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Take the coffee with Dr. Jen Quammen · My Veterinary Life

0:09
Speaker 1: Welcome to this week's episode of My Veterinary Life podcast.
0:12
Speaker 1: I'm your host, doctor Annie Shabant, and my pronouns are
0:15
Speaker 1: she her, and our guest today is doctor Jen Quaman,
0:18
Speaker 1: whose pronouns are also she her. Doctor Kuaman is the
0:21
Speaker 1: current president of ABMA, the Chief Veterinary Officer of AUTO,
0:25
Speaker 1: co founder of Veterinarian Coaching, and a relief veterinarian. I
0:29
Speaker 1: am so excited to catch up with doctor Kuaman today,
0:32
Speaker 1: but before we do, I want to give a thank
0:33
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0:38
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0:41
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0:46
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0:49
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0:53
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0:55
Speaker 1: careers dot NBA dot com to find your next role.
1:00
Speaker 1: And with that, welcome back to the show, doctor Quaman.
1:03
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Doctor Schamant. Great to see you.
1:06
Speaker 1: Yes, likewise, I was I was looking back at our
1:09
Speaker 1: previous episodes and saw that you first visited the podcast
1:13
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty and then had a revisit in twenty
1:16
Speaker 1: twenty two, and a lot has happened in the time
1:20
Speaker 1: since those meetings. So by way of introduction for those
1:24
Speaker 1: who might not have caught those episodes yet, tell us
1:27
Speaker 1: a little bit about yourself.
1:28
Speaker 3: How did you first become interested in veterinary medicine.
1:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks so much, and I'm really happy to encourage
1:34
Speaker 2: people to go back and listen to the episode where
1:36
Speaker 2: I talk about hittlebells and frogs. I mean, this is
1:39
Speaker 2: really a great introduction. But in terms of my sort
1:42
Speaker 2: of pathway to vemed you know, I'm one of those
1:44
Speaker 2: kids that was very interested in animals. I found myself
1:48
Speaker 2: really loving science. I'm a self proclaimed math nerd, and
1:52
Speaker 2: so my interest in understanding and solving problems really led
1:56
Speaker 2: me to doing research and undergrad I was really confident
2:00
Speaker 2: fitting where am I going to wind up? And I'll
2:02
Speaker 2: also add to that that prior to going to undergrad,
2:05
Speaker 2: because I'm a little bit of a I guess, a
2:07
Speaker 2: second career student in a way, I had become a
2:10
Speaker 2: credential veterinary technician, and so all throughout my undergrad and
2:14
Speaker 2: before I was working in that capacity and I think
2:17
Speaker 2: I always knew vemed was going to be the path
2:19
Speaker 2: long term. It was just a circuitous route for me
2:23
Speaker 2: to get there. And so I think from most people's perspective,
2:27
Speaker 2: I didn't take the most traditional path. But I also
2:30
Speaker 2: think that that's really helped me in what I do now.
2:33
Speaker 2: And so I love the fact that I have this
2:35
Speaker 2: technician background, and I think it really still shapes how
2:38
Speaker 2: I look at veterinary medicine and how I interact with
2:41
Speaker 2: veterinary teams every day.
2:43
Speaker 1: I think that's such a good point, because everybody brings
2:46
Speaker 1: their unique experience to this profession, and I think each
2:51
Speaker 1: individual makes it that much better collectively. So perhaps it
2:55
Speaker 1: may be a non traditional, unconventional path, but it's your path,
2:59
Speaker 1: and it shaped how you see things today, as you said,
3:02
Speaker 1: So I love that, and let's move to if you can.
3:06
Speaker 1: This might be a little challenging, but an overview of
3:08
Speaker 1: your career so far. So how did you get from
3:12
Speaker 1: there to here?
