1.

Introduction/Background information
a. Slide 1
i. Good afternoon. My name is scott quakkelaar, and I’m
also a 3rd year student at Murdoch university. I attended
the veterinary leadership experience with jarrad last june,
and today I’ll talk about some of the key learnings.
b. Slide 2
i. I wanted to start by introducing you to a book I discovered
on pre-vet forums while I was preparing to apply to vet
school. It’s called “Pet Hates: The shocking truths about
pets and vets.” It was written by a vet who has assumed
the pseudonym, Josh Artmeier. Among his goals with this
book are to “correct the balance” of the glamourised james
herriot view of the vet profession, and to save lives. Noble
goals.
ii. The author targets his book to veterinary students by
encouraging us to switch to something else, or move to a
less stressful specialist area. This book could save you a
great deal of unpleasantness, he says.
c. Slide 3
i. A number of people seem to feel the same way. This is
from a letter published in the Veterinary Times. Coping
with the day-to-day stresses … can only be achieved by
Supervet. The rest of us cope, or not. Fortunately, the
writer’s struggles with these day-to-day stresses were not
terminal.
d. Slide 4
i. But there’s a silver lining to this cloud. This letter was
signed “From a happy and fulfilled small animal vet.”
Most of the time I love my job. If I had my time again, I’d
do it all again.
ii. All these people are talking about the same profession.
One warns us to get out while we still can. Another
considered suicide. Still another loves the job and would
do it again in an instant. What’s the difference?
(1:42:00)
--

2. Agenda
a. Slide 53
i. My talk today will look at just this. What is it that makes
for a contented vet? Or a vet that’s burned out, cynical and
suicidal? Is it a specific job? Or is there something else to
it?
ii. In the solution, I’ll revisit some of my key learnings from
the Veterinary Leadership Experience.
iii. Finally, I’ll discuss how these learnings have impacted my
life, and some things I’ve accomplished since attending the
VLE last June.
(00:20.71)
--

3. What’s the problem?

a. Slide 6
i. No matter where you study, veterinary educators deliver a
wealth of technical knowledge and expertise, with a focus
on critical thinking and problem solving.
ii. To be successful, however, the professional veterinarian
requires more than just technical aptitude. These
additional qualities aren’t unique to veterinary
professionals – think about somebody you looked up to.
(1) He must be able to communicate with his colleagues,
including other veterinarians and nurses.
(2) She must be able to communicate with clients, not only
to adequately understand the issues the client is facing,
but also to clearly convey medical advice in a way that
is compassionate and understanding.
(3) He must exhibit integrity. He says what he means and
does what he says. He always treats people with
dignity and respect.
(4) She must find a balance between living to work and
working to live. I believe the work/life balance is key
to preventing burnout and disillusionment.
iii. Some say that people who choose to be happy are happy.
Those who don’t, aren’t. As Rick DeBowes would say,
“Choose Happy.”
(00:51.50)
--

4. The VLE
a. Slide 7
i. The VLE was designed to fill this gap. We were
introduced to the concept of emotional intelligence, to
which there are four components.4
b. Slide 8
i. I like to think I know a fair bit about myself. But is what I
see consistent with what others see? Am I missing
anything? To answer these questions, I must be willing to
ask for and to receive honest feedback, both kudos and
improvements.
c. Slide 9
i. How do I handle adversity? We all have bad days. Hectic
schedules, demanding clients, mistakes. It all adds up to
frustration. Where that leads is your choice. There are
some people whom you’d never know were rattled. I’ve
worked with others who were insulting and physically
abusive to their colleagues. I prefer to work with the
former. Maybe you do, too.
d. Slide 10
 i. I’ve come to the realisation that life happens to those
around me. I think it’s important to understand and care
about what is happening with people I work with. They
are people, after all. I’ve learned to reserve judgement, as
their circumstances often temper my reaction to them not
doing what I think they should be doing.
ii. I’m also a firm believer in giving people the tools they
need and encouraging them to be their best. I’ve
experienced it personally, both with myself and with
colleagues. I’m motivated to do more and better when
people give me that freedom. And I’ve been pleasantly
surprised by others who overperform when given the
latitude to do so. People can often do so much more than
they believe, if only I show them I believe in them.
e. Slide 11
i. I once got a fortune cookie that said, “You will find it easy
to make people like you.
f. Slide 12
i. Let’s make this interactive. If you would, read that again
with me. “You will find it easy to make people like you.
g. Slide 13
i. Instead, here’s how I read it. You will find it easy to make
people like you. I’ve found that most people aren’t like me
at all. They think differently. They’re motivated by
different things than I am. They have different skills.
h. Slide 14
i. And this is good. Solving complex problems often
requires application of a number of complementary skill
sets.
ii. Here’s my myers briggs type indicator (MTBI) - as you
can see, they called me introverted, sensing, thinking and
judging. At the VLE, they organised teams of 10-12
people, each with a different MTBI. It quickly became
clear how different people thought differently about the
same problem, and it was often a combination of ideas that
finally brought a solution. Or not. As the challenges
became more difficult, we also saw how our tendencies
meshed or clashed with those of others. Solving problems
wasn’t as important as recognising these interactions with
other people. It’s important to recognise what other people
bring to the table, and how I can stifle them or augment
them with my own actions.
i. Slide 15
i. John C. Maxwell said that “People don’t care how much
you know until they know how much you care.5” Perhaps
you’ve experienced this. I have. I’ve seen a number of
doctors who didn’t seem to listen, or hear, what I was
saying. They seemed more interested in getting me out the
door and getting to their next patient. I know they’re busy,
but I’m a human being, and I appreciate being treated like
 one. I have a strong suspicion my clients will feel the
same.
(03:41.30)
--

