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Straumann Group CEO Guillaume Daniellot: Leading Dentistry Through Change · Straumann® ProTalk

0:00
Implant is moving from a product business to a service business.
0:04
That's a very impressive example of how you also used culture
0:09
to come to a very good outcome.
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How would you describe the key ingredients of the Straumann
0:14
culture from your perspective?
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Yeah, I think first we are not perfect and I don't think
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there is any perfect culture.
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Our culture is organized around, three dimensions around a triangle
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that we call the It, We and I.
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Welcome to ProTalk.
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Welcome to the Pulse of Dentistry.
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Welcome in 2026, and to kick off the year we have a special episode, George,
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myself, and we are very thrilled to welcome today's guest, which
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is the CEO of the Straumann Group.
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Guillaume Daniellot.
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Welcome Guillaume.
1:00
Thank you.
1:00
Thank you guys for having me.
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So today you guys will get very exclusive insights from top Straumann executive,
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actually the lead of the Straumann Group, into how we sees the trends in dentistry.
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What will be the big trends shaping dentistry for the
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next years or maybe decade.
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You will learn about leadership, you will learn about culture, and you
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will also learn about innovation.
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So watch out for this episode and happy to start it with a question
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we always ask Guillaume, who is Guillaume Daniellot in one minute?
1:32
French born, I cannot hide it with my accent as I always used to say.
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Having done a lot of different experiences, but especially living in
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different countries, us, Switzerland, France, obviously like traveling
1:45
in different places, adapting and learning different culture.
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Studied physics, physics degree, and afterwards went on the business side.
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Then the studying in healthcare from a professional standpoint, always loved it.
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And yeah, and also happily married family of four kids which
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is helping to stay grounded.
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And yeah.
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Then this is it in a nutshell.
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Okay.
2:06
Thank you
2:07
Guillaume, you started actually, as you mentioned in healthcare products.
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So in hospital goods, you started with Coloplast , if I'm not mistaken.
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Correct.
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And you went to B. Braun before you actually moved into dental.
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So let's go back a little bit.
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What actually made you start in healthcare in the first place?
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Yeah, I always I've ended up my study with a marketing background and it was
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a lot of the dream of my student made to go in the big marketing company
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like P&G and L'Oreal and so on.
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And I always wanted to promote a product that I would be proud of and
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especially that would give some benefit out there to patients or people.
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Then that's why healthcare was my immediate interest and I've been
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actually lucky to be able to start in a company like Coloplast that was
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really having the patient at the center.
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Now, maybe can you help us to understand a bit better?
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If it was on purpose or more opportunity driven that you moved into dental,
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was it something that's, an external factor that told you now is a good
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time to actually switch to dental?
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I think it was in 2001, correct?
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When it started with Dentsply in France.
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Yeah.
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Actually that was because of free different elements.
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I was working in B. Braun as international business manager and
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I was traveling a lot of my time.
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I was doing a lot of two weeks in Asia Pacific, two weeks in
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France and so on and so forth.
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And my first daughter my first kid, my daughter has been born in 1999 and
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I remember about coming back from one of this trip that was a late, she has
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something like two to two and half week and she was something like one I took
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her in my arms when I came back and she cried because she did not recognize me.
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I say, wow, you know what?
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It's time to stay home a bit.
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And being able to be here for seeing her growing up and finding a job
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with still a lot of challenge, but obviously less international travels.
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Then this was one of the defining moment where I was starting to look around.
4:03
And I was also looking at staying in healthcare, but in
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a less regulated environment.
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I was working in hospital product for chronic care with reimbursement.
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And from a marketing and sales standpoint, you have pretty strict rules
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to respect and actually being able to see dental with in between in between
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consumer goods somewhat in some aspect.
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And also healthcare was really interesting.
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That has been why I've been really interesting and as many of you guys,
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I think I met a boss I was wanting to work with that really interested
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me and inspired me at that time.
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That's why I joined this organization.
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Okay.
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Very strong reasons, I think particularly also with the kids.
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They changed so quickly and it's
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this one chance sure.
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Very personal story.
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Thank you.
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Yeah.
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Good decision.
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Given now you are 20 years at Straumann, and then actually the three of us,
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we share this 20 years together.
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And you came actually already as a, an important leader into the organization.
5:02
You were leading France at that time, but I still remember then you
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grew in a responsibility leading the global, let's say digital and
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prosthetic business leading Western Europe, north America, now, CEO.
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If you look back on those 20 years, what were some of the defining moments
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and impressions that really shaped your leadership throughout those 20 years?
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I would, yeah, I would say three, three major moments.
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I would say the first one has been leading Western Europe.
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Because for the first time I was having a responsibility somewhat where you
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cannot really manage it on your own.
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I think when you are leading one country, you can be involved
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in a little bit, most of it.
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When you are leading one small part of the bu, you can also have a
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kind of a understanding of a little bit everything, or at least being
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involved in most of the thing.
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But leading 11 countries through six hubs where you cannot be
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everywhere at the same time.
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It's a big learning about.
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Then finally, you have to delegate.
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And creating strong teams in the local countries, trusting them to
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execute and lead also the business in their own country has been actually
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very important for me as a leader.
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We were having a small regional team because we were only a four together
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for Western Europe at that time.
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Actually Holger, Yannick and Michael Gregor that were part of
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the was Western Europe region.
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Meaning that we were really having to delegate for all the different
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organization in the countries.
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And actually it worked out very well because we had a very strong team.
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Then one of the aspect about recruiting strong leaders around you has been one
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of the big learning of this experience.
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I would say the second one is moving to North America.
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From a leadership standpoint, it has been a lot about this culture of recogni.
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I think in Europe we are and especially I would say from a, the French education
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standpoint, which is really a very, I would say classic or traditional
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where when you are doing well, then that's normal and nobody's telling you
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anything, but you are hearing all the time when something is going wrong.
