Thrivent CEO Terry Rasmussen: Everything I need to know about business I learned from cleaning people’s teeth

Today, I lead a Fortune 500 financial services company with more than 2 million clients. Over the course of a 40-year career, I’ve had the chance to help guide organizations through periods of growth and transformation. What’s striking to me is how many of the most important lessons I learned didn’t come later in life. They came during my very first job as a dental hygienist at a practice in West Salem, Wisconsin. At the time, I didn’t think of it as the start of a career path. It was just a way to do good work and help people. A practical choice In my family, everyone seemed to have a clea...