Episode 75 – Dr. Bob Lester

Do you work in the animal health industry or veterinary profession? Have you ever wondered how people began their careers and how they got to where they are today? Hi everyone. I’m Stacy Pursell, the founder and CEO of The VET Recruiter, the leading executive search and recruiting firm for the animal health industry and veterinary profession. I was the first recruiter to specialize in the animal health industry and veterinary profession in the United States, and built the first search firm to serve this unique niche. For the past 25 plus years, I have built relationships with the industry’s top leaders and trailblazers. The People of Animal Health Podcast highlights incredible individuals I have connected with throughout my career. You will be able to learn more about their lives, careers, and contributions, with our wide range of expert guests, you’ll be sure to learn something new in every episode. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the episode.

Welcome to the People of Animal Health Podcast. On today’s show, we’re talking with Dr. Bob Lester. Bob is a lifelong advocate for the veterinary profession and the co-founder and chief medical officer of WellHaven Pet Hospitals, a network dedicated to supporting caregivers so they can better care for others. A graduate of Oregon State and Washington State University’s, Dr. Lester has held leadership roles at Banfield Pet Hospital, Mars Inc, and Lincoln Memorial University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. His career reflects a deep belief in the profession’s double bottom line, which is doing well by doing good. A writer, educator, and mentor, Dr. Lester continues to shape veterinary medicine through innovation, leadership, and compassion. And Bob, you and I spoke on a panel together in the past at the AVMA Economic Summit. Do you remember that?

I do. I had forgotten until you just mentioned it, Stacy. That was a while ago.

That was a while ago. Well, Bob, welcome to the People of Animal Health Podcast. How are you doing today?

I’m doing great. Thank you for the invitation, Stacy.

Well, I’m so happy to have you here. We’ve known each other for quite a number of years, but I would like to start off at the very beginning. What was your life like growing up and where did you grow up?

Well, I’m a product of small-town Western Oregon, the oldest of four kids in a family that had lots of pets, lots of kids, lots of love, but very little money. Was the first in the family to attend university. Having grown up with pets, it was kind of a natural to fall into this profession.

Well, at what point and why did you decide to become a veterinarian?

I think my answer is pretty boring and typical of a lot of people in our profession. At an early age, the love of pets and growing up around animals. And then in the seventies was when James Herriot’s book started coming out. It was such a hit. I think he had 6 million sellers just back to back to back in the seventies. And I just absorbed all of those and that hooked me. Started volunteering for my local vet in junior high and got a job in high school cleaning kennels and have never looked back since.

Well, Bob, you began your career as a mixed animal practice owner in a small town. How did those early experiences shape the way that you’ve approached leadership and decision-making throughout your career?

Well, as my dream was to be James Herriot, be a small town mixed animal practice practitioner, and that’s just exactly what I did. And what I learned is really the impact and the importance and the prestige of being a veterinary professional in a small town. We were the only practice in a little logging town in the mountains of Western Oregon. And not only were we able to help producers and pet owners and backyard ranchers, but we were also involved in the school board, in the chamber, in the Rotary and Kiwanis, and to learn that veterinary medicine and our impact as veterinary professionals was so much bigger than I had imagined coming out of veterinary school. That was a big lesson and continues to this day.

Well, you’ve spoken about the veterinary profession’s double bottom line, which is doing well by doing good. Can you unpack what that means to you and how it guides the mission at WellHaven Pet Hospitals?

Sure. So I think everybody’s familiar with bottom line. Most businesses judge their success by profitability and how many dollars they make. And certainly that’s a part of what we do in the veterinary profession, but there’s so much more. We’re so fortunate to have a purpose and a passion that really drives us. So in addition to driving financial results, we help pets and families, we help society, we keep our public health safety, we do so many other things. We provide careers for those of us in the profession that it’s often demanding, but can be so rewarding. So we do far more than just the typical bottom line, looking at P&Ls and financial results. What we do and the impact of veterinary professionals is far, far greater.

Well, as co-founder and chief medical officer of WellHaven, what gap did you see in veterinary practice models that you wanted to fill, and how has that vision evolved over the years?

