Dear RDH:
I was greatly disturbed to read the (July 1997) article, "Dad, it`s a leech, er, practice consultant, grab your fishing rod and run real fast!" This is clearly the most irresponsible article I have read in dental literature in my entire career. It reeks of myopic thinking and prejudice that makes one wonder about the author herself. I was also shocked to find such a prejudicial and nasty point-of-view in your magazine.
Let me explain that I would not take offense to someone saying that not all dentists need practice management consultants. Clearly Ms. Emmerling`s father was very satisfied with his career.
Unfortunately, Ms. Emmerling, in all of her bigotry, neglected to mention firms like The Levin Group that have helped literally thousands of dentists to expand their practices. Let`s forget about increasing personal income for a moment. What about the clients on the verge of bankruptcy that we have turned around and renewed their lives? What about young dentists who could not make practices work because they had no concept of how to manage or run them? What about dentists that live with such tremendous stress that they want to pass their exit on the expressway on the way to work every morning? We create more than just money for our clients, and yet 99.2 percent of all of our clients experience growth and 97.3 percent rate their consulting experience as excellent (we survey clients, because we do care).
The Levin Group prides itself on the highest integrity and finest programs in the industry. I am proud to say the same for many of my colleagues who are slandered in this article. I was amazed that Ms. Emmerling would name individuals with which she has never worked, that I know to have very fine reputations and the finest integrity.
Perhaps Ms. Emmerling is not a candidate for consulting. However, one can only assume from the article that she has a deep-seated anger for some area of deficiency in her own life.
Roger P. Levin, DDS, MBA
Owings Mills, Maryland
Editor`s note: First of all, we`ll observe that you wrote "many of my colleagues who were slandered..." We`ll assume that you didn`t write "all of my (consultant) colleagues" for the same reason that Ms. Emmerling wrote the column. There`s little question that the consulting profession needs a little self-policing. Secondly, Ms. Emmerling did not "name" anyone. She made some indirect references to trends in consulting as examples.
