Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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? Welcome to the VETTED Podcast, the mindset edition, where we dive in for about fifteen minutes into mindset, which is very, very important to success as we've discussed before. This is episode two, and this is our in between the normal VETTED podcast, my co host, Kale Flaspoeller, where we get a chance to interview some great people in the industry and some great veterinarians. Hey. On the mindset, as I set it up in episode one, was talking about growth mindset, leadership mindset, and abundance mindset.
Steven:And leadership mindset is it's on my mind today. Am I laughing about that? Because I'm saying mind a lot here. But coming off of the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association Annual Convention here in Columbia, Missouri, had the chance to speak on mindset. And leadership just rang true, and and I wanna say what that means.
Steven:It's it's the episode title is Leading Without Fear, Mindset Shifts for Veterinarians, and got a quote here. Leadership in veterinary medicine isn't just about managing a team. It's about managing yourself first. And what we got into in the discussion there was, you know, looking in the mirror. When everything about leadership, one of the most important things is to look in the mirror.
Steven:Have I done everything right for my team by giving him the opportunity to succeed? And, you know, also as a big part of it. So so again, it's about managing yourself first with leadership. Now, one of the key things is, is to dive into some industry experts out there and mindset expert, habit expert, James Clear. If you haven't heard of James Clear, please Google him, and we'll have the website link up on the bed at podcast.com.
Steven:James Clear wrote a book called The Atomic Habits, one of the best selling books of all times. Actually, I think it's like 20 to 30,000,000 copies around the world in multiple languages. James has a great quote from his weekly newsletter on Thursdays. This is last Thursday. He says, people can sometimes be held hostage by their expectations.
Steven:They have a dream of something they would like to achieve or a path they intend to follow, but their mindset falls apart when things don't work out how they had hoped. The key is to reach for an extremely high bar, but to be adaptable enough to reframe the failures, disappointments, and defeats into fuel for the next thing. Give your best effort, but no matter how it works, trust that life will be good for you. Focus on how the world is working for with you, not against you. Everything you are giving is material for the next move.
Steven:Everything. I I love a couple of things in there. A lot of things, a couple of things stand out. Number one, held hostage by expectations, the dream, and the material for the next move. Expectations as, as veterinarians, I'm not a veterinarian, but I've come to understand that hat you have, that you wear as a veterinarian, you're dealing with life.
Steven:And so, you know, there are guidelines. There are things you have to follow. You have a dream. I think we know that nine out of ten veterinarians have had that dream from a young age. And the material you're given for the next move, everything.
Steven:Now while you have that life that you're, you know, having the room there that you're responsible for, if we talk about being adaptable in leadership, you have to be adaptable. I know that in that room, there's things that happen that were unexpected and you're able to solve that for the most part, you know, get that animal back on track. You have adaptability. Where that comes from, the experience you have in the veterinary space. Why we need to talk about mindset is because the experience you need for leadership matters too, to be able to be adaptable, to know what to do in those unexpected situations.
Steven:James Clear does a great job on this. So please, take a look at James Clear. Alright. I think part of leadership is the ability to let go. And Maria Montessori, hopefully, everyone's heard of the Montessori school or the Montessori method.
Steven:Maria Montessori, amazing, individual in the education space. Fortunate my kids were able to go to Montessori school at a young age, and we're just amazed by it. And and she said this this I tell you what, sums it up. The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say the children are now working as if I did not exist. But this holds true for leadership in general.
Steven:Give people space and they flourish. So you gotta ask yourself, are you letting other people have the opportunity to succeed? Are you letting other people have the opportunity to fail? Because a lot of times the way we learn right is through failure. Now, again, I understand you have life in your hands.
Steven:So failure on that veterinary hat is, you know, very much so a big, big deal, but in the business sense of things and like setting up the room, doing various tasks around the practice, what are you letting them do to succeed on that area? I always like thinking about when people talk about, hey, if we look at a doctor who can type 300 words per minute and they have an assistant that can type 60 words per minute, who's gonna do the typing? Now if you said the doctors should do the typing, you're wrong. It's who you hire that should do the typing because you need to do what you do well. Let go of that.
