I recall after leaving the presidency of ADIO, I informally sat down with Dr. Thom Gelardi and he shared with me that he was considering Dr. Jim Healey for the position. My first reaction was that Jim was a young, recent graduate with no practice experience. I mistakenly thought that experience in chiropractic practice was necessary for successful leadership. As in many aspects of chiropractic, Dr. Gelardi had greater insight than me. He saw in Jim a knowledge of the philosophy and the wisdom to apply that philosophy that far exceeded number of years in life and was far more important than time in practice. The school grew and prospered under Jim’s leadership, thanks to Thom’s understanding that it is not experience that is the best teacher but the ability to apply knowledge of chiropractic to that experience. There are many people who have experience but not a knowledge of chiropractic that exceeds experience. It is over 30 years later. Jim now has years of experience both as an educator and a practitioner. But he still has a grasp of chiropractic philosophy that has only deepened and is still of greater value than his experience.
