Episode #18 – Dr. Jim Lloyd

From Agriculture to Academia
Growing up in a small town, Dr. Lloyd pursued his passion for animals and wildlife and merged it with an aptitude in business and economics to build an impressive Animal Health career in academia.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to The People of Animal Health Podcast. The host of our podcast is Stacy Pursell. Stacy is the leading executive recruiter for the animal health and veterinary industries. She’s the founder of Therio Partners and the VET Recruiter. Stacy has placed more professionals in key positions within the animal health and veterinary industries than any executive search professional. And along the way, Stacy has built relationships with some outstanding people who are doing incredible things to make a difference. The People of Animal Health Podcast features industry leaders and trailblazers who have made a significant impact or are making an impact in the animal health and veterinary industries. Stacy chats with them to learn more about their lives, their careers, and the unique and interesting things that they have done to contribute to the animal health or veterinary industries. She is here to share their stories with you. Now, here’s the host of our podcast, Stacy Pursell.

Stacy Pursell:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to The People of Animal Health Podcast. On today’s show, we are talking with Dr. Jim Lloyd. Dr. Lloyd has had quite an amazing career. Dr. Lloyd is currently CEO and senior consultant for Animal Health Economics. Previously, he was Dean of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Prior to that, he was Professor and Associate Dean at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Lloyd has authored or co-authored 188 scientific publications and has delivered 365 scientific presentations and workshops. With the focus on economics and strategy in veterinary medicine and animal health, Dr. Lloyd draws on his unique blend of executive leadership experience, expertise in economic and business analysis. He has a broad based industry knowledge and extensive professional network. He works with executive leaders in the animal health industry and allied organizations to identify, develop, and implement key strategic initiatives and alliances. Welcome onto The People of Animal Health Podcast, Jim.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Thank you, Stacy. It’s nice to be here.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, we’re so glad to have you on here, Jim. And Jim, you have had tremendous success in your career. But I would like to start off at the bottom, in the very beginning of your career. What was your life like growing up and where did you grow up, Jim?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, Stacy, I grew up in the center of the lower peninsula of Michigan in a rural community, small town. Went to a small high school, 75 people in my graduating class. Farming community, lots of outdoors. And I guess I would also say that it was kind of a sheltered community to grow up. Didn’t really have much engagement with the outside world. But it gave me a great place to start.

Stacy Pursell:
When did you first figure out what you wanted to do professionally?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Stacy, that’s a great question. The short answer is I’m still working on it, right? I’ve always followed my passion throughout my career, and I’m guessing we’ll talk a little more about that as we get through this discussion. It started out with an interest in science, an interest in animals, interest in environment, and it just unfolded from there. New things come up that I have interest in with an opportunity to just follow those. So I’m still kind of evolving that, figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, tell us the story of your veterinary career. I’d like to start at the beginning. After you graduated from veterinary school, tell us how you got started in your career.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, I’ll start even be before that, Stacy. My career really started with an interest in animals. I started out as an undergraduate major in wildlife biology actually. And as I got close to completion in my undergraduate training, I needed to decide what I was going to do for a job then, because it was time to be out of college and make a living. There weren’t too many jobs at that point in my life in wildlife biology. So I had to decide to go to graduate school, or I had an interest in veterinary medical school as well. So, I decided with the veterinary path.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
As I was in veterinary school, Stacy, I became interested in business as well, and took an elective course taught by Dr. Jack Judy in practice management. And so, as I was working through veterinary school, I also became more and more interested and intrigued by the business aspects of the profession. When I finished veterinary school, I decided that I was going to go ahead and practice. I entered a mixed practice, but I wanted to also pursue an MBA to again, follow this interest, this passion I had that I identified for business. As I was practicing in a two person practice and trying to go to school two nights a week and had a family of small children at the time, it really became a question of “Gee, how can I get all this done at one time?” So I had an opportunity to go back to the university and be an instructor at the university, but really dive into the MBA.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Along the course of the MBA training, Stacy, I found that the MBA program that I was enrolled in was really focused on corporate America. And I was more interested in agriculture, coming from a farm background and a large animal focus in veterinary medicine, and family run businesses as well, with the veterinary practice and the farm. So I gravitated toward the agricultural economics program and department, and also became interested in research. So instead of the MBA, which I started in and had the core courses from the MBA, I actually changed my major emphasis on agricultural economics and research and did a PhD in ag economics.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
When I finished that, Stacy, the question came up, “Well, gee, what are you going to do now?” I didn’t really have an interest in academic career. I wanted to get back out in what I would, at the time, had considered the real world. But somebody mentioned to me, “Boy, if you ever want to go in academia and be an academic, you need to do that first, because it’s difficult to go out and then come back.” So, I took the advice and had an opportunity to join the faculty at Michigan State University. And the short story is at 25 years later, I retired and moved to Florida.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
But it isn’t quite as simple as that. I grew through my career at Michigan State, up through different positions and leadership roles. And at the end of 25 years, I actually was successful in getting the job as Dean at the University of Florida. And so, while it makes for an interesting story, I guess, 25 years and lots of different activities along the way, and growing and growing in leadership opportunities, then to move to Florida where I was Dean for six years at the University of Florida.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
At the end of that six years, Stacy, a family situation brought me back to Michigan. I’m officially, again, retired from University of Florida. But now, I’m back in Michigan and started this consulting career where I want to leverage the experience, the expertise, and also the professional network I’ve built over the years. And so, that’s what I’m doing today, just kind of looking for opportunities to stay engaged, to make a difference, and again, follow my passion.

