The A-dec Way

I really believe in A-dec and who we are as a company.

What do you do every day, every year that makes you successful? When I started thinking of all the things that I do, it all rooted back to—I just try and live The A-dec Way. If you're new to A-dec or new to The A-dec Way, or haven't ever heard of it—the way that it was explained to me, was back in the 70s when the company started getting so big that Ken couldn't personally sit down and explain to everyone what A-dec was about and didn't understand the goals or why this company began. That's when they documented The A-dec Way. And there are principles in The A-dec way that now they may be in vogue, conserving resources, protecting the environment. They started that long before it was some sort of social media campaign. Concern for people, giving back to the community. They did that because they really cared about the community, not because they were trying to grow the business.

That's where The A-dec Way came from. This is not a feature and benefit. This is who we are. We live this way. We don't just talk about it. A-dec Way number one is "concern for people". This is not concern for people that are gonna buy from me, concern for people that are gonna help me along the way. This is concern for everyone. All employees, all the employees families. It's all of the townspeople. So it's not just here on campus. We live it. And I take pride in saying I'm an A-dec TM. We take pride in saying that I work for A-dec.

A-dec Way. Number 5, it's "complete fairness, honesty, and integrity". There's no such thing as almost honest or almost fair. So, you always tell the truth. It is very liberating, when I'm talking to someone in the field or talking to a doctor. You only tell the truth, period. I am very proud of our company. I'm very proud of our product and we build a great product and we support our product better than anyone can support any product, not just in dental. So because of it, I don't have to make untruths about what I can do or what the product is, because this is the best product in my eyes and the best support that they're gonna get. When we're working at A-dec, we have to do the same thing. Just be honest, and treat people fairly.

Another one that's always important is maintaining consistency. When I treat my dealers a certain way, we're consistent in the things that I tell them. We are consistent in how we approach them with the business planning, but we're always honest and fair. A-dec Way number 14 is "attention to detail". We're doing things that really can change a person's life. From a doctor to a dealer, to everyone inside the company. We do it the best we can. We don't slough off. There is no such thing at A-dec as good enough. You do it right, or we just don't do it. There's 6 questions in The A-dec Way, but the one that's the most important to me—and I think about it every day is—can I be proud of what we are doing? And am I proud of what A-dec is doing, but am I proud of what I'm doing? And so every day, if you get up and every day you just focus on doing the best thing that you can do and doing the best job you can do. That's The A-dec way and that's what makes us successful.