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Are Non-Compete Clauses Going Away in Veterinarian Contracts?

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Dr. Lance Roasa joins the podcast to talk non-compete clauses! There has been a lot of attention recently on FTC proposed rule makings around non-compete agreements, and some are wondering what’s in the future for veterinarian contracts. Dr. Roasa weighs in on what’s going on and what we can expect in the future.

You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

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ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Roasa is a 2008 graduate of Texas A&M who has practiced in small animal, mixed animal and emergency settings and has bought, operated and sold over a dozen veterinary practices. He has completed a law degree from the University of Nebraska, is the past president of the American Veterinary Medical Law Association.

Dr. Roasa is a consultant for VIN and is a founder of Drip Learning Technologies, a veterinary continuing education provider. He also lectures in 13 veterinary colleges on the legal aspects of employment contracts, medical recordkeeping, veterinary malpractice and veterinary business as part of the curriculum. He serves as a national co-advisor to the Veterinary Business Management Association and regularly lectures to regional VBMA chapters and to the national association on the topics of growth, business metrics, and technology implementation.

Dr. Roasa also owns Santa Rosa Ranch, home to the largest registered Brangus cow herd in the United States.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Andy Roark:
Welcome everybody to the Cone Of Shame Veterinary Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Andy Roark. Guys, I’m here with my friend Dr. Lance Roasa, who is a veterinarian and a lawyer, and he’s been on the episode or been on the podcast many times before. I always love talking about legal stuff with him. I love talking about what’s in contracts that veterinarians are signing and the practices they are using, and we are getting into non-compete agreements today. I’ve got a lot of questions. I feel like there are big seismic changes in non-compete language across the country and across different industries, and there is some FTC proposed rule changes that are shaping up. And I wanted to hear from Lance what those might look like and what he’s seeing in veterinary contracts. And that’s what we get into. So guys, if you got any interest at all in restrictive covenants, non-competes, non-solicitation agreements, non-service agreements, which are a thing we talk about, then this is a great episode for you. I hope you’ll enjoy it. I certainly did. Great, let’s get into this episode.

Kelsey Beth Carpenter:
(Singing) This is your show. We’re glad you’re here. We want to help you in your veterinary career. Welcome to The Cone Of Shame, with Dr. Andy Roark.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Welcome everybody to the Cone Of Shame Veterinary Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Andy Roark. Guys, I am here with my good friend, Dr. Lance Roasa. Lance, thanks for being here.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Great to be here with you. Dr. Andy Roark. How are you today?

Dr. Andy Roark:
Man, I’m good. Summertime is here in South Carolina. It’s beautiful, but it’s hot. But that’s it for me. How about you?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Same here. It’s exciting to be in spring. The kids are almost out of school. The teaching semesters, the veterinary schools are winding down, so it’s always a good summer.

Dr. Andy Roark:
So you do a lot of things, for people who don’t know, you do a lot of things like I do a lot of things and I’m like, “That guy does a lot of things.” You are a co-founder at drip.vet. Most people know drip.vet for the opioid education. And so I just recently took your two-hour opioid course. It’s the second time I took it. I took two years before that because I need it for my license every two years. And you had overhauled the whole thing. Nice work by the way. I was like, “I got to watch this thing again.” Nope, it’s all updated, refreshed, super good stuff. It felt very different. So props to you on that. But you also, you are hanging out on the VIN boards, drip.vet is part of the VIN family, and then you lecture all over the place of vet schools. Are you at 20 vet schools now? Something like that.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Close to 20. Nobody’s really counting, but I think we’re at 18 or 20 vet schools, so I get to see a good percentage of the veterinary students as they enter their third year in veterinary schools. We talk about exciting stuff like the legal use of drugs and how to negotiate their contract and some stuff that I know that they’re just dying to hear about non-competes, which we’re talking about today. So that’s my job in the veterinary schools at this point.

Dr. Andy Roark:
All joking aside, people do get fired up about non-competes. You know what I mean? I am hearing a lot about it. It’s because of stuff going on with the FTC, but also a lot of vets are looking at their contracts. I think non-competes have become part of the battleground in recruiting. There are some big companies out there that have lots and lots of hospitals and they’re saying, “We don’t do non-competes.” And trying to use that as an advantage point in recruiting vets, things like that. I want to unpack this because this is an area where things are changing and people have a lot of interest. And so can you start to lay out for me traditionally what have non-competes kind of look like in veterinarian contracts?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Sure. So I think to actually take a step back, let’s look at what non-competes kind of look like in society at large. And so in the American judicial system, so non-competes are centuries old. The case law in non-competes go back for literally hundreds of years. I mean even over as we borrowed a lot of our laws from England as we are breaking away as colonies. And so the battleground and the fight over non-competes in a business setting has been something that’s been going on for centuries. And so this is not a new debate, this is not a recent debate. This is the continuation of a long debate. Having said all of that, in veterinary medicine traditionally non-competes have been used sparingly through the sixties and seventies and eighties.
But really when practices starting going corporate, that’s when we really saw an explosion in the use of non-compete agreements. And so now at this point, nearly 99.9% of the practice of the contracts that I see contain a non-compete, especially from a state that will enforce a non-compete. And that brings up a really big point, is traditionally on the law side, non-competes are very, very state dependent, even to the point where they’re county or judge dependent. And we’ve got some states that will fully enforce non-competes and we’ve got some states, California is the biggest example, that will not enforce non-competes. And so you asked about where’s the legal standing, it’s really a state by state analysis to really understand what’s going on with non-competes. And traditionally that’s how it’s been forever.

