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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? Hey. Hey, everybody. Hope everybody's doing great. Hey.
Steven:Coming to you from ProPartners team headquarters right in Columbia, Missouri in our podcast room. Doing the mindset podcast. And this one's this one's gonna be about the fixed mindset. And it really came from I was at VetPartners last week in Las Vegas. Alright.
Steven:Hey. We're popping this in the middle. Kelsey's gonna do this and post recording, she brought up maybe some people don't know about VetPartners. Thank you, Kelsey, for bringing that up. Vet partners read right from the website.
Steven:It's a nonprofit association comprised of veterinary business experts. We're the resource every veterinary professional needs. You can find them at vetpartners.org. Doctor Peter Weinstein and Tracy Gray Walker both recommend I join or join that partner. Excuse me.
Steven:And I'm I'm really glad I did because there's a bunch of people doing the same things we do. There's veterinarians in the room. There's industry experts in the room. So it really is helps to I think that's wanna talk about growth mindset. That organization is built on the growth mindset that you can have people doing the same thing in the room together doing things for the future of veterinary, practices.
Steven:So, what about that partners there? Their mission, that partners fosters a community of members better prepared to meet the business needs of the veterinary profession by providing education and networking. There's CPAs, attorneys, business brokers, architects, IT, human resource, practice management, marketing, financing. There's pet health insurance software. Industry associations were there.
Steven:Pet food manufacturers, laboratory, diagnostics, drug manufacturing, compounding pharmacy. So lots of stuff happening there. So that's a little about that part. So if you didn't know about it, check them out at thatpartners.org. Thank you.
Steven:And and that fixed mindset just just kinda repeated with me. We're all guilty of it. I mean, everybody is. It's one of those things that what separates these great performers from good performers is fixed mindset. And so I wanted to bring back some some feedback from there, some observations I had and and break this down in a few different segments.
Steven:But, you know, really, on the fixed mindsets, we gotta think about how you show up, how they hold us back, and what we can do to shift toward a growth mindset. This is what this mindset's about. A growth mindset is just such a freeing thing for everybody. And, again, coming from the vet partner in your meeting, it was a great meeting. It has great connections, great content, and and a lot of there's growth mindsets there.
Steven:Don't get me wrong. But I think that fixed mindsets always just stand out. So I'm gonna break down why we default to fixed mindsets, how it affects the way we connect with others, how it stops us from solving real problems, and finally, how finding common ground might be the key to moving forward. Alright. So let's dive in.
Steven:The business first mentality. How many times have you gotten in a conversation when the first thing someone says is what do you do? I think that is very common. What's interesting is that at Vet Partners, we had a talk about not doing that. And and instantly after that talk, I had someone come right up to me and say, what do you do?
Steven:And I, you know, jokingly said, hey. We've had to talk about this. Let's get to know each other first. Let's say, hey. What about you, your family?
Steven:Those things. And so, you know, it's real easy for us because we're excited about our businesses. I don't think this comes from a place of, like, oh, look at me or negativity, but it really just it is that fixed mindset to go, I have to talk about my business. And I think what we do when we do that is that we think the key to success is just to push harder. By pushing harder, if I talk about my business more, that's gonna get it.
Steven:But I think if you look at it from a different angle, before you say anything about yourself, ask two meaningful questions about the other person and see what happens. So that stood out to me. That's always an interesting one because I've had that happen before where I was at a conference that's been over a year ago, and the keynote speaker said the same thing. So maybe ask someone, hey. How how can I help you today?
Steven:And here's how hard this is and why I wanna continue to talk about this. I met that keynote speaker about an hour later. The first thing the keynote speaker said to me was, I bet you can guess it. Hey. What do you do?
Steven:This is a hard concept to get down. It takes practice. So the business first mentality, think about switching that to, again, before you say anything about yourself, ask two meaningful questions about the other person. Alright? The other thing I got too on the fixed mindset is the illusion of a unique approach.
Steven:Now I'm guilty. So how many times, you know, it's been like, hey. I've got this unique approach. What we do is great. And and and really, the question is, how often is that actually true?
Steven:Fixed mindset believes makes us believe that our way is the way, doesn't it? Doesn't it make it just think that it's the only way to do things? So our way's gotta be the right way. But a growth mindset on the other hand says, what can I learn from others? How can I adapt and improve my approach?
Steven:And where am I possibly wrong? So this unique approach is really trying to get us to stand out. Right? And I think if you actually wanna stand out, you have to say open a feedback, new perspective, and different ways of thinking. Because the moment you decide you've already got it all figured out, that's the moment you stop growing.
Steven:Think about that. The moment you stop growing. It's a unique approach. Alright. The next one and, hey, this is always a a fun, important one.
Steven:The problem with avoiding accountability. Now this really stood out. We had a roundtable, and they gave us a discussion topic about, issue of the practice. And the issue of the practice was that, they're overwhelmed, high client demand. And so, you know, at the end end of the day, you gotta come up with, well, what does that mean?
