Displaying 10 items of Voices from The Bench with the tag "leadership".
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413: Jay Collins: The Art of Aggressive Calming Sales for a Dental Lab
February 23rd, 2026 | 1 hr 11 mins
1099, 2008 crash, abundance mindset, accountability, acquisitions, aggressive calm, branding, china, cold calling, commission, consistency, construction, crown and bridge, customer service, deal fatigue, decision maker, dental, dental lab, door-to-door, entrepreneurship, family business, firing clients, front desk, gatekeeper, growth, implants, irish catholic, laboratory, leadership, legacy, margins, mergers, mindset, multi-location, office dynamics, outsourcing, persistence, philadelphia, pricing, private equity, prospecting, prosthodontics, psychology, quality, recession, relationship building, removable, retention, sales, sandler system, solution selling, steamfitters, technician, thedentalab.net, turnaround time, voices from the bench
Jay Collins shares his journey from a split Philadelphia family of steamfitters and dental technicians to becoming the bold, growth-driven leader behind thedentalab.net. After the 2008 crash forced him out of construction, he dove into dental lab sales with relentless cold-calling, developing his “aggressively calm” approach that challenges traditional lab-owner mindsets. This episode is a fast-paced, hilarious deep dive into sales psychology, growth through mergers, and why labs must treat sales as seriously as production if they want to survive and scale.
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409: John Wilson: Margins, Meaning, and Knowing When to Say No
January 26th, 2026 | 1 hr 6 mins
adaptability, burnout prevention, business alignment, craftsmanship, dental, dental lab ownership, digital dentistry, education, fundamentals, integrity, laboratory, lab–doctor relationships, leadership, legacy, margins, margins and meaning, mentorship, podcasting, pricing pressure, saying no, storytelling, sustainable growth, team culture, technician, trust, voices from the bench
Barb and Elvis welcome back John Wilson of Sunrise Dental Lab for a candid, reflective conversation about purpose, integrity, and longevity in the dental lab industry. John shares why he chose alignment over growth, how protecting his team and values reshaped his business, and why strong lab–doctor partnerships are built on trust, not price. The episode also dives into the inspiration behind his new podcast Margins & Meaning, focused on storytelling, connection, and reminding technicians they’re not alone.
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408: Rob Nazzal & Mike Alessio: From the Bench to the (icortica) Dashboard
January 19th, 2026 | 1 hr 7 mins
change management, customer retention, data visibility, data-driven decisions, dental, dental laboratory management, digital workflows, dsos, employee engagement, family-owned lab, icortica, lab culture, lab software integration, laboratory, leadership, magic touch, productivity metrics, quality control, quality metrics, real-time reporting, remakes, sales effectiveness, share of wallet, team alignment, technician, technician retention, transparency, voices from the bench
Rob Nazzal returns to Voices From the Bench with Mike Alessio of Bonadent to talk about leadership, culture, and using data the right way in dental laboratories. They discuss transparency around productivity metrics, the challenge of measuring quality, and how open communication builds trust and stronger teams. The conversation also highlights how icortica helps labs and sales teams use real-time data to improve retention, grow existing accounts, and have smarter, better-timed conversations with doctors.
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406: Stuart Steinbock: Lean, Keen, and Milling Machines
January 5th, 2026 | 1 hr 2 mins
3d printing, additive manufacturing, aligners, articulators, cad/cam, carbon, casting investment, continuous improvement, crystal ultra, dental, dental equipment, dental manufacturing, dental mills, dental stones, digital dental, digital dentistry, direct-to-consumer dentistry, entrepreneurship, family business, full-arch workflows, industry evolution, international sales, iso compliance, lab efficiency, lab management, laboratory, leadership, lean manufacturing, milling systems, ortho appliances, orthodontic labs, process innovation, product development, quality systems, resilience, startup culture, technician, voices from the bench, whip mix, workflow optimization
Barb and Elvis talk with Stuart Steinbock about his deep family roots in dental manufacturing, the evolution of Whip Mix, and how lean thinking and product development helped shape modern lab workflows. Stuart also shares his journey beyond the family business into startups, 3D printing, orthodontic labs, and ultimately leading Digital Dental. It’s an honest conversation about innovation, entrepreneurship, and navigating change in both the dental industry and life
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384: IDS 2025 & exocad Part 9 with Paul Dowling, Jacqueline Ffrench, & Thomas Baaske
August 4th, 2025 | 1 hr 2 mins
3d, 4 day work week, academy, ai, better life, business, community, dental, dentures, digital, efficient, exocad, feedback, generations, global, health, ids, inventory, ireland, ivotion, lab day chicago, laboratory, leadership, lean manufacturing, part time, polish, printing, removables, repair, small changes, soft reline, strength in the industry, technician, voices from the bench, well being, workflow, zirconzahn
Back again to a time in Germany when we recorded in the exocad booth at IDS 2025. This week we start with Paul Dowling & Jacqueline Ffrench who are doing amazing things in Ireland for the lab community. Then we meet Thomas Baaske from Ivoclar that tells us all about the new printed denture material, the inventory system, and Ivoclar at IDS.