Dr. Andy Roark:
I was reading recently that other professions have had non-competes kind of struck down. So attorneys and doctors, physicians I saw. And to me it seemed very much like a national thing. And the idea was having a non-compete might force people to break their relationship with their doctor if their doctor had to leave. Same thing with the attorney as you have a relationship with this attorney and then if they have a non-compete, they might be forced to leave, which would not allow you to maintain that relationship. And so the damage to that relationship was something that made sort of regulators say, in this industry these non-competes are not going to be acceptable. Am I getting that right? Is that across industries? Is that still state by state as well? Can you sort of speak to what that looks like?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Yeah, you’re actually really close with that. It’s not necessarily-

Dr. Andy Roark:
Oh, good. I like to be at least in the neighborhood. That’s good.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
You’re definitely in the neighborhood. So on the legal side, it’s actually the legal ethics or what they call the professional responsibility will not allow attorneys to put other attorneys under a non-compete. And so it’s highly ironic that attorneys are asked to write non-competes for other professions, but they will not write a non-compete for their own profession. And the basis for that is exactly what you described, is it’s not a competition issue, it’s not a free market issue. It is the fact that the consumer of legal services in this case, their relationship would be highly damaged. And so if a lawyer leaves a law firm, then they’re welcome to take all the people that they served previously. On the physician side, what you’re referring to is some guidance that’s coming out from the AMA, the American Medical Association that says roughly the same thing. That physicians should not put other physicians under a non-compete for patient safety, for patient continuity, for the fact that that patients need to see a doctor continuously, not just the person that’s working at the hospital that day.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Yeah, that makes sense.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Now, having said all of that, physicians and nurses and other healthcare providers are probably some of the people that are most affected by non-competes. So just because the AMA said, it does not mean that non-competes are somehow banned or not allowed in the human medical world.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Well, it’s interesting that you said doctors will not put other doctors under this. And I’m looking at the human medical world and I go, “Boy, there’s a lot of big corporations that own hospitals or medical groups or things like that.” Do they fall into that same category or is it something where you say, “Well no, these are not physicians putting other physicians, this is a different entity that’s getting physicians to sign a non-compete.” Is that different?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
It’s back to the corporatization world. And so it’s the fact that those hospitals that are truly employing those physicians are really corporations, honestly. So it looks a lot like if the AMA decided to put forth ethical guidance that said that veterinarians will not put veterinarians under non-competes. Well, a lot of hospitals are not owned by veterinarians. And so the AMA has no control over the corporate interests in our profession.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Interesting. Okay, all right. Lance, let’s start to talk about trends in the vet profession with non-competes. So I think back when I graduated about 15 years ago, non-competes were pretty standard and we were sort of instructed to pay attention to them. To pay attention to how much distance there was, how much time they would go for after you left your job, things like that. Have you seen a change or a trend in shrinking sizes, things like that? Or is it basically the same durations and distances that used to be, but they’re either in or out. So can you talk about general trends in that regard?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Yeah, so there is a general trend on the legal side. So lawyers that write non-competes, to write them in the exact words are narrowly tailored. So to make them exactly what the protection of the business or practice in this situation needs. And so if you see a non-compete that is written by a lawyer that’s kind of studied on non-competes, they will try to write them in a very tailored way. And the reason for that is because they actually become more enforceable the smaller they are. Now you asked about timeframe, the timeframes still are almost always maxed out as what the law will allow. So some states, Florida, for example, 18 months, other states will presume that two years is reasonable. And so almost every practice and every lawyer that’s putting forth a non-compete is going to max out what the law will allow. The radius is very, very, very dependent on the practice locality, the practice type, et cetera.
The other thing that I really spend a lot of time teaching on, Andy, is what’s called the scope of practice. And so there’s three things to really look for. You’ve already mentioned the timeframe and the radius, but the third thing that is highly negotiable is the scope of practice. And so when you and I both graduated, there were a lot of mixed animal practices and there was an expectation that we would kind of do everything. But now practices are much more specialized. And so there’s day practices, they’re ER practices, there’s exotic practices, there’s small ruminate practices, there’s obviously equine practices. And so these non-competes that exempt all of practice, that’s a problem. And so what you see is practices start to say, “We’re only going to exempt daytime non-emergency practice.” Or, “Since we’re an ER practice, we’re only going to exempt competition in an overnight ER practice.”
And so the tighter that you can get that scope of practice allows that veterinarian to go on and do something else. But to answer your question, yes, these are constantly evolving. The other big thing that I see, that’s the difference when we graduated 15 years ago, is this use of the liquidated damages. And I think we’ve talked about this on a previous cone of shame podcast, but highly aggressive attorneys will write liquidated damages, which means that the damages are stipulated before you actually even breach the non-compete. And that’s a massive shift from what was in place 10 or 15 years ago. Non-competes are becoming more aggressive, but in certain situations they’re actually becoming more and more narrowly tailored.

Dr. Andy Roark:
If you dream of doing team training with your team, getting your people together, getting them on the same page, talking about how you guys work together in your practice, I’d love to help you. You can check out drandyroark.com and check out the store. I have two different team training courses. These are courses for teams to do together to get on the same page and to talk about how you do things. I have my angry clients course and I have my exam room toolkit course, and they are both available and there to come out. All right, guys, let’s get back into this episode. Well talk to me a little bit more about this calculating damages. So the stipulation that you’re calculating damages before the breach of the non-compete occurred, what does that mean, Lance? Help me get my head around that.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Yeah. So usually there’s a provision that’s attached to the non-compete provision, which says something like, “If you breach the non-compete, the associate, the employee, or now former employee, will pay the practice.” And usually it’s a large sum of money, Andy.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Just a flat fee?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Just a flat fee, a hundred thousand, $150,000 to breach the non-compete. And usually when a veterinarian sees that, they’re like, “Now wait a minute, I have to pay the practice money. I’m getting paid by the practice. I’ve got to pay the practice money back. So where’s this $150,000 coming from?” They’ll kind of throw a red flag and say, “Ah, this doesn’t feel right. $150,000 doesn’t seem right.” What smart lawyers have learned to do is write a per diem amount in lieu of a breach. And so they’ll say something like, “If you breach the non-compete, we’ll stipulate damages of a thousand dollars a day.” Well, if you breach the non-compete for 150 days, you’re at the same exact point, you’ve got to pay the practice $150,000. But to the veterinarian that’s skimming that contract and not really understanding the legal terms, they’re like, “Oh, a thousand dollars, whatever.” That doesn’t really draw the red flag like $150,000 line item in that contract. So it’s a way to sneak these liquidated damages provisions past associate veterinarians and get that signature.

Dr. Andy Roark:
All right. So that makes sense. I was actually surprised when you said early on that 90% of the contracts that you see still have non-competes in them.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
I would say 99.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Really?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Yeah, no [inaudible 00:15:01].

