Life Regrets

It’s inevitable that there’ll be things in our lives we wish we’d have done differently. Regret has value if, instead of dwelling on lost opportunity, it brings about change.

Last month, at the Dr. Edward B. Shils Entrepreneurial Fund Awards reception in Philadelphia (see details on page 42), I came face to face with one of those moments of regret: I knew Dr. Shils but I never made it a point to really know him.

I was 35 when I first met him. He was twice that. Shils was the Executive Director of the Dental Manufacturers of America (DMA) and the Dental Dealers of America (DDA). I didn’t know his background, his brilliance, his energy, his grace. I only saw the age gap, his formal demeanor and the old-school manner in which he ran the DMA Preview Show for dental dealers and visitors from overseas that took place the day before LMT LAB DAY in Chicago.

Even though I had numerous occasions to speak with him in the ensuing years it was...