Stacy Pursell:
So Jim, when did you feel like you were truly beginning to gain traction with your career?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well again, Stacy, because I’ve always just followed my passion, I guess I’ve felt I’ve had traction from the start, right from the very interesting things I learned about wildlife biology, wildlife management, ecosystem health. All the way along, I always felt that I was gaining traction and one achievement, one program led me to another. And so, I guess I’ve always felt that I’ve been on the move and had traction and been moving forward.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, I get asked this question frequently from veterinarians who are in clinical practice. They ask me, “How do you find opportunities?” Or, “How do you get into roles outside of veterinary clinical practice?” So Jim, I’d like to ask you that question. What would you say to someone that wants to know how do you get into other roles outside of veterinary clinical practice?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, for me, Stacy, it started with my interest in business, and I just pursued that part-time when I was in veterinary school and a little more part-time while I was practicing. A little greater emphasis on that as I went back to university and worked through graduate school. But the business background and training helped me to see opportunities and to pursue those opportunities. In addition, somewhere relatively early in my career, I became interested in leadership as a discipline. I did some leadership development workshops, I started reading the leadership literature. And that really also, again, it was a passion of mine, it was an interest of mine. And so, I just kind of dove into it to the extent that time and opportunities presented themselves. The business and the leadership really led me to the non-career opportunities. So I guess I would say whatever it is that you’re interested in, just take every opportunity to pursue that, to learn more about it, to train yourself in those areas and opportunities will show up.

Stacy Pursell:
That is so true. That’s good advice. Take every opportunity that you can along the way. Jim, what has been the most surprising thing to you during your career in the veterinary profession?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, Stacy, there’ve been a couple things that have surprised me. One is, when I came into veterinary medicine, I thought, “Well, I’ve got a career option as being a practitioner. I can either do large animal or small animal.” Boy, was I wrong. Those are certainly career options, but there are so many different career opportunities, within practice, for sure, the nuanced opportunities that I had never seen, never anticipated that were there. But the other tremendous array of opportunities that exist outside of practice as well, whether it’s academic or whether it’s industry, or whether it’s government, whether it’s research, whether it’s in a leadership role. And sometimes, it isn’t directly related to veterinary medicine. I’ve had a couple of graduate students have gone on, and the training they’ve had as a veterinarian and then other graduate training or other work that they’ve done broadens their horizons a bit. But they use the problem solving skills and the network and the understanding of critical thinking that they build through veterinary medicine actually to identify and land and be successful in other career options. So really, the thing that’s surprising is the opportunity.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
But I want to quickly add to that. The thing that’s been a little bit disappointing for me along the way, and increasingly aware of this over the last 10 or 15 years, is that not everyone has equal opportunity to pursue those opportunities, those different career pathways, Stacy. And so, whether even at the start, the opportunity to apply to veterinary school, the opportunity isn’t always equal to gain experiences and to be successful in the admissions process. And so, I guess I’m concerned about that, and I think that’s one of the greatest opportunities for us as we move forward in the future to really think about equity, inclusion, and diversity. That probably builds to some other things that we’ll talk about.