Steven:Just because you're better at it, doesn't mean you need to do it. Make sure you're delegating and letting people flourish. And maybe that person that's 60 words a minute might get you your 300 word a minute apart. Think about that. Think about what'll free you up to do as a veterinarian or as a business owner.
Steven:Real simple example there. So what does this all come down to though? It comes down to overcoming fear. And I love Dune. I'm a sci fi guy, and I love Frank Herbert.
Steven:His quote, I think is a good mantra that anyone could say any day every day. He says, and this is of course is, you know, in the movie, when he says, I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is a little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear.
Steven:I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain. Man, I I love that.
Steven:Think about it. That's what holds us back is fear. It's fear failure, fear of the unknown, and so we just hit that wall. You gotta get past it. And get back to what James said, which ties into this quote, is about those things you're gonna experience is the material for your next move.
Steven:That's what, Frank Herbert's saying in this quote. So think about that. How are you going to get that fear out of the way because fear prevents growth, risks, and necessary change? The question is is that I think fear can lead to indecisiveness too. Fear leads to inaction and stagnation.
Steven:Think about this from the veterinary standpoint. A clinic owner who hesitates to invest in technology because they fear financial risk, meanwhile, competitors move forward. Great example is is as I see associates buy these practices that are starting in the eighties, a lot of them are still in the same building from the eighties, and they struggle to hire on new associates. And when they go out, either they remodel existing location, add new technology, or heck, build a brand new location, they have the ability to hire again. You have to move forward.
Steven:Let's talk about addressing staff performance. How many times do we avoid that conversation that you fear will cause conflict? But maybe that one person that practice that you're fearing that conversation with is hampering everyone else's performance in there. We can't be fearful. We have to be open and honest and take care of our business.
Steven:So as we say, the make these short and sweet, what's your next move in leadership? You got to accountability accountability over excuses. You know, it was interesting, my own personal experiences, that I've had even last night, my son got home a little late and started giving me excuses. That first thing I went from, I don't wanna hear excuses. I want accountability.
Steven:I want you to go to bed. Straightforward. And we'll have a good conversation about that. Are you empowering your staff over micromanagement? Now I think that micromanagement gets thrown around anytime something's managed.
Steven:So make sure that you understand the difference between management and micromanagement. And generally, where you find that at is that because you are doing the right job as a leader, you are empowering your staff. Those will overcome each other. Micromanagement will go away. Encourage over fear.
Steven:Face those challenges head on and face them quickly. Because one of the worst thing you can do is let them hang out there. If they hang out there and don't get solved, you miss an opportunity for that material you need to move forward. So I want you to ask yourself, what's one mindset you can what's one mindset shift you can make today? Think about what can you let go of?
Steven:Have you been making excuses? And what fear is stopping you from taking the next step? So to what James said, everything you are given is material for the next move. And if you think about it, you have a practice. Right?
Steven:Leadership is a practice. It's a process. It is not perfection. Don't let that thought of perfection hold you back from moving forward. So as we wrap up the leadership mindset talk today, I hope this helps you get over that.
Steven:Again, fear, move that out of the way, and move forward with your team and see what you can do. I believe it's a great time right now to be a private practice owner. I believe there's great opportunity to have independent thought to see what the next iteration of veterinary practices can hold, and so I can't be more excited to be a part of that. Hey. If you've liked what we've talked about today, please like and subscribe today on the channel, and remember, thevettapodcast.com.
Steven:Go check that out. Check us out on Facebook, on Instagram. Give us suggestions. What do you wanna hear? What's holding you back?
Steven:I can anonymously talk about what your questions are to make sure that you get what you need to succeed in the veterinary community. Thank you so much for your time today. Take care.