I think it starts with our name, a WellHaven, a safe place. We recognize that we have a wonderful profession and a great future ahead of us. However, historically we focused, I think as veterinary professionals, we’re self-effacing, we’re humble, we look to take care of everybody else’s needs ahead of ourselves. And that’s wonderful, that’s noble, that’s why our profession continues to be so admired. However, it’s not always sustainable. So shifting the focus from pets and clients first to our people, our veterinarians, our vet techs, our staff first was really the genesis of the name and the whole foundation of our practice. So we built a practice that really relies on local leadership, on autonomy, on flexibility, on bringing people on board that we hope will spend a good part of their career, not just driving to the next quarter or whatever the short-term goal might be. So we try to remind ourselves every day that first and foremost comes people, our people.

If our people are happy, then second comes pets. Well, they’ll do the right thing for pets. If we take care of our people, they take care of pets, then the practice and the bottom line just naturally follows. And getting that in the right order is often a challenge, but when you do, it can work really well. I can’t say we do it right every day, but that’s what we strive to do is put people first. Evidence of that, we recently did an ENPS, a net promoter score around our employees. And when you look at NPS scores, it’s an interesting scale from I think negative hundred to a positive 100. When you look at some of the most admired employers out there, the Costcos and Nikes and Cleveland Clinics and Disneys, they typically score in the 10, 20s, 30s. Those are considered really excellent. We scored a 75, so hopefully that’s a validation that the foundation on which we built our practice and what we continue to do is really about our people and we really are building a WellHaven. That’s certainly our intent.

Well, congratulations on that. And all of that makes so much sense. And at Lincoln Memorial University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Bob, you helped pioneer a community-based clinical education model. What inspired that approach and what do you think it taught future veterinarians beyond clinical skills?

I think, well, first of all, the last place I ever thought my career would wind up would be back in academia. When I got out of vet school, I was so eager to leave the ivy covered halls behind and go out in the real world. And after 25 years or so out in the real world, with the opportunity to build a new vet school from the ground up as an employer and having spent time in the profession, one of my observations was a real need for professional skills and a real need for more hands-on training, hands-on experience that results in the confidence that new grads really need and are striving for. And when you look at other healthcare education models in dentistry and human medicine and nursing, this idea of community-based, spending a good part of their curriculum out in real world vetted practices, not just any practice, but trained and approved practices would get students so many more repetitions, so many more cases, see so much more real world.

Traditional veterinary referral teaching hospitals are great places, but for the two thirds, three fourths of us that wind up in primary care, primary care isn’t necessarily emphasized in most referral teaching hospitals. It is a referral teaching hospital. They see amazing things. I mean, that’s where I was educated. That’s where most of us were. Nothing but good things to say. However, as a student, you often find yourself in your clinical year standing behind an intern who’s standing behind a resident who’s standing behind a professor that’s doing something that you’re unlikely to be doing in a primary care setting. So the idea of a community-based program to give students more repetitions, more experience, more hands-on was really appealing. And I think the best of both worlds, kind of a hybrid approach which we attempted to take at LMU and others have since is really a good way to go.

Yeah, I think having that real-world experience is so beneficial. Now, Bob, you have spent many years with Banfield and Mars in various leadership roles. What were the most impactful lessons you learned there about scaling veterinary medicine without losing sight of compassion?

Yeah, I take little credit for the success Banfield had. I was very fortunate that a couple of classmates of mine founded Banfield. So early on when there was just the one Banfield hospital, I was lucky enough to join. And at the time, it was a group of really dedicated veterinarians that largely didn’t have a clue. Nobody had ever built an organization like that before. So we had this amazing opportunity and went after it with the heart of veterinarians and fell down and failed often as not, but we clearly built something big, but it was really centered on pet care. At the time, we were the first to have electronic medical records and a quality assurance program and wellness plans and seven days a week and presurgical blood work and catheters and fluids and pain meds and things that back in the nineties were not that common. And that compassion and that drive from veterinarians really set the tone. And of course, we’ve seen that scale and grow since, and it’s been rewarding to see.

Well, you’ve emphasized communication, leadership, and teamwork as critical professional skills. Why do you believe these soft skills are just as essential as medical expertise in veterinary practice today?

