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Dipping your toe with Derek Maxwell, LVT · My Veterinary Life

0:10
Speaker 1: Welcome to this week's episode of My Veterinary Life podcast.
0:12
Speaker 1: I'm your host, doctor Annie Schavant, and my pronouns are
0:15
Speaker 1: she her and our guest today is Derek Maxwell. Derek
0:19
Speaker 1: is a credentialed veterinary technician and co owner of a
0:22
Speaker 1: mobile veterinary service in Michigan. I am so excited to
0:25
Speaker 1: share Derek's story, but before we do, I want to
0:28
Speaker 1: give a thank you to our podcast partner, NVA General Practice.
0:32
Speaker 1: NBA helps great vets become even greater with multiple paths
0:35
Speaker 1: to build a career that's uniquely yours. Lead a team,
0:39
Speaker 1: explore a specialty, own a practice, or shape care across
0:42
Speaker 1: their network of nine hundred plus neighborhood clinics. Wherever you
0:46
Speaker 1: want to go next, NBA has a path to help
0:48
Speaker 1: you get there. Visit careers dot NBA dot com to
0:51
Speaker 1: find your next role and with that, Welcome to the show, Derek.
0:55
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, Doctor Chavan, happy to be here.
0:58
Speaker 1: So happy to have you here in CA. Wait to
1:00
Speaker 1: learn more about your career story, but we do like
1:03
Speaker 1: to start with the very beginning for everyone on the podcast.
1:06
Speaker 1: So how did you first become interested in the field
1:09
Speaker 1: of veterinary medicine.
1:11
Speaker 2: Honestly, it was by chance and a little later on
1:13
Speaker 2: in life. I was about twenty eight, I think when
1:16
Speaker 2: I entered my program after high school. I mean I
1:20
Speaker 2: came from a little town. I think everybody was like,
1:23
Speaker 2: you need to go to college, you need to do
1:24
Speaker 2: these things. Went there did that realized I just didn't
1:28
Speaker 2: even know what I was interested in. So I went
1:30
Speaker 2: to the university for like a year, and I took
1:32
Speaker 2: a break off from that, and then I just worked
1:34
Speaker 2: kind of some various jobs. Tried out construction, I tried
1:37
Speaker 2: some manufacturing things, and in the meantime I met my
1:42
Speaker 2: future wife. She had this really nice quarterhorse, gelving, and
1:46
Speaker 2: she trained herself along with the help of my grandfather
1:49
Speaker 2: who was a longtime trainer in her area. She was
1:51
Speaker 2: getting ready to take him on the AQHA circuit, and
1:55
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, one night he ended up calliking
1:57
Speaker 2: and it was a very long night, and ultimately, you know,
2:01
Speaker 2: he ended up dying from the college, and we couldn't
2:04
Speaker 2: get a veterinarian out and we were kind of out
2:06
Speaker 2: of everyone's area, and so it was just a situation
2:09
Speaker 2: that kind of like, you know, you felt helpless and
2:12
Speaker 2: it just stuck around with me for quite a while,
2:15
Speaker 2: and you know, I always in the back of my mind,
2:17
Speaker 2: you know, when you're reflecting and things like that, and
2:19
Speaker 2: it's just like, you know, I wish I could have
2:20
Speaker 2: done more and knew more and things like that. So
2:23
Speaker 2: at one point I got sick and tired of work
2:25
Speaker 2: in the what I call my meaningless nine to five job,
2:28
Speaker 2: and so I went home one day, very frustrated, and
2:30
Speaker 2: I just googled best college is in Michigan for the
2:33
Speaker 2: non traditional student, because that's what I was at that point,
2:35
Speaker 2: and Baker College came up right away, so clicked on it,
2:39
Speaker 2: filled out their survey because I definitely like I'm going
2:42
Speaker 2: to do this, like I didn't come here this frustrated,
2:45
Speaker 2: not too and I fill out survey, looked over their
2:48
Speaker 2: programs and one of them was just said veterinary technology,
2:50
Speaker 2: and I was like, well, wonder what that is. You know,
2:53
Speaker 2: I really had no idea what it was, but it
2:55
Speaker 2: sure sounded interesting. So accepting the program, found out what
2:59
Speaker 2: it was all about out and fell in love with
3:01
Speaker 2: it from day one. And so, you know, while I
3:04
Speaker 2: was in my program, Chrissy, my wife now, came home
3:07
Speaker 2: one day and she was working in public health and
3:10
Speaker 2: she said, you know what, I'm thinking about going back
3:11
Speaker 2: to school. And I'm like, all right, well, what are
3:13
Speaker 2: you going for? And she said, I'm thinking I'm gona
3:15
Speaker 2: apply to be a veterinarian. And here we are today.