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And obviously north America is having a very interesting culture
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in what they are used to here when things are done very well.
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And congratulate people for, on a regular basis for the job, which
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is well done, is really something that was completely, really unknown
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to me from a leadership standpoint.
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And I've been really let's say fortunate to have colleagues and team
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members that are very, that were very patient and taught me how to build
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recognition and help really this muscle.
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In my leadership style being developed.
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And I think this is something that is really important about leading
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in different culture and different countries because it's help you really
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to learn a lot of different aspect, which is unconscious into your own style.
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Then I think being able to learn, celebrating success supporting
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people has been a really strong then the opportunity for me through
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my North American experience.
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And I would say the last one that I'm very passionate about is the cultural journey
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that we had in 2014 that we started where I think this cultural journey
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arrived at a really important moment for me as a leader where it was time to.
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A little bit step back and trying to see what on your strength and your
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array of development and this cultural journey has really was creating the
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right psychological safe environment in order for leaders to be able to get this
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kind of 360 assessment by your team and being able to openly discuss what you
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are good at, what you have to develop directly with your team, and being
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able to have a very strong awareness.
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The thing that you need to develop.
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And being able to do that in a safe environment has been also very
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strong from a leadership standpoint.
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And being able to have feedback from peers, from your direct team, from your
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boss, as we are doing now with what we call LSI which is the kind of 360 has been
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a very strong development opportunity.
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And I would say those those three steps has been really super helpful.
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Yeah.
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For my leadership.
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Yeah, I think
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those are very important.
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Also, takeaways for our listeners.
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Surrounding yourself with strong leaders that give you leverage and delegate
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culture and then also recognition and also I think this intercultural experience
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you made when you moved to the US.
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I'm sure now today there is no doubt that you are one of the most
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influential leaders in dental today.
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And I know Guillaume, working for you also, that you are one of the most
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grounded leaders I've ever worked for.
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So you wouldn't say this about yourself.
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And the next question is also a bit difficult maybe in this sense
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because I would like to ask you for your one leadership superpower that
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you believe you have and what would probably also be two or three tips
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you would give to young leaders that are starting their careers today?
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No, I think I have a superpower, I think, and I'm proud to say it.
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It's I think a strong team.
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And I think having strong team is really something which is, if there
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is one thing that I'm telling to young leader all the time is you need to be
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able to recruit people smarter than yourself and not, being afraid all the
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time when you are doing recruitment the, you are as weak as your weakest
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link than having the capability to have super strong team around you.
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That's one of the reason of the performance of the
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Straumann group over the years.
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We have really strong leader at all level of our organization.
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And actually, this is not only at our executive management level,
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that's also, all the different level of our organization.
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We have very strong leader and I really like to engage with them being
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able to, of course, share perspective and and engages in, in, in the yeah
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different potential strategic ideas and agreeing or disagreeing and agreeing
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to disagree, which is a very strong dialogue capabilities in an organization.
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Then I would say that's the superpower that I have and having the
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opportunity to have worked all along my career actually in super teams.
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If I have to express one advice to young leaders.
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I would say two things.
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One would be about taking risk or at least understanding that risk is
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a fundamental element of progress.
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And if you don't take risk, and if you don't go in the in, if you stay
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in your comfort zone, of course you are not going to make mistake,
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but you are never going to grow.
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Then taking risk on career choices, taking risk on decision making, as soon
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as this calculating risk is always the way you are going to be able to grow
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as a professional, as an individual.
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Then the I think, yeah this is something which is very important
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and yeah you never know exactly the outcome of some of your career choice.
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But if you always take the easy way in staying in what you know doing,
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then I think it, it's going to be very difficult than to to progress and to grow.
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And still, the second thing, which I think this is something we're hearing
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all the time, but that at least this is still something I'm strongly believing,
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is really doing something that you love or you are passionate about.
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If you really do something that you, that you feel help you to express yourself in
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some ways, while this is an artist who print paintings, where this is going to
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be a baker with what he's doing every morning it's being proud of what you do, I
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think this is changing everything because you put really the best of yourself, and
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it's not about counting hours it's really trying to express yourself and helping
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the people to grow also around you, within finding the one thing that you like doing
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and developing expertise around this.
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And obviously afterwards taking some risks along the way.
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And I think that's, if you do that, it's not only about progressing
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in a career, but it's especially enjoying every day at your workplace.
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Yeah.
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This is also how I experience you, you enjoy what you do, but still
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you, your agenda is quite busy.
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On a personal note, Guillaume, how do you manage your energy, your balance?
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How do you stay grounded?
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When I'm not traveling what I like doing is coming back home
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and cooking for the family.
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This is what I do every evening because my kids are going to sports and so on,
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and they are coming back pretty late.
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Then I have the opportunity to still take some time for cooking.
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And this is something where, yeah, it's a really relaxing
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experience because it's all about being focused on the thing you do.
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Then this is really helping me to be grounded from doing this.
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The second aspect is obviously then sports.
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I like being out there.
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Nature and the the running, the hiking, playing football or tennis
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or whatever, having some fun.
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It's, you see that laughing is a big about being able to decompress.
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If you have a good laugh with people having fun in what you do I think it
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really do a lot for enjoying every day, obviously, with the family, with
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friends, and all the people around you.
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Thanks for sharing Guillaume.
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Now let's move a bit into dentistry.
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What I hear clinicians often asking us is, how do we manage as a corporate and as
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the Straumann group to stay very connected to clinicians, to, to labs out there to
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people that doing everyday industry while, still driving a global vision and being
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a, let's say, an ever growing corporate now with more than 12,000 people.
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So how do you manage that?
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The organization stays so connected to the customer skill.