Dr. Andy Roark:
I felt like I felt like we were moving away from that. I was hearing more and more people saying, “Oh yeah, we’re not doing those anymore.” But you’re not seeing that on the ground. Is that correct?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
No, there’s a couple of large practices that have moved away from non-competes, but overall the vast majority of practices still use non-competes. There’s a couple of commentators that have written and talked about abolishing non-competes or getting the profession away from non-competes, but I have to be honest, that’s just talk. I mean, in the real world, I’m not seeing it change at all.

Dr. Andy Roark:
No, that totally makes sense. Talk to me about what’s going on at the national level. So there was sort of FTC proposed rule makings that were sort of in the headlines recently and people were talking about some of the Biden administration’s thoughts on non-competes and stuff. Talk to me about sort of what’s going on there.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
It was a pretty boring read overall, but what it does is it attempted to make the case that the FTC does have the ability to regulate non-competes across the entire country. And basically it said that the FTC is thinking about banning non-competes on a federal level. Now the thing that I really want to point out here is, is this is an extremely slow process when we’re going through what’s called the Administrative Procedures Act. What the FTC did is they opened a notice in comment period, and they allowed the American people and business interests to come and weigh in. The FTC will gather all those comments, read them all, and then ultimately deliberate internally on whether or not they want to proceed with some sort of actual rulemaking. And so generally speaking, this stuff takes years, if not decades to fully come to fruition.
And really what I saw when the Biden administration first issued, “Hey, FTC, do something about this.” And then in January of 23 when the FTC actually released this notice or this proposed rulemaking, I got a lot of comments just right off the bat. And actually a lot of anecdotal comments like, “Hey, these non-competes, they’re going to go away and I don’t have to worry about this anymore.” And I’m like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, pump the brakes. This is really a time to hold your horses. Do not sign a non-compete with the expectation that the FTC is going to do something to nullify it. You’ve got to still negotiate it. You’ve still got to understand what it’s going to affect, how it’s going to affect your personal life if they don’t do something about it.” So it’s good that the FTC is giving this a look. It’s good that it’s getting some light shined on it, but it doesn’t mean that we can ignore non-competes any time for the foreseeable future.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Yeah. What do you think the future’s going to be like in non-competes? When I go sign a vet contract five years from now, do you think it’s going to look different as far as non-competes go? If you had to bet, what would your bet be?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
So we’re seeing a push across many states to actually change. And so I think that the state level has much more potential to actually change the enforceability of non-competes overall. Ultimately too, Andy, it depends a lot on the market for veterinary services. And so you mentioned earlier you’re seeing some people start to talk about it and a few companies start to say, “We’re not using non-competes.” If it truly does work out to be a recruiting tool and hasn’t necessarily so far, but if it truly does work out to be a recruiting tool, then you’ll see other companies follow suit. And so it depends on the state that you’re in. It depends on the company that you’re looking at overall. But I see non-competes sticking around for a little bit longer.
There’s a really big point that I want to make here when you’re looking at that contract though, and pardon my football analogy here, but my brain often thinks in football terms. But non-competes in my mind, in my legal mind, are really the running backs of the football team. They’re the ones that get their picture in the paper. They’re the ones that everybody talks about. They’re the ones that little kids remember the stats and all that stuff. But in reality, when it comes to lawsuits and when it comes to actually enforcing a contract, it’s the non-solicitation that really counts. And so I do want to point out that the states and the FTC and even these companies that we’re referring to, they’re talking exclusively about non-competes and doing away with non-competes.
However, no one, including the state of California, is talking about doing away with non-solicitation agreements. And so even if we do have some guidance or some rulemaking by the FTC within five years, Andy, that contract that you’re looking at in the future will likely have a non-solicitation. And that non-solicitation still is very prohibitive from being able to go and practice somewhere else. In fact, it can be argued that it’s more prohibitive because it doesn’t have a radius on it. Wherever those clients follow you, you can run into some issues. So what I’m saying is this is not an area of the law that’s going to go away anytime soon.

Dr. Andy Roark:
So my perception of non-solicitation agreements had always been like, “Okay, you can’t market or promote to clients.” If I’m leaving and I go somewhere else across town, what constitutes solicitation in most cases, Lance? Like if I just go there and start practicing, am I good? Or is it a problem if clients follow me over there? Help me sort of parse that.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Yeah, there actually is a big distinction in what you’re referring to there. So the distinction that we’ve got to make is the difference in a non-solicitation provision and what the second would be a non-service or a non care provision. So two different action verbs, but a lot of times they get wrapped under the provision that is a non-solicitation. Now if you look back 10 or 15 years, they were all non-solicitation provisions, but as lawyers in veterinary medicine got more sophisticated, they started drafting these non-service provisions. And so back to the distinction between the two, the verb solicit or to solicit would mean exactly what you said, a targeted marketing, a targeted advertising. And keep in mind on the word targeted.
And so if the traditional word is, or the traditional action would be you’re going to pick up the phone and call someone, or maybe you run into an old client in the grocery store and you say, “I was at practice ABC, now I’m at practice XYZ. You should come see me there.” That is an active solicitation. Sending out a list to an email list to people that you knew that were clients. “Hey, come see me at practice XYZ.” That is a targeted marketing, and that is contrasted to if the contract has a non-service provision in it. And the way that those are usually worded is they’ll say something like, “The veterinarian shall not solicit or render services to a former client.” And so meaning that under a technical reading and also an enforceable reading of that, you could be standing in the exam room waiting for your 3:30 appointment, 3:30 appointment comes into the exam room, “Oh, Ms. Jones, I saw you over at a ABC Veterinary Hospital.”
That would be a technical violation of that non-solicitation/non-service provision. So I’m seeing more and more of these non-service provisions written in contracts, and it really takes a fine reading to understand the difference. But I think you can see how quickly a veterinarian could get wrapped up into a non-service provision. So my mind always goes to how do we combat this? How do we negotiate this? Well, number one, know the difference between the two and number two really work to get that non-service provision stricken out of the contract. Keep in mind, Andy, all of these are super negotiable. You just have to know what you’re looking for and how to ask for it taken out.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Yeah, no, that totally makes sense. Usually when you’re close to signing a contract and you’re excited to go there and the practice is excited to have you, that’s the time to bring up the non-compete and say, “Hey, this is kind of a headache here.” But it’s a whole lot harder to get out of it later on.

