CHANGING THE WORLD FROM A DENTAL CHAIR: Loyalty, team building and farewells
I am nothing without my team. But I’ve also learned to have the capability to recruit new team members as I go on my journey. I did mention that gratitude and loyalty are traits that I embody and look forward to. My first entrepreneurial endeavour as a movie producer taught me the value of loyalty, loyalty to the people and the project that I served. Unfortunately, that does not always include the people I serve with. I am the kind of man that is looking for friendship and brotherhood before looking for a business partner.
“ People change, you change, respect that and deal with it.”
- Dr. Bak Nguyen, from CHANGING THE WORLD FROM A DENTAL CHAIR
As I will always give the credit when it is due and accept my wrongs when it’s the case. I hold my team dear to me, but I do not own the people on my team, nor do they own me. I am an agent of change, that’s the only certitude and the only thing that may not change.
It is not reasonable to expect most people to keep up with me nor to keep the same drive year after year after year. So I learned to respect everyone, their ambitions and their limits. I ask for the same in return, that they respect me for who I am today and who I will become tomorrow.
That’s why I am always happy to welcome a new team member, a patient or a partner. As time goes by, things will change and eventually, we will part ways, sometimes in good terms, sometimes not. It is unfortunate and I try my best to honour the good memories rather than the bad ones.
That’s also why I will never hold back someone from leaving Mdex to go to his/her next phase in life. I haven’t always been like this, but experience taught me not to get attached. Nothing good will come out of a relationship that was meant to end and that you keep artificially alive. Ever watched Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery…