www.exceptionalmag.com
Empowerment
January-February 2011
50
Happiness or Financial Success: Which Comes First?
52
Successful Parenting After Your Divorce
53
Negotiating Successfully to Collect Your Cash
55
Using the Carrot to Motivate While Paying Peanuts
56
With Every Dollar You Spend, You Are Choosing to Be Rich or Poor
57
Tax-Saving Tactics
58
Living on the Money You Make
59
Four Simple Steps to Support Your Career Transition
61
Creative Staff Perks for Small Businesses
Cover Photo by Starla Fortunato
62
Seven Rules for Saving Your Marriage
Extraordinary Profiles
64
Financial Brain Buster
65
How to Make Networking Work for You, Part 1
CONTENTS
4
Cover Story— Dr. William Dorfman— America’s Renowned Dentist and Humanitarian
10
Harry Carson— A Gentle Giant With a Power-Packed Punch
20
Chrissy Carew—Inspiring Excellence in Everyone
26
James Smedley—A Man of Action Promotes Service to Country and Community
Minding My Business 35
Kristin Engvig—Empowering Women to Change the World
40
Greg Williams—The Master Negotiator
A new year…renewed visions.
Letter From The Founder Dear Friend, It’s a New Year and it’s time for a new you! What would you do if I told you that you could turn your setbacks into comebacks sooner than you thought possible? It is said “when one door closes, another opens.” But in order for it to open someone must be on the other side or you must have the key to unlock it. Keys come in many forms - miracles, information, people you know or don’t know and even passwords. You can’t gain access to many things in life without the appropriate key. Keys can open doors we never thought possible. Keys to success can be in the form of integrity, hard work, and perseverance. On any given day each of us may hold keys that enable us to accomplish many things. I want to help you realize your greatness and live your passion by providing you with the key to an extraordinary future. Inside the January/February issue there are different keys. You’ll be inspired by extraordinary people like Dr. William Dorfman, Chrissy Carew and Barbara Cull who are opening doors for others. You’ll gain powerful insights from experts like Greg Williams, the Master Negotiator, who shares key points on how to effectively negotiate, whether on a personal or professional level. Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee, Harry Carson, shares personal thoughts on his experience as a pro ball player and how he’s using his life experiences to serve current and retired players. His experiences provide proven insights on how to overcome adversity and help change the lives of others. 2011! This is your year to unlock new doors of opportunity, break new records, set new goals and pursue them or achieve that one dream you’ve been putting aside for the past year. With every good wish for great achievements, and a new life filled with keys that open many doors.
Dr. William Dorfman D.D.S. IMAGINE A SMILE THAT HAS THE POWER TO CHANGE A LIFE.
Extraordinary Profiles
He
may be known as the dentist to the stars, but to thousands of underprivileged, disabled and seriously ill children around the world, Dr. William Dorfman is the celebrity.
Dr. Dorfman’s extraordinary achievements and humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to the world are as long as his 21+ years of experience and there’s no end in sight. He is a world-renowned lecturer and author of the bestselling cosmetic dentistry book, The Smile Guide and the New York Times bestseller Billion Dollar Smile.
Smile
He’s become a star in his own right as a featured dentist on such television shows as “The Doctors” and “Extreme Makeover.” He has blazed a trail as bright as the smiles he’s created over the years and his future is destined to continue shining brightly as he transform lives, one smile at a time.
This innovative and brilliant entrepreneur is widely recognized as one of America’s leading dentists. He’s also a dedicated humanitarian and one of only 33 Fellows in the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. For over 13 years Dr. Dorfman has helped restore the smiles of drug addicts, former prostitutes, abused wives, rape victims and children at no charge. Through his generosity and compassion for others, Dr. Dorfman has performed dental services for many graduates of the Los Angeles Battered Women’s Shelter. He’s also restoring hope and self-esteem in children in South Africa, Australia and many other countries. As the founder of Discus Dental, Inc., his amazing ingenuity enables him to develop and distribute award-winning products to his patients. He’s helped invent several products, including Nite White, Day White, and Zoom! and Brite Smile, as well as other oral hygiene and dental products. Through Discus Dental, Dr. Dorfman donates all of the whitening supplies to the Smiles for Life Foundation in association with The Crown Council of Dentistry. He also co-founded the LEAP Foundation – Leadership, Excellence and Accelerating Your Potential – a summer scholarship program for students and young adults designed to help them learn valuable life skills such as etiquette and time management, not ordinarily available in a traditional classroom setting.
I had the great pleasure of speaking with Dr. Dorfman about his life’s calling and how he is using it to impact lives across the globe, giving people renewed confidence in themselves, a new outlook on life, as well as bright new smiles.
Monica: How did you prepare for this profession? Dr. Dorfman: I went to dental school, and I learned dentistry. They taught me how to fix teeth, and I sat back, and thought, “Okay. That was kind of cool.” But what I didn’t realize is that if you fix a lot of teeth, you fix a smile, and when you fix a smile, you fix a life. And that’s a lot cooler than fixing just a tooth, right? As I began doing more and more cosmetic dentistry, I realized that it’s a great gift that you can give to people. To me it was so much more rewarding than just fixing broken teeth – to take classes and go to symposiums and become as proficient as I could in cosmetic dentistry. Monica: You have helped so many people, both professionally and personally and from a humanitarian standpoint. What does it mean to have changed so many lives? Dr. Dorfman: I believe that part of our purpose here on earth is to make this world a better place for having been here, and any part that I can take in doing that, I believe, just makes me a better person, and it makes the world a better place. It’s an honor and a privilege to do that. There aren’t many people who go to work each day and come home and at the end of the day say, “I helped make somebody else’s life better.” Monica: It gives you a very satisfying feeling to know that you have contributed to changing someone’s life in that way. You believe that it’s very important to share your success with others. Dr. Dorfman: Absolutely. Not just my success, but in addition to raising money and things like that for people, it’s the ability to deliver care to people as well. A lot of people will donate money to different charities and things that they’re involved in. That’s great, and if that’s what you can January-February 2011 | Exceptional People Magazine | 5
do, that’s what you can do. But when you can also take care of people, that’s even better. Monica: You have contributed to many organizations such as the Los Angeles Battered Women’s Shelter, Tomorrow’s Trust and Smiles for Life. Would you mind taking a few seconds to speak about each of those organizations and how you became involved with them? Dr. Dorfman: The Los Angeles Battered Women’s Shelter is an amazing
foundation. Basically what they do is they take women who have been battered and put them through a 12-step program. At the end of the program their goal is to integrate them back into society. Well, you try getting a job at McDonald’s without front teeth. You can’t. So I began donating my services to help them become presentable. I received an award for that, which was really quite an honor.
Extraordinary Profiles
We have kids from all over the world. I had five that came from Perth, Australia. I bring in kids from Africa. I mean, it’s really amazing.
The foundation I’m working with in Vegas is with Garth Brooks. It’s called Teammates for Kids. Basically what we do is we provide care for the terminally ill and for children around the world. We began with a group of dentists and the Crown Council, developing our own program to raise money for Teammates, which is called Smiles for Life. Dr. Dorfman: My company donates whitening products -- Zoom!, Bright Smile, Night White and Day White. The dentists donate their services. Patients come in and have their teeth whitened. When they write checks directly to Smiles for Life, we donate the whitening products to the dentists. So one hundred percent of the money goes to the children’s foundation and over the last eleven years we’ve raised close to $30 million.
Last year – I was on a TV show called The Doctors. They shaved my head on one episode and we raised $121,000 for my charity, the LEAP foundation. That money enabled me to bring about another 75 kids into the program. Ironically – and this is a funny side note – I was recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most money raised for shaving a head for charity. Monica: That is awesome. Dr. Dorfman: The program is for one week every summer. It’s amazing and it changes lives. Monica: You have developed products that enhance your practice. With respect to your NiteWhite and your DayWhite products, what makes them excellent products to use on the teeth? Dr. Dorfman: We have four products. We have NiteWhite, DayWhite, Brite Smile and Zoom!. I feel they’re the best products on the market because we’re perpetually updating them, improving them, making them work faster, better, with less sensitivity and things like that.
Monica: That is outstanding. Dr. Dorfman: So that’s been really big. Another project is called the Give Back a Smile Program. That’s a program we administer through the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. And, again, what we’re doing is we’re looking to help victims of domestic violence. These are men, women and children who are victims of domestic violence. We help restore their smiles through dentists who donate their services and the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. And finally, one of my favorites is a foundation called LEAP which is a program I operate every summer with my co-founder, Steve Anderson. It’s a program for high school and college kids where we teach them the things that they need to know to become successful in life, like time management, money management, interviewing skills, working with mentors and the secrets of success. The cool thing about the program is that half the kids who attend, come from fairly affluent families. The other half, we raise money so that they can attend, and we give them scholarships.
We have a lot of added features. We have great buffers in them, great shelf life and stability. We have great flavors and ACP in them, which is amorphous calcium phosphate. We’re the only ones with that. That really helps to strengthen teeth and it decreases sensitivity. Monica: Is there any reason why a person may not be able to use a whitening product? Dr. Dorfman: Some people just aren’t good candidates. If you’ve got black teeth, it’s just not going to work. Also, if you have caps on your teeth, they won’t whiten. Monica: What are your thoughts on the Invisalign? Dr. Dorfman: Oh, Invisalign is awesome. I mean as a general dentist, I’ve probably used just about as much Invisalign, or more, than any other general dentist in the world. Patients love it, and the thing that I love most about it is that in addition to straightening teeth, we can also add a little of our whitening gel to straighten and whiten teeth at the same time. Continued on page 10 January-February 2011 | Exceptional People Magazine | 7
Behind those pearly whites and gorgeous smile is a man with a heart of gold. His undying commitment to humanity is giving people worldwide a reason to turn their adversity into success stories.
Los Angeles, California
• Through the Leadership, Excellence and Accelerating YOUR Potential Foundation, high school students and young adults are learning skills and lessons that will last a life-time.
• Battered men and women can now face life with renewed confidence and vision.
• Former drug addicts have a reason to look beyond their addiction and see a promising future.
• Battered wives can gain new respect for themselves and realize their potential to become self-reliant and self-sufficient. 8 | Exceptional People Magazine | January-February 2011
South Africa
Australia
Children in South Africa and Australia:
• Have a reason to smile and laugh • Gain the confidence needed to interact with their peers • Have hope for a better future • Can improve their speech and communicate better January-February 2011 | Exceptional People Magazine | 9
Extraordinary Profiles
Monica: How has your perspective on life changed over the years as a result of what you do in your profession and from a humanitarian standpoint?
mean, it’s become addictive. As you help people, and you see the changes that it makes in their lives, it’s so reinforcing that you just want to do it more and more. But the thing that’s the most beautiful part of it is I’m a father of three. And doing the work that I do, I always bring my kids, and my kids are a part of it. When I see that the kids I’m helping are my own kids and they begin to initiate this themselves, that, to me, is the best part of all.
Dr. Dorfman: My perspective on life – I
Monica: Would say that those things are what you believe to be the motivating factors in your life that help you achieve success? Dr. Dorfman: Yes. I think when you’re talking about success in fundraising versus success in business, those are two different things. As far as fundraising and philanthropy, yes, it becomes an addictive thing. The more you help, the more rewarding it is. It’s just a beautiful thing. Monica: What do you believe are the motivating factors from a business standpoint that allow you to succeed in whatever you set out to do? Dr. Dorfman: From a business standpoint I’m going to say this; I never give up. People don’t realize this, but you only fail when you give up. Now that doesn’t mean I’m successful every time. It may take me ten or fifteen times to make it work. But the difference is I don’t stop after the 10th or 11th or 12th time. I keep going until I can make it happen. Monica: Do you ever decide there is a cut-off point and you say to yourself “this is not going to work; it’s time to move on?” Dr. Dorfman: Not if I want it bad enough. My level of interest may decline at some point or I may feel like this isn’t the most important thing in the world. But there are some things that I am working on that I will never give up on. I will keep going and going until I make it happen. I may not be the smartest. I may not be the wealthiest. I may not be a lot of things, but when it comes to tenacity, don’t get in my way.
10 | Exceptional People Magazine | January-February 2011
Extraordinary Profiles
Monica: Well, I certainly believe you have to be pretty smart to create and invent some of the products that you have. Dr. Dorfman: Einstein stated it like this when he received his Nobel Laureate. He said, “It isn’t my brilliance that got me here. It’s my creativity.” I just try hard. Monica: As a celebrity dentist, I’m sure your time and services are in high demand. How do you balance work and personal time?
Dr. Dorfman: Well, no matter where I am and what I’m doing in the world, I go to the gym and I work out four days a week. I don’t care if I have to miss part of a fiveday conference. I will miss it because I know that if I don’t take care of myself and I don’t stay healthy, I can’t be of benefit to anyone, including myself. So I am Mr. Fitness.
Dr. Dorfman: Remember this. Your smile is the first thing that people notice about you and the last thing they remember about you, so keep it on.
Monica: That’s wonderful because if you’re physically fit, your mind is fit as well. What do your daughters think of your accomplishments, including how you have changed the lives of so many people? Dr. Dorfman: I would hope that they are proud of me. Monica: Are any of them interested in dentistry? Dr. Dorfman: Absolutely. I have a 17-year-old and twin 12-year-olds, and one of my 12-year-olds would like to become a dentist. Monica: What’s your last word?
To read more great interviews, subscribe at www.exceptionalmag.com. January-February 2011 | Exceptional People Magazine | 11
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