In veterinary medicine, there are two kinds of business consultants. There are those who rely primarily on firsthand knowledge, and those who rely primarily on secondhand knowledge. The secondhand knowledge people study industry trends, peer reviewed business research from inside and outside veterinary medicine, and they learn from the clients they work with to help others who are trying to do the best work possible in practice.
The firsthand knowledge consultants use what they have learned from working inside a clinic themselves. Think of the retired practice owner, the former manager of a megahospital, or the charismatic associate veterinarian who was a marketing and communication whiz before trying to make a living on the lecture circuit. These are the people who have learned a ton in the trenches of vet med and now want to use their acquired expertise to help others (and to have a lot less stress and fewer work hours).
Over my first decade in the industry, it became apparent to me that there was a limited timeline in which firsthand knowledge consultants would be highly sought after. Generally speaking, the pattern I witnessed would start with a person becoming very successful working in a clinic, and then deciding to leave for consulting or lecturing. The person would do a fantastic job of sharing what they had figured out and helping others capitalize on those lessons.
Over time however, two things would happen. First, more and more people would absorb and implement the insights this new consultant was sharing and then begin to ask “okay but… what else have you got?” Second, the profession would change. The insights that made the consultants uniquely successful would become standard practice and wouldn’t surprise or inspire people the same way. Also, the challenges that practices were most motivated to address would change, or at least the way they perceived these challenges would change.
Imagine being a consultant who thrived in marketing before social media, or one whose success was based on being able to easily hire support staff, or one who excelled on client education before google existed. The knowledge you have was wonderful when you were in practice, but now the world is so different as to make leveraging that knowledge difficult. As I said, times change.
In my experience, the firsthand experience consultants have about 5 years before their lived experience is significantly different from modern practice, and that is when their ability to relate or to be perceived as highly valuable declines. Many of these advisors adapt and become very good secondhand experience consultants. Others do not adapt and generally move on to the next professional chapter in their lives.
I’m not sharing this to make any real point about consultants (although, if you’re thinking about completely leaving practice to lecture or consult… 5 years). I’m sharing it so we can talk about the pace of change in our profession.
I was recently thinking about this personal rule of thumb and asking myself if I still thought it was true. The obvious way to check is to just think back 5 years and ask yourself “if someone left practice 5 years ago, how experienced would they be in today’s most pressing issues?” I invite you to try this exercise now.
Someone who left practice 5 years ago would have seen the COVID shutdowns, but not the flood of pandemic puppies that followed. They would not have seen the decline in customer civility that arose coming out of the pandemic, the rise in texting as a primary communication tool in practice, the introduction of monoclonal antibody drugs like Librela and Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody, or the proliferation of telehealth portals online. They would have departed before the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges established its Spectrum of Care Initiative in 2021, missed everything having to do with AI, and they would not have experienced the impact of corporatization and private equity investment that has shaped our practice experience post-pandemic.
I think that amount of change is shocking, and I have a hard time thinking about another 5 year period over which veterinary medicine has evolved this quickly. It took automobiles 50 years to replace horses, after all.
I am no longer convinced that firsthand experience in medicine can carry an advisor for five years. The forces shaping our clinics today, from technology and pharmacology to corporate structures and client behavior, are moving at an unprecedented clip. I don’t see this pace slowing down, and thriving in the near future is going to require a new mindset.
Regardless of what specific jobs we hold related to veterinary medicine, I think we are going to have to become more agile and adaptable. I believe that the ability to flex to an uncertain and changing environment will gain new relevance and importance to those who want to thrive here. I suspect that what we learned 5 years ago is going to mean less and less compared to what we are learning today.
Veterinary medicine has always been a profession for those who are lifelong learners. That mentality is only getting more important in the coming years. Let’s lean in and continue to make ourselves better, because the winds of change are not slowing down.