5. What do I do now?
a. Slide 16
i. So, what now? When I returned from the vle, I held a
leadership position in one of our student interest groups. I
thought I’d just apply what I learned and, presto. But
everything wasn’t so simple.
ii. But I try to learn something new about myself every day.
b. Slide 176
i. My eyes are open to what I’m doing and my ears hear what
I say. Often I don’t see my mistakes until I’ve already
made them. Most of the time, I atone for them quickly,
and endeavour not to make the same mistake again. The
more I make similar mistakes, the better I get at seeing
them coming. Eventually, I can see my mistakes coming
and I avoid them.
c. Slide 18
i. I try to find solutions to the problems I see. If there’s
something I think could be better, I try to define how I’d
like to see it better. Constructive criticism is a whole lot
more constructive than just complaining. We are, after all,
in the business of solving problems.
d. Slide 19
i. Most importantly, self care is an important component of
self-management. I often ask myself, “How do people find
time to take care of themselves with the demands of vet
school or a full day of consultations?” The truth is that
many people do it, and my goal in the next 2½ years is to
find out how.
(00:43.76)
--

6. Summary
a. Slide 20
i. We’ve identified that while veterinary educators excel at
developing technical expertise in their students, veterinary
professionals require something more to be successful.
ii. The VLE attempts to provide some of the life skills to
complement the technical skills taught in veterinary
education. Emotional intelligence comprises 4 key
concepts: self awareness, self management, social
awareness and relational competence.
iii. While I’ve got a long way to go, a conscious awareness of
these concepts allows me to apply them in my everyday
dealings.
 iv. Finally, if I choose to hate my job and bring everybody
else down, I can do that quite well. I will choose, instead,
to enjoy my job, encourage others to be their best, and to
effect change by seeking solutions.

7. Pet Hates
a. Slide 21
i. Turns out Josh Artmeier knows what we’ve just learned.
Happy vets are good with people, lead full lives, with
outside interests and friends, and don’t get caught up in
trying to be perfect. He just has a different way of
marketing it7.
(00:51.00)
--

(08:10.00)

Images3

References:
1. Artmeier J. Pet hates. [Internet Site] [cited 2008 Apr 20];
Available from: http://www.myspace.com/pethates.
2. Veterinary Times. 2006 Dec 11;36(47).
3. Microsoft office online. [Internet Site] 2008 [cited 2008 Apr
22]; Available from: http://office.microsoft.com/en-
us/FX100647101033.aspx?pid=CL100569831033.
4. Goleman D. Emotional intelligence: Issues in paradigm
building. In: Cherniss C, Goleman D, editors. The emotionally
intelligent workplace: How to select for, measure, and improve
emotional intelligence in individuals, groups, and organizations:
Jossey-Bass; 2001.
5. Maxwell J. Leadership 101: Thomas Nelson; 2002.
6. Nelson P. There's a hole in my sidewalk: The romance of self-
discovery: Beyond Words; 1994.
7. VetBob. Psychological traits of happy vets. About.com Pre
Vet and Career Forum [Internet Site] 2006 [updated 2006 Oct 29;
cited 2008 Apr 22]; Available from:
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&we
btag=ab-vetmedicine2&tid=1853.