially with all the head

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_00]: injuries in football and all the parents are preventing their kids from playing football

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and all of these issues that to have some baseline data for all of these sports.

[00:32:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I was a lacrosse player and my two sons had followed dad and one who had three concussions.

[00:32:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's just whether the equipment has to constantly be improved, but this company that

[00:32:45] [SPEAKER_00]: you have acquired sounds like exactly what's necessary in sports from the standpoint of

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_00]: head injury to be able to get that data. But that's extremely innovative. And when you,

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_00]: look at Glidewell, it started to have people waxing at a bench for crowds like that. We do

[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and we made jewelry and we made gold from years ago to where they are today really shows a

[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_02]: tremendous evolution. I love this example because of all the reasons you called out

[00:33:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Jonathan, but also because we talk a lot about convergence and putting oral health in the

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_02]: intersection with other health related industries, health performance, optimizing your

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_02]: performance as a professional athlete is one of those industries where the oral cavity

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_02]: is just a gateway as an indicator for the rest of the body, how the rest of the body is doing.

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And I love that example with the product you're bringing together. And it just reminds me,

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I was sitting down with the CEO of whoop three and a half billion dollar company,

[00:33:48] [SPEAKER_02]: the most valuable wearable company out there. And Will Ahmet was effectively how they went

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_02]: market is two out of their first 100 users was Michael Phelps, one of the big basketball

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_02]: player stars. And so that wearable as a consumer wearable got started with athletes and

[00:34:09] [SPEAKER_02]: professional hardcore workout people trying to optimize their own health and performance.

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_02]: And so to think about the evolution of a wearable for your mouth, like the guard that

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_02]: describing and how we connect to the data and marry that up with all the data you already have,

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_02]: it comes starts to become extremely, extremely interesting. Are you thinking about Stephanie

[00:34:32] [SPEAKER_02]: and I know we need to wrap up soon, but whoop is a subscription based model. Unlike

[00:34:37] [SPEAKER_02]: a wearable, we could you we could go and purchase the device. One of their biggest

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_02]: innovations is that says we're not going to say it's sell your $500 device will sell

[00:34:45] [SPEAKER_02]: monthly subscription. That's a disruptive business model. Are you thinking about the

[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_02]: business model of dental labs changing and evolving over the years as well?

[00:34:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Because that's really even harder to do. Yeah, I think that's a fascinating question because

[00:35:00] [SPEAKER_01]: in my 17 years, dental labs have changed, right? They're going to only continue to

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_01]: change it. And I do worry I don't know what happens to dental labs in the future, especially

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_01]: with technology being the great equalizer. You don't have to have, you don't necessarily

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_01]: have to go to your lab that's down the street from you. You can send your crown digitally to

[00:35:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Vietnam or to China and get it back in two weeks. And what does that do to businesses

[00:35:28] [SPEAKER_01]: here in the U S and how does that impact the lab business? When I look at our data,

[00:35:34] [SPEAKER_01]: last year, we crossed over the 50% mark, which was last July, 50% of our cases started coming

[00:35:44] [SPEAKER_01]: in digitally versus physical impression. Now today, it's 60% come in digitally. If you look

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_01]: at single unit posterior crowns, about 75% of those are coming in from intraoral scanners

[00:35:59] [SPEAKER_01]: instead of physical impression. And so that changes the whole industry, right? You think about,

[00:36:05] [SPEAKER_01]: okay, how many more people are going to be buying impression trays? How many more people

[00:36:08] [SPEAKER_01]: are going to be buying impression material? So you close one business to open up another business

[00:36:14] [SPEAKER_01]: and the tech is just getting better and better. And scanning of implants is getting better.

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Scanning of denture or fully a dentalist patients will continue to get better. It's

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_01]: but I think that labs are going to have to pivot. If they want to stay in business,

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_01]: you're going to have to find partnerships or some sort of unique offering that nobody

[00:36:42] [SPEAKER_01]: else has to offer. Maybe you do become the sort of lab that only works with the doctors down

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_01]: the street and hand does custom shading still because that's not offered as much or some of

[00:36:53] [SPEAKER_01]: those types of things, but everyone's going to have to find what is it that I'm really good

[00:36:57] [SPEAKER_01]: at. And if the things that I'm really good at are like the impression materials that are

[00:37:01] [SPEAKER_01]: like going off of a cliff, okay, I need to find a new skill that I can market my lab and

[00:37:07] [SPEAKER_01]: market myself as being the strength in that area. So I get nervous every day actually,

[00:37:12] [SPEAKER_01]: like what's going to happen to Glidewell in 10 years? Like where are we going to be?