Well, you no doubt see it every day in your role. And I think any of us that have been in any workplace, but certainly the veterinary profession, figure out that the professional skills are critical. When you look at the competencies that correlate with success in veterinary medicine or for that matter anywhere in society, they’re not things like GPA and GRE and class rank and NAVLE score. The competencies that correlate with success have a lot more to do with communication and leadership and teamwork and self-awareness. And some of those things are innate, but a lot of those things can be assisted and trained. And it’s been gratifying at LMU and most veterinary schools now, there’s been a real focus on not just clinical skills, but also professional skills that helps turn people out as they enter the profession that much more confident and competent to go out and do great things and help grow the profession.

Yeah, that training is so needed, those soft skills and the communication skills. You’ve described the human-animal bond as central to your professional purpose. How do you see that bond evolving both in practice and in the broader cultural context?

Well, the human-animal bond is really the fuel that’s driven our whole profession. You think back historically, 120 plus years ago, veterinarians were around largely because of the needs for transportation. We took care of horses. As the internal combustion engine went out, we kind of phased into protein and taking care of farms and producers. And then the last 50, 60, 70 years, we’ve really seen things move more towards the companionship and love, and that human-animal bond is what really fuels the profession. Marty Becker’s probably said it more often and better than anybody. In our career, we’ve seen pets move from the barnyard to the backyard, to the back porch, to the living room, to the bedroom, to the bed, to under the covers, and now right out the front door in the seat on the plane next to you and the restaurant next to you, and the stroller out in your neighborhood has pets in it. Pets have really become part of the family.

I just got back from New York Vet, so I was in New York for a few days over the weekend, and I saw a lady in Manhattan and her dog was in the stroller.

It shames me to say as a small town country boy that grew up with big dogs, I married into a Yorkie family. And again, it pains me, but we have a stroller that those Yorkies go around the neighborhood in. I get to push it, but my family does.

It’s definitely common now. Well, your award-winning column, Creative Disruption, challenges conventional thinking in veterinary business. What’s one disruption you believe the profession still needs to fully embrace?

Yeah, there’s several. In that column, and that’s been fun to write, I’ve tried to be collegial and solution oriented, but to challenge some of the status quo. And when you think of the things that need to change, we could talk about AI, we could talk about telemedicine, we could talk about so many different things. But probably the one thing that continues to come back to me is team-based care. As a profession, we certainly took strides during COVID by necessity. We were so overwhelmed that we finally had to start delegating, and we’ve seen some of that stick. So we need to better empower our front staff, our VAs, our credentialed vet techs, empower vet techs, partner to get license protection, get them doing more duties, and also be open to the idea of the VPA, the physician’s assistant equivalent, the veterinary professional associate. There’s so much more we can do in a team-based setting. Other healthcare professions have figured this out decades ago, and we’re finally getting it, but we’re slow to the party.

And arguably the biggest issue our profession faces is access to care. And there are tens of millions of pets out there that need our care. And again, AI, telemed, team care, there’s new models. There’s so many things that can help open up the doors to get more pets in the door, to help more pets that deserve that care. But team-based care has got to be one of the cores.

Well, you have served on numerous boards and councils dedicated to advancing the veterinary profession. What motivates your ongoing commitment to mentorship and service in veterinary medicine?

Well, I kind of look at life as occurring in seasons. The early seasons of the veterinary professional’s career is largely about just getting the medicine down and gaining some confidence and taking what you learned in school and applying it. And then as you mature, you start to get into the business or you can get into the business side, ultimately into the leadership side. And as seasons move on, as you get into later seasons in your professional, or at least this has been the case for me, the opportunity to give back is there. So giving back through committees and VMAs and state boards and shelters and whatever it might be. The profession has done so much for us.

And it’s so unique in that our profession, we don’t look at one another as competitors. You can be sitting down and having a cup of coffee or a beer with the practice down the road or a big group practice that you compete head-to-head with in a state or community, but we don’t look at one another as competitors. We’re more than happy to share best practices, to share what’s working and what’s not working. And we’re such a small profession that if we are willing to raise our hand and volunteer and try to give back, you can make such a big difference. I recall that I think it was Ron DeHaven when he was the president at AVMA used to say, “There are more attorneys in the District of Columbia and there are veterinarians in the entire United States.” So we’re a tiny profession, and you can have an enormous impact by just raising your hand and volunteering to give back.

