Welcome to the Golden Age of Orthodontics, where we dive into the future of orthodontic care. Today, we're excited to have Kelly Riedel, the CEO of LightForce Orthodontics, as our special guest. Join us as we explore how LightForce is reshaping the industry with its revolutionary custom bracket technology. Imagine measuring and enhancing your protocols' effectiveness, all while setting a new standard in patient experience and practice efficiency. With LightForce, orthodontists can now create personalized digital treatment plans that are fast, precise, and uniquely tailored to each patient's needs. Kelly emphasizes the need to be customer-obsessed! There’s never been a better time to be an Orthodontist.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [4:31] Kelly’s professional background and she shares a story about Jeff Bezos and a discussion of getting and keeping great staff
• [12:17] Kelly shares innovations being integrated from Amazon to LightForce as she discusses their core values
• [18:28] Kelly describes the process at LightForce once the patient information comes from the practice
• [20:14] What role will AI play at LightForce
• [25:28] Kelly discusses the future of changing technology

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

• An orthodontic practice should be built around patient needs rather than what your competition is doing
• LightForce designs and builds the tools they need. They don’t pull them off a shelf. This sets them apart and provides essential, revolutionary services for practices and their patients
• Robots can do tasks well, and humans are needed when high-value judgment and relationship building are required

RESOURCE LINKS

People + Practice  - Website

Dr. Leon - Email

Amy Epstein - Email

People + Practice - Email

Kelly Riedel - Email

BIOGRAPHY:  

Kelly Riedel is the Chief Operating Officer at LightForce, provider of the world's first and only fully customized 3d printed orthodontic system. Prior to joining LightForce, Kelly was Director of Global Robotics Operations for Amazon, leading a cross-functional organization delivering all robotics technology into Amazon buildings worldwide. In this role, she managed operations across five different product design centers, coordinated with 100+ suppliers across four continents, and launched Amazon’s state-of-the-art, 350,000-square-foot Innovation Hub. An attorney by trade, she previously led the legal team for Amazon Robotics as a member of its executive team, and before that, was Senior Counsel at HMH Publishing Company, focused on technology transactions, and a member of the IP Transactions team at Skadden, Arps. She holds a B.A. from Middlebury College, a J.D. from Berkeley Law School, and was a member of the 2016 Harvard Business School Women’s Leadership Forum. Kelly resides in Massachusetts with her husband and two children. Over her desk, she has a print that reads, “Here’s to Strong Women: May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.” She’s striving to do all three.

QUOTES: 

“Amazon has a lot of leadership principles. If you Google Amazon Leadership Principles, in my view, they are the best way to be a leader and a successful worker. The unique part about how Amazon uses them is they don't just have them; they read them and teach them. They live them. It is how they hire, evaluate themselves and how they evaluate others and choose what to invest in.” Kelly Riedel

“LightForce has three core values. The most important thing is customer obsession: focus on your customers. People say if the practice down the street offers X, should we offer X or if our competitors are doing X, why shouldn’t we do Y? I firmly believe that the best companies don't do that. They start with their customers and their customer's needs, problems, challenges, and desires and work backward from there, and LightForce 100 percent does this.”  Kelly Riedel