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First, I think a big part of it is then the being true to our culture,
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we have placed our number one core belief as customer obsession.
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And this is really something that we want to leave every day.
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And seeing it is not enough, obviously, but at least it's there.
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And this is something that all the time we need to be able to relate to
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one thing that could, for example be a, a proof about trying to leave it.
15:25
We have a very flat organization sometimes.
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I'm, oh, not very often I'm asked, but why do you have an executive team,
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which is large, like the one we have?
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It's just because we have four regional heads directly at the
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executive management board.
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Then that means we have all the different customers from the
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different region represented at the highest level of the organization.
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We want to have the lowest number of layers in between top management.
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End on the customer.
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That's really something which is critical.
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And we also want to make sure that we are empowering our regions
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and country for decision making.
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Then for a lot of people working in our organization that would recognize that
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we are a very decentralized organization.
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We think global, we define a global strategy.
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We define global must win battles, but we have all the local top spin or the local
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adaptation of what we want to do because also the markets are very different.
16:30
Reimbursement.
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You will have reimbursement in some countries, not in others.
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You have different pricing.
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You have obviously different indications now that develop more in
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some areas and regions than others.
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You have different state of market maturity as well.
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When we look at the very mature market like Europe, north America, or more
16:49
emerging market like Eastern Europe or for example, some South Asia Pacific,
16:55
then there are so much differences in our reality from a market standpoint than
17:01
being close to the customer and being very agile and flexible in how we adapt.
17:05
Our strategy is really critical for success and obviously for making sure that
17:10
we, answering to the right customer needs.
17:12
And as you said, role modeling.
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It is a big part of it.
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And I see you out there a lot with customers and then engaging on
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a very detailed level with them which they very much appreciate.
17:20
And I think the organization is observing this.
17:22
And you're leading this by example.
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So if we stay still today before we move into the future, George, and the trends
17:29
skill what is one very tough strategic question we have to answer The Straumann
17:34
group today where you would say the answer no is not easy, but the stakes are very
17:38
high and we have to find an answer soon.
17:43
Soon.
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I, I don't know if it's soon or not, but this is right for Straumann.
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This is high stake, but this is also for dentistry.
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In general, I believe that access to care is a very important question.
17:57
We see that dentistry in some areas is still, I would not say a luxury good,
18:02
but it could be a very expensive good where accessibility to implant treatment
18:07
or even to tooth replacement being even the traditional way is obviously not
18:14
available to everyone and everywhere.
18:16
And for us, obviously, it's a big part of opening up the market.
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Then we are developing technologies that are then making it easier,
18:25
faster to be able to implement.
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And we need to be able to support clinicians to develop this
18:33
kind of efficiency to ensure even wider access to treatment.
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This is right in terms of geographies.
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And we were talking about emerging market.
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There are some countries that are taking strong measures for this,
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for increasing market accessibility.
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China is a very good example with the volume based procurement, which is
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really fixing the price not only from industrial players to the market, but
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also from the clinician to the patient.
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We have Sweden, which is going to that reimbursement also in some
19:06
indication with fixed pricing.
19:08
We know that Korea has done that and you see there is something here which
19:12
is happening, and we might look at how to partner with insurance with
19:17
clinicians on how to open up that access to care because I think that
19:22
today having a very strong oral health is like the purpose of organization,
19:28
unlocking really confidence in people and unlocking the potential of their life.
19:33
And we should be able to treat everyone.
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That would've the possibility to to need to be in the position of need
19:39
for oral access, oral care access.
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Then I think this is a big topic.
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There is a lot of work to be done on this one.
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And I think that through the development about all our technology,
19:49
also with different brands and different digital workflow following
19:54
the cost we should improve.
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This aspect in the short, mid, and long term.
19:59
Okay.
20:00
Yeah.
20:01
We see influencing this as a company also a lot, but also
20:05
our customers, I think they are targeted by these changes massively.
20:09
So in China, for example, it, it changes a lot, not only for us, but
20:12
also for the dental professionals.
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And maybe it's a good segue also to talk about, how to prepare for the future.
20:17
And maybe let's first look into what our listeners also dental professionals
20:22
need to be aware of in terms of trends.
20:24
So what is your opinion?
20:25
What are trends that dental professionals should be aware of and also understand
20:30
in order that they can guide their businesses take the right decisions
20:33
and stay relevant for the next decade.
20:36
I see a couple of them, but I would say the one which is obvious that I'm sure
20:40
you are and I've seen that you are talking also in different podcasts, is the digital
20:45
trend, which is everywhere now we have been used to talk about digital dentistry.
20:50
I think we are talking about dentistry now because it's really
20:54
becoming digital from a lot of sides.
20:57
Then I think what is very important for a clinician today is
21:02
embracing that digital trend and obviously AI, why it's a buzzword.
21:08
It's also reality when it comes to support, diagnostic support when
21:13
it comes to helping for treatment planning, as an example, be it in
21:18
orthodontics, being in implant placement.
21:21
I think for a clinician it's very important to embrace this technology
21:26
and also understanding its limits.
21:29
Then that way you can really leverage the technology for what
21:33
it is, but not being driven by it.
21:37
And it's really important to understand that there is no magic with ai.
21:41
It'll just allow you to be much more efficient and that will be a
21:45
superpower of clinician Tomorrow.
21:48
You will be able to do more things, more precisely, more consistently thanks to
21:52
ai, but it'll be in no case replacement or it will it'll never replace a clinician.
22:01
Then understanding how it's built and what are the limits of it.
22:04
It's a very important part of it.
22:07
Another aspect that we may not discuss a lot, at least in our organization
22:13
but I know that the clinicians are talking a lot about this is how
22:18
the health consumers are evolving.
22:22
Because for clinicians still being able to understand where to find
22:27
patients, how to attract them, how to present them treatment, how to
22:33
engage and communicate with them.