3:18
Speaker 2: I'm still excited as I was from day one to
3:20
Speaker 2: be in this field. I think it's the greatest profession
3:22
Speaker 2: in the world, and I'm just really grateful for the
3:25
Speaker 2: opportunities it's provided me.
3:27
Speaker 1: Wow, I am so inspired by your drive to make
3:32
Speaker 1: a change. I think taking that first step is sometimes
3:35
Speaker 1: the hardest one, and sometimes it does come out of
3:39
Speaker 1: being in that place of frustration and knowing that something
3:43
Speaker 1: has to be different, But that doesn't make it any easier.
3:45
Speaker 1: And so I love that you were able to take
3:48
Speaker 1: it upon yourself to research the options to find something
3:51
Speaker 1: that fit what you were looking for, and be open
3:54
Speaker 1: to learning about new experiences and new career paths for you.
3:58
Speaker 1: And I think it's so cool both of you all
4:01
Speaker 1: went back to school and then ended up in the
4:02
Speaker 1: same profession. Here.
4:04
Speaker 2: We get questions all the time, did you guys meet
4:06
Speaker 2: in VET school or at the college? And I'm like, no,
4:09
Speaker 2: we met a long time before this, and you know,
4:11
Speaker 2: for my wife, it's her second career and so definitely
4:15
Speaker 2: if I can do it, you know, go back in
4:18
Speaker 2: a later time in life. Anyone can do it. Really,
4:21
Speaker 2: dipping that toe in the water was the scary part,
4:23
Speaker 2: but once it was in there, it really came naturally.
4:25
Speaker 2: So I'm so grateful that, you know, I took that
4:29
Speaker 2: first step amazing.
4:31
Speaker 1: So yes, I am curious. Then you dipped your toe in,
4:35
Speaker 1: you committed to the program, and then you have a
4:38
Speaker 1: world of opportunities after that. So what options did you
4:42
Speaker 1: look into after your training and then how did you
4:44
Speaker 1: ultimately make that choice.
4:46
Speaker 2: So in the end of our program, and like many
4:49
Speaker 2: programs out there, there's your externship or your clinical portion.
4:52
Speaker 2: So a baker, we really didn't have like a teaching
4:56
Speaker 2: hospital per se. We had lab space that we did
4:59
Speaker 2: and so we went on in to clinics and did
5:02
Speaker 2: our externships or our three hundred hours of time that
5:05
Speaker 2: we needed to do that. So I was placed in
5:08
Speaker 2: a couple because I had interest in equine meds. So
5:11
Speaker 2: I did my small animal portion, which was about two
5:14
Speaker 2: thirds of it at general practice here in Michigan. I'm
5:17
Speaker 2: at a small animal clinic and definitely loved that. But
5:20
Speaker 2: then I got to do the last third at Saginaw
5:23
Speaker 2: Valley Equine Clinic, which is not far from my house,
5:25
Speaker 2: and it's all equine. I mean they do surgery, there,
5:29
Speaker 2: repro work, ambulatory stuff, a lot of sports and medicine.
5:33
Speaker 2: So we got to travel to horse shows and things
5:35
Speaker 2: like that and vet the shows, which was very fun.
5:38
Speaker 2: And so during that externship I realized, Man, I think
5:41
Speaker 2: at one point in my career I solely kind of
5:44
Speaker 2: want to do equine work. So after my externship was over,
5:49
Speaker 2: of course I applied there. They were looking for their
5:51
Speaker 2: first license vetinary technician or nurse per se and I
5:55
Speaker 2: jumped in there. And while I was at Sagnew Valley
5:59
Speaker 2: Equine Clinic, I fell in love with anesthesia. I kind
6:01
Speaker 2: of liked it. Back in the program. I was always
6:04
Speaker 2: something when my partners would want to be like, hey,
6:06
Speaker 2: do you want do you want to take my you know,
6:09
Speaker 2: my shift as anesthetist. I always jumped in and was like, Yeah,
6:11
Speaker 2: this is super cool. So they sent me away for training.