That’s what I love about it.

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Well, Bob, with such an accomplished career, how do you stay grounded? And what role does your family and your two rescue Yorkies play in keeping that sense of balance and joy alive?

Well, it’s a challenge as it is for everyone. As a boomer, I grew up and lived most of my life with the idea that career’s first and everything else follows. To be grounded particularly the last decade or so, I’ve tried to switch that, that family comes first and then that’s followed by your professional activities. For me, I can only keep so many balls in the air and be at all successful, and that’s been family and career. So I’ve let, by choice, that’s not complaining, I’ve let a lot of hobbies, golf and gardening and fishing and other things temporarily fall by the way. I’ll pick them up during a different season. But for now, keeping family first, keeping career first. And family does keep you grounded. They keep you real. They keep you humble.

Yeah, we have seen that change over the years, haven’t we? Career first and then family. And now, I would say that probably the majority of the people would say it’s family and then career.

And you look at the kids you’ve raised and I’ve raised, and they get that. That’s what it’s all about. In many ways as an older generation, putting career first had some advantages in that we’ve had some success. However, we missed some things along the way. So looking at the way our kids approach life is actually so much more healthy, that they have a life supported by a career, but that life is what it’s all about, family relationships. That’s huge. That’s the world we live in now, and it’s a healthier world to be in.

And I think COVID helped change that too for people. Well, what has been the most surprising thing to you up to this point during your career in the veterinary profession?

Well, again, there’s been so many things. The growth of the profession has been enormous. Medical breakthroughs, generational shifts, gender shifts. But probably the most surprising would go back to just the growth of the bond. Growing up, pets were animals, they were in the backyard. You ask a kid today what a doghouse is and they don’t know what a doghouse is. That’s the home that they live in. But two-legged kids and four-legged kids have blended together. In fact, there are more four-legged children out there now than two-legged children. So the growth of the human-animal bond has definitely surprised me. It’s come so far. And more to come as we look at subsequent generations and the value they put in that relationship, it just continues to grow.

What does your crystal ball say about the future of the veterinary profession?

I’m an optimist. Optimism is a choice. And I think that future of our profession is enormous. Our biggest issues are issues of abundance. We can’t help all the pets that need to be helped out there. By some estimates, half the pets in America won’t see a vet this year. That’s a huge opportunity through telemedicine, through teamwork, through new models of care, through AI. There’s just so much to be done that I sincerely believe, and when I get out and speak at vet schools, that there’s never been a better time to be a veterinary professional. Our future is very bright.

I agree with you. There’s not been a better time to be a veterinary professional, but that’s an astounding number to think about that half of the pets out there may not receive care this year.

Yeah. And I see that as an enormous opportunity. They’re there. They deserve the care. The bond is there. We have to break down the barriers to allow us to reach them. And it won’t be through the traditional ways. It won’t all be bricks and mortar. It won’t all be 9:00 to 5:00. We’ve got to be willing to try new things to help those pets and families that could benefit from our expertise.

I agree. Well, Bob, what has been the biggest adversity career-wise for you throughout your time in the veterinary medicine? We know careers all have highs and lows, but what’s the biggest challenge that you’ve encountered throughout your career as a veterinarian?

Well, with the benefit of hindsight, when you look in the rearview mirror, virtually all of the challenges turned out to be for the good. The learnings you have through hard times and changes only make us stronger and grow faster. As I was thinking about this question, Stacy, a number of individual little things popped up, but the overall theme as I reflect has been every career change I’ve made, how difficult that’s been, but in retrospect, was the right thing. When I left my small town James Harriot, what my whole upbringing was aimed for, leaving that to go do Banfield was scary, frightening. Tackling a new challenge, climbing a new hill always is. And in retrospect, it was great. And similarly, when I left there to go found LMU, to go back into academia, that was terrifying. And it was wonderful professionally. That was so rewarding, and what we built was so remarkable. And then to leave that behind with the opportunity to launch WellHaven Pet Hospitals, again, was challenging, but was definitely the right thing to do. And as we all learn with time, we have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. If we’re going to grow, we have to be stretching ourselves and trying new things. And at each of those changes, as difficult as they were, as challenging as they were, they were all in the right direction.