22:36
We know that health consumer changing very significantly.
22:39
They are also using digital tools.
22:42
They are much more aware of what dental treatment is about.
22:46
They are becoming much more demanding.
22:48
They're also shopping around in, they are using dentistry as a kind
22:53
of the consumer good consumer goods and acting this way than being maybe,
22:58
but being a bit more business-minded in that sense, which is something
23:03
that you don't learn at university.
23:06
I'm always the I like someone that when I studied very early in dentistry, told me,
23:11
as a clinician owning my practice, I am 51% a clinician and 49% a business owner.
23:19
Business person.
23:19
Yeah.
23:19
But I've been trained only on 51% of my responsibility.
23:23
Then I need really partner to help me on, recruiting, managing my team,
23:29
understanding the business side of it.
23:31
And this is a very often for clinicians learning that the hard way, there are
23:35
some that are more having the particular strength about it and some less.
23:41
Then how do you develop this early in your career in order that you can
23:46
be happy owner of a business clinic.
23:49
I think, also very important.
23:51
And this is something that the young clinicians need to be prepared with.
23:55
That's also why dental service organization are progressing.
23:59
And I think this is also a very good alternative for clinicians
24:03
that are wanting to focus on the clinician side part of it and actually
24:08
completely outsource everything, which is not all, most of the things
24:12
that are not clinically oriented.
24:14
You were not having that choice before.
24:16
You have that choice here.
24:18
But for every clinicians wanting to have their own business, I think it's
24:21
very important that they are aware of learning this side and experiencing this
24:25
side also, and being also supported.
24:28
And understanding that they have the choice basically before they,
24:31
as you say, they didn't have it and now I think with with the race of
24:34
DSOs and also dentistry led DSOs.
24:38
I think it's not that you just have to give away for, your all clinical
24:42
focused treatment that you want to do for a commercial organization.
24:45
I think both is possible.
24:46
Yes.
24:47
And we learned that we solved the DSOs.
24:48
Now when you started in dentistry, it was mostly about implants and prosthetics
24:53
so medical device, hardware now we just talked about ai, we talked about, the
24:57
revolution, the technology revolution that we have gone through, and I think
25:01
it has also shaped or demanded to shape our organization quite a bit.
25:05
How do you foresee this to further evolve in the future for us as an organization?
25:11
Will we become a mainly software driven company, or will we still
25:15
remain a hardware founded company with software as an enabler?
25:20
I think it's a very interesting question and we have clearly
25:23
clues what we want to be.
25:26
I don't think it's either or, it's both.
25:30
We want to be really an organization which is an expert from a clinical
25:36
standpoint, power by digital technology.
25:41
Then it means that we still need to develop the best clinical solution,
25:46
the best implant with the best, osteointegration capabilities the
25:49
best efficient manner to to place the implant and so on and so forth.
25:53
But together with the best clinician experience to get there, and this
25:59
is why we're developing an entire workflow together with product.
26:03
And we are not developing a product anymore.
26:06
We are developing solutions.
26:08
And this is something that, it seems to be.
26:11
Obvious, but actually this is not so obvious because you really need
26:16
to understand all the need along the treatment journey from, data capture
26:22
to being able to plan the treatment, to execute the treatment, to monitor
26:26
the treatment at the end, and everything as to be very convenient,
26:31
easy, efficient, and obviously still with 99% of clinical success rate,
26:37
not only with obviously the implants staying in place, but the patients
26:42
being very happy about the outcome.
26:44
That means also very good aesthetic integration and so on.
26:48
And this is really something new for us when it comes to the clinician experience.
26:52
We are.
26:54
We will still be a very strong leader on the product dimension, and we
27:00
have significantly invested in the experience of the clinician through
27:05
software and workflow, meaning digital equipment and digital software.
27:10
And I think this is going to be something that will be continuing in the future,
27:14
being very well balanced between product investment, product development,
27:19
investment and software development, investment for the clinical experience.
27:24
And I think this is the organization that we want to be tomorrow because all our.
27:30
Customers of tomorrow will be digital native.
27:34
They have been used on the Amazon one click experience, no hassle.
27:37
Everything is there in one place, and I have a couple of clicks in
27:41
order to get what I want in one hour.
27:44
And this is the kind of mindset we need to have when we are thinking about that side.
27:48
And at the end, as a conclusion, implant is moving from a product
27:53
business to a service business.
27:56
And we need to make sure that the perception of the service
27:59
is really unparalleled versus what we have delivered before.
28:04
Makes a lot of sense.
28:06
Also because, the final product in the patient that stays there for 10, 20 years.
28:10
It's a physical product.
28:11
So I think there is still this need for excellence also in, in
28:14
the physical reon, but empowered also with the customer experience.
28:17
That becomes more and more important.
28:19
Now, maybe let's talk a little bit about disruption because we
28:23
are now an established company.
28:25
Having the chance to be market leader now for a couple of years.
28:28
And this also poses an exposure to small companies that can disrupt the
28:33
sector in your review, what could be a disruption that actually brings together
28:38
technology, a customer need, and just maybe the right timing that we need to
28:43
be very aware of and also contract with the right measures and investments.
28:49
First I love disruption because this is the way you can
28:51
change the rule of the game.
28:52
And and I think if we are good enough in being close to customer,
28:57
we should be aware of those kind of trends and those kind of technology.
29:00
And I think we are doing a good job in trying to scout the right ideas out there.
29:05
And I invite anyone, actually, again, listening, having breakthrough idea.
29:10
We are always happy to co-develop some of the things as soon as I think
29:14
we feel this is realistic as well.
29:16
But we want to stay paranoid.
29:18
On this side because we do believe that anyone with an amazing ideas
29:23
could disrupt any business side.
29:26
Now we are also in healthcare.