6:14
Speaker 2: They had people antithesiologists come there and train me. I
6:17
Speaker 2: worked under a boarded surgeon who also helped me with
6:19
Speaker 2: anesthesia there and so I kind of fell in love
6:22
Speaker 2: with that. And then, you know, my time there was
6:25
Speaker 2: cut a little short in a good way. I mean,
6:27
Speaker 2: Chrissy was accepted to VET school here in Michigan, you know,
6:30
Speaker 2: she accepted the Michigan State University, Go Green, and so quickly,
6:34
Speaker 2: you know, I realized that the only feasible way to
6:37
Speaker 2: see one another for the next four years was to
6:39
Speaker 2: follow her there. So jumped on their website seeing that
6:43
Speaker 2: the ANTJA department was hiring. So I was like, oh,
6:45
Speaker 2: this is just like fate, right, So jumped in there,
6:49
Speaker 2: and that's where my time in leadership started to grow.
6:53
Speaker 2: I was able to apply for the nurse supervisor role
6:56
Speaker 2: there and was accepted. So I got the privilege of
6:59
Speaker 2: being then their staff supervisor for a little over eight years.
7:03
Speaker 2: And I was looking for some leadership training or CE
7:06
Speaker 2: and I came across this new kind of trek program
7:09
Speaker 2: through the Veterinary Leadership Institute, and so I went there
7:12
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three and that's where my leadership journey
7:15
Speaker 2: started from there.
7:16
Speaker 1: Very cool, very cool. Yes, So I think your story
7:20
Speaker 1: speaks to the importance of exposure, i'll call it, and
7:24
Speaker 1: having to try out different experiences to really be in
7:29
Speaker 1: that moment and recognize whether that is something that you
7:33
Speaker 1: want more of in your life. And so I love
7:35
Speaker 1: that you're able to discover that passion for equine and
7:39
Speaker 1: then anthesia and be in an environment that could nurture
7:43
Speaker 1: those and then when life takes you in a different direction,
7:46
Speaker 1: as it often will, there was an opportunity available there
7:51
Speaker 1: for you to be able to marry those passions and
7:53
Speaker 1: develop yourself even further. And it sounds like also kind
7:56
Speaker 1: of cultivate a newer passion for leadership as well, kind
8:00
Speaker 1: of within the veterinary technology space. So a fascinating journey.
8:06
Speaker 1: Before we dive in to more of that leadership development,
8:09
Speaker 1: I do want to ask about your time in academia
8:13
Speaker 1: because I feel like it's a story that doesn't get
8:15
Speaker 1: told enough, and so I'm curious about what the greatest
8:20
Speaker 1: challenge maybe and the greatest reward was in your eight
8:24
Speaker 1: years at Michigan State.
8:26
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think definitely academia. I'm so grateful for my
8:29
Speaker 2: time there. I didn't really know what to expect with
8:31
Speaker 2: that either, and I think right away I didn't really
8:35
Speaker 2: know how much I'd fall in love with teaching clinical
8:37
Speaker 2: skills to students. And while I was there, like I
8:40
Speaker 2: got to master my own skills and my knowledge base
8:43
Speaker 2: for ANCJO just went through the roof, right. I got
8:45
Speaker 2: to work under board antasciologists. That's all we did all day,
8:49
Speaker 2: every day on the clinical floor. So those two things
8:52
Speaker 2: are very special to me. But like the greatest reward
8:55
Speaker 2: for me came when I became supervisor. I got to
8:58
Speaker 2: grow a team of a eight to twenty two staff,
9:02
Speaker 2: So there was a lot of growth in my time there.
9:04
Speaker 2: And when I took over the unit, we were highly dysfunctional,
9:08
Speaker 2: highly toxic. We turned it around to be the anthesia
9:11
Speaker 2: was the safe and welcoming place for students, faculty and staff.
9:16
Speaker 2: But my moster awarding was a full circle moment that
9:18
Speaker 2: I had. I hired my replacement there as supervisor as
9:24
Speaker 2: a student worker. Then upon graduation, we hired her as
9:27
Speaker 2: a licensed nurse. And then as we developed our you know,
9:31
Speaker 2: second tier leadership on the team as we grew, you know,
9:33
Speaker 2: she applied and took a role in that. So she
9:36
Speaker 2: was overseeing processes not really people and did a very
9:39
Speaker 2: good job with that. And then my co supervisor stepped
9:43
Speaker 2: down to pursue like a full time role as a
9:45
Speaker 2: faculty in our veterory nursing program. And so she applied
9:48
Speaker 2: for her role and got the position. So then we
9:51
Speaker 2: got to work side by side as peers for about
9:53
Speaker 2: a year. And then as I transitioned my way out,
9:57
Speaker 2: you know, for my wife and I to start our
9:59
Speaker 2: own mobile pricectice here in Michigan, she took over the
10:02
Speaker 2: team as a sole supervisor for a few months until
10:05
Speaker 2: just recently when her co supervisor was hired. So for me,
10:08
Speaker 2: that right there was the most rewarding part. And then
10:11
Speaker 2: I would say, like the biggest challenge that university is
10:15
Speaker 2: just from my perspective, is how long things take to happen.