3:13
Speaker 2: Yeah? Great question. So I think I have what we
3:16
Speaker 2: now politely call in society a portfolio career, which from
3:20
Speaker 2: my perspective, means that I have like several complementary roles
3:24
Speaker 2: that each are teaching me and allowing me to learn
3:27
Speaker 2: something different. And so my current primary roles are as
3:30
Speaker 2: a relief veterinarian in my clinical capacity, and so I
3:35
Speaker 2: am licensed in a number of jurisdictions and I'm in
3:37
Speaker 2: and out of different practices in the clinical sense on
3:40
Speaker 2: a very regular basis. And I've done that for over
3:43
Speaker 2: a decade now, and so that's really like my home base,
3:47
Speaker 2: I guess, if you will. And VetMed I do also
3:49
Speaker 2: work with a technology startup that's based in Austin, Texas,
3:53
Speaker 2: and so I work mostly remote for that team, but
3:56
Speaker 2: I serve as the veterinarian voice for this company AUTO
4:01
Speaker 2: and what we do there is help to provide communication
4:04
Speaker 2: strategies for veterinary clinics, so that clinics are our primary clients,
4:09
Speaker 2: if you think of it that way. One other thing
4:12
Speaker 2: that I am still engaged in, but it's not my
4:14
Speaker 2: primary in any way, shape or form, is a business
4:17
Speaker 2: that my partner Ryan and I started together a number
4:20
Speaker 2: of years ago. Now that's called veterinarian coaching. So what
4:23
Speaker 2: do we do we coach and who do we coach?
4:25
Speaker 2: Predominantly veterinarians, And so that work now has shifted ninety
4:29
Speaker 2: to five percent away from me but towards Ryan. But
4:33
Speaker 2: many people might still know me or have seen me
4:35
Speaker 2: on the speaking circuit in terms of doing that. And
4:38
Speaker 2: then you know, I have this little thing that I'm
4:40
Speaker 2: doing with ABMA on a volunteer side, So every day,
4:44
Speaker 2: every week is different. I do a lot of what
4:46
Speaker 2: I call schedule tetris. Right, you're sort of playing the
4:49
Speaker 2: game of what can go where, and so no week,
4:52
Speaker 2: no month is the same. And obviously over this next
4:55
Speaker 2: twelve months a grand majority of my time is dedicated
4:59
Speaker 2: on behalf of the ABMA. Really proud to do it,
5:02
Speaker 2: but it definitely requires a bit of schedule shifting from
5:05
Speaker 2: what my average week would be otherwise.
5:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I'm sure we can all relate on at
5:11
Speaker 1: least some level about the schedule tetris. The actual blocks
5:15
Speaker 1: might look a little different, but the act of arranging
5:18
Speaker 1: them is familiar to us.
5:20
Speaker 2: So absolutely, I have colors for like each role, and
5:23
Speaker 2: so that helps me. If you're colorblind or non visual
5:26
Speaker 2: in that way, I'm sorry, But for me, it helps
5:28
Speaker 2: me to see, like, Okay, purple is AVMA for me,
5:32
Speaker 2: where does each of those blocks go in my life?
5:35
Speaker 3: Exactly? Exactly? Well, let's talk a little more about that
5:39
Speaker 3: purple block.
5:40
Speaker 1: Then, because clearly there are a lot of pieces to
5:43
Speaker 1: this puzzle, but you have made seeking out volunteer opportunities
5:48
Speaker 1: and organized veterinary medicine a priority. So why choose to
5:53
Speaker 1: pursue these volunteer opportunities and what did that timeline of
5:57
Speaker 1: development look like alongside your jobs?
6:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's something I don't know that I specifically thought out.
6:03
Speaker 2: And you know, day one was like I'm going to
6:05
Speaker 2: be the ABMA president someday, Like that was not on
6:09
Speaker 2: my bingo card. I started volunteering because I wanted to contribute,
6:13
Speaker 2: and I didn't have this grand plan of this is
6:16
Speaker 2: where it's going to lead to. Right. So my first
6:19
Speaker 2: involvement in organized medicine was at my local and State
6:23
Speaker 2: Veterinary Medical Association. So I am based in the beautiful
6:26
Speaker 2: state of Kentucky and so come visit us in the
6:28
Speaker 2: Bluegrass sometime and so there my practice that I had
6:33
Speaker 2: originally started working in, the owners were engaged in our
6:36
Speaker 2: local and state org and I got introduced through that
6:39
Speaker 2: way and just really found it fascinating to understand what
6:44
Speaker 2: was happening in my county level, my state level, and
6:47
Speaker 2: then through that our then ABMA delegate introduced me to
6:52
Speaker 2: this idea of what ABMA has that might be appealing
6:55
Speaker 2: for me, and so we would hear about these different
6:57
Speaker 2: volunteer opportunities and I learned about one that I was like, Oh,
7:02
Speaker 2: that's intriguing and that sounds like that might be something
7:05
Speaker 2: that I could contribute to, and so I raised my
7:07
Speaker 2: hand and somehow got in that role. You know, we
7:10
Speaker 2: can talk about the nuts and bolts there, but truly,
7:13
Speaker 2: to me, I think those local and state engagements have
7:16
Speaker 2: been kind of a classroom for sort of seeing a
7:20
Speaker 2: broader perspective from the ABMA point of view. It's just
7:23
Speaker 2: sort of a zoomed out or what I like to
7:26
Speaker 2: think of as more like telescope view. Right, Like every
7:29
Speaker 2: day with ABMA, I get to think about the very
7:32
Speaker 2: big picture, the very big strategy, and I'm still connected
7:37
Speaker 2: in those day to day moments in relief practice, which
7:39
Speaker 2: I think gives me a more microscopic view. I'm seeing
7:43
Speaker 2: what's happening in practices every day, And to me, those
7:47
Speaker 2: both perspectives isn't even better yet, right, I think each
7:50
Speaker 2: of them contribute and make me into a better, more
7:55
Speaker 2: holistic with a w leader and veterinarian, and so if
8:00
Speaker 2: I were to encapsulate it, it wasn't the big plan
8:03
Speaker 2: of this is what it's going to be. This is
8:05
Speaker 2: how I got here, And I'm happy to share with
8:07
Speaker 2: anybody the roles I served in and what they meant
8:10
Speaker 2: to me. But I love the fact that I get
8:13
Speaker 2: to be inside of a practice on a Tuesday afternoon,
8:16
Speaker 2: and I also get to be in a meeting or
8:18
Speaker 2: having a conversation with the board of directors about where
8:21
Speaker 2: this profession and this association is going over the next decade.
8:25
Speaker 2: Those two things really appeal to me, the kind of
8:27
Speaker 2: real close and the real wide view. I think I
8:31
Speaker 2: love having both at those point of views.
8:33
Speaker 1: I think that's a really helpful visual and helps us
8:37
Speaker 1: understand why it's valuable to have both of those perspectives
8:41
Speaker 1: and have both those perspectives integrated. So understanding both the
8:46
Speaker 1: microscopic and the telescopic and how our organized veterinary medicine
8:51
Speaker 1: on different levels helps give that additional level of perspective.
8:57
Speaker 1: And I think it's also so important that you mentioned
8:59
Speaker 1: getting involve locally first, and I just want to underscore
9:03
Speaker 1: it because if you are a practice owner or if
9:06
Speaker 1: you're a leader in your practice, and you choose to
9:07
Speaker 1: get involved in organized veterinary medicine that can have ripple
9:11
Speaker 1: effects that go far beyond you that you might not
9:14
Speaker 1: even think about. And so I feel like that's an
9:16
Speaker 1: important thing to mention of. Just interest in something is
9:20
Speaker 1: infectious and so being aware of that and leveraging that
9:23
Speaker 1: and embracing that as well. So I love that you
9:26
Speaker 1: got that personal introduction which sparked some curiosity to learn
9:30
Speaker 1: more and explore the different levels and then develop that
9:34
Speaker 1: appreciation for maintaining the perspectives that you have and gaining
9:39
Speaker 1: additional ones as well.
9:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you. And if I could add a yes
9:42
Speaker 2: and to that, I would say not everyone who volunteers
9:45
Speaker 2: is going to want a role as visible as the
9:47
Speaker 2: one that I'm in. This is my path, But there
9:50
Speaker 2: are many, many, many volunteer roles that are not quite
9:53
Speaker 2: as in the public space and are still doing what
9:56
Speaker 2: I think is actually even the more difficult work, sometimes
10:00
Speaker 2: really highly specialized medical and research information. Like the folks
10:05
Speaker 2: that are volunteering on those councils and committees and helping
10:08
Speaker 2: ABMA are part of how I can represent us as
10:12
Speaker 2: an association and a profession. And so I want to
10:14
Speaker 2: just call out that, like, just because Jen has chosen
10:17
Speaker 2: to go down this path doesn't mean that's everyone's path.
