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Are you a passionate veterinarian seeking to elevate your practice and make a lasting impact in the field?
Welcome to "The Vet'Ed Podcast". Join Steven Hermann, Kale Flaspohler and Lindo Zwane - industry experts and thought leaders, as they delve into tailored strategies and nurturing relationships to empower privately owned veterinary practices.
Tune in the first and third Wednesday of the month to gain invaluable insights, tips, and inspiration to thrive in your independent clinic. Together, let's build a community dedicated to advancing veterinary care. Subscribe now and embark on a journey towards lasting success in your practice.
Are you ready? Alright. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time of day this finds you. Welcome to the Vetted Podcast, the mindset edition. I'm your host, Steven Herman, for this short digestible eight to ten minutes of, talking about, mindset.
Steven:And as these go, it's kinda like your thoughts that come to me about what I think is important to focus on and leadership. Everyone wants to know the key to leadership. Can everyone lead? Does everyone wanna lead? My answer is it depends.
Steven:I think that's what you should say about a lot of things. It depends. So question is though, what is leadership? You know, what if it isn't one thing? But what if it is a practice?
Steven:Once you think about leadership is a practice, life's a practice. As we talk about, we're talking about veterinary practices. And so just like your practice thing there, leadership's a practice. But what is leadership again, really? I want to reflect on that.
Steven:Is leadership where the buck stops? Is it with one person? Is it running a business? Is it leading yourself to a better life every day? Leadership has a lot of meanings.
Steven:Again, it depends on how you're looking at it. I wanna talk about though, with mindset is experience too. It's about three stories in my own personal experience and really the three biggest stories of leadership for me. Grocery store, Paul supermarket, school board, and here at Pro Partners team. And they're all different, all very different.
Steven:The grocery store, we had clear rules, roles and metrics. And also for me, it felt natural, straightforward. I was born in the grocery store, you know, not literally born in it, but my family owned grocery stores, and so I spent a lot of time there. And what was unique about it is that when I say the rules are clear, you had how many cases of stock per hour. You had how many items to check out per minute.
Steven:You had all the things and metrics that were built into that industry. So leadership wise, it was kinda military, if you will. It was really that you have to do these things to execute properly. So so leadership there, was pretty, pretty straightforward. And you had to be because you had to execute at a high level.
Steven:The school board. What's different about that is that I was one of seven. And the only way that I was gonna get anything done on the school board is I needed three friends to believe in me because we're gonna go to a vote. And obviously you need four out of seven to pass that through. Now I would say the experience on school board that I had, luckily, we all shared a common vision.
Steven:So we didn't have a lot of issues with having to win people over because we were already on the same side. But what I did realize though, as one of seven in a leadership role, you know, the question is, like, how much leadership is that if you're only one of seven? Well, again, leadership depends on where you're at. So leadership there is how do you influence and win friends? That was a really good experience to have there.
Steven:And now to pro partners team, a completely different experience. We really I think it rewrote their leadership book for me. It started with two guys, my business partner, Wes, and I, bringing up to a team of 20. And in that too, what's unique about it as we built this along, as we continue to build it and hone it in, there weren't rules, there weren't metrics. It was our vision of what we wanted to do.
Steven:And along the way, our team has helped with that vision, and I think that that has been, been really unique on that side because everybody's had a leadership role at the place. So what is what is challenging, though, at times, too, is understanding where leadership fits and how it goes. And one of the best ways to do that as we have our theme for this year at Pro Partners is and I think you've heard me talk about this, it's empowerment. And empowerment is so important. Empowerment is that you trust in your team to be able to lead in what they need to do.
Steven:And the key thing is with that is that trust. And we've talked about trust as a must. You can't have leadership without trust. So let's talk about what is the one constant though. So gone through these three different experiences, but the one constant that I've seen in leadership is accountability.
Steven:You've heard me talk about that before, accountability. So it's real simple. When things go right, when things are going really well, it's the team's reward, right? They're the ones that get the credit. Now, leadership comes in.
Steven:If things don't go right, it's on me or whoever that leadership is of that team for the accountability and responsibility to look and say, what did I do that didn't allow the team to be empowered? Because that's what leadership is. Leadership is taking the blame and giving the credit. I think if you get those things right, taking the blame and giving the credit, that's key. Now, of course, taking the blame doesn't simply mean I'm sorry, and you move on.
Steven:It means I'm sorry. We're gonna figure this out and grow from it. Don't repeat mistakes. That's that fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me thing. I think George Bush said it a little more funny.
Steven:If you've all seen that skit out there, he says something like, fool me, fool you, Shame on you. He said it real funny. Look that up. It's a good one. And, actually, not to get political on him at all, but he led with he led with humility and, and humor.
Steven:That's a pretty good, pretty good way to lead with with levity. So I think that's why he joked a lot. It made him very likable. But the one constant I see is accountability. Now let's talk about leadership.
Steven:This is why it's like, can can everyone lead? And and again, I yes. Everyone can lead. I wanna say it depends on this. It does, but I don't wanna say it depends.
Steven:But I think you're gonna you're gonna know why I'm gonna say that. And it's because if you have a growth mindset, you have the ability to lead. Because you have a growth mindset, you have the ability to learn from your mistakes and grow and get better and not get beat down. So a growth mindset is is huge. And the key thing of the growth mindset is that you're not leading with your ego.
Steven:You're not leading because you need a title. Right? A title doesn't give you power. It doesn't give you leadership. A title just really tells someone where they're at in the organization.
Steven:Doesn't mean they're a leader just because they have a title, just because I have a title of CEO or co founder. Those things I'd never believed are, the thing that give a person their leadership abilities. It's how they interact with people day in and day out. So when you think about leading, the question is is I believe it has to energize you. If what you're doing does not energize you, it's not gonna be good.
Steven:It's not gonna be fun. And to lead people, you've gotta be in the right frame of mind. You have to have energy. So make sure whatever you're doing leadership wise, that it brings good into the world and energizes you. So let's wrap this thing up.
Steven:Remember, bite size, digestible. I might even beat the beat eight minutes here today. Is there one way to lead? Nope, not at all. But there is your way.
Steven:And you should evolve as you go along, just like we all do. So as I wanna challenge you all out there today to reflect on, what's one small way you can practice leadership this week that aligns with your values, that brings energy, and does some good? I'll say it again. What's one small way you can practice leadership this week? That aligns with your values, brings energy, and does some good.
Steven:Hey, that's it for today on the Better podcast, a mindset edition. Leadership, we all can lead. We have to lead. If we don't do that, we're not gonna move forward. Thanks so much for listening.
Steven:If you like what we're saying, subscribe to the channel. And again, go to our Better podcast on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, comment, feedback. Let us know what you like. Let you know what you don't like. Hey.
Steven:We're here to learn. Thank you so much for your time. Till next time. Bye bye.