M. David Campbell

From the Desk of Dr. M. David Campbell

Most of us--particularly we men--do not like to admit it, but it is something that we have to do in order to get where we need to be. It is the admission of being lost. I have to say, I was hopelessly lost the other day. The ironic thing is that I got lost in an area that I know well, which is why I kept ignoring the navigation system that told me in that gentle, kind voice, "Turn right, turn right... Now calculating." Finally I believed her and began to follow what she told me, rather than remaining in my state of denial. (If I had not listened, I would have ended up in another state, and not just the state of denial!)

The real problem, I discovered, was that I had actually started out in the wrong direction from the very beginning, so no matter how far I traveled I was still on the wrong route, and would never reach my destination, regardless of how sure I was that I was on the right tract.

This just is not a truism for driving.

If we do not have a clear picture of where we are now, it will not be possible to chart an accurate course to reach our destination--either in travel or in life. Often in our profession and in our personal lives, we think we are someplace different than where we really are. A healthy dose of reality helps us to refocus our attention.

We need that calm voice on the GPS to get us back on track.

Sometimes just believing that we are on the right road is not enough to get us to our destination. From time to time it is not only prudent, but essential, that we check our progress to verify that we are indeed moving either closer to or farther away from our goal.

As a Board we have clearly set out the vision defining where we need to be; we have made clear where we want to end up on our journey. Yet we also collectively serve as that GPS voice, which clearly guides and monitors our driving, to make sure that we not only end up in the right place, but that we make the correct "recalculations."

It has been a joy to be in the same car (so to speak) with you all on this journey as we have relied on our collective wisdom, which as we have discovered, is always better than depending on any one person individually.

Let us continue to listen to the voice that guides us, corrects us, and gets us to where we need and want to be.