10:19
Speaker 2: And there are wonderful things out there that I think
10:22
Speaker 2: could appeal to almost anyone at the local and the
10:24
Speaker 2: national level.
10:26
Speaker 3: Such a great point.
10:27
Speaker 1: I do want to dig in a little bit on
10:31
Speaker 1: the path you have chosen and help us understand a
10:35
Speaker 1: little bit more what a day in the life is like.
10:39
Speaker 1: So where we're at currently is you've just wrapped up
10:43
Speaker 1: your president elect year and are starting your president year.
10:47
Speaker 1: So what did this year as president elect look like?
10:51
Speaker 1: And what has stuck with you most from the past year.
10:55
Speaker 2: Yeah? Wow. The pieces that I really value and I
10:59
Speaker 2: think I tried to really think about and be very
11:03
Speaker 2: intentional about through my elect year is how I was
11:07
Speaker 2: preparing to become the president. And that doesn't mean that
11:11
Speaker 2: you have to do this all on your own. There
11:12
Speaker 2: is an entire team, there's an entire staff team, there's
11:16
Speaker 2: a volunteer team who helps and still helps every day
11:19
Speaker 2: to keep the wheels running on this. But for me,
11:22
Speaker 2: I wanted to think about how I, as a human
11:25
Speaker 2: could also navigate these three very challenging once in a
11:29
Speaker 2: career opportunity and still maintain intact as an individual and
11:33
Speaker 2: as a veterinarian. Right, there's a lot that comes at you.
11:37
Speaker 2: And so in the preparation phase during the president elect year,
11:40
Speaker 2: one thing I did that I'm really thankful I did
11:43
Speaker 2: is I got involved in a personal coaching program for
11:46
Speaker 2: myself and as a program called Coaching for Leaders. Some
11:50
Speaker 2: people might follow the podcast. It's about a nine month
11:53
Speaker 2: long program, and I have found out in the fifteen
11:57
Speaker 2: years that they've done this program that I'm the first
12:00
Speaker 2: veterinarian that's ever worked with this group. And I was
12:03
Speaker 2: very excited, and I mean this with all due respect,
12:06
Speaker 2: very excited to work with non veterinarians on a project
12:10
Speaker 2: to help me think about how to show up better
12:12
Speaker 2: as a leader. And so my emphasis in the Coaching
12:15
Speaker 2: for Leaders program was to help me think about what
12:18
Speaker 2: I'm going to do to maintain myself and sustain these
12:21
Speaker 2: couple of years, and how I'm going to represent the
12:25
Speaker 2: association and the profession, but also getting a point of
12:28
Speaker 2: view from people who are not as closely tied to it,
12:30
Speaker 2: if that makes sense. And so that preparation was really
12:34
Speaker 2: how do I want to show up right? And then
12:36
Speaker 2: the experience as president elect, a lot of the work
12:39
Speaker 2: you're doing is related to what the president and the
12:42
Speaker 2: past president is doing. So the listening, the traveling, the
12:46
Speaker 2: meeting with our organizations of the House and delegates, those
12:49
Speaker 2: are all things that we're doing as all of us
12:53
Speaker 2: as Board of Directors, but especially our officers. And then
12:56
Speaker 2: that third piece for me as is president elect was
12:59
Speaker 2: really lead reflection and maybe maybe sort of sharing. I
13:04
Speaker 2: would say I have done a lot as a candidate
13:07
Speaker 2: for this role and as president elect of sharing the
13:11
Speaker 2: journey of me through organized leadership. And I want to
13:15
Speaker 2: continue to bring people along behind the scenes, and so
13:19
Speaker 2: it was important to me to continue to like give
13:22
Speaker 2: people an idea of a little peak behind the curtain,
13:24
Speaker 2: and so I've done that a lot through social media
13:28
Speaker 2: as my primary place. I created a hashtag and I
13:31
Speaker 2: don't know if book know this or not, we have
13:34
Speaker 2: a little over one hundred and eleven thousand ABMA members
13:37
Speaker 2: and so I thought, well, I can't tell one hundred
13:39
Speaker 2: and eleven thousand stories, There's no way. But I can
13:42
Speaker 2: tell one hundred and eleven stories, And so I did
13:45
Speaker 2: a one hundred and eleven days of vemaed out down
13:49
Speaker 2: up my presidency. That to me was allowing me to
13:53
Speaker 2: give moments of pause, but really to also share that
13:57
Speaker 2: with people, the highs and the lows, the pros and
13:59
Speaker 2: the cons, flights of eating airport dinners at three am,
14:03
Speaker 2: you know, those kind of things that still happen, but
14:06
Speaker 2: really just showing folks what this can look like to
14:09
Speaker 2: be in this role. So that's what my president elect
14:12
Speaker 2: year looked like. You know, I'll be curious to see
14:14
Speaker 2: what are our new president elect and future folks how
14:17
Speaker 2: they approach it. But for me, it was really important
14:20
Speaker 2: to be very intentional about bringing people on the journey
14:24
Speaker 2: and prepping me as a person for how I'm going
14:27
Speaker 2: to navigate these next couple of years as well.
14:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for giving us a peak behind the curtain
14:32
Speaker 1: of your peak behind the Curtain on the podcast.
14:35
Speaker 3: The BTS the BTF exactly.
14:39
Speaker 1: But I think that makes a lot of sense, and
14:41
Speaker 1: I love how that mission is ultimately aligned with the
14:46
Speaker 1: mission of the organization, right because at the end of
14:48
Speaker 1: the day, the ABMA is our professional association.
14:51
Speaker 3: It's made up of veterinarians.
14:53
Speaker 1: We want to be the collective voice of the individuals
14:57
Speaker 1: that are in that one hundred and eleven thousand and so,
15:00
Speaker 1: so I love that you wanted to flip that and
15:03
Speaker 1: shine light back on those members as our representative for
15:08
Speaker 1: this past year and the two years to come, essentially
15:11
Speaker 1: in the time in this presidential role. So let's look
15:16
Speaker 1: a little bit forward then and talk a bit about
15:20
Speaker 1: that presidential roles. I do want to start kind of
15:22
Speaker 1: at the very beginning for folks who might not be
15:25
Speaker 1: familiar with that. How would you describe the ABMA president
15:30
Speaker 1: to someone who's learning about it for the first time.
15:33
Speaker 2: I try to describe the ABMA president as three primary
15:37
Speaker 2: roles kind of rolled into one person, and it's really
15:40
Speaker 2: more about the position itself than it is the individual, right.
15:43
Speaker 2: And so the first role is that you're the public ambassador.
15:47
Speaker 2: You are the face of the profession in the media.
15:51
Speaker 2: You're providing public education, you are representing VetMed, and you
15:56
Speaker 2: are helping people to understand the profession a little bit better.
16:00
Speaker 2: And so that's one facet. You are I think the
16:04
Speaker 2: professional connector the Board of Directors and the president is
16:08
Speaker 2: part of that. Is connected with our ABMA House of
16:11
Speaker 2: Delegates and greater membership. And so you are attending the conferences,
16:16
Speaker 2: in the meetings on behalf of the organizations of the
16:19
Speaker 2: House of Delegates. Our House of Delegates has seventy organizations
16:23
Speaker 2: within it, all of our state and District of Columbia
16:26
Speaker 2: and pr VMAs or BMSS. But then organizations like equine Practitioners, STAFFMA,
16:33
Speaker 2: industry veterinarians, those are all encompass there and so one
16:37
Speaker 2: of the faces of the president is going to those
16:40
Speaker 2: conferences and also interacting more acutely with those organizations. We're
16:46
Speaker 2: also representing on the international stage, and so ABMA has
16:52
Speaker 2: relationships with Canada and Mexico and Europe and Asia, and
16:56
Speaker 2: those are places that the President also goes and attends
16:59
Speaker 2: those conferences and is the US phase of vemed to
17:04
Speaker 2: those other organizations. And so that's kind of the professional piece.
