Leaders or managers: who will define a new vision for dental education?

Leaders and managers are vital to any organization; however, each possesses intrinsic characteristics ideally suited to produce entirely different outcomes. Modern dental education finds itself in a predicament as it assesses new ways to meet the ever-changing demands of its profession and the superimposed mega-issues and global concerns of the new millennium-all competing in an organization and curriculum imprisoned in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. The purpose of this article is to highlight the role of leadership in dentistry and more specifically dental education. It compares and contrasts characteristics commonly found in leaders who seek long-term, outward-looking organizational changes and managers who work with short-term, inward-looking changes. Both are needed in dental education; however, only leaders can provide a clear vision of our future. Having leaders will allow dental education to begin to address its professional and educational challenges not only today, but in the decades to come.