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Oh, absolutely. The time to negotiate these are before you get into them. I mean, this is a very important point. A lot of people that I work with, they say, “Hey, can you unwind this non-compete? I heard they’re unenforceable.” And it’s like, “No, we should have talked about this, you should have talked about this before we signed this.” That is the time that you have the leverage when you’re leaving a job. It’s like breaking up. I mean, it’s like a divorce, right? Nobody wants to be amicable during a divorce and it’s really hard to negotiate them then.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Yeah, no, that totally makes sense. Lance, thanks so much for being here. Thanks for talking all this through with me. I really appreciate it. I was blown away. The non-service agreement, I had not even considered that. That’s something that I think it’s amazing. I can’t believe that that’s something that’s increasing in its commonality. Anyway, so thanks for bringing it up. Where can people find you, drip.vet, if they’re fascinated by the legal aspects of our profession, if they need a little legal advice and they’re in practice, where can they reach you?

Dr. Lance Roasa:
Sure. So I hang out over on the VIN boards, on the regulatory and legal boards, and also on the practice management boards. I’m one of the consultants on those boards. And so if you’re a VIN member already, you can receive… we can talk about these things and obviously weigh in from other attorneys, and we answer a lot of questions over on those boards. Otherwise, I’m also at drip.vet, and so have a ton of legal continued education over there, classes on negotiation, on contracts. We go into deep dives on all of this stuff. And then if you are truly interested in it, and unfortunately, most of the people that I work with have already been burned by a non-compete. So it’s not too interesting as a student, it’s not too interesting in your first job, but you get burned by that paragraph and then it’s time to start paying attention.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Absolutely, awesome. Well, thanks for being here. Guys, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for listening. We’ll talk to you soon. And that is our episode. Guys, I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you got something out of it. As always, if you did, the kindest thing you can do is leave me an honest review online, wherever you get your podcast. Tell your friends, share the word, help other people find the podcast work that we’re doing here. Anyway, that’s all I got. Gang, take care of yourselves. Be well. Talk to you later. Bye.

Is Interpersonal Conflict In The Way Of Work?

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“If we could just stop having interpersonal issues, we could get the actual work done!”

I’ve heard countless leaders and managers say something along this line. I’ve said it myself. Do you know why this sentiment is flawed? It’s because managing interpersonal relationships is doing the work.

As a leader, spending time to help your people build relationships, collaborate effectively, and feel good about being together isn’t a distraction from the job. It is the job. People who communicate and collaborate easily don’t tend to have problems with following protocols, helping others or holding people accountable. Getting your people into this space is not an annoyance. It’s probably the most important aspect of leadership.

If you’re pulling your hair out because you feel like you’re “wasting time” supporting and facilitating team members working through interpersonal issues, maybe it’s time to take a step back. Veterinary medicine is a deeply human profession. Helping teams feel good about their relationships isn’t a distraction from providing care. It’s possibly the single most important aspect of it.

Graduation: Embracing New Chapters With Intention

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It’s that time of the year again. The time to turn a new page, wrap up an important chapter, and start a new one. It’s graduation season.

A year ago I wrote about why I think graduations are important, and why we should have more of them. I still believe this strongly. Our lives are defined by impermanence, even if we seem dead set on convincing ourselves that they are not. Change is inevitable. We are not the same people we were four years ago (that was pre-pandemic!) and we will not be the same person four years from now. Graduations help us handle that change gracefully and with intention. They are an opportunity to reflect on where we have been, and to actively re-invent ourselves to meet the changes around us.

As this email arrives in your inbox, I will be driving through the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. I have been invited to share advice or words of encouragement at the graduation ceremony for the College of Veterinary Medicine class of 2023 at Lincoln Memorial University.

I have been asked to do a number of these in the past, and I always take them seriously. I try to think of what I could say that would actually be useful to someone who is just starting out. I definitely don’t want to lecture, because the path that I’ve taken in my career will not be the one any of them take. The world is a different place than it used to be, and the rate of change in our society seems to only be accelerating.

I also want to stay away from talking too much about what to expect in the coming years. As I said, the world is changing quickly and my track record for predicting what medicine will be like years in the future is pretty abysmal. 

Basically that leaves some thoughts about human nature. After all, people really don’t change. The clients that James Herriot wrote about in All Creatures Great and Small in 1972 are the same clients we see today. They just have different jobs, different commitments, and Apple watches. Underneath it all, they’re wired the exact same way.

Today, the things I wish I’d known about people when I left veterinary school include the following:

  1. Almost everyone is trying their best – It took me a long time to give people that grace and to allow them to simply be flawed human beings. 
  1. You don’t have the power to make other people happy – You’d better figure out what YOU need to be happy and how you’ll know that you are doing a good job, because getting that validation from others is a path to frustration.
  1. You choose how you struggle – You can have a job that no one cares about, or you can have one that really matters. Remember there are headaches that come with either choice. As graduates of veterinary school, these students have clearly chosen the latter. I hope they’ll own their choice.

I know these ideas seem really simple. I think most things in life that last are just that. I’ll find a way to dress the ideas up and maybe tell some stories of when I finally internalized these lessons, and then I’ll wish the students all the best luck in the world.

I’ll tell them that our profession is a great one. I’ll remind them to enjoy doing the mundane work of veterinary medicine, not just achieving an outcome. I’ll encourage them to remember that veterinary medicine is what they do, and not who they are. They should get comfortable taking off their white coats and being proud of who they are without stethoscopes.

Finally, before I go, I will share with them some bad news. I will try to shield them from a pain so many of us have felt in our profession. I will say to them, “I know that you are excited to get out into the world and help the people you care the most about… but know this: no matter how many degrees, honors or accolades you acquire… your family is not going to take your medical advice seriously. Just get ready for that.” 

And with that, I will depart.

Publix Supermarket & Turning Clients into Fans

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Tyler Grogan CVT, Creative Marketing Director at Uncharted Veterinary Conference, joins the podcast to discuss her favorite grocery store and how to turn veterinary clients into loyal fans.

You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

LINKS

Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and help support the show. (They’re also much smaller than normal links and easier to copy when typing up show notes!)