17:08
Speaker 2: And the third piece is the strategic leadership piece, where
17:12
Speaker 2: you are serving as one of the sixteen members of
17:15
Speaker 2: our AVMA Board of Directors, and our board is there
17:19
Speaker 2: to help set the strategy, to think about the three
17:22
Speaker 2: to five to ten year plan of this organization. We
17:26
Speaker 2: help provide direction to our CEO, doctor Donn, who then
17:31
Speaker 2: manages the staff like yourself, doctor Chavan, and is involved
17:35
Speaker 2: in all of the things on the staff side that
17:37
Speaker 2: keep the organization functioning. Whereas we on the board are saying,
17:41
Speaker 2: these are the things that are important to us and
17:42
Speaker 2: we want to see those move forward. Doctor Donlin is
17:45
Speaker 2: there to help bring that vision to reality. And so
17:49
Speaker 2: those three roles again, you're the part of the Board
17:52
Speaker 2: of directors and that leadership capacity, you're connecting with all
17:56
Speaker 2: of these other veterinary organization, and your service as the
18:00
Speaker 2: public face to the media and to the general public.
18:03
Speaker 2: I think they all help each other. For me, I
18:06
Speaker 2: find that conversations I have about strategy influence the conversations
18:11
Speaker 2: that I have with members and also influence how I
18:14
Speaker 2: show up when I'm talking to the media about general
18:17
Speaker 2: pet information. So I think hopefully that gives people a
18:21
Speaker 2: perspective on what those roles are. And let me be clear,
18:26
Speaker 2: it is not a role that comes with a part
18:28
Speaker 2: time obligation. The role of president does take a lot
18:32
Speaker 2: of time, and it is a volunteer role. I'm not
18:35
Speaker 2: an employee of the AVMA, and I think that sometimes
18:39
Speaker 2: people I'll show up and they're like, Hi, you're the AVMA,
18:42
Speaker 2: and I'm like, no, no, Hi, I'm Jen I volunteer
18:45
Speaker 2: with the AVMA, and I'm a member just like you.
18:47
Speaker 2: I pay my dues just like you. But I think
18:51
Speaker 2: there is this sort of idea that it is one thing,
18:53
Speaker 2: but hopefully that helps the kind of bring it a
18:55
Speaker 2: little bit more granular so people understand what the function
18:58
Speaker 2: of the role really looks like.
18:59
Speaker 1: I know I framed the question for folks who had
19:01
Speaker 1: never heard about the role before, but it's just so
19:04
Speaker 1: helpful to hear in each person's own words, like what
19:08
Speaker 1: that role means, like there are there are some overarching
19:12
Speaker 1: structures and some overarching responsibilities, but I think it's it's
19:15
Speaker 1: so valuable to hear directly, how does doctor Kwaman understand
19:20
Speaker 1: how the different components of this role interplay, or how
19:24
Speaker 1: you see this role? And so I think you mentioned
19:28
Speaker 1: earlier that it's more about the role than the person,
19:32
Speaker 1: and each person brings their own perspectives, their own identities
19:36
Speaker 1: into the role, just like we talked about at the
19:39
Speaker 1: very beginning. And so I loved hearing that directly from
19:42
Speaker 1: you of your view of the presidential year next year,
19:46
Speaker 1: and makes me very excited for the year to come.
19:50
Speaker 2: I'm excited. I think it's going to be here and
19:51
Speaker 2: gone before I blink an eye. You know, everybody says
19:54
Speaker 2: it's going to happen so fast, and I'm really trying
19:56
Speaker 2: to like relish in the moments, but also be aware
20:00
Speaker 2: of what's coming for me.
20:01
Speaker 1: If that makes sense, absolutely so, then I must ask
20:05
Speaker 1: what are you most looking forward to in the upcoming year?
20:09
Speaker 2: Wow, I guess I'm trying to not put too much
20:14
Speaker 2: pressure on myself to make it. Here are the things
20:17
Speaker 2: that I'm going to do to change the association of
20:20
Speaker 2: the profession. Like those are more slow play, strategic conversations
20:25
Speaker 2: that aren't going to happen in the blink of an eye.
20:26
Speaker 2: So the work in terms of the media and the traveling,
20:31
Speaker 2: all of that is really fun, but not just the events.
