What does it take to succeed?

As the author of a newly released autobiography, Glidewell President and CEO Jim Glidewell, CDT, is taking this question in hand. And the answers might surprise you. His autobiography, “Constant Change: Adventures in business and life – my journey from start-up to 5,000 employees,” debuts today in print and e-book formats.

“Constant Change” is a personal account of perseverance, a quality that readers first witness in Jim’s childhood years. He recalls moving from Las Vegas, where he was born in 1945, to the Cumberland River region of Kentucky, where his grandparents lived. As a boy, he eventually moved back to Las Vegas, where his father worked for a railroad company. The elder Glidewell was routinely away on work trips for two or three days at a time.

“I think I was blessed in that, early on, I learned to rely on myself and solve my own problems,” Jim said. “I was expected to work after-school jobs as a kid. Experiences like these didn’t just teach me the value of hard work. They also gave me a healthy independent streak.”

That desire for autonomy was demonstrated in his decision to leave home after graduating from high school, where he had ranked 328th in a class of 331 students. He joined the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War and was assigned to a post in the Philippines. The change in geography outwardly reflected the new enlistee’s expanding worldview.

“I spent some time with the Bible, and then I read the Book of Mormon, and then ‘Atlas Shrugged’ by Ayn Rand,” Jim said. “That really grabbed me. Some of the beliefs that I found in Ayn Rand’s work became my own, including the principle of being totally responsible for my own activities, never blaming anyone else for what happens to me.”

When he returned to Las Vegas as a Navy veteran, he started selling life insurance but aspired to find more fulfilling work. One of his high school friends owned a dental lab, which gave Jim a glimpse of how he might make a difference. Soon after, he headed to Orange County, California, to study dental technology at Orange Coast College, where he graduated in 1969. He launched Glidewell Laboratories in January 1970, and was at once founder and sole employee. His lab bench was the kitchen table.

By 1981, he had bootstrapped that one-man dental lab to a remarkable network of nine labs in Southern California. His success so early in his career was the result of the work ethic that he had honed as a child, along with a keen appetite for learning business strategies.

“I studied successful people. I read about them in biographies, and in those early days I consulted with experts in marketing and these other areas of business that I didn’t know about as a CDT. I attended trade shows in other industries to talk with leaders outside of dentistry,” Jim said. “Similar to when I was growing up, I knew I had to learn everything by myself. I’m thankful to have been able to stand on the shoulders of others who’d already been there before me.”

In releasing “Constant Change,” Jim looks to share his most-prized business insights with peers in the dental industry and beyond. He talks about evergreen strategies, such as upholding quality-assurance systems and faithfully investing profits back into the business. And he takes readers on a tour of vertical integration, a signature element of his company’s success. His decades-long vision of vertical integration has propelled the company to manage its own:

• Marketing and advertising department
• Interior design and construction division
• On-site restaurants for employees
• Research & Development department (the birthplace of the revolutionary BruxZir^® Zirconia, among other innovations in dentistry)
• ISO-certified and FDA-regulated local manufacturing facilities (the source of Hahn^™ Tapered Implants, Inclusive^® prosthetic components and other dental necessities)

“Vertical integration is really about speed of execution. When you come up with an idea, you don’t have to wait six months to get bids or waste precious time educating outside vendors,” Jim said. “Things get up and running a lot faster if you’ve invested in your own full-time specialists in all these areas. As a company, you’re in control of your own destiny.”

More than a fascinating read about a dental industry leader, “Constant Change” is an act of generosity from a man who is most at ease when he’s effecting positive change — for dentists and their teams, patients, and his employees. His autobiography equips others who similarly want to plot a course for success through service.

“Constant Change: Adventures in business and life – my journey from start-up to 5,000 employees,” by Jim Glidewell. (Published by Harriman House.) Available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers.

Dr. Neil Park interviews President and CEO Jim Glidewell, CDT, about his autobiography, “Constant Change.” Listen to this exciting episode of "Chairside Live Dental Insights," a new dental podcast from Glidewell. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google.