29:29
That means that you still need to go through clinical evidence.
29:33
You need to ensure that you have a really strong tested capabilities
29:39
of the different new or crazy ideas.
29:42
That's why disruption, takes some time to be implemented.
29:47
We see that, we have been discussing about digital dentistry.
29:50
I still remember when I was starting in Switzerland, being
29:53
responsible for digital dentistry.
29:55
I think it was yeah.
29:57
13 years ago or 12 years ago, we started to sell intraoral scanner.
30:01
And 15 years later, now it's start to be, standard treatment.
30:05
Then there is disruption that is possible.
30:09
But it'll still take quite some time to implement and thanks God,
30:13
because we don't want to take any patient or clinician as Guinea pig.
30:17
And we are at heart in our core value being a clinical
30:23
evidence-based organization.
30:25
And I think this is what we can really help our environment, is that
30:29
taking all those crazy ideas and being able to test them in a way that
30:35
it'll be a very secure and clinically proven solutions down the road.
30:39
I know we are working on some breakthrough technology.
30:42
We cannot say everything here.
30:44
They are, I believe that the field of biotechnology will also bring
30:47
a lot of disruption then, whether it's on the implant side, whether
30:51
this is on the biomaterial side there is disruption around here.
30:56
And I think we're doing the right investment to be positioned on those
31:00
disruption that we will see in the future.
31:02
But again it'll also take time to be implemented.
31:06
Maybe it's the last question going exactly in the same direction.
31:08
There are some very fascinating developments also
31:11
on tissue engineering side.
31:12
Regrowing, basically human teeth could be based on, stem cells that you capture
31:16
from the patient that then you reimplant it, or also lately there is dental
31:20
product developments that tries to put the body back into a development state and
31:26
activate some of the remaining two pots.
31:30
How paranoid should we be about this one?
31:31
Is this something that you think is we are going to see in the
31:34
next decade, or is this probably something that still takes, longer?
31:39
I think there is a paranoia on one side, but there is also our
31:44
passionate vibes about, innovation.
31:47
Then of course we should be following this closely.
31:50
We should partner at the right moment when we see also this
31:53
kind of realistic development.
31:55
I think it'll happen in some days.
31:59
But I think it's still a long shot from my perspective.
32:02
Because you remember what I expressed?
32:04
Just before being able to develop such technology.
32:08
If it's at a price level that only the epi few can afford, then this
32:13
is also not the kind of dentistry we would like to develop in the future.
32:17
We would like to have, of course, all kind of solutions, the one that I, I
32:20
end for the most advanced indication, but also the one that are answering
32:25
from the largest potential need.
32:27
And when we look at the cost of biotechnology development right now,
32:31
it's still at a pretty high level then always thinking about having the right
32:37
technology, but that could scale.
32:39
It's also something that we keep in mind every time we have project that
32:42
we're discussing together, guys.
32:45
Okay, let's shift gears a bit to culture and leadership, and you just launched
32:50
your podcast Culture& Coffee first two episodes out and I can recommend it
32:55
to our listeners also to listen in, especially the first episode that you
32:58
were speaking to Thomas Straumann, our founder actually that founded this company
33:02
30 years ago, was very interesting.
33:04
What inspired you to launch this podcast?
33:08
Yeah.
33:08
Culture or corporate culture can be or is a buzz word.
33:12
And I have to say that until I've seen our cultural journey that we
33:17
study in two or 14 and how this has incredibly transformed our organization.
33:24
I was not a big believer into corporate culture.
33:27
And this is a little bit what I see around me is that a lot of people
33:31
are saying yeah, it's a great thing, but very few understand yet.
33:36
The power of it.
33:38
And through this and our experience and how much I became passionate by this
33:44
topic, I was really wanting to first share our experience with everyone
33:49
but also share the experience of other very convinced leader with also sharing
33:55
different experience at different moments.
33:57
And because there is not one cultural project, there is a lot of different ones,
34:01
and one cultural journey does not fit all.
34:04
It's everyone is different.
34:07
It's all this inspiration that we are trying to to give and also, helping
34:12
our team to still get some insight, some then the excitement about how we
34:18
can continue our own cultural journey.
34:20
And demonstrating to our team also that this is really at the center
34:24
of what we do because we do believe that this is our number one then
34:28
competitive advantage because culture is very difficult to imitate, is very
34:34
strong in supporting the quality of execution of this is of decision making.
34:39
And that's why for me, being able to express what we have done and keeping
34:44
learning from people that are also doing a different experience has been something
34:49
that I was really interesting about.
34:51
And, there's a good reason why we touch on this topic today with you because we get
34:55
a lot of questions on this also from our listeners and from customers that, that
34:58
observe that we have a special culture.
35:01
And I can underline this, we are not perfect by far note, but
35:04
we have a very strong culture.
35:06
And you said it before, culture is not very tangible.
35:09
So how would you describe the key ingredients of the Straumann
35:12
culture from your perspective?
35:15
Yeah, I think first we are not perfect and I don't think there is.
35:19
Any perfect culture there is the culture which is fitting the
35:24
founder values or our values here.
35:26
And for the people sharing the same values that the one we have,
35:29
then this is a very good culture.
35:31
Then our culture is organized around, three dimensions, around a triangle
35:36
that we call the, it, we and I it's all the strong belief about creating
35:41
opportunities, about taking risk as I shared a little bit before being
35:46
able to, be fast in decision making.
35:48
And the fundamental idea that the best way to shape your
35:53
future is to create it yourself.
35:56
And that's really a very important fundamental about our core belief.
36:00
And that's what we call the e dimension, which is the business side of it.
36:04
The second aspect to our culture, which is the beliefs that are around
36:08
the we dimension, which is teamwork.
36:10
And you know that very well with the way you are leading your teams.
36:14
It's all about, driving engagement around all the team members we
36:18
have, but especially creating a safe environment for people to speak up.
36:23
And this is what we call psychological safety.
36:26
It's, I would say it's a big word every time we're hearing this, but it's just
36:31
the basic idea that everyone has a voice and the duty of everyone is to
36:37
speak up and every leader is to listen.
36:41
Then the capability for psychological safety to to understand or
36:46
highlight the challenges we have.
36:48
Anticipate them instead of waiting that we have a big problem to our continent.
36:53
Having the people, having the capability to speak up if they have
36:56
an ideas, and whether it might be a crazy ideas for some it might be wow
37:01
a very exciting ideas for others.
37:03
Then creating this engagement by making sure that everyone feel that
37:09
he has a contribution to make and this is actually its duty and that we are
37:13
developing the listening capabilities on our team is really important.
37:17
And actually what we see from this is that this cross pollination,
37:21
this, what we call unlocking the collective genius of the organization
37:26
is done through this way, dimension.
37:28
But how we can make this happen is through our eye dimension, which is obviously what
37:33
we call the belief of taking ownership.
37:36
That means.
37:37
Obviously if you make a promise, it's not about blaming the weather, the,
37:41
the inflation or whatever but also trying to find ways to deliver and that
37:46
capability to be a lifelong learner.
37:49
And how do we learn in organization?
37:51
Of course, you can say, I need to take a course here, and then
37:54
it's just about being curious.
37:55
Just about asking questions and having the humility to ask questions because we
38:00
recognize that even if we are expert in some area, we don't know any everything.
38:06
And I think this is the foundation of the player learner mindset that we have.
38:11
The world is becoming so complex that there is not one single
38:15
person that can have an answer for all the challenges we have.
38:19
It's by being open, by having that capability to connect, to be open, to
38:25
ask questions, that we can generate this kind of a team dynamic, which
38:29
is allowing us to deliver results and somewhat we are summarizing it in saying.
38:35
The wide dimension.
38:36
That means everyone's becoming better, drive the we dimension.
38:40
Then we have much more better teamwork, faster decision making
38:45
faster execution, which is leading to better performance and better it.
38:49
And that's this magic triangle as you are calling it, and this kind of player
38:53
learner mindset that we try to develop and that we need to continue to evolve.
38:58
As you said, we are not perfect.
39:00
We're measuring all the time where we have to improve, what are the
39:04
things that we're doing well.
39:06
And it's a constant, I would say challenge to be able to,
39:10
deliver on those expectations.
39:13
Is there a recent experience where you saw cultural in action
39:17
around yourself just recently?
39:20
Yes.
39:21
I will take, yeah, that, that experience of actually VBP 1.0.
39:26
I remember VBP 1.0 December, 2022 and why this is coming to mind because we have the
39:30
next one coming in a couple of months from now, and we start to see the effect of it.
39:35
It was exactly the same mood.
39:36
It was like, wow, we are going to have pricing that are going to decrease.
39:40
It's going to be a big crisis mode.
39:42
And you have, the possibility to have the mindset about , let's
39:46
wait and, we cannot do miracles.
39:49
And if it's going to be decreased pricing, then we cannot do anything about it.
39:54
And that's not the kind of mindset we want to have.
39:56
And when the prices that came, that was, decreasing our price by 50%.
40:03
Instead of trying to, just having going back in our office and cry then it's
40:09
all, it's a lot about going out there and saying, what does it mean for customers?
40:13
How we can help them because they were also facing challenges.
40:16
And through those kind of very customer intimacy, we have discovered that finally,
40:23
oh, this might be an opportunity because our highest technology was becoming
40:28
actually more affordable there some other solutions where the price gap was
40:34
much smaller than it was in the past.
40:37
And as this kind of gap was smaller, they were seeing already some patients
40:43
deciding to upgrade treatment, meaning that instead of being able
40:47
to then the try still to reduce our organization, we decided to bet.
40:52
On that growth opportunity instead of reducing significantly our infrastructure.
40:59
And this is all about those kind of calculated risk mindset that we take
41:03
as an organization together with our China team, our Asia Pacific regional
41:08
team, and especially with operations.
41:10
And while it has been very successful, it put a lot of stress in our operation team.
41:17
And instead to have the operation guys coming, saying, guys, sorry,
41:22
we cannot do more than 20% volume.
41:24
Then afterwards you have to say no.
41:26
We are an operation team that say Let's do this.
41:29
Let's try to make it happen.
41:30
And they have done an incredible work to stretch the organization being able to
41:35
develop so much volume that we have been the only company being able to abs absorb
41:40
so much volume in a short amount of time.
41:43
But more than this.
41:45
All our countries around were also suffering from some back orders
41:49
because of the big shipments.
41:51
And everyone understood and tried to support the efforts of our entire
41:55
organization to gain share in China instead of complaining that they were not
42:00
able to deliver on their own geographies.
42:02
And we cannot do this for China only and not the rest.
42:06
And it has been able, having everyone collectively playing the
42:10
opportunity and balancing the downside.
42:13
And I have to say, I have been super impressed by an organization
42:17
to play the really big opportunity managing the downside, helping
42:22
operation to try to deliver there.
42:24
And while it has been a highly stressed environment, dream.
42:28
I think something like yeah, 10 to 12 months.
42:31
The outcome has been incredible for us from a market share stand
42:35
a market share gain standpoint.
42:37
Then this is actually a very good idea on a very good example on how
42:42
to see, to turn risk into opportunity or fre into opportunity, but also
42:48
executing as one team instead of everyone looking at his own, silo.
42:56
That's a very impressive let's say example of how you also used
43:01
culture to come to a I would say.
43:04
Very good outcome because in the end it paid off.
43:07
The way how you handled it.
43:09
And, that brings me also to, I always wanted to ask this question.
