Read time: 5 minutes.

At a glance:

• Quote:

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• What I’ve Learned

• Business Idea

What I Learned:

Fifteen firefighters were dispatched to a put out a wildfire.

But the situation deteriorated quickly.

With increasing winds, the firefighters found themselves facing a rushing wall of flames heading directly towards them in an open field.

They all started running.

—All but one.

The lone firefighter screamed “Stay PUT! Stay PUT!”

And against everyone’s intuition, he started another fire!

He lit a match to the brush, quickly stomped it out, and laid in his charred-circle facedown.  

The flames roared past.

But because this firefighter already burned the brush, he didn’t burn.

—But the remaining crew racing up the hill?

All but two were burned alive.

This story is famous in firefighting lore.   

Known as the Mann Gulch Incident, it changed training for new recruits. 

It’s incredible. This guy possessed enough situational knowledge to have his mind and body subconsciously do the counter-intuitive thing.

I would have run.

—I also likely wouldn’t be here.

One of the best things to enter the orthodontic industry is software.  

A.I., personalized plans, computer-aided design,  customizable appliances.     All stuff that excites me.

But one thing that will never change in orthodontics is the situational knowledge—the basics. 

An orthodontic teacher had this line in his commencement that inspired this week’s post:

“Regardless of what new gadgets and gizmos come your way, it’s your knowledge of the fundamentals that will make you who you are and what you can provide. Never forget this.”

Gut knowledge.

Fundamentals.

Because the one thing that will matter more than anything else in all careers touched by software is counter-intuitive situational knowledge. 

The tools will become fancier, the setups will be appear easier, and the time spent on approval quicker—but the lesson I’ve learned is that it only helps the doctors who know, and continue to learn, the situational knowledge.

The doctors who take the time to dive into each case.

The doctors, who despite having the best tech, still know what to do when all else fails.

The human brain is still king.

That’s why human orthodontists will always be needed.

And the rest, who assume otherwise, will unfortunately

… get burned.

^{Reference: Lessons.Fire.Gov.TheMannGulchIncident.1949.}

“The key to learning is the open awareness of what you lack in fundamental understanding.”