[00:37:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Like it's a constant conversation with my leaders about what's next? Where do we need

[00:37:21] [SPEAKER_01]: to be leading the industry? We can't just do me two products. We have to do something

[00:37:26] [SPEAKER_01]: really innovative or create partnerships with companies like an Overjet or a Medit or CareStream.

[00:37:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And like, how do you partner with these companies to help them help dentists build

[00:37:38] [SPEAKER_01]: technology into their practice to then ideally hopefully create a backend for you as well?

[00:37:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And then to be seen also as a trusted partner for the customer or the dentist at the end of

[00:37:51] [SPEAKER_00]: the day. Yeah, but he set up so nicely because you're constantly reinventing and you're

[00:37:56] [SPEAKER_00]: constantly moving and growing. So the profession knows Glidewell for what they are today. And

[00:38:03] [SPEAKER_00]: so as the future is changing, we know the adoption of how long things really do take

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_00]: in medicine and dentistry for the docs to really adopt these new technologies.

[00:38:14] [SPEAKER_00]: For all scanners, for example, it came out about 30 years ago, but has constantly

[00:38:18] [SPEAKER_00]: improved. And today they're truly amazing evidence and evidence by how quick the adoption

[00:38:25] [SPEAKER_00]: is starting to happen now and how the digital workflow is taking over our delivery of care.

[00:38:31] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it's the fundamentals are there. You got a campus of 4,000 people at the end

[00:38:35] [SPEAKER_00]: of a mindset and a culture that is something to be envied by every company and to be

[00:38:40] [SPEAKER_00]: really to try to emulate that culture built. Don't you think Maria?

[00:38:44] [SPEAKER_02]: 100% amazing. And I know our listeners will still stay tuned for the July 1st launch.

[00:38:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Good luck with the launch. Maybe in closing, what are some of the opportunities that you

[00:38:56] [SPEAKER_02]: see for entrepreneurs trying to start companies and what is the best way for them to get in

[00:39:01] [SPEAKER_02]: touch with Glidewell if they wanted to explore one of the partnerships that you were describing

[00:39:06] [SPEAKER_01]: earlier today? I think the sky's the limit. There's technology coming out every day and

[00:39:09] [SPEAKER_01]: you're like, what? I would never have thought of that. Best way for people is to go through

[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_01]: me and the best way is to find me on LinkedIn at Stephanie Goddard.

[00:39:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And LinkedIn, I have a link in the notes.

[00:39:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I track it pretty closely. I log on at least a couple of times a week to check

[00:39:26] [SPEAKER_01]: messages. So that's usually the best way somebody's got an innovative product or

[00:39:30] [SPEAKER_01]: they're looking for somebody to partner and bring it to market that typically funnels

[00:39:34] [SPEAKER_01]: through me and that's the best way to do it. That's great. Well, we're so grateful

[00:39:39] [SPEAKER_02]: that we got to spend time with you. Please come back after you have completed your

[00:39:44] [SPEAKER_02]: jump off the mountains to tell us about that experience. We like repeat guests. You

[00:39:49] [SPEAKER_02]: obviously have so many things going on at Glidewell and outside of Glidewell. So great

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_02]: to have you on the podcast and we can't wait to see you again and congrats for all the

[00:40:00] [SPEAKER_02]: amazing work you've been able to accomplish. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. I really

[00:40:04] [SPEAKER_01]: appreciate you having me. This was fun. Nice way to start the morning. Yes, that's right.

[00:40:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Thank you. All right, see you next time. Bye.

[00:40:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening to the Think Oral podcast. For the show notes and resources from today's

[00:40:23] [SPEAKER_00]: podcast, visit us at www.outcomesrocket.health.thinkoral or start a conversation

[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_03]: with us on social media. Until then keep smiling and connecting care.