10:21
Speaker 2: I mean it could be from putting a posting out
10:23
Speaker 2: there to actually getting the posting and hiring you know,
10:26
Speaker 2: a policy change and things like that. You know, in
10:29
Speaker 2: many cases, by the time you make a policy change
10:31
Speaker 2: or it's reached like the implementation phase of any project,
10:36
Speaker 2: it's either needed some amending to it or modified for
10:38
Speaker 2: it to actually work. It's just things just take time.
10:41
Speaker 2: And I don't think that's a bad thing either. I think,
10:43
Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of boxes that need to
10:45
Speaker 2: be checked. But I think from looking at the outside
10:48
Speaker 2: and not understanding what it's like on the inside, now
10:50
Speaker 2: like I have a better perspective of why things take
10:53
Speaker 2: so long at the university.
10:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And it's amazing
10:59
Speaker 1: to hear when you're talking about those rewards, just how
11:03
Speaker 1: much growth took place during your time there in that environment.
11:09
Speaker 1: And I think it says a lot about you that
11:10
Speaker 1: the pinnacle was being able to pour into somebody else's
11:14
Speaker 1: professional journey as well. So I do I love hearing that.
11:19
Speaker 1: Now you mentioned casually, and I want to underscore because
11:22
Speaker 1: this is a big deal you and your partner. The
11:26
Speaker 1: next step that you wanted to take was to start
11:28
Speaker 1: your own business, to step out and start your own business.
11:31
Speaker 1: So from making that decision to pursue the veterinarian profession
11:37
Speaker 1: together to starting your own practice together, what did that
11:42
Speaker 1: look like?
11:44
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean it was always something that we
11:46
Speaker 2: kind of talked about with her becoming a veterinarian. And
11:49
Speaker 2: this year we started our own mobile practice total one
11:52
Speaker 2: hundred percent level. We do not have a building brick
11:54
Speaker 2: and mortar at all, so it is our practice is
11:58
Speaker 2: called Voyager Vetcare. We're locate here in central Michigan. We
12:02
Speaker 2: wanted to come back and kind of serve the communities
12:05
Speaker 2: that we grew up in. So it's kind of always
12:07
Speaker 2: a dream that we kind of had to work together
12:09
Speaker 2: at some capacity. We didn't know when and where and
12:12
Speaker 2: how it was going to happen. We just knew that
12:14
Speaker 2: it was going to happen. So around here, the access
12:17
Speaker 2: to care it scores very low on the maps, so
12:20
Speaker 2: there really wasn't anyone doing any equine work at all. Minimally,
12:23
Speaker 2: Like you know, people would reach out on Facebook or
12:25
Speaker 2: people that we knew, and we would do equine youth
12:27
Speaker 2: and asias. And you know, as we start to do
12:30
Speaker 2: more and more of those, like kind of on the
12:32
Speaker 2: after hours weekends time, people start to ask like do
12:36
Speaker 2: you do in home small animal ethan asias? So, you know,
12:39
Speaker 2: so we really started to do that, and it was
12:41
Speaker 2: just through people get contact us through Facebook, they had
12:45
Speaker 2: you know, our number. We would do that and we
12:46
Speaker 2: started to do a fair amount of them, and naturally
12:49
Speaker 2: clients started to ask us like would you guys do more,
12:53
Speaker 2: like you're interested to do more and things like that,
12:54
Speaker 2: and we're both like, yeah, we work other jobs and
12:57
Speaker 2: you know, it's kind of hard to do it in
12:58
Speaker 2: this capacity, so you know, that's kind of where we're
13:01
Speaker 2: at with it. And then we were at VMX a
13:04
Speaker 2: couple of years ago and we're just walking through the
13:06
Speaker 2: expo center, just enjoying that it was our first conference
13:10
Speaker 2: that we'd ever been together, and just kind of the
13:12
Speaker 2: awe of how big it is. And down at the
13:15
Speaker 2: end of the one row was the mobile clinic booth
13:18
Speaker 2: and they had a couple of mobile clinics parked there,
13:21
Speaker 2: and we just kind of walked by it and we
13:23
Speaker 2: both just kind of like turned our heads and kind
13:25
Speaker 2: of noticed it as we walked by. And then we
13:27
Speaker 2: were like kind of making our zigzag way through all
13:30
Speaker 2: of the aisles and we turned down the next aisle
13:32
Speaker 2: and we immediately stopped and turn and look at each
13:34
Speaker 2: other and I said, do you want to go back?
13:37
Speaker 2: And she was like, let's just walk down this aisle.
13:40
Speaker 2: So we walked down the aisle, came back around, and
13:44
Speaker 2: we circled back and we were there for like the
13:46
Speaker 2: next four hours, and the kind of the rest is history.
13:48
Speaker 2: You know, that kind of started the adventure into owning
13:52
Speaker 2: our own mobile practice. We got to talk with the
13:54
Speaker 2: veterinarian that they had on staff and got to talk
13:57
Speaker 2: with their staff as well, and you know, kind of
14:00
Speaker 2: peaud that interest and you know, we're like, we'll come home,
14:02
Speaker 2: we'll think about it, and by the time we were home,
14:04
Speaker 2: we're like, we're going to make this happen. So, you know,
14:07
Speaker 2: currently we every day is kind of a different adventure.
14:10
Speaker 2: So we kind of enjoy that. And honestly, we really
14:13
Speaker 2: enjoyed the flexibility that we have in scheduling. It's just
14:16
Speaker 2: the two of us. We wear many hats every day,
14:19
Speaker 2: like whether that's a CSR it you know, nurse, I mean,
14:23
Speaker 2: she's the doctor. We kind of do it all. And
14:26
Speaker 2: what we enjoy most is we get to be together
14:29
Speaker 2: and every day we get to be together and share,
14:32
Speaker 2: you know, this part of our venory journey. Wow. Very cool.
14:36
Speaker 1: And again I'm struck by that willingness to dip the
14:40
Speaker 1: toe in the water. I would say to double back
14:44
Speaker 1: on that booth the expo and say, what if you know,
14:49
Speaker 1: what if you take this next step and being willing
14:51
Speaker 1: to handle a little bit of uncertainty about it, but
14:55
Speaker 1: enjoy the ride along the way. Maybe pun intended for
14:58
Speaker 1: the vocal for sure, Okay, well, I do want to
15:03
Speaker 1: go back and pull on a little bit of that
15:05
Speaker 1: leadership thread that you mentioned earlier, that passion that you
15:09
Speaker 1: had for leadership development that sort of got sparked at
15:12
Speaker 1: Michigan State and then played out throughout as you made
15:16
Speaker 1: the transition. And then undoubtedly there are many leadership opportunities
15:20
Speaker 1: and owning your own business. So what did that professional
15:24
Speaker 1: development journey look like for you?
15:27
Speaker 2: You know, for me, like early on, I realized that
15:29
Speaker 2: like professional development kind of paired with continuing education is
15:33
Speaker 2: kind of the backbone, you know, or the structure of
15:36
Speaker 2: a successful and rewarding career. So you know, I started
15:40
Speaker 2: to learn that back at second of Vel Equine Clinic
15:42
Speaker 2: in my time at this specialty hospital. Like I think
15:45
Speaker 2: the continuing education and the skilled development kind of crossed
15:48
Speaker 2: over when I went into academia, kind of leaning into
15:51
Speaker 2: like just kind of the professional development at that point, right,
15:56
Speaker 2: And then you know, my time in academia, like I
15:59
Speaker 2: will say, the resources are very plentiful, the opportunities are
16:02
Speaker 2: just as plentiful. And so once I obtained that skill
16:05
Speaker 2: mastery and things, where I was happy with where I
16:08
Speaker 2: was at, you know, as a nurse and then leading
16:11
Speaker 2: up into getting that leadership position. That's when I think
16:14
Speaker 2: my professional growth kind of switched from like the skill
16:18
Speaker 2: and knowledge based growth, you know, to that professional growth,
16:22
Speaker 2: and that kind of led in fed into where I
16:24
Speaker 2: was at with like what I was pursuing as far
16:26
Speaker 2: as CE and things like that, and overall, like the
16:30
Speaker 2: leadership experience and opportunities that I had through there and
16:34
Speaker 2: the CE events and things, you know, kind of led
16:37
Speaker 2: to that personal growth that was enough to where I