Stacy Pursell:
Yes. And you mentioned a minute ago, you were talking about how opportunity exists outside of the veterinary profession. I’ve seen that, Jim. I once talked to the head of regulatory affairs for Coca-Cola, who was a veterinarian. And I once talked to an executive at Campbell Soup, who is in charge of quality control, who is a veterinarian. So, there are opportunities that exist for veterinarians outside of the veterinary profession. Jim, I’m curious, how have you seen the profession change over the years?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, clearly Stacy, there’s been just an enormous amount of change scientifically. If we think about what we knew or thought we knew way back when I was in veterinary school to where we are today, I mean, the science has just been tremendous, and it’s exciting. The science and the things that we can do clinically, the things that we can do in preventing and managing and treating disease and maintaining health, I think it’s just amazing. The other key things that have changed, the relationship that we have with our pets has changed tremendously as well, and the human animal bond has made a tremendous change in veterinary medicine, in the demand for our services on the companion animal side.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
On the livestock and large animal side, another just really a huge shift since I started in veterinary medicine, especially in the livestock side, a focus on population medicine and population health and production medicine, all in the context of animal welfare and increasing awareness of the welfare of animals and the importance of that along the way. Of course, the other major shifts in the profession, the gender distribution of veterinarians has seen a tremendous shift. And more recently, I think the change that I’m seeing is that we’re increasingly recognizing the importance of diversity and the critical lack of diversity that we’re facing in the profession, how important it’s going to be for us in the future to address that issue. But I think that’s been a substantial change over the last several years.

Stacy Pursell:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). So, I’d love for you to share with the listeners about the kinds of projects that you’re up to and I’m sure you’re going to mention some of the things that you’ve just been talking about. So talk about some of the projects that you’re involved with today, Jim.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Yeah. I think there’s quite an array, almost all related to… I think probably all related to the veterinary medical workforce. I’ll start with, I mentioned already, diversity, equity, and inclusion. I’m serving as co-chair of the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association’s DEI committee. And in that work, we’re just trying to increase awareness of the importance of diversity, trying to diversify the profession, trying to think about ways to be more inclusive in the profession, what we do. And so, I think that is really an important piece of work that, again, defines a foundation for a lot of the other things I do.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
I’ve been working with the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges a bit as well, Stacy. Working with them, my former colleagues, the current deans of the colleges of veterinary medicine, working on a number of workforce related projects there, all the way from admissions and admissions criteria and analyzing who gets admissions offers and who shows up in the admissions pool actually, in the applicant pool, who gets admissions offer, and is there an equal, equitable distribution there?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
And then, also thinking about the workforce from a broader perspective. We’re working with AVMC on a number of initiatives related to the healthcare team and how veterinary nursing and technicians fit into that team and how we identify the competencies necessary for success in participating and leading that healthcare team. I’ve recently done an analysis, I’m an economist after all, of the veterinary workforce and have written a report on the shortage that we’ve identified in veterinarians, shortage of veterinarians, shortage of veterinary nurses, technicians, shortage of veterinary specialists, and have suggested some potential routes forward for addressing those shortages. Again, mostly related to the workforce things, Stacy, but it is quite a variety of different topics.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah. The labor shortage in the veterinary profession is one of the biggest challenges that the profession faces right now, Jim, and I know you’re right in the middle of that.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Yeah, I think it’s an incredible time to be a veterinarian. The opportunities are almost boundless, but we really are facing some challenges as well from a workforce standpoint.

Stacy Pursell:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). So Jim, I’m curious what your typical day looks like. So starting with, what time do you wake up in the morning, what is your morning routine like, and what is a typical day like for you these days?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, Stacy, my energy is in the afternoon and evening. And so, mornings start when my alarm goes off. And so, it depends on what time… You asked what time I wake up in the morning. I wake up whatever time I happen to set my alarm. And on weekends, that’s a different story. But workdays, it’s usually about six o’clock. And from there, the day takes shape. A little less structured now that I’m working as a consultant and have a lot of variety from day to day and the tests that I’m working on, the meetings that I have, and the projects that I’m involved in. But I get rolling in the morning. The first thing I do is look at my calendar for the day, what do I have scheduled. Then look at my to-do list and see what’s on the top of my to-do list priority wise, time wise, and then I kind of plan out my day.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, I know that successful people have daily habits that help them to achieve success. Jim, what are a few of your daily habits that you believe have allowed you to be successful?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, Stacy, I try to find some time or make some time to spend a little energy on reflection. The Covey system says that we ought to be taking some time to reflect at the end of the day, to write out the task for the next day, and at the end of the month, to reflect on the month and what you got done and what you’re going to do next month. I’m not quite that structured. But boy, I’ve really found that reflection time is important. And whether I get a chance to do it every day or not, but just a reflection on where you are, what do you have going on, what are the priorities. And in fact, it’s important for me to actually list those out so that I can see them, a visual connection, and then prioritize as well thinking about those and how they align with my own interests, my own values, and to organize my day and my time that way.