That’s been a common theme that guests have said on this podcast is to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And I believe that’s where the growth happens.

Without a doubt.

What are some of the daily habits that you believe have allowed you to achieve success along the way?

Well, again, I’m probably boring. I don’t meditate. I don’t go to the gym. I don’t do yoga. I don’t do a lot of those things. I am an early riser. I get up early. I go for my walk. I try to get my 10,000 steps in a day. I read a lot. I find myself on airplanes a lot. That’s a great time to catch up on reading. And for me, a big habit that I really aim for is just professionally recharging. And I suspect you share this too. Getting out to, you just got back from the one vet show, getting out to VMX, getting out to Western, getting out to the Innovation Summit, hanging around with your peers, commiserating, celebrating. That just recharges. That’s a habit that I don’t ever want to lose.

Oh, I agree with you. Going to those shows, for me, it feels like my second family. I’ve got my real family, my family at home, but then when I go to these shows, it’s like this is my second family.

Yeah, completely.

You mentioned that you enjoy reading a lot. Do you have a key book that you’ve read that’s really helped you along the way?

Well, there’s been a number. There’s an old saying, I don’t know who to attribute it to, that goes something like, when the student is ready, the teacher will come. And there’s been three or four times in my career that a book has just completely changed my paradigm or launched me in a new direction or opened doors. And four come to mind. Early in my career, Covey and The 7 Habits was foundational. The E-Myth back when I owned my practice was a real eye-opener. The Jim Collins books as we were building Banfield, Built to Last and Good to Great. And then recently in the last five or 10 years, Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has been another good one. So there’s been a handful over the years, but those four rise to the top.

Well, what advice would you give the younger version of yourself?

Well, again, another quote. I think every quote is attributed to Mark Twain or Winston Churchill or the Buddha or somebody. I think this one actually was a Mark Twain quote. But he talked about, he spent a lot of time worrying about things that never happened. And I certainly do that. I lay awake nights and worry about different things here or there. And my advice would be to worry less and really enjoy the journey, that 90% of the things you worry about are just never going to happen so don’t waste the asset on worrying about them.

That is great advice. And then what message or principle do you wish you could teach everyone listening to our podcast today?

It would be an abundance mindset, that there’s so much good going on. And I think that’s difficult for veterinarians in particular, but the scientific bent type folks, we’re taught to be skeptical, to be skeptics, to look at the downside, to challenge everything, to say, yeah but. And that’s good in a medical case. You want to be challenging things. You want to be skeptical. You don’t want to do any harm. However, as you get outside the medical domain, instead of yeah buts, we need to be looking about new things and some what ifs and how could we do things different. Again, there’s so much good going on in this profession. I think we need to be open to change, be looking at how we can do things differently.

It’s a really good time to innovate in the veterinary profession.

Yes.

Well, Bob, 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?

Well, I think I’ll just double down on a theme that’s kind of popped up throughout this, Stacy, and that’s to recognize that there’s so much going right in our profession. The issues we face are all issues of abundance. There’s more business than we know how to handle if we can just open the doors to it. Pet numbers are up, pet lifespans are up, pet spending is up. The bond has never been stronger. Millennials and Gen Zs truly view their pets as children. It’s a great time to be a veterinary professional. However, all the noble, wonderful things that our profession has done to date, all the shoulders that we stand on, the way we got here is not the way we’re going to get to the future.

The rate of change, the change I’ve seen in my career has been huge, but the next 10 years is going to be far more than that. So we’ve got to be open to trying new things, not all of which is going to work. But if we’re going to open the doors, if we’re going to take care of our veterinary professionals, if we’re going to help solve burnout, compassion fatigue, get more pets in the door, we’ve got to start doing things a little bit differently. So we need to be open to change. And that’s a challenge for everyone, but our profession in particular is going to have to look at some new ways of doing things to continue to be as admired as we are today and to continue to do the great things we do for pets and families today.

I love what you said. I was talking to somebody earlier today and she said, “When you try something new, you don’t always know if it’s going to work or not, but you have to try and see and it could work.”

Exactly.

Well, Bob, it was such a pleasure to have you here on the People of Animal Health Podcast today. Thank you for spending the time with me.

Thank you, Stacy. It was fun.