A Piece of the Pie: https://amzn.to/3L74Itz

Dr. Andy Roark Exam Room Communication Tool Box Team Training Course: https://drandyroark.com/on-demand-staff-training/

Dr. Andy Roark Charming the Angry Client Team Training Course: https://drandyroark.com/charming-the-angry-client/

Dr. Andy Roark Swag: drandyroark.com/shop

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ABOUT OUR GUEST

Tyler Grogan is a Certified Veterinary Technician with experience in specialty, emergency and general practice. She currently serves as the Creative Marketing Director for the Uncharted Veterinary Conference where she focuses on brand building, marketing, storytelling across multiple digital platforms, and exploring new ways to elevate the client experience.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Andy Roark:
Welcome everybody to The Cone of Shame Veterinary Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Andy Roark. Guys, I’m here today with one of my good friends, Tyler Grogan, CVT. She is the creative marketing director at the Uncharted Veterinary Conference, and I am talking with her about a lecture I saw her do back in December on turning clients into fans. And we talk about sports fans, we talk about Tyler’s not at all strange obsession with the grocery store Publix and the experiences that they create and what she’s learned from the Publix’s supermarket about veterinary clients and building client loyalty. This is a really fun conversation. This is an idea conversation if you like those conversations where people are talking about sort of abstract things and you go, “Oh man, this is really getting me thinking in new and interesting ways,” you’re going to love this episode. Gang, without further ado, let’s get into it.

Kelsey Beth Carpenter:
(Singing) This is your show. We’re glad you’re here. We want to help you in your veterinary career. Welcome to The Cone of Shame, with Dr. Andy Roark.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Welcome to the podcast. Tyler Grogan, how are you?

Tyler Grogan:
I’m good. How are you Andy?

Dr. Andy Roark:
I am doing so good. It is so good to see you. I do enjoy when we get to catch up, which is very often since we live in the same town and we work for the same company and all those sorts of things. But I get to see you a lot, but I always enjoy seeing you. For those who don’t know you, you are a certified veterinary technician. You have been in social media and marketing for a number of years now. You are the creative marketing director for the Uncharted Veterinary Conference, which is where you and I both work. And yeah, you are always a breath of fresh air and one of the most positive people that I know, and I have just been so happy to get to know you over the last like what, six, eight years now. Something like that?

Tyler Grogan:
Yeah, we’re coming up on a decade of knowing each other.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Are we really? I was thinking it was getting up there.

Tyler Grogan:
Yeah, we met, I believe it was, it was then NAVC, but now VMX conference once upon a time. And then I showed up at Uncharted and haven’t left. So you’ve been stuck with me since.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Yeah, that’s true. You showed up for a conference and ended up with a job, and that’s how that went.

Tyler Grogan:
My plan worked brilliantly.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Well. I wanted to talk to you about some work that you’ve been doing. You have a lecture that I got to see back in December, and it’s called Turning Clients into Fans. And I wanted to bring you on here, one, because it’s our 200th episode of the podcast, and I was like, who do I want to talk to? I want to talk to my friend Tyler, just someone who I have gotten to be really close with. And then number two, I love when we take two different ideas and squish them together to understand the world. It’s how my brain works, it’s one of my favorite things. If people have ever heard me talk about time management, I talk about Red Dots and I talk about dragons, and I just talk about all of these wild things because I think that thinking about disparate things and then squishing them back into the question at hand or vet medicine specifically, I think that lets us see things in a new and interesting way.
And so you did this presentation that I got to see, called Turning Clients into fans, and you talked about Publix, the grocery store, in terms of how we should treat veterinary clients. And I want you to lay down your story and your thesis on how Publix informs the way we should think about seeing pet owners.

Tyler Grogan:
Yeah. So I love that you called it a thesis because as I dove into this topic, it definitely started to feel a bit like a research paper, which is always fun. I’m a naturally curious person. So it actually came up as a question in 2019 before the pandemic when we were at Fetch in Kansas City, and I saw a talk by Bill Schroeder about marketing. And he briefly touched on how there are fans for different businesses, and he actually used Uncharted as an example of a company that had fans. And so that always kind of stuck in my head. And I’ve always had that kind of question in the back of my mind of, okay, well it makes sense, but how does it get to that point? And so I took that from there and really thought about sports. And in veterinary medicine right now we’re experiencing a lot of change and we went through a lot of change, and that comes with a lot of new team members and a lot of new processes and a lot of new things.
And so it kind of made me ask this question. So again, putting thing one thing to another thing, kind of like how your brain works of how do sports have actual fans that endure so much change? They endure change for their staffing, their teams on a regular basis. And yet someone who is a fan of a sports team is a fan of the team. And I was like, okay, there’s this bigger question of how do you create this enduring, because really they’re customers, how do you create this enduring fanship? And Publix is a great example of a business taking some of those concepts.

Dr. Andy Roark:
I want to pause here for one second because I really like this idea. I’ve not really honestly processed it that way because when you look at professional sports, you have these free agents and you have people who come and they turn over and they get traded. And I know people who are absolutely rabid fans of a sports team. And I’m like, man, all of the people who are on that team, were not on that team five years ago, and they won’t be on that team five years from now. But the fans are often, they seem much more loyal than the actual players on the team, in a big way. And I understand there’s economic drivers for that. But I think this is really interesting.
It’s also really, honestly for a second, I kind of recoiled when you said, these fans are our customers. And I’m like, “Customers? Like I’m a Florida Gator customer?” And the truth is, yes, I am. I have a very expensive degree that I purchase from the University of Florida. And boy, their merchandise is ridiculously expensive. And yet, I still buy it and people buy it and give it to me because that’s where I’m from.
But you don’t think of fans as customers. But at their root, that’s exactly what they are. So I like that. And I had not really considered the idea of looking at this as a way of insulating vet practices against staff turnover because sometimes we have veterinarians that leave and sometimes we have staff that leave. And that’s just unfortunately, it’s part of the job. I don’t think there’s anything insidious about it other than people always, they have lives and they have spouses and they have needs and they move away to be close to family and things like that. And so how do you build this attachment to the team as opposed to the individual? I love that. So with you there. Talk to me about how Publix interfaces with US professional sports teams.

