Episode #92 – Gene O’Neill

Veterinary Visionary
Gene O’Neill, CEO of the North American Veterinary Community, shares how he helped elevate NAVC to a global leader in Veterinary education and digital learning. He discusses leadership, innovation, Vetfolio’s growth, the future of Veterinary continuing education, and professional development for Veterinary professionals worldwide.

Transcript

Stacy Pursell:
Do you work in the animal health industry, our veterinary profession? Have you ever wondered how successful people got their start and what led them to where they are today? Hi everyone. I’m Stacy Pursell, founder and CEO of The Vet Recruiter, the leading executive search and recruiting firm specializing in the animal health industry and veterinary profession. I was the first recruiter in the United States to focus exclusively on this space, building the first search firm dedicated to this unique niche. Over the past 28 plus years, I’ve developed relationships with many of the industry’s top leaders and trailblazers.
The people of Animal Health Podcast features the incredible individuals I’ve had the privilege to connect with throughout my career. In each episode, you’ll hear their stories, their career journeys, leadership lessons, and the impact they’ve made on the industry. With a wide range of expert guests, you’ll gain insights, inspiration, and ideas you can apply to your own career. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the episode. Hello everyone and welcome to the People of Animal Health Podcast. Today’s guest is Gene O’Neill, CEO of the North American Veterinary Community, where he has led a remarkable transformation of one of the industry’s most influential organizations.
Since joining as CFO in 2013 and becoming CEO in 2019, he has expanded NAVC beyond its flagship Veterinary Meeting and Expo into a global leader in veterinary education, media, and digital learning. Under Gene’s leadership, initiatives like VetFolio have broadened access to continuing education worldwide. With a background spanning finance, global associations and operations, Gene brings a strategic growth-focused vision to the future of animal health. Gene, welcome to the People of Animal Health Podcast, and how are you today?

Gene O’Neill:
Hey, I’m doing great, Stacy. Hey, thanks for inviting me. I’m happy to be here.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, so happy to have you here on the show today, Gene. I would love to start off at the beginning. What was your life like growing up and where did you grow up?

Gene O’Neill:
Oh, that’s an easy one. I know this one. So, I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, Bayonne, New Jersey. Blue collar town that sits in between Manhattan and the Newark Airport. So, if you ever flew into Newark Airport and looked over at the New York Skyline, you looked right over Bayonne. Blue collar town growing up. My first job as a paperboy when I was 13 and I think I’ve worked at a job every year since then. So, I really learned my work ethic from everyone who lived in that town and continue to do so today.

Stacy Pursell:
I love that. Well, I would love to learn more about your early career. How did you get started?

Gene O’Neill:
Okay. So, I went to college and got a degree in accounting. Worked for a few Fortune 500 companies in Manhattan as you normally do when you graduate up in the Northeast. Manhattan is your destination, your first spot to go to get a job. And I did that. Moved to Florida in 1986. And for the past 25 years or so, I’ve been involved in the association world, which led me to where I am today as a CEO of NAVC. I wouldn’t trade the experience or the education that I got in college that I received and also how I applied it for the first part of my career for anything. It prepared me for the role I’m in now and I think it’ll prepare me for what’s going to happen in the future.
In a corporate world, the mission of the company is often overshadowed by the pressure that you need on producing profits and pleasing shareholders. But in the association world, the missions are what really drives the organization and the people and profits are really secondary to that success. Fortune 500 companies in the public sector and then association world for the past 25 years or so.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, Gene, how did you get into the veterinary space?

Gene O’Neill:
So, I like to think that I didn’t find the veterinary space. I think the veterinary space found me. I was fortunate enough to, like I said, work in other associations and see different professions as they perform and as the association benefited those members. Here at NAVC I was given the opportunity early on coming in as a CFO. Although it meant leaving other organizations that again, I had a passion for improving and really working towards their mission. But to be honest, I was excited to come to the veterinary world. I didn’t know anything about the veterinary space when I first started, but I really found an organization and a profession that I think has been out there calling for me to get involved.
Listen, I’ve always loved numbers. As my CFO position would tell you that I was finance, that’s kind of what I did, but it was more linear than what I’m doing now as the CEO. But it’s been some of the most rewarding experiences working with the people in the industry really since I started working back when I was 13 years old. I think what I’ve learned over the past 13 years or so is this veterinary space is really, really rewarding and I’m so glad that it found me.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, it sure is rewarding. Well, Gene, you joined the North American Veterinary Community as CFO and eventually became CEO. What were the key moments that prepared you for that transition?