Stacy Pursell:
What mentor has made the biggest impact on your career, Jim?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, Stacy, I don’t think that I can select a single mentor. Mentoring has been critical for me all the way from my humble beginnings in north central Michigan, and my parents, high school mentors, college mentors, extended family, employers. Employers have been critically influential, important for my career and career development. And so, many mentors. As we’d say, two numerous to count. And then probably if I started listing them out, I’d forget somebody that was important.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, I guess professionally, if I think about that in my career there, I’ve had a couple. One to start with was my dean while I was in veterinary school was Dean John Welser. Dean Welser had a tremendous impact on my career and just helping to guide me through and helped me to see choices and make choices early on in my career, and how to blend my interest in business and practice and move forward and get back into university, into a formal training system.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Once I got back to university, probably one of my most influential mentors was department chair, Dr. Fred Derksen. Fred taught me about a lot about leadership, but taught me really about academia and how to be successful as an academic. And that was key. Also, at the university, Dr. Lonnie King. He was my dean while I was at Michigan State. He really got me started in leadership as a discipline. He had enough faith in me to send me off to a leadership development program, week-long experience, at the Center For Creative Leadership. That was transformative for me, Stacy, in my career. And so, Dr. King would go on that list.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
And then probably more recently, in the last 10, 15 years or so, I think Ms Pat Lowry has been extremely important. Pat is helpful, has been influential, has been a leader in diversity, equity, inclusion in veterinary medicine. Pat has been an extremely helpful, valuable… Invaluable, I’ll say, mentor and friend in just helping me to understand the importance of understanding myself, understanding the strength that comes from diversity, and actually helping me to navigate that space and to try and make a difference there as well.

Stacy Pursell:
And Jim, what advice would you give the younger version of yourself?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, I guess in reflecting, Stacy, it probably won’t surprise you, I’m going to use the passion word again. I think it’s important and I would just reassure myself, if I could talk to my younger self, just to follow my passions and my interests. I think for all of us, we’re more effective at what we do, we have more energy for what we do, and probably are better at what we do if we’re doing things that we’re really passionate about and really interested in. I would advise my younger self to not hesitate to follow my interests and to follow those and look for opportunities to make a difference in those.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Again, I would say probably one thing, if I could have earlier on in my career understood the importance in the strength of diversity and the diversity of opinions, diversity of experiences, diversity of perspectives, the strengths that come from that… There are some challenges as well, but I come from a place of incredible privilege recognizing that now, Stacy. Early in my career, I think I had opportunities to be an ally at times to leverage my privilege, to enhance the inclusiveness of things that I worked on, broaden the opinion, enrich the ideas. So probably, I would advise myself early on to take a look at who I am, where I come from, but also to understand the importance of diversity and inclusion.

Stacy Pursell:
Jim, we find that most successful people tend to have idiosyncrasies that are actually their superpowers. What idiosyncrasy do you have?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
I don’t know that I have any superpowers at all, Stacy. I think that the things that really help me are, you’ve heard me mention, the self-reflection. I think that’s one that if I can do that and try to be objective… Sometimes, it really takes courage to do that self-reflection and to get other’s feedback, input, perspectives on where your strengths lie and where your blind spots might be and where you have opportunities for improvement. So I think that’s one thing that really, to me, has been helpful for me as I moved through the career.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
The other thing that I would say is just to staying true to your values. So, the core values I think are critical. And to sustain those, again, and stay true to those, sometimes it takes courage to do that… Frequently takes courage to do that. Make some difficult choices, whether it’s your core values of integrity [inaudible 00:28:28], those sorts of things. Or for me, it’s also been a core value of family and the importance of family and maintaining, in some fashion, a work-life balance. It’s not easy to do. Sometimes, it gets way out of balance. But to maintain that as a central tenant to who I am and what’s important to me has been [inaudible 00:28:51].