Tyler Grogan:
All right, so stick with me here. So like you said, you kind of recoiled at the thought of a fan being a customer, and I had a similar reaction of, wait a minute, but it makes sense. We’re spending money to participate in these types of things. And so again, the bigger question was how do we create this enduring fanship, and then how does that translate to business? And so sports was kind of a huge thing to look at and really translate to veterinary medicine. So I started thinking about what businesses do I consider myself a fan of and why? And the first one that came to mind was Publix, and it’s a grocery store for those of you who are maybe not from the south or the United States that have not heard of it, but it’s a grocery store chain in the southeast.
And I would say that I am a fan of Publix and there are people out there that are true fans of Publix. And that means that they’re out there buying merchandise or if you live out of state, they’re telling you that if you go visit this area of the country, you should go to Publix and have a Pub sub. It’s that level of involvement. And so what were they doing as a business that was creating that same level of, I want to be involved in this, I want to spend money here, I will choose this over any other place and that loyalty. So it was an easier leap for me to kind of think about, okay, let’s look at the business side of this rather than sports teams to really translate it to vet med.
And so it boiled down to a couple different areas of customer service, which were exceeding expectations consistently. So setting expectations of what you’re going to get. When you walk into a Publix store, it’s going to feel the same. You’re going to have a good experience. If you walk up to a counter and ask for help, they’re going to help you. It’s just always a positive experience. So meeting and exceeding expectations, and that’s on a consistent basis.
And then the other thing is creating an emotional attachment, which this one hit right on the head for me because vet med, we immediately have that leg up on any other business. We are going to establish emotional connection with our clients and customers right off the bat because a big part of their identity is their pets and being pet parents. And we have a great opportunity to connect with them on an emotional level that most other industries don’t get that. So we already have half of it, pretty much set up for us. The second half is really about meeting and exceeding expectations on a consistent basis. So what can veterinary practices do to accomplish that? There’s so many different things.

Dr. Andy Roark:
I’m going to pause here for a second. I want to unpack this connection with Publix a little bit more because I want people to really understand it. And I think you did a really good job in the presentation of laying this out because I agree, my wife will drive past three grocery stores to get to Publix. It is the one. We have our Publix, it’s the one that we go to. I ask her why we do this, and she says, “Well, it’s because I know where everything is.” And I go, “But, how did we get to that point? Why did we not stop at the other grocery stores before we came here so many times that you now know where everything is? What got us to this place?” Because I do agree that now there’s the comfort, there’s a familiarity, there’s all these things.
And I do think that’s part of it. It’s called perceived switching cost. So this is true, and I learned about this in human medicine, but then it applies to vet medicine and applies to everything’s. In my wife’s mind, there is a switching cost, which means if we went to a different grocery store, she would have to figure out where specific things are versus she just knows where they are right now and this is easier. So there’s a cost of switching going somewhere else. And so that’s where we are now, but how do we get there? And so talk to me a little bit more about the fan experience for a grocery store, and I like some specific examples of how did this get created? How did this get built?

Tyler Grogan:
Yeah, for sure. So I’ll step back for a second to the sports example and this connection here. So part of making someone a fan of something is how they’re introduced to it, and there’s usually some level of socialization to that. So for sports, it’s usually my family was a fan of this team, and therefore I’m a fan of this team and within proximity of my home, et cetera. For something like Publix, for example, my mom would always shop at Publix. And so now I shop at Publix and I know what they can do if you need your seafood steamed for you, they’ll do it for you before you take it home so your house doesn’t smell like fish. That’s the level of customer service that they’re offering.
And so how do they reach that point of fanship? Well, again, I bring it back to they’re consistent. I walk in there and I know exactly what to expect. They are not only going to meet my expectations, but they’re going to exceed them. For example, I became a fan of Publix, starting from being a small child, but I recently moved to South Carolina, as you know. And when I walked into my local Publix, which was the first order of business, I walked over to the deli counter and they have usually a type of turkey that is one of my favorite for lunch meat sandwiches. I didn’t see it, I asked, they didn’t have it. And I was a little disappointed, which I think the deli counter attendant could tell. And I left without my turkey. And it was, oh man, this is like a thing, it’s just something that makes me feel comforted and I’m at home, but I can’t get it. So it’s no big deal.
Well, the next time I went to Publix, probably the week later, I went over to the deli counter to find maybe a new alternative, and there was the turkey in the deli counter, and I was like, “Whoa, wait, they have it.” And so I got myself a pound of it, I’m planning to eat it all week long, very excited. And now it’s still consistently there in the deli counter. And it’s not always on display, but they always do have it in stock. And I can’t help but feel like I was the person that made them keep that in stock. And I’m one customer out of hundreds that walk into that store all the time. That’s the level of types of things that happen at Publix that make people continue to go back and be a fan and recommend them above all others. So that for me was a moment of, “Oh, this is a new level. This is beyond loyal customer. This is, I’m going to tell people the story.”

Dr. Andy Roark:
Yeah. I like that. I think that’s a great example. It’s sort of probably a small thing from them is to say, “This was something that was requested. Let’s try it. Let’s see if anybody buys it.” And they got it. And people do buy it. One person, Tyler Grogan, who shows up every week and buys a pound.

Tyler Grogan:
It might only be me. I believe that it might only be me, but I want to think that people around might also buy the turkey and be like, “Wow, whoever thought this up, they had a great idea here.” But it makes me feel good to know that they have this, maybe it is just for me.

Dr. Andy Roark:
I imagine them hiding behind the counter and they’re like, “Hey, it’s her, it’s the turkey girl. Get it out the back.” And they go in the back and they get the same turkey and bring it forward, and then they put it back way after you leave.
If you dream of doing team training with your team, getting your people together, getting them on the same page, talking about how you guys work together in your practice, I’d love to help you. You can check out drandyroark.com and check out the store. I have two different team training courses. These are courses for teams to do together to get on the same page and to talk about how you do things. I have my Angry Clients course, and I have my Exam Room Toolkit course, and they are both available in there. Check them out. All right guys, let’s get back into this episode.
So I love it. I like this a lot. Go ahead and start to help me see the vision of how some of these concepts translate to vet medicine. What does it look like to start to apply some of these principles in a hospital?

Tyler Grogan:
Sure. This is so exciting, I love this part. So George Jenkins, the founder of Publix, was quoted to say, “Astonishment is not a feeling people soon forget.” And so I think about in vet medicine, these moments of when can we take it from this was a good experience to this was a memorable one, to this was something that really was meaningful for me. And we have so many opportunities to do that. It really is about setting the strong foundation of when I come to this vet practice, this is what my experience looks like, this is what I can expect, this is the level of transparent communication that I can expect from the entire team, from the practice. So setting that strong foundation is definitely step one.
But beyond that, you can create those moments. I think our friend, Dr. Michael Miller, does a really good job of this. An example that I love is during the pandemic when everyone with curbside, he started having a little post-it note packet in his pocket of his jacket, which I just rhymed. Great. I just decided to rap about it. He would have a post-it pad with him and he would take a photo with the pet, write a little note personally to the client, which could have even been just something as simple as, “Thanks for coming today,” and he would send that back out with the pet to the car. And he was just doing that on a regular basis and his clients loved it.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Sure.