16:40
Speaker 2: was like, yeah, like the practice ownership is obtainable, you know,
16:43
Speaker 2: in Michigan, to own a practice, one of the partners
16:46
Speaker 2: has to be a veterinarian. So we checked the box there,
16:49
Speaker 2: you know, And so that also allowed me to be
16:51
Speaker 2: co owner as well, getting married to a veterinarian but
16:54
Speaker 2: also working in the field, Like, there was a lot
16:55
Speaker 2: that I could bring to the table. So really it
16:58
Speaker 2: was rewarding to me that I just wasn't a co
17:00
Speaker 2: owner just because I was married to a veterinarian, right,
17:03
Speaker 2: Like I kind of earned my stripes and brought value
17:06
Speaker 2: to that practice ownership with my experiences. You know, I've
17:10
Speaker 2: always naturally had like a growth mindset, as probably shown
17:14
Speaker 2: in many of my examples of how kind of navigated
17:16
Speaker 2: through life. So my attendance at the Trek program through
17:20
Speaker 2: the VLI you know, provided those tools and kind of
17:23
Speaker 2: laid that roadmap for like what obtainable healthy personal growth
17:26
Speaker 2: could look like for me. And so in the personal
17:29
Speaker 2: growth that I've really experienced since Track, he has given me,
17:32
Speaker 2: you know, the opportunities to just be successful in my
17:36
Speaker 2: partnership with my wife and by becoming more like self
17:39
Speaker 2: aware and things like that. You know, I think that's
17:41
Speaker 2: part of leadership training and things like that, is becoming
17:44
Speaker 2: self aware and then working on the areas that I
17:47
Speaker 2: needed to work on has allowed me to successfully be
17:50
Speaker 2: able to communicate with my wife understand each other better
17:52
Speaker 2: because we are seriously polar opposites. So I'm way on
17:56
Speaker 2: the extrovert spectrum, she's way on the introvert spectrum, which,
18:00
Speaker 2: you know, working through that couldn't be more grateful for,
18:03
Speaker 2: you know, just the opportunities that been presented to me.
18:05
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm just really glad that I've always
18:08
Speaker 2: kind of dipped my toe in the water of it,
18:10
Speaker 2: because you know, I think that's the first step to
18:12
Speaker 2: jumping in.
18:13
Speaker 1: Absolutely and so remind me because professional development sounds pivotal
18:18
Speaker 1: in your journey. But on the timeline, when did you
18:23
Speaker 1: attend TREK?
18:25
Speaker 2: So I attended TREK in twenty twenty three in my
18:29
Speaker 2: role as lead nurse of the ANTCJ Department at Michigan State.
18:32
Speaker 2: The surgery supervisor had taken on a different role, so
18:37
Speaker 2: that you know, I was interim of surgery as well.
18:40
Speaker 2: So I at that time, my co supervisor was kind
18:43
Speaker 2: of maternity but then was kind of transitioning into her
18:46
Speaker 2: role in the nursing program. So I was kind of
18:48
Speaker 2: a sole supervisor of about almost sixty reports, and so
18:53
Speaker 2: I was really like looking for anything leadership based or
18:56
Speaker 2: training and things like that. So I really didn't have
18:59
Speaker 2: time to do like the year long certificate programs that
19:02
Speaker 2: are out there, and so just like five day retreat
19:06
Speaker 2: out to post follows was kind of appealing to me,
19:08
Speaker 2: and so I found it on my own, went to
19:11
Speaker 2: my boss, who was a Houshold director and was like,
19:13
Speaker 2: can I go to this? He's my CE for it,
19:15
Speaker 2: and she's like absolutely, And little did I know that
19:20
Speaker 2: it was just going to be way more than leadership training.
19:23
Speaker 2: I mean, this was things that will transcend into my
19:26
Speaker 2: personal life as well, and totally transform me as a person,
19:30
Speaker 2: and so that's kind of my journey as far as
19:32
Speaker 2: I hope that answers your question.
19:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's very helpful, because going back to the
19:37
Speaker 1: very beginning in our conversation of change is hard, and
19:41
Speaker 1: sometimes there has to be something difficult to motivate you
19:45
Speaker 1: to get over that barrier to starting, and so I
19:49
Speaker 1: think supervising sixty individuals in a program was certainly an
19:54
Speaker 1: impetus for seeking leadership development. But I'm so glad that
19:58
Speaker 1: you found a program that was able to meet those
20:01
Speaker 1: needs both professionally and also logistically. I think that's important
20:04
Speaker 1: to talk about too, like, let's find see that that
20:07
Speaker 1: matches our schedules and what we are able to give
20:10
Speaker 1: at that moment. But you did mention, and I think
20:13
Speaker 1: I'd like to have this as our sort of wrap
20:15
Speaker 1: up to our conversation today. But you mentioned that the
20:18
Speaker 1: lessons that you learned had impact on you both professionally
20:22
Speaker 1: and personally, and we see that there was a bit
20:27
Speaker 1: of a turning point there in terms of turning the
20:29
Speaker 1: team around at Michigan State as part of that group effort,
20:32
Speaker 1: and then being able to make that transition to step
20:35
Speaker 1: out bravely and start your own practice and navigate those
20:39
Speaker 1: relationship dynamics of having your personal partner also be your
20:43
Speaker 1: business partner. So if we could maybe pull out one
20:47
Speaker 1: lesson from your leadership journey that's had the most impact
20:50
Speaker 1: on you, what would you share with us.
20:53
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you know that one individual lesson.
20:56
Speaker 2: I think it for me is one core concept, and
20:58
Speaker 2: that's self awareness. Going into trick, they sent out like
21:02
Speaker 2: the TKI assessment, so it's like the Thomas Killman Conflict
21:06
Speaker 2: Management tools, So you have to take an assessment, and
21:09
Speaker 2: it's kind of like how you handle conflict. Right, there's
21:12
Speaker 2: really five conflict modes, you know, competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding,
21:16
Speaker 2: and accommodating. And so my score, I was surprised to
21:20
Speaker 2: see how high I scored and competing, so if you
21:23
Speaker 2: kind of think about those as a big square, I'm
21:25
Speaker 2: like over in the square and it is so far
21:27
Speaker 2: like I won't share my score, but it was very
21:31
Speaker 2: surprising to me. But after some time of reflection, it
21:34
Speaker 2: did make a lot of sense to me that, yeah,
21:37
Speaker 2: I spent most of my time just waiting to get
21:40
Speaker 2: my point across and to drive kind of my agenda
21:43
Speaker 2: of things that I really wasn't collaborating at, really was
21:47
Speaker 2: not compromising much. I never spent my time in the
21:50
Speaker 2: avoiding little quadrant because I was always like reactive and
21:53
Speaker 2: things like that. So I think, like the goal of
21:56
Speaker 2: that is to really become more well rounded and spend
21:59
Speaker 2: you know, his equal amount of time dealing with conflict
22:01
Speaker 2: in those quadrants. Then I really started to dive into
22:04
Speaker 2: like what does that look like? And really, you know,
22:08
Speaker 2: for me, it was learning from others who were very
22:10
Speaker 2: strong in the collaborating and compromising, avoiding and accommodating things,
22:14
Speaker 2: and just really learning from others. That was one thing
22:17
Speaker 2: that really helped me. And along the self awareness realm,
22:20
Speaker 2: there was a quote by Victor Frankel in the program,
22:24
Speaker 2: and he's an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, he's a philosopher, and
22:28
Speaker 2: he's also a Holocaust survivor, which is amazing. And his
22:32
Speaker 2: quote that he has is like, between a stimulus and
22:35
Speaker 2: a response, there is a space and in that space
22:38
Speaker 2: is our power to choose our response, and in our
22:41
Speaker 2: response lies our power for growth and for our freedom.
22:44
Speaker 2: I got goosebumps, so I just said it. I do
22:46
Speaker 2: every time because along the lines of being self aware
22:51
Speaker 2: and things like that. Personally, many of my years I
22:54
Speaker 2: used to skip right through that space because I was
22:57
Speaker 2: just so reactive and is trying to win per se
23:00
Speaker 2: right for lack of a better word, in the conversations
23:03
Speaker 2: or the negotiations that we were always working on. And
23:08
Speaker 2: it wasn't until I started like utilizing that space until
23:10
Speaker 2: I really understood how much growth there is in just
23:13
Speaker 2: taking a pause and thinking about it. The last thing
23:17
Speaker 2: it kind of plays into the self awareness thing, is
23:20
Speaker 2: this kind of emotional awareness and intelligence as well. Like
23:22
Speaker 2: I spent thirty eight years in my life not knowing
23:25
Speaker 2: what I was feeling or why I was feeling it.