20:34
Speaker 2: For me, it is learning about those individual members. You know,
20:38
Speaker 2: every meeting that I go to, they're often opportunities for
20:42
Speaker 2: maybe at the front of the stage and give a
20:44
Speaker 2: welcome or some greetings or remarks on behalf of ABMA,
20:48
Speaker 2: and almost always at the end of that there'll be
20:50
Speaker 2: a little crowd forming of folks that want to talk
20:52
Speaker 2: to you about something and whether that is good news
20:55
Speaker 2: or something that Brooks are having enough frustration with. I
20:58
Speaker 2: want to continue to be that conduit. I rarely am
21:01
Speaker 2: going to have the absolute answer or the solution right
21:05
Speaker 2: in front of me. But I want to continue to
21:07
Speaker 2: be that tangible access for people to connect and say,
21:10
Speaker 2: how do I learn more about this or help me understand?
21:13
Speaker 2: And so that I'm looking forward to is continuing to
21:16
Speaker 2: meet people I love, increasing my circle and my sphere
21:19
Speaker 2: of influence. Right, there's so many cool people that I
21:22
Speaker 2: have learned so many awesome things from over the years.
21:25
Speaker 2: I hope to really continue to share the journey. I
21:28
Speaker 2: don't know what that's fully going to look like yet, right.
21:30
Speaker 2: I did that one hundred and eleven as president elect.
21:33
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. I've done hundred day countdowns a few
21:36
Speaker 2: times throughout my life on socials, and I don't know
21:39
Speaker 2: exactly what that's going to look like as president. But
21:41
Speaker 2: I do want to find a way to sort of
21:43
Speaker 2: time capsule it and share that journey still with others,
21:46
Speaker 2: so that I think is part of it for me
21:49
Speaker 2: in terms of the functional things that will still happen. Javma,
21:53
Speaker 2: our journal, has a President's column every month, and so
21:57
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to sharing a series of twelve conversations
22:01
Speaker 2: for folks that might not go to every meeting, but
22:03
Speaker 2: maybe they receive and read the journal, and so I'm
22:07
Speaker 2: bringing something a little bit different to that, and I
22:10
Speaker 2: hope some folks will appreciate it. And that is probably
22:14
Speaker 2: one thing I'm really excited about, is that sort of
22:16
Speaker 2: series of twelve that you will president's columns, and you know,
22:21
Speaker 2: I hope to just continue to share with folks and
22:23
Speaker 2: that they understand threw me and threw others on our board,
22:28
Speaker 2: that the people behind this organization are real and we're
22:31
Speaker 2: working hard on behalf of this profession and so it's
22:35
Speaker 2: not just this monolithic thing that ABMA is. It's people
22:40
Speaker 2: that make this organization up. And as you said earlier,
22:43
Speaker 2: doctor Schavant, we are our professional association. This person is
22:47
Speaker 2: representing me and you, and I want to be proud
22:50
Speaker 2: of what that looks like. And hopefully I can provide
22:53
Speaker 2: a little connection for folks there.
22:56
Speaker 1: Oh, it sounds like there's so much to look forward to,
22:59
Speaker 1: and I I love your intentional goals for the year ahead,
23:02
Speaker 1: because I think you're right, the time is going to
23:04
Speaker 1: fly by. So coming up with some ways to build
23:08
Speaker 1: in some pauses and to take in the amazing opportunities
23:12
Speaker 1: and the amazing people that you will undoubtedly meet along
23:16
Speaker 1: the way, so you know it's going to be very exciting.
23:19
Speaker 1: You've had an amazing leadership journey up to this point,
23:24
Speaker 1: from your non traditional in air quotes start to getting
23:28
Speaker 1: involved at the local level to making the decision to
23:31
Speaker 1: run for president president elect year now the president year.
23:35
Speaker 1: You clearly have the leadership experience. So I want from
23:40
Speaker 1: that perspective to turn our attention to our early career listeners.
23:44
Speaker 1: As we wrap up our conversation today, what advice might
23:48
Speaker 1: you have for folks who are looking to develop their
23:51
Speaker 1: leadership skills or have been interested for a while but
23:54
Speaker 1: are not sure where to start.
23:56
Speaker 2: Much akin to what my veterinary life talks about is
23:59
Speaker 2: for me, I think I would say there's no one
24:01
Speaker 2: right path. Vet meed is really broad and it's really deep. Right.