Tyler Grogan:
They’re posting about it on their social media. Yeah. And so he took it from this, they’ve already established their curbside protocols and procedures and they’re following those. And then he took it to another level of just adding this little extra step and make someone feel special and seen that day and those little things can really add up to creating that experience and turning someone into somebody that’s going to become a fan for you.

Dr. Andy Roark:
That’s awesome. Man, that’s great. That’s a great example of just astonishment. I can imagine this thing coming out and you never expect it and it’s super cool. I guarantee those photos made it onto people’s refrigerators, like the old magnet on the fridge. I have no doubt. That’s what I would’ve done. And I love that. I’m also, a big Michael Miller fan. He’s been on the podcast a couple of times.
The last time he was on, we were talking about something, I think the title of the episode was like Leaders Shouldn’t Eat Last. I think it’s basically what it was. My favorite Michael Miller line was basically he was talking about being sort of a servant leadership to the extreme to point where he’s like, “Boy, we’ve created a job that no one else would want to do, and that’s a problem.” So anyway, he’s such a neat guy and he’s such a deep thinker and I’m not surprised that’s where that comes from. All right, I love it like it a lot. So we’re looking for those sort of types of ways of exceeding expectations, it’s sort of astonishing people and things like that. Do you have other examples or other things that you see that that stand out as ways that you’ve seen practices build fandoms?

Tyler Grogan:
Another really powerful example that I think speaks to the emotional connection piece of being a fan, it actually comes from an unexpected place maybe, which is euthanasia. Those are some of the most emotional moments for our clients in the times that we’re interacting with them, that we have this opportunity to create those connections. And if we meet and exceed expectations during those experiences, then those are the people that’ll come back with the pet that is the new addition to the family after that difficult loss. The card that goes out in the mail, maybe a few days afterward to them could be that little extra step. Some of these things we kind of think of as our normal because we are experiencing them on a regular basis. But for someone that maybe this was their pet of 20 years, this might be the first time that they’re experiencing this loss.
And to have that little extra checking in on them, or even just a quick email. For example, could be that extra step that makes me feel really, really important to these people. And I’m not just a person that walked in one time, I’m a person they care about. And so those are really powerful moments that we can connect with people in such a strong way. And so that’s another example. Outside of the practice, I heard a story recently of a company that they provide AutoShip for foods. And so a friend of mine’s family had a pet that passed away. They emailed the company and said, we need to cancel this AutoShip. And they were very nice emailed back and said, “Of course, we’ll cancel that for you. We’d just ask that you donate the food that you already have to a local shelter.”
But then they took it to the next level and they sent them a small bouquet of flowers to their home. And for a large company like this, that might have been just a very, very small investment. But that led to this family feeling very personally connected to this company and therefore, walking down the street of their neighborhood, telling all their neighbors about this experience. And who are they more likely now to maybe also get foods for their pet from? So it can be really powerful and have a lot of ripple effects to just make those little extra steps.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Yeah, I think that’s fantastic. That makes a ton of sense. So you talk about consistently exceeding expectations. I think that that’s an important thing. I think a lot of us, we have wonderful interactions, we’ll have a great conversation and we’ll say, “Oh, I saw this opportunity, I jumped in and helped this person. And it made me feel good, and they even wrote a thank you note because they were so impressed with it.” Talk to me a little bit about the consistent part of it. How do we start to build consistency into programs like this, in your mind?

Tyler Grogan:
Yeah, sure. So some of it comes down to setting up protocols and processes for your practice, which those, again, were kind of coming out of a time of significant and rapid changes during the pandemic. And so some of those processes might look radically different than when you opened your practice. A good example may be just your appointment protocols. How long in advance are we confirming appointments? How long are we going to expect people to be waiting? What are we letting them know? What are our steps because we are so busy at this point? What are our steps to letting people know that we’re running behind, or what our expectations are we setting around maybe how long they’ll be in the lobby or in their cars before they come in?
Some of those things, just sitting down and looking at those processes can really help to establish some consistency right off the bat. And then what I think is maybe the step to exceed the expectations is to set yourself up for success in those processes. There’s nothing to say that we could get this client in a room within 15 minutes of their arriving, but if we tell them that it may be a 25-minute wait and we get them in 10, that’s succeeding expectations. We’ve set ourselves up to succeed. We do this really well with things like lab work where we let them know perhaps that we know we’ll get the lab results back in three, four business days if it’s a regular testing. But we’ll let them know we’ll get back to them within seven to 10 business days. And then when we call them way ahead of that, it’s an exceeding of expectation. So yeah, there’s so many opportunities to just set yourself up for success. So I think there’s a lot there to dig into.
And you can look at one thing at a time. It seems like it can be overwhelming if you sit back and look at the whole picture. But I love something that you say, which is pick a hell and make it pretty. Pick something that is something you do all the time. Maybe it’s the thing that you’re known for, you’re known for your low stress handling appointments and you do really well with very fearful cats, for example. Look at that process. What makes it great? Look at what you’re doing now and you already know it’s doing well for you. And then where can you add in a couple layers of, we know we can do it this well, let’s say that we’re going to do it this well and set ourselves up to exceed their expectation. Let’s also give them a small toy when they leave without saying anything about it at any point before their visit. And then it’s going to be this extra step, this little extra thing that is part of your process, but it’s behind the scenes. So it’s exceeding expectations from the client perspective. There’s little things like that.

Dr. Andy Roark:
That makes a ton of sense. Tyler, for people who are inspired, who are fired up, who want to get deeper into this head space, do you have favorite resources that you recommend? Anything that you like or draw inspiration from?

Tyler Grogan:
Yeah, so when I was diving into learning more about Publix and their customer service, I did come across a book called A Piece of the Pie. It was written by an executive of their HR department, who was there for 25 years. And it’s got a lot of great stories of these moments of exceeding expectations that I really, really enjoyed. So that’s a great resource if people are interested in learning more.