Gene O’Neill:
Yeah. So, like I said, I wouldn’t trade the experience that I’ve gathered during the first part of my career for anything. As a matter of fact, what I would say is I believe that the more general business experience that you do have, the more successful you will be personally and professionally, especially when you’re in the CEO role. I think it’s a lot easier to have diverse background experience and learn the nuances of becoming a CEO than it is to be a specialized or having a specialized role and then having to learn the nuances of running an organization and all the different departments and dealing with all the different employees. The fact that I’m a CEO now doesn’t mean that I don’t put on my CFO hat at all.
I do every so often. And even though I do have a team of experts that I rely on, I still like to get involved to some degree. My brain doesn’t just focus on dollars and cents because the way I approach running the business and the questions that I ask, can all be tied back to what I’ve learned early in my career? The funny thing is the CFO is usually known as the no ma. Can I have something? No. Can we spend this? No. But since I’ve become CEO, I’ve had to shift my tone a little bit more to the yes because now I see the areas that really benefit from investment. And as a matter of fact, there many times I’ll tell my leadership team, it’s not about the money, it’s about the mission.
So, money is secondary to what we do. And for me, that was a transition that I had to deal with and I think I’ve made my way through that transition and now think more globally rather than locally.

Stacy Pursell:
That’s good. Well, since becoming CEO, you have helped transform NAVC’s educational portfolio. What was your vision when you stepped into the role and how has it evolved?

Gene O’Neill:
Yeah. So, coming into the position as being the CFO, VMX wasn’t even in existence. If you recall back in the early days, it was called I do recall… North American Veterinary Conference because that was pretty much all that we did. So, when I came in as a CFO, I had a lot of sleepless nights thinking about one, everything that we did, everything that we earned was in one basket and that led me to start to plan towards what’s going to happen or what could happen if something were to go wrong with that event. So, focused more on the growth of the organization and different platforms and services and products, but I think the vision really was to keep NAVC in the position of being the leader of veterinary education.
And in order to do that, it couldn’t just be one event. So, we did have to expand our channels of all of our products, either virtual, print and online publications, more in person events, both big and small. But secondary to that education piece, I wanted for the NAVC to show the support for the veterinary community in other ways as well. So, that’s why now we have our NAVC GIVS programs. We are for scholarship programs. We support organizations like blendVET, which really is planting the seed for the middle schoolers when they decide what their vocation would be to possibly select the veterinary vocation.
So, it was really getting beyond the education and providing other things outside of that, which is what I was hoping that we could do. And then also North America is kind of in our name, but we expand beyond those borders. So, we’re now looking at how can we deliver our products and services around the world where there are veterinary clinics and hospitals dealing with the same issues that we deal with here and technicians and nurses where they exist needing education. So, we’re trying to establish ourselves also now as beyond North American borders and participate in some of these other international conferences that helps to host our sessions and also give them the availability to participate with us online.
So, a lot of things going on at ABC both domestically and internationally.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, you just talked about how NAVC has grown far beyond its flagship event, MX. What drove the decision to expand into media online learning and certifications? Can you talk a bit more about that?

Gene O’Neill:
Sure. I think when you sum it up about what we do, what our mission at NAVC is, it’s really to provide education to every member of the profession. That’s every member of the veterinary healthcare team. And what I’m passionate about now is knowing that our organization, everything that we do is tied to that mission of providing that education. So, we are driven by what we call a flywheel and it has four pillars. One is the continuing education piece, which is a live events online learning, our media, which is our publications, advocacy, which is our Embrace program, the grassroots program and then also reaching out to the pet parent, which I think is the real future for us.
So, each program or service that we develop supports this model and each of those pillars support each other. But the main reason we really decided to expand on how we deliver the content is when you look at the education landscape for the veterinary professionals, and we’ve done some preliminary research on this, when you look at just North America, roughly 50% of the veterinary population, professional population don’t receive live instruction every year, which is a couple hundred thousand professionals, even though their state requires them usually on a two-year rotating basis to maintain their certification, get requirements of that education.
So, that leaves a lot of individuals out there every year who are not attending live events. So, adding the publications and the virtual educations and the virtual education piece, it really serves two important purposes. And the first important purpose is for those who can attend the live events, these are the perfect touchpoints for us that helps us stay connected with those community members throughout the year. And they don’t have to wait until January to see if they can attend VMX. So, these two areas that we deliver education through, it just allows us to explore new content areas for VMX so that they don’t have to worry about cramming everything into a fay conference schedule or event schedule.
And as I mentioned, not everyone can travel to in person events for various reasons, so we’d like to bring the education to them. And again, publications are small events that we’re doing now called Hive, bringing it out to the community and also VetFolio. The virtual and online piece, it’s really robust enough to keep handling more content to deliver that education for those who can get to the education when and where they need it.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, like you were just saying, you have significantly expanded NAVC’s global reach through virtual education. How has that changed the way veterinary professionals access learning and community?