43:12
You have to take every day a lot of decisions and some of
43:16
these decisions, they are just to keep the business running.
43:19
And, people come to you because they would like to know, oh,
43:21
do we rather go left or right?
43:22
But then there are some decisions that, Amazon would call them one door or one-way
43:27
door decisions 'cause they are really significant and they cannot be undo.
43:31
So if you look back the last two or three years, what have been some
43:35
of the most important one-way door decisions that you have to take?
43:40
And basically how did it influence the company?
43:44
Yeah, I think that's that's a very important question
43:47
and interesting question.
43:48
First I would say, and I, before answering the one-way door, I want
43:53
to say that 95% of our decisions are two-way doors decision.
44:00
And that's where, and things were, we all leaders have to progress.
44:04
And I have also personally, for example, to progress.
44:07
They are how to push down decision in our organization.
44:12
'cause as soon as it's a two-way door decision, we have to let leaders
44:16
experiencing taking decisions at the lowest level of our organization.
44:20
'cause that's, it's a two-way doors and we have the agility to be able
44:24
to come back to them fast enough.
44:27
Then you are learning along the way.
44:29
Then the it's very important that this kind of a risk taking
44:33
risk in a calculated manner.
44:35
It's a lot related to this two-way door decision when we need to make sure that we
44:39
allow and enable and empower our leaders to take those decisions themselves.
44:46
I would say maybe two or three example would be the one is the
44:49
significant investment we have done in digital transformation.
44:53
We have been in 2019 or 2020 a lot depending on partner
44:59
only for our digital journey.
45:02
And we were seeing digital as becoming one of the major way to deliver then
45:09
treatment to select product in the future.
45:12
Then depending on third party partner for this was putting us
45:17
in a strategic, risky situation.
45:21
Then having the capability to develop our own platform to create this clinician
45:26
experience was a very important decisions because we know that it's not going
45:31
to be in one year investment that you are going to do that, and at some
45:35
point is, can we really deliver value?
45:39
Through cloud-based platform is still something that we're starting
45:43
to harvest right now after something like three to four years investment.
45:48
And we start to see now the exciting part of it with the first workflow we
45:53
are implementing with the atomic healing abatement with the the Straumann EXACT
45:59
and we are just presenting this and we are just starting to get traction with it.
46:04
But you know that when you onboard in such digital investment cycle to
46:09
make you need to make sure that you are going to be consistent with it.
46:13
Because if you don't do this and reverse the decision, it would've
46:17
been completely sunk cost.
46:18
Then I think, we are just seeing the first outcome of it.
46:21
That's why I'm very excited and we're all very excited about our
46:25
capability to lead with our scanner portfolio now with our free shape
46:30
partner, but also own Sirios X3.
46:32
All those cloud-based platform, delivering the convenience for
46:37
clinicians that we're starting to hear.
46:39
And we see the workflow getting significant traction and access
46:42
usage growing 50% every quarter.
46:46
The second thing just lately has been the decision to transform
46:50
significantly auto business and to move to a partnership because you
46:55
need also to have the the strong perception about can we really making it
47:01
ourselves or should we really partner?
47:03
If you feel that you don't have the scale, and if time is of the essence
47:08
that you need to get there fast.
47:10
And I think this is a one way decision, but we are very
47:14
confident this is a way to do this.
47:17
The final example, I would also take which is also interesting from a cultural
47:21
standpoint, is acquiring Dr. Smile.
47:26
We have acquired Dr. Smile because we were really in line with our
47:30
culture wanting to take risk.
47:32
And we were a small player in the ortho space.
47:35
We were just starting because it was two years after the
47:38
acquisition of ClearCorrect and we saw like many, the opportunity
47:42
to change the rule of the game.
47:44
And changing the rule of the game is obviously important when you are
47:47
a challenger because you can get to then success faster, which why it was
47:53
obviously a very important bet for us.
47:55
And over time we have discovered that the business model was not sustainable
48:01
because of your marketing cost increasing faster than what you can do on your
48:07
selling prices and that your profitability would be a challenge and it would
48:11
be better than to potentially find.
48:15
A better owner for this business.
48:17
And while it's somewhat a one-way door decision, because when you have acquired
48:22
the company, you have to make it works.
48:23
It's very important to keep in mind that you also need to make sure
48:27
that you have to recognize when things are not working, and you can
48:31
revert that anyway in some ways, or finding alternative to the strategy.
48:36
And this is why you take why you take a risk.
48:41
You need to have that agility to be able to turn around and take a
48:46
different decisions in order to then the still navigate the opportunity
48:52
in the best matter moving forward.
48:54
I think that the last example, Guillaume is also a very good let's
48:58
say example of player learner mindsets.
49:01
The environment changed.
49:02
Probably when the decision was made.
49:03
That was shortly after COVID, I would say.
49:06
Yeah.
49:06
And that influenced on how our patients wanted to get treatment massively.
49:11
And I think.
49:12
If that would've continued like this, then probably there, there
49:14
would be a different outcome.
49:15
But also seeing, reacting to the environment and then taking a bold
49:19
decision early enough that also can revert basically this one way door decision.
49:24
A little bit.
49:25
And recognizing that you have been wrong and this is really, actually very healthy.
49:29
Yeah.
49:29
And it's part of taking risk then I think this is something that we
49:33
need always to face reassessing our decisions and making sure that
49:38
we are doing the right investment and this is still the right one.
49:41
That's why actually we have done then our then the goal five midpoint review and
49:46
we presented then end of last year at our capital market day, how we are going to
49:51
navigate also the future of dentistry.
49:55
So to summarize this culture part honestly, I feel a bit privileged
49:58
also to have observed this for the last 20 years because I think.
50:02
With the cultural journey started in 2014, we became much more entrepreneurial and
50:07
agile when we have been known for being a bit slow and not risk-taking before.