23:28
Speaker 2: I was thumbing through the Trek workbook that they give
23:31
Speaker 2: us and there was this like colorful wheel in the back,
23:34
Speaker 2: and I was like, what is this thing all about?
23:36
Speaker 2: And it had, you know, various emotions in it like that,
23:38
Speaker 2: and so in the very center of it are very
23:41
Speaker 2: broad emotions like angry, sad, happy, and then as the
23:44
Speaker 2: wheel goes out to the periphery, like they start to
23:47
Speaker 2: break down to very specific emotions and I was like, wow,
23:50
Speaker 2: Like I never even knew there was that many or
23:53
Speaker 2: what they even meant so being taught how to label
23:57
Speaker 2: what you're feeling, process it, and then how to deal
23:59
Speaker 2: with it. It was very powerful for me because I,
24:03
Speaker 2: like I said, I spent thirty eight years not knowing
24:05
Speaker 2: what was going on in my body or why I
24:07
Speaker 2: was reacting the way I was. And those people who
24:10
Speaker 2: have worked with me or know me, they've seen me.
24:12
Speaker 2: I have the picture screenshot it on my phone and
24:14
Speaker 2: they see me pull it out sometimes and I refer
24:16
Speaker 2: to it very often. So I think, you know, for me,
24:19
Speaker 2: like the self awareness piece was the most influential from
24:24
Speaker 2: that program.
24:25
Speaker 1: Wow, so many things for us to think about there,
24:29
Speaker 1: and things that you've clearly taken the time to think about,
24:32
Speaker 1: because I think there's a component of being aware, but
24:36
Speaker 1: then there's a component of acting on that. So you
24:39
Speaker 1: learned your style, but then you took that next step
24:42
Speaker 1: and challenge yourself to learn about some of the other
24:45
Speaker 1: styles and challenge yourself to dig more into some of
24:48
Speaker 1: those emotions. And I think that's such an important reminder
24:52
Speaker 1: for all of us to one both be aware and
24:56
Speaker 1: to pursue those development opportunities that help increase our awareness,
25:00
Speaker 1: and also to take that next step and do something
25:02
Speaker 1: about it and take that action. So it's been amazing
25:06
Speaker 1: to hear the impact that professional development and specifically VLI
25:10
Speaker 1: Trek has had on your life. And what a fascinating
25:14
Speaker 1: career story that I really really appreciate you sharing with
25:17
Speaker 1: us today. Derek.
25:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's been a ride. I mean
25:20
Speaker 2: a literal ride. I mean it's it's been really cool.
25:23
Speaker 2: And if there's one more thing I can say before
25:24
Speaker 2: we sign off, if you're someone out there that's just
25:27
Speaker 2: looking for opportunities for self growth, you know you're putting
25:30
Speaker 2: forth like your best intentions in a team setting, or
25:32
Speaker 2: at work, or in life in general, and the impact
25:35
Speaker 2: just really doesn't align. Please consider signing up for one
25:38
Speaker 2: of the two programs that the VLI offers. I just
25:41
Speaker 2: can't express like enough of the profound impact that these
25:45
Speaker 2: programs have had on my life journey. But I can
25:47
Speaker 2: tell you firsthand that these programs have made me a
25:50
Speaker 2: better friend, a better colleague, a better son to my parents,
25:53
Speaker 2: a better sibling, uncle, partner, and just a better person
25:58
Speaker 2: in this huge, complex world. And at the end of
26:00
Speaker 2: the day, we're all this out there trying to be
26:02
Speaker 2: the best version of ourselves.
26:04
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we are all just out there trying to be
26:06
Speaker 1: the best version of ourselves, and let's help spread awareness
26:10
Speaker 1: about other ways that we can help each other be
26:12
Speaker 1: the best versions of ourselves. So thank you so so
26:15
Speaker 1: much for your time and sharing your experience today, Derek
26:18
Speaker 1: and your obvious love for this amazing profession that we
26:22
Speaker 1: get to share. And thank you to each of you
26:24
Speaker 1: for joining us on this episode of My Veterinary Life podcast.
26:27
Speaker 1: We love sharing this journey with you, and remember, we
26:30
Speaker 1: want to hear from you, so please be sure to
26:31
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and review on Apple podcast or
26:34
Speaker 1: any platform you listen to, and you can also email
26:37
Speaker 1: me at MVL podcast at abma dot org. Take care
26:41
Speaker 1: and we'll see you next time.