Why do vets clash across generations? Discover how mentorship, empathy, and leadership can turn conflict into collaboration and build resilient, sustainable practices.

Hiring right now is brutal.  Too many jobs, not enough vets, and a constant merry-go-round of people jumping ship.  Most leaders throw up their hands and blame “the market.” But when you do that, you give up control. The truth? Most practices aren’t giving anyone a compelling reason to choose them. If your job ad looks just like every other one out there – full of the same old buzzwords – then vets are going to make their choice based on two things: pay and location. That’s a

The young vet paused for a moment and said quietly, "Pets take care of us in our times of crisis — it's a privilege to take care of them in theirs." That line has stayed with me. We've recently expanded the personal coaching we give members of our courses and over the past few weeks, I've had call after call with vets and the same desire comes up as a constant theme: they all want to rebuild trust in the profession. They see the same cracks in the system that many have felt:

You've heard of Halstead's first principles, no doubt. But these are, it turns out, incomplete. Here are some tough lessons—experienced, observed, or shared from the operating theatres of veterinary medicine - which ought to be included in the next edition of Fossum. Feel free to forward this to the editor. Make big flaps.  The little skinny things tend to go wrong. As a vet dentist, I was thinking of the oral cavity as I wrote this, but it’s a reasonable enough thing to say

Being a leader of people in a veterinary practice can feel like walking a tightrope. Your team grows. The work gets more complex. And you’re doing everything you can to be the kind of leader your team needs - thoughtful, fair, present - but not overbearing. Still, there’s a quiet fear many leaders carry: the fear of micromanaging. Of becoming that boss - the one who hovers, questions everything, and doesn’t know when to step back. So you hold back. You try to give people spac

Have you ever had one of those days where it feels like your brain is a corkboard covered in post-it notes? You haven’t even made it to...

F@%k! I could cry. It’s not so much the physical pain - that’s a one out of ten. It’s the emotional pain of seeing three years of near-daily work undone in a twist of gristle. But I better tell you what’s going on before I lose you completely. On Monday, with much frowning from my coach Mike Porteous , I attended my first track session of the year. Track, if you’ve not been near one since a sadistic teacher drove you around it in gym class, is where you go to run fast. And, i

Did you hear the one about what happened when the mentors left veterinary medicine? Pull up a chair, but don’t get comfortable. This isn’t going to be a pleasant read… Once upon a time, many practices were owned by different vets who lived in their local communities and stuck around in their roles for decades. These vets’ dreams were built on their ability to serve clients, put down roots, and contribute. This, in turn, required them to operate long-term, sustainable veterina

Interesting things are happening. Both personal and professional relationships are changing and developing in some incredible ways. Some...