24:06
Speaker 2: You can be a general practitioner, a public health veterinarian,
24:11
Speaker 2: a researcher. You can be doing mixed animal work in
24:14
Speaker 2: a small rural town. You can be like me and
24:17
Speaker 2: volunteering with organized medicine. I think if the advice I
24:21
Speaker 2: were to say is build relationships. Take the coffee if
24:25
Speaker 2: someone asks you to a coffee, schedule the zoom if
24:28
Speaker 2: you can't get there in person, most of us can
24:31
Speaker 2: make that happen or make a phone call fit with
24:33
Speaker 2: people that you don't know. This is probably my secret
24:37
Speaker 2: weapon is when I'm in conferences. You know, it's very
24:40
Speaker 2: natural for us to want to go sit with our
24:42
Speaker 2: classmates or sit with the folks we know. And I
24:44
Speaker 2: almost always will make a decision to go sit at
24:46
Speaker 2: a different table and introduce myself. More often than not,
24:50
Speaker 2: it turns into, oh, we have a commonality, and how
24:53
Speaker 2: do we continue to build on that? And so you know,
24:56
Speaker 2: the small subtle ways to put yourself out there and
25:00
Speaker 2: that just being curious. I think we are trained scientists, right,
25:04
Speaker 2: what is the question that's on your mind about the
25:07
Speaker 2: individual and their career path? The organized medicine, the how
25:12
Speaker 2: did you make your millions? The how did you do xyz?
25:15
Speaker 2: Ask questions, find mentors, be a mentor, and you can
25:20
Speaker 2: be a mentor as an early career veterinarian. Trust me
25:23
Speaker 2: on this. There are many many folks that have an
25:26
Speaker 2: ability to learn from you, and I hope that you
25:29
Speaker 2: will see yourself that way. If you think of nothing else,
25:33
Speaker 2: find a small way to put yourself out there, go
25:35
Speaker 2: just a little out of that comfort zone. Ask someone
25:38
Speaker 2: to a coffee, a tea, whatever that looks like in
25:41
Speaker 2: your neck of the woods, go to a bookstore and
25:44
Speaker 2: hang out. There's much more opportunity than downside to all
25:50
Speaker 2: of those options that might come ahead of you.
25:52
Speaker 1: I love that, and I love how practical you got.
25:56
Speaker 1: Let's start small and be intentional ag with the little
26:01
Speaker 1: challenges that we give ourselves. It's not easy to put
26:03
Speaker 1: ourselves out there. You're totally right. It's easier to sit
26:06
Speaker 1: with our friends and our classmates. But those little pushes
26:10
Speaker 1: progressively make us better and expose us to opportunities that
26:14
Speaker 1: we would not have seen otherwise. So take the coffee schedule,
26:18
Speaker 1: the zoom, sit with people you don't know, and.
26:21
Speaker 3: These are the keys to your leadership journey. To starting
26:25
Speaker 3: your leadership journey.
26:27
Speaker 2: This is probably how I got here, and.
26:30
Speaker 3: Where you got is a very wonderful place.
26:32
Speaker 1: So let's keep those tips in mind, challenge ourselves to
26:35
Speaker 1: just take that next step and see where it leads. So,
26:40
Speaker 1: doctor Kwaman, thank you so so much for your time today.
26:43
Speaker 1: I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. Congratulations again and really looking
26:48
Speaker 1: forward to the year ahead.
26:49
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, doctor Schavan. I love what this
26:51
Speaker 2: podcast has done and continues to do, and so thank
26:54
Speaker 2: you for all of your work and to all of
26:56
Speaker 2: the AVMA staff he'll prop us up as volunteers. Thank you,
27:00
Speaker 2: We could not do this work without you.
27:02
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, and thank you to each of
27:04
Speaker 1: you for joining us on this episode of My Veterinary
27:06
Speaker 1: Life podcast. We love sharing this journey with you, and remember,
27:10
Speaker 1: we want to hear from you, so please be sure
27:11
Speaker 1: to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts
27:14
Speaker 1: or whatever platform you listen to, and you can also
27:17
Speaker 1: email me at MVL PODCASTABMA dot org.
27:20
Speaker 3: Take care and we look forward to seeing you next
27:22
Speaker 3: time