Steven:Pretty vague. Right? So we wanted to put some boundaries in place around, let's just identify some problems and work from there. Now during this talk, we're, you know, getting some suggestions, get things going, but I'd said something here that really, it caught everybody's attention. And now we're in a setting here that is it's not with owners or clients, thing like that.
Steven:It's just a group setting, and and that I can be pretty blunt. I just said the owner screwed up. And when they said, what what's going on with this problem? I said, the owner screwed up. Why did I get a like, some eyebrows raised?
Steven:I'm a go, you can't say that. That's not right. Well, you know, maybe it wasn't the best way to bring it up, but at the end of the day, the fixed mindset response is defensive. Right? And so maybe could've been turned into a way to avoid discomfort and say, hey.
Steven:What do you mean by that? Tell me more. And, also, like, hey. How could the owner have accountability, without blame? Because that's the problem.
Steven:Right? Is that when you say you screwed up, you just take that blame on, and that gets you that fixed mindset instead of saying have me work together for a better solution. So, yeah, the problem with avoiding accountability is big. Because at the end of the day, we often look internally to figure out, what have I done with situation? So that one was was pretty interesting.
Steven:So I think about if you wanna solve real problems in the veterinary practice or in any business, you gotta get comfortable with hard truth. So maybe in a table setting, I could have said a little different. So I was talking about accountability here. Probably could have. And, maybe it would've gotten a different result out of that.
Steven:Anyways but, you know, we've gotta take a look at the hard truth. So, do not avoid accountability. Now this was an interesting part. We had a chance to have a panel talking about the mid level practitioner, and and had a debate on it. And what it really got to was, you know, and mine got it.
Steven:How do we find common ground? You know, I think what happens with fixed mindset is that when you're in a fixed mindset and you're thinking your way is a unique way, your way is the only way, you forget to look at the fact that both sides of this debate were actually trying to get to the same place. They both cared about access to care for the animals, for the clients, you know, as the demand has risen for veterinary veterinary care across the country, especially in places that are hard to find veterinarians. So, you know, that fixed mindset really instead of them working together towards a shared solution, they're completely against each other. So as I looked at the growth mindset on that, that's why you get back to us is debate divisiveness on something we are trying to get to the same thing the same way.
Steven:Gotta ask yourself, where's the common ground? What do we actually agree on? How can we work together to create something better? And the real challenge isn't choosing one side or the other. It's breaking down the barriers that keep us from finding a collaborative solution.
Steven:So, again, what what that brought up is not it's not about the mid level practitioner debate that was going on on the stage. It's about finding that common ground. And as I tied through these segments here going from the unique approach, the business first mentality, avoiding accountability. Right? When we get down a path on a debate like something like that, really, accountability is to go, as we said before, am I wrong?
Steven:It's hard to admit that when you've gone down that path already far away as you go, I I might be wrong. I might need to take another person's point of view. That's so important to that, and maybe some common ground can be found. So final thoughts on this as we were at this meeting and everybody's talking about, you know, having the best better industry you can have, doing the best you can. It the this thing popped in my mindset.
Steven:You know, this is a lot of this about gaining an edge. And it's interesting because you think about gaining an edge is about doing better than the next person potentially. And that really was like, does that work with a growth mindset? How does gaining an edge fit with a growth mindset? And how do you do some thinking on this?
Steven:And and the surface, it felt like it doesn't fit. You know, it sounds competitive. Right? Gaining an edge. Sound Sound like you're trying to get ahead of everyone else.
Steven:But then it occurred to me, what if the real edge comes from staying open, adaptable, and willing to learn? That hit me because maybe the real competitive advantage isn't having all the answers. Maybe it's being the person who's constantly evolving, improving, and finding ways to work with others instead of against them. I don't know. Why don't you get your feedback on it?
Steven:Think about that because we're definitely in a competitive world. And if we're trying to work together for common solutions, trying to gain an edge, maybe it's about gaining an edge for yourself on how you interact with other people. Now the other thing that occurred to me on this was, it's it's application of the edge, if you will. I think I say when people gain an edge and do something with it, maybe it wasn't that they gained an edge. It was that they actually did something with the application of the information and knowledge that they gained.
Steven:And gaining an edge might just be the way people say that that happened out of it, but, really, they got it from being open and having a growth mindset. So to conclude today, where have you seen fixed mindsets holding people back, and how are you working on shifting towards a growth mindset? I want you to think about that. Where have you seen fixed mindsets holding people back? I didn't go into bet partners thinking about fixed mindsets or growth mindsets.
Steven:But thankfully, since doing this podcast and those things, it made me more self aware and self conscious about that. Maybe able to catch myself when I did have a fixed mindset, thought I needed to say something. And so I think that if you approach the day thinking about that fixed mindset, it'll really help you in your growth mindset. So, hey, always, if you found this episode helpful, share it with a colleague or a friend. Like us on Facebook, Instagram.
Steven:Like us on YouTube, Spotify. Subscribe all over the place. We really love to see that. And if you have thoughts, questions, shoot us a message on socials. We'd love to break down feedback on the mindset.
Steven:Thanks, everybody. Till next time. Alright. You