Dr. Andy Roark:
That’s so great. I love stories like that where you can just pull examples from, and I walk around with an encyclopedic knowledge of customer service stories of Publix. The staff after a while is like, “Here he goes again,” and I’m telling Publix customer service stories. Perfect. I’ll put a link to that in the show notes. Tyler, thank you so much. Where can people find you online? Where can they see the wonderful work you do for Uncharted?

Tyler Grogan:
Yeah, so I am doing some workshops this year for the Uncharted community. That’ll be out for anyone who’d like to attend. So keep an eye out on our website for those coming out. If you’re in the community, I’ve got some things in there including some more information about this topic, and you’ll probably see me around any of the Uncharted events that are going on. So keep an eye out for me there. And definitely say hi if you’re coming to any of our Uncharted events, because I love to meet new people.

Dr. Andy Roark:
Oh, awesome. Tyler, thanks so much for being here. Guys, thanks for tuning in. Take care of yourselves.
And that is the episode. Guys, that’s what I got for you. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you got something out of it. As always, if you did, share with your friends, write me an honest review wherever you get your podcasts. It is how people find the show. It always means the world to me. Gang, take care of yourselves. Be well. I’ll talk to you later on. Bye.

The Hope Rebellion

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The opposite of grimdark is hopepunk. 
Pass it on.
– Alexandra Rowland

Everything is deteriorating and the only smart outlook is a cynical one. At least that’s what I’m hearing. Well, nihilism, the belief that nothing matters, isn’t a worldview or a professional outlook I’m interested in. 

Yes, our profession is a hard one. There are challenges and uncertainties every day. There are angry people, diseases that can’t be cured, and treatments that can’t be afforded. There are fights with management, arguments among staff, and disagreements over how best to get our work done. Cancer isn’t fair. Pet owners make mistakes. Some people are just in it for the money. And those who are hurting emotionally tend to lash out and hurt others.

A lot of us in veterinary medicine think the enlightened response is “to fully accept and expect dark days.” These people protect themselves (and tell themselves they are protecting others) by anticipating the negative as if it’s a given. They signal their insight and experience in the world by telling others that hardship is coming, things are broken, and “that’s just the way it is.” 

After all, if something painful happens and you “called it,” it doesn’t hurt as much, right? 

Well, I have decided that the culture of despair and defeat is one that I’m not interested in being a part of. In fact, it’s one I’d like to see torn down. I think we need to revolt.

It’s time for a rebellion.

A rebellion against negativity and darkness, however, is not driven by positivity. Rather, the way to battle back is not telling ourselves that painful things are actually good and everything is fine. It’s not reminding people who are struggling that they should be grateful. That’s its own type of toxicity.

No. The rebellion against cynicism is defined by hope. 

In a world where fear and problems walk through our doors and appear on our phones, rebellion is stubborn, lip-curled, gritted-teeth optimism. 

Today, hope is punk rock. It’s the mindset of those who don’t want to be told what to do or think. Owning your power to step forward and make days brighter is leather, spikes, and chains. Helping when you don’t have to is an ace of spades face tattoo. And telling someone that they are making a positive difference in the world is a spiked mohawk. This is how we rebel.

So, what do you say? Do you want to be hopepunk with me? Do you want to flip off the doom and gloom system with a rebellious smile and kind words? Do you want to stick a finger in the eye of the doomsayers by asking the question “what if change actually causes things to get better?” If so, let’s get to work. 

We may not win the war against cynicism, but we can punch tiny holes in it all day, everyday, and no one can stop us.

Is Convenience Leading Us Toward Misery?

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I know I’m not the only person who enjoyed practice back in 2020. That was when pet owners were being seen curbside, and vet medical teams were powering through appointments with pit crew-level efficiency. Seeing pets that way was, for us veterinarians, extremely convenient. It allowed us to stay in one spot, do our work without distraction, and focus on clear communication in bite-sized chunks. Many of the minor frictions that come with navigating the pet + owner experience were removed.

I also suspect that I am not the only one who recognized that there was a price being paid for this convenience. 

By removing the pet owner (and all the inefficiencies that come with them), it felt like I was losing something important. The longer we went curbside, the more convinced of this loss I became.

It’s not unreasonable to want a happier, more convenient, less irritating life. In fact, society seems fixated on helping to make that happen. We now have the ability to stream movies or TV on our phones, wireless headphones to summon music, podcasts or audiobooks at a moment’s notice, and texting and messaging apps to save us from awkwardness on the phones. Tired of traffic? Grab an Uber! Worried about missing the game? Stream it on your watch!

As I look around my living room right now, my dog is chewing his bone while I type on my laptop. Each of my children stare, completely immersed in their cell phones. No one is bored here. No one is inconvenienced by the behaviors of other family members. No one is doing anything other than what they want to do at this moment.

That’s wonderful… isn’t it? I’m not so convinced.

My Doubts About Convenience 

It’s so easy to remove the frictions of life, and in the moment it feels great. It’s awesome to not be bored. It’s great to be able to duck away when things quiet down in the clinic for a moment. It’s nice to get work done while my kids are entertained. 

That quiet time in the treatment room absolutely could be used for emails, or it could be used for just standing around and talking with the team. Getting the email done feels like the priority. However, in the long term, not spending time simply being present with my techs and fellow doctors would have negative consequences.

That’s often how this goes. Taking the easy and convenient path in the short term sets us up for loneliness and shallow connections in the long term. 

Inconvenience Can Become A Doorway 

No, we shouldn’t swear off the little things that make us happy. There’s nothing wrong with watching the show you love, listening to a podcast while you drive, or scrolling social media on your break. We do run into a problem, however, if we do them so regularly and quickly that we never see the opportunity to strike up a conversation with someone we don’t know (or who we love and care deeply about). At some point, inconvenience is the doorway to connection.

Working with clients while treating their pets is how we build relationships. Advertisements on the radio are our impetus to turn the volume down and talk to our friend. Turning off social media on our breaks and just asking a co-worker what they did over the weekend is a step toward building trust. 

Maybe we should start getting a bit more tolerant of irritation, boredom and inefficiency. Maybe taking the path that’s immediately fast and easy doesn’t get us where we want to in the long term. Maybe it’s good to be just uncomfortable enough that we make time for the mundane acts that build connection and a rich life.