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330: The Final More From exocad Insights 2024 with Chuck Genco, Yousef Ibrahim, Maher Al Hanfeish, Jen Ludwig, and Lindsey Rowan
July 22nd, 2024 | 1 hr 7 mins
10k, 5k, ai, all-on-4, cdt, cheerleading, corus, dental, digital, dso, dtx, efficiency, exocad, fort worth, fundraising, grants, implants, ivoclar, laboratory, leadership, miyo, podcast, raising money, scanning, solutions, sponsorships, support, technician, texas, time to teeth, triathlon, van hook, voices from the bench, warranty, workflow, zirconia
All good things must end as we wrap up the final conversations from exocad Insights 2024 with Chuck Genco, Yousef Ibrahim, Maher Al Hanfeish. Then we tack on a conversation about the Race For the Future with Jen Ludwig and Lindsey Rowan.
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313: Lab Day Chicago 2024 Act 1 with Michael Wandling, Vinod Dudhat, Brian Johns, and Rob Fletcher
March 25th, 2024 | 1 hr 18 mins
3shape, a team, agriculture, all-on-x, cal-lab, cdt, change, chicago, composite, compromise, dental, die trimming, digital cdt, examiner, fixed, full arch, glidewell, health care, india, instagram, ivoclar, ivotion, japanese automotive, lab day, laboratory, leadership, lean, legos, line balance, manufacturing, master, nbc, one piece flow, open forum, photogrammetry, pm7, podcast, scan bodies, task force, technician, test, the toyota way, voices from the bench, youtube
This week starts all the conversations that Elvis and Barb got while in the Ivoclar Ballroom at LMT Lab Day Chicago. This week brings Michael Wandling, Vinod Dudhat, Brian Johns, and Rob Fletcher.
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308: Harvesting Your Lab's Value with Rob Laizure and Sasha Der Avanessian
February 19th, 2024 | 1 hr 3 mins
ai, artificial intelligence, brand identity, cal-lab, communication, dental, differentiate, engaging, ez gum, intangible, journaling, lab day, laboratory, leadership, lmt, logo, marketing messaging, pizza, podcast, rescheduling, solving a problem, strength, tangible, technician, therapist, value, voices from the bench, whiteboard
This week we talk to two giants in our industry, Rob Laizure and Sasha Der Avanessian. They have come together to help labs find their value and to create a message that will allow labs to differentiate themselves in an industry of commodity products.
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269: Wrapping It All Up at the Ivoclar Ballroom From Lab Day Chicago with Susan van Kinsbergen, Neal Allen, Julio Munoz, Zack Wojdan
May 22nd, 2023 | 1 hr 4 mins
ai design, all-on-4, artistic, builder, carbon, ceramics, chairside, conversions, dani, daughter, dental, drivers, flexible, glaze, high end, hybrids, immediate load, implants, issaquah, ivoclar, knight, lab, lab day chicago, laboratory, leadership, manager, milling, miyo, opaque, open door, pfm, photography, podcast, printing, removables, screws, shipping, technician, teeth, thanksgiving, voices from the bench, welu, zimvie
Elvis and Barb wrap up all the amazing recordings from the Ivoclar Ballroom at Lab Day Chicago with Susan van Kinsbergen, Neal Allen, Julio Munoz, and Zack Wojdan
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Episode 103: You Blow My Mind, Hey Ricki!: Ricki Braswell on Leadership Training
March 16th, 2020 | 1 hr 52 secs
cdt, coronavirus, dental, dlat, laboratory, leadership, nadl, pankey, podcast, porcelain, technician, texas, voices from the bench
Elvis and Barb are happy to bring you one of the upcoming featured speakers for the DLAT Conference & Expo. Ricki Braswell has gained a ton of experience as a co-executive director of the NADL and the past CEO of the Pankey Institute and now she shares it with dental laboratories.