Stacy Pursell:
Such good advice. I’ve heard people along the way say you can’t have success in both your family and your career. I disagree. I think you can have both a successful family and a successful career. And like you said, it’s all of about balance and priorities. And love what you said about courage and sticking to your values. So important and great advice, Jim. What message or principle do you wish you could teach everyone?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, again, I think it’s stay true to yourself. Identify those things that are important to you in life, those core values, and to follow your passions. The only thing I would say I think, a principle, is that there is strength in collaboration, that none of us have all the answers ourselves, that it’s important to seek advice, input, perspectives of others. And again, I’ll use the diversity word, to have that diverse perspective adds strength to whatever we do. If there’s a message or principle, stay true to your passions and your values, but also recognize that there’s strength in diversity and strength in collaboration.

Stacy Pursell:
Jim, some people have a key book that they say has really helped them in their life or their career. Do you have a key book in your life that has impacted you the most? If so, I’d love to hear that story.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Well, Stacy, again, I can’t put my finger on just one, but as I reflect here, I might say jokingly that it was Econometric Models and Economic Forecast. But certainly, that’s not it. Seriously, probably as I think about it and reflected, there are two books that were pretty instrumental as I started to work through my career. One was the old standby, Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. I think that’s invaluable. And things and the lessons that Covey teaches us in there, I mean, can be applied not just your personal life, but to your business life as well. He teaches us to begin with the end in mind. “Everything is created twice,” he says. “You envision it first in your mind, and then you go ahead and build it.” And whether that’s a team that you build, or whether it’s a physical structure or a practice or a program, I think that’s key, to begin with the end in mind.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
And then, the prioritization process. For me, it’s been extremely valuable to think about the quadrants that Covey refers to, and to spend as much time in quadrant two as I can. And sometimes, we get caught up with the urgent and important, and at the expense of the important. The urgent is critical to be addressed, but we’ve got to save time for important as well. And those important things, again, to identify those in alignment with your values. So, all the way through the seven habits to the end. To remember to have time for yourself, to regenerate in however you do that. But just to spend time for yourself to recharge.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
About the same time that I was reading Covey, I also read a book by Hyrum Smith, The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management. And again, just to organize my day, organize my thoughts. There’s some things in there that maybe I didn’t quite agree, but it was… Again, between the two books, those were quite transformative for me in moving on. And Stacy, beyond that, a couple of key books for me, as I think about business and organizations and leadership, Michael Gerber’s book, The E-Myth, was pretty instrumental. The Collins books, Built to Last, Good to Great, I think were extremely important. And then, there’s a whole host of leadership books out there, and you just start with those and dig in and just start reading. But for me, they’ve all been important. But I think that’s probably the top of my list, those key books. All these have been goodies at this point in time, but have been very influential for me.

Stacy Pursell:
While you’ve got the mic, what is one thing that you want to share with our listeners of The People of Animal Health Podcast before you drop the mic today, Jim?

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
I guess, Stacy, I would say that this has been an incredible career for me, will continue to be for some time to come if God willing. But I’ll say that just there’s never been a better time to be involved in the veterinary medical profession. Think about that from all the way across in the profession, those that are in a receptionist role, a veterinary assistant role, veterinary technician role, veterinarians, just to be involved in the profession. The opportunities that are here, the difference that we are able to make as a profession, as an industry. The difference that we make in people’s lives.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
I came to veterinary medicine because I was interested in animals, and it didn’t take me long to realize this is a people profession whether it’s every lead shank has a person on the other end, every herd of livestock has an owner, a manager. This is really about animals and the important thing they bring to our lives, but the important difference we can make in people’s lives through our animals. So the confluence, I’ll say, of science and scientific discovery and the recognition of what we can bring to the world and as far as improve relationships with our animals I think is really what gives us the opportunity for the future.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, there’s never been a better time to be a veterinarian. Opportunity abounds. And Jim, you’ve made a big impact on the veterinary profession, and I thank you for being a guest on The People of Animal Health Podcast today.

Dr. Jim Lloyd:
Thank you, Stacy. It’s been a great opportunity, and thank you for everything that you’re doing for veterinary medicine as well.