50:12
But still, I think we, we stayed true to our core, which is, staying deeply human
50:16
on the one side, but also not compromising on clinical outcomes if it comes to the
50:20
products that we put into the patients.
50:22
I think that's an unnegotiable that we have defined.
50:25
And I think that's that's, that was a good summary.
50:28
Let's make this tangible maybe also for our listeners out there.
50:32
Beyond a short mind experiment, if imagine, you meet a young clinician
50:37
that just opens his clinic and, as you said, he will be 51% the dentist
50:42
and 49% he will be a business leader.
50:45
What re recommendation advices would you give to him in terms of leadership
50:49
and culture for his successful future?
50:52
The number one advice, I would say it's take time for people.
50:59
Because very often when you are a young leader on the business side
51:02
or on the clinician clinician on the clinician side, you are going to focus
51:09
very often on what you are strong at and what is your comfort zone.
51:14
And you are going to look at the trying to do the best dentistry
51:17
possible, and you are going to expect people to understand by themselves
51:24
what you are expecting from them.
51:26
Because you believe that they should know or just because sometimes even
51:30
unconscious, then taking time for people, building the relationship,
51:35
being clear about your expectation.
51:37
Very often, even as a young leader I recognize that.
51:40
I learned that after the fact that you have to sit down with
51:44
someone saying welcome to our clinic or to our organization
51:48
then this is the way I done here.
51:50
This is what I would expect from you.
51:52
This is what is important to me, is this, and this, and we can discuss
51:55
about how to do that the best way.
51:57
But entering that your team understand really what are your
52:02
expectations is one of the things that I've seen mostly forgotten.
52:08
And the second aspect when they are doing this is of course taking time to
52:11
recognize and say, that was really great.
52:13
This is what I expecting.
52:15
And just by this, the magic of creating a positive virtue circle about,
52:23
I know what my boss is expecting is happy about what I'm doing.
52:26
Can I do something else?
52:27
And you are implementing this dynamic, which I think it's very important.
52:31
And if there is only one point, I would say take time for people for, yeah.
52:37
Okay.
52:38
Yeah.
52:38
Yeah.
52:38
Thanks a lot.
52:39
Yeah.
52:40
Before we wrap up, we normally have this let's say possibility that our guests are
52:44
also asking us a question, but for this time we would to change it around a bit.
52:48
What would be your call to action to our listeners, be it now a
52:51
dental lab, be it the clinician, but also to the Straumann family what
52:55
would you give them as a message?
52:59
I would say think bigger.
53:02
We are prisoner of our own experience, I think.
53:06
And then our limits are the one that we're creating for ourselves.
53:11
How to push beyond boundaries, how to which is a little bit that, creating
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opportunity that we have in our culture.
53:19
Always asking the question of why not and what if.
53:23
And having that capability, and we have been discussing that actually with our
53:27
leadership team, takes time to dream a law mule, self to dream thinking about what
53:33
is possible because we're always limiting ourselves way too much by being bogged
53:39
down by every, daily activities or we know our environment has not been easy as well.
53:45
Then there is millions of reason for not doing things or not taking risk, then
53:51
I think it's my recommendation is make sure that every week you take a moment to
53:56
dream, step back, dream, think bigger and ing and why this would not be possible.
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Actually and actually going into that dreaming mode and
54:07
being able to achieve more.
54:08
It's something which is also giving a lot of energy in what we do every every day.
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Then I wish everyone Yeah.
54:14
Energy and dreaming capabilities because that's the way we are creating big things.
54:19
No, thanks for sharing.
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And I can tell the listeners it's actually fun to do this.
54:24
Very rewarding.
54:24
So thanks for sharing a lot of great insights and moments, Guillaume.
54:28
George, what stood out for you?
54:31
That's now a difficult task because there are so many good things that we discussed.
54:35
To try to summarize.
54:36
It's very, let's say, succinct.
54:38
Guillaume, for me, it's about passion.
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It's your vision, and it's still being grounded as a leader and,
54:44
recognizing importance of people.
54:47
So that really stood out for me.
54:48
It's a triangle that you build for yourself that I think is very strong.
54:52
On the passion side, we can feel that actually you love your job.
54:55
I think you found probably that space where you want to be right
54:58
now and where you can have an impact and you're not counting the hours.
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I think that's really recognizable from every action that you're doing.
55:05
Then the vision, I think is is driving all of our organization and also
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I think beyond our organization.
55:11
I think even dental, because you're very visionary.
55:14
You see what things are coming the bigger movements.
55:17
There is a discussion we had about access to treatment and at
55:20
the same time, some technologies that are coming that maybe are.
55:24
Directly going into the opposite let's say direction in terms of,
55:27
yes, it might be fancy, but it's not granting access to treatment.
55:30
So I think your visionary capabilities are really outstanding to me.
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And then thirdly, this groundedness.
55:36
You go home, you cook dinner for your family you value this.
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You need this connectedness to people, to your teams.
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And I think you recognize the strength view, your superpower
55:46
is building strong teams.
55:48
I think this is what stood out to me.
55:49
Thanks for great summary.
55:51
George.
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Guillaume, thanks for being a very open and a very thoughtful guest today.
55:55
And I'm sure this was a strong inspiration for our listeners and to our listeners.
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If you liked this episode and you got inspired by it, please share it with
56:04
your colleagues and with your friends.
56:06
And as always, please stay connected to us.
56:08
We are always happy to interact and to get your thoughts, your experience.
56:13
Let's also discuss about your experience and questions you have on culture.
56:16
We would like to carry this topic forward and look out for the next
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episodes and for this episode.
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Thanks a lot, George and Guillaume.
56:23
Thanks a lot.
56:24
Thank you guys.
56:24
Really appreciate it.