A blog for veterinarians

Fresh content and ideas for your veterinary practice

Bad Leadership Works

One of the toughest challenges I’ve faced working with leaders is how many of them outwardly appear to be successful. Yet, they have spent much of their time using fear, intimidation, and a draconian approach to managing others. There are…

3 Ways Managers Kill Engagement and Crush Motivation

Leadership, Leadership Pitfalls

Very few managers show up to work thinking, “Today I’m going to cause my team to disengage and demotivate them.” Yet, many managers spend a great deal of their time doing exactly that. It may not be their intention, but…

4 Things a New Manager Should Know

Building Relationships, Leadership

I often get to work with practice owners who are entering into a leadership role for the first time. This is some of the most rewarding work I do. There is no handbook on leadership and many of us struggle…

Listen Like a Leader

Building Relationships, Leadership

Several years ago, I was working with a leader who moved into a new role. I was invited to attend the dinner where he would meet his new team for the first time. It was one of those three-hour meals…

group of people putting hands into a huddle

5 Steps to Make Sure Your Team Building Is Not Wasted Time

Building Relationships, Leadership

I get a lot of requests to do team building. Often, after initial conversations with the practice owner or manager, traditional “team building” is not what I end up delivering. At least it’s not the only thing I end up…

Building Relationships 2.0

Building Relationships, Leadership

Back when I was building the website for my business, my web designer suggested I improve my “web presence.” He proposed that I should join Twitter in order to do this. My first question was, “What the heck is Twitter?”…

sunset picture of hiker helping another person up

Trust and Leadership

Building Relationships, Leadership

There have been scores of books, blogs, and articles written on the importance of trust in leadership. Most experts, authors, gurus, and thinkers agree that without trust you cannot lead. You may be able to herd, coerce, corral, or even…

If You Stop Learning, You Stop Leading

Leadership, Learning from Failure

I began working with a new practice recently. The owner of the practice impressed me during our first discussion. He spent much of our first conversation sharing some of the things he learned as a leader in veterinary medicine. I…

Help, I’ve Fallen and I Can’t…Nevermind

Leadership, Learning from Failure

One of the attributes I noticed in nearly every great leader that I’ve worked with is that they know how to get back up after they fall. I don’t think they fall any less than the rest of us, or…

Does Your Team Take Risks, or Play it Safe?

Leadership, Learning from Failure

Adult humans aren’t very good at taking risks. I say adult humans because kids are fantastic at it. When my son played baseball as a kid, I watched players who hit triples refuse to stop at third base. A triple…

Do Something, Even if It’s Wrong

Leadership, Learning from Failure

Every now and then I like to take a quote and look at what it really means in our lives, our businesses, and our quest to be more effective leaders. Quotes can be valuable tools for us to think about…

Your Daily Leadership Scorecard

Aspire, Leadership

The more I learn about habit change, the more I become a fan of the daily scorecard process I use for myself and many of my coaching clients. I have found that people are much more effective at making changes…