Gene O’Neill:
Yeah. So, like I said, VetFolio has really been a great program for us because it transcends geography, income, time constraints. So, it allows us to expand our reach and providing education to veterinarian professionals around the world really. So, it offers an expansive variety of content with new releases on a weekly basis and it’s organized in the way which the attendee or subscriber prefers to learn, whether that’s reading, listening, getting certified. It has the modalities that offer everything for everyone in those regards.
So, we’d like to think that this really portfolio, the way it teaches and the way you can access education, we are bringing it into your community and allows us to do more of that throughout the year. And like I said, this is one of the probably most exciting products that we have because it is so fluid and we’re able to expand it with any education that comes out in any form.

Stacy Pursell:
That is exciting. Well, Gene, before NAVC, you held leadership roles at the Institute of Internal Auditors and even served as interim CEO in Australia. What lessons from those experiences still influence your leadership today?

Gene O’Neill:
Yeah. So, that’s bringing me back to these organizations, but I think the most important thing that the experience that I got that influences how I operate as a CEO is how important it is to create environments where the employees get to thrive. I learned that the big component for that is the culture and that’s the key for unlocking any team’s potential. A happy team is a high performing team and it seems like common sense, but I think it’s often overshadowed by organizations that focus too much on producing for the bottom line and not for making their shareholders, which in our case is the community, making them happy and giving them what they want.
Don’t get me wrong, money is important, but you don’t want to have to make it either you have a team that is misaligned bored or burnt out or not engaged. I think that’s the important piece. And if you’re focusing too much on bringing dollars to the bottom line, I think you lose that sense of what’s really important. And at NAVC, that’s how we’ve created our culture. It’s centered around the teams at NAVC where everyone has a voice.
Even in our strategic planning exercise, we reach down to the bottom levels and build our strategic plan from the bottom up rather than the top down, which gives them the employees that sense of being transparent and they respect the process more and then they start to cheer each other on because they know what everybody’s responsible for. An incredible group of passionate, high performing individuals is really what you’re striving for in any organization. And NAVC is really that place where everyone who wants to work in an organization wants to work in an organization like NAVC.
I mean, I can talk about the awards we won for the best workplace in Orlando, how many years we’ve won that, all the awards we won for all of our content and publications. And that really comes from the fact that we have this high performing culture and we rely on each team member to pretty much do their part to achieve our vision and towards the mission.

Stacy Pursell:
That’s incredible. Well, Gene, you have had a diverse career that includes time with SeaWorld Orlando and even managing a professional baseball facility. How have those experiences shaped your approach to leading large complex organizations?

Gene O’Neill:
Yeah, so you point out some other job responsibilities and positions I’ve held. And I have to say that I’ve had a pretty storied career in some of the positions I’ve held, but it comes down for me to being mostly in the right place at the right time and those two positions or experience that you brought up, there were no exception to that. But what I learned from both those organizations as I elevated myself in each role was that running an organization relies on a lot of interrelationships between departments and sometimes, these are intricate relationships that you have to understand.
I was able in both situations to take my ground floor experience working in a lot of the departments and elevate myself to more of a 20,000-foot level to look at how you manage people across the organization and you’re not just relying on managing one process. And that’s where I learned about culture being more important than any single department within that organization.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, NAVC has more than doubled its revenue under your leadership. What were some of the biggest drivers behind that growth?

