LEADERSHIP CORNER
Hawaii Dental Service president aims for 'customer joy'

Interviewed by David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writer

Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Personal profile

• Self-portrait: Won has been president and CEO of the state's largest dental insurance organization since August, 2000. He manages a staff of about 104 and was previously executive director of the Hawaii Dental Association and Hawaii Medical Association. "I am a local boy raised in Kaimuki. I was a beachboy — surfed, played Hawaiian music, and had wonderful parents who were patient, understanding and supportive. They waited for me to find myself." Won was happy earning $1.08 an hour renting beach towels to tourists at Waikiki when his father suggested he try attending classes at the University of Hawai'i for one semester "just to see if you like it." He did and eventually graduated and went to work as a tax clerk. He didn't take well to government work. He became an assistant to H. Tom Thorson, the head of the Hawaii Medical Association. Eleven years later, Thorson left and Won took over the top post. Now he revels in his role as manager. "I'm a people person."

• Favorite Book: "The Book of Five Rings" by Miyamoto Musashi. "The author was a samurai of the early 1600s. His approach to life is still applicable to businesses 400 years later. He teaches you to respect every person. I don't care if they are a homeless person pushing a cart, respect that person. They are another human being. You can be successful, but you can also be a hated person because of the way you treat others and the way you accomplish your success."

Most remembered mentor: "I have two. First, my passion for all things Hawaiian was inspired by my beloved hanai, pure Hawaiian aunt, Mary Richardson, who taught me to play slack-key guitar every waking moment of my young life. I was chubby so she said do guitar because your fingers are too big for 'ukulele.

"My second mentor was H. Tom Thorson. Tom taught me that to become an effective leader, I needed to trust in myself and face the world alone."

• Best part of the job: Getting calls or letters from customers saying how helpful our staff has been. "The very first day (on the job) I gathered the people and gave them where I was coming from. No. 1, I said the most important part of the equation here is you. Because of that I'm going to invest in you. The second thing I want to tell you is what I expect from your service. I do not want customer satisfaction. What I want is customer joy."

The approach seems to be working, Won said. In 2002 the number of subscribers at HDS passed the goal the company had set for 2006. The average wait to get a live voice for a customer calling in is 17 seconds, compared with a target of 44 seconds set by a national dental association.

• Trademark expression: "Talk to me." That's the most important thing any leader can tell anybody under him, Won said. "Talk to me; don't talk to others. Twice a week I walk around this office and just talk to people. I'm trying to find out how they are. I stop at every desk."

• Best decision as a leader: Having managers and employees go through training with Glenn Furuya of Leadership Works. "Everybody here is a leader. I don't care if you are in operations, executive staff or the mailroom. I want to give you the ability to understand what it takes to be more of a leader. Glenn's course goes five months, a full day every other Thursday. It is a commitment. About 30 management went and then the support staff got a three-day condensed version. The people come back and they are so energized. It put everyone on the same page and using the same language."

• Worst decision as a leader: "I keep trying to make the sale when the sale is already made. I have to catch myself. I make bullet points, but I keep expanding the bullet points. If it is enough to make the sale, you don't have to keep making the sale."

• What I worry about the most: "That access to good healthcare and funds will run out before good oral health can be had by all." Low reimbursements is the most common complaint Won gets from dentists. "I tell dentist that I recognize you guys are trying to make a living. I have community meetings with dentists. I said you can come and tell us anything. They loved this. Maybe we can't do everything you ask, but I will give you an answer. I have gone to every meeting. I want to face them. I'm not going to send a representative. I have to be the guy on the seat, not anybody else."

• Leadership tip: "Lao Tsu, the Chinese leader once said, 'The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, we did it ourselves.' "

Taking on... Rules that don't make sense

"One of the things we decided at end of 2000 was to change a rule that said HDS pays for one oral exam a year and two cleanings. It is really not fair to the dentist or the patient. When the patient is in the dental chair, that dentist is responsible. Ethically he has to do an exam, just to look for what is going on. If we are going to put the patient in the chair, we should pay for the exam. The problem was it would make the premiums higher. I said we will eat it. We have enough reserves. We are a nonprofit. Why do we keep building reserves? The dentist are happy. They get paid for two exams. The patients are happy. The human resources people are happy because the premiums did not go up."