Gene O’Neill:
Yeah, so going back to when I was a CFO 13 years ago, like I said, we had two live events, our institute and the conference in Orlando, we had 22 employees and that was it. The conference provided about 90%, 90%, 95% of the revenue for the organization for the year. And like I said, you can imagine the sleepless nights and the stress that I had as a CFO as we went through the months leading up to the conference worrying about some outside influence that may have some negative impact on our attendance, which back then was around 14,450 exhibitors or so.
So, since that time, we really needed to invest in other products and programs that now produce year round sustainable revenue for us and it sort of smooths out those peaks and valleys for revenues and expenses throughout the year. Now VMX represents about 60% to 65% of our total revenue, that’s not because the revenue for VMX had shrunken, it’s because all of the other revenue drivers have grown over the years, our sponsorships, exhibitors, advertisers. But outside of just the VMX experience, we had the foresight to build those other brands, the media publications, hands-on workshops.
And as I talked about, the small events that we have now called Hive, those were the biggest drivers behind where we got to in doubling our revenue for the year. So, I have to say it’s been a long journey, but it’s been a challenging and rewarding journey as well.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, congratulations on all that incredible growth.

Gene O’Neill:
Well, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it’s been fun.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, Gene, as the animal health industry and veterinary profession continue to evolve, what do you see as the largest opportunities and challenges for organizations like NAVC?

Gene O’Neill:
Yeah, so I think the opportunities that we have from an NAVC perspective, I think that NAVC is where we are positioned in the marketplace. I think we have a unique opportunity here to connect to pet parents and veterinary professionals. There’s a lot of misinformation out there. If you go to Dr. Google or wherever we want to go to for your information as a pet parent, that I think that NAVC could become the source of trusted information for the marketplace. I mean, we have access to the best and brightest minds in the industry, which allows us to help answer the most commonly asked questions and also educate the public on why it’s so important to have a veterinary team from the beginning.
Another big opportunity that I see from our standpoint is I think that we can continue to lead the conversation around innovation and how do we create the content and education that supports the new innovation and the new innovation efforts. Programming for in person events and online has been driven mostly by the emerging trends and the topics that come out of the industry. So, we know it’s important for us to listen and also to respond to make sure that we’re delivering the relevant content that meets the needs of the veterinary professional community. So, those are two of the opportunities.
I think the challenge that we face is that we can do anything at NAVC, but we can’t do everything. We’d love to, but we are restricted by certain things, certain resources, but what we know we do better than pretty much anyone that’s out there is put together impactful events for the community. And that’s where we start to double down on how we start to build the business around what we do and what we do best. So, out of every challenge comes opportunity and I think that we have started down that path when we start to offer more CE and education than anyone else, we’re sort of a one-stop shop and we really try to keep that community as part of our name and have everyone feel connected as they go through their professional career.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, that makes so much sense. Well, it’s fantastic to see how the organization has evolved and I’ve certainly seen it firsthand from when you were at the Gaylord and the Marriott now to the Orange County Convention Center. So, again, congrats on the growth.

Gene O’Neill:
Oh, thank you.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, Gene, for leaders looking to drive impactful change within their own organizations, what advice would you give based on your journey from finance to CEO?

Gene O’Neill:
I think it comes back to the staff and the culture. And I think that if you have your staff aligned with the mission and the goals of the organization, I think that that starts the process of driving change. So, you have to make sure that, and I try to get these messages out, make sure that every employee knows how their job or their responsibilities tie back to achieving the strategic plan. I want them to understand that they’re all part of achieving the goals and the vision that we laid out and they’re not there just to do a job for eight hours a day.
I really want them to understand that their job is as important as what they think is the most important job in the organization because there’s just a link in the chain that keeps this whole organization running. And also, I think to build a culture that drives around this entrepreneurial mindset where everyone is thinking of better ways to do things that they’re currently doing or that the organization is doing and always be asking yourself what’s next. If this doesn’t work, what’s next? What can I do better? The input that we get from 80 staff members is more powerful than any input we get from any singular staff member.
So, the collaboration that we get with everyone really drives that change and that’s why you need to include everyone in the journey towards achieving whatever it is your organization is trying to accomplish.

Stacy Pursell:
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Gene, what has been the most surprising thing to you during your career so far in the veterinary space?

Gene O’Neill:
So, being in other associations, I’ve seen the reaction from the professionals and they’re all eager to learn and to educate themselves, but the most surprising thing that I’ve seen in this veterinary space, it’s so obvious that everyone that you meet has a passion to excel and it’s not just excelling for their job responsibilities, it’s excelling professionally and personally as well. The other professions have a passion to learn to keep up with their job or their required certifications, but I’ve never seen in the professions like I have here where all of the tiers in the industry have the same passion to not only learn about their jobs, but how to educate themselves to thrive in their careers.
I’m talking about there’s a scientific learning that they get, a scientific education, but they’re also as passionate to learn about the personal space, the personal education. How can they bring out the best in themselves to rise in their organizations and how they share best practices constantly. I’m talking about speakers at sessions, I’m talking about attendees at events, the small events, the large events. There’s always that motive that I’ve got to learn more. There’s so much going on in the profession and everyone is tuned into the issues and they’re all trying to solve with different solutions. So, everyone is really involved and it’s nonstop.
I have not seen any stoppage of anyone trying to get to answers or educating themselves the way I’ve seen it now. And it’s not just here in North America, it’s globally as well. I’ve seen those in other countries have as voracious an appetite for education as I have any place here in the States.

Stacy Pursell:
That’s so interesting. Well, how have you seen the vendory space change over the years?

Gene O’Neill:
So, yeah, it’s something that I tried to pay attention to. Just to be honest, I wasn’t as close to it as being the CFO. I was more concerned about running the organization efficiently. But as I jumped into this role, I think the last decade or so has been very transformational in the products and services that have come out and even some of the specialties. I think you’re seeing more specialists now than you’ve had in the past. I know DVMs in the past had to know it all and felt like they had to know it all. But I think now you’re seeing a lot of those specialties arise like oncology, neurology, dentistry. Nutrition is becoming big.
We’re having all these specialists coming about, and it’s not just for small animals. It’s not just for your cats or your dogs. It gets into the exotics, the aviaries, all the large animals. So, I’m seeing that really grow and change over the years. But the bigger factor is the healthcare team that I think that I’m noticing more noticing more is it’s not just about the vet where the vet now is becoming part of the team and relying on those members in the team, the technicians, the nurses, the practice managers. Everyone is getting involved. It’s almost like a team sport now where everybody plays a role to make sure that the team thrives.
The education, the resources that are out there, every aspect of the profession, it’s really something that we’ve built into our mission here at NAVC where we’re trying to tailor all of our content to meet the needs of everybody in the healthcare team, every tier from the practice manager and the CSR straight up right through the DVM. So, I think that’s another thing that I’ve noticed over the years. And then we get into… obviously you can’t really talk about the changes without talking about technology and changes in technology and how those changes are starting to take hold and gain momentum like telemedicine that was unheard of even probably five, six years ago and now it’s starting to be more ingrained into the daily practices.
It’s still important to have your personal visits with the veterinarians, but there are some situations that could require and really more efficiently to have the telemedicine involved, especially when we talk about things like access to care and where access to care becomes a geographic issue or a financial issue. So, I think that’s another space that another thing that’s changed in this space to the better. And applying technology from the human health side, I think we learn a lot from what’s going on in the human health side and adapting those changes to the pet healthcare side is going to be incredibly important as we pay attention going into the future.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, let’s look at that future. Gene, what does your crystal ball say about the future of the veterinary profession?

Gene O’Neill:
Well, I like that you think that I’m some sort of a seer and can sing into the future, but I will say that from what I’ve seen and what I’ve read and what I’ve experienced, I think that the veterinary profession will continue to be the hottest profession for several years going into the future. I just don’t see it stopping. With all the research that’s coming out about pet ownership and the impacts that it has on humans and extending even the human lifespan, that human animal bond that exists between the humans and their pets, that’s all grown stronger.
And the physical and mental impacts that owning a pet has on both the pet and the individual has been well documented and it’s been well documented even more so as the human population ages. So, I think that becomes a lot more of the focus on not just the pet themselves, but the impact the pets have on the pet owners. I think as we get into things like not just being pet friendly, I know we say we have a pet friendly office. We allow everyone to bring their pets in, but I think when you extend that and you elevate the pet friendly into a pet inclusive society, I think that’s where you start to get the traction about building housing or workplaces or schools that all move towards that philosophy where it’s not just pet friendly, but it is pet inclusive.
Everything is built or could be built around the pets. So, the more that that philosophy builds and the more pets there will be for the needs of those that want the pet, they’ll need more care. The pets will need more care as pet ownership continues to grow. So, yeah, the veteran profession remains one of the hottest professions right now and I think we’ll continue to be for those reasons and for other reasons that we can talk all day about. But I think those are the top ones that really come to mind.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, I would agree. It is the place to be. Well, Gene, this podcast features successful people who are making a difference in the world of animal health and veterinary medicine and successful people have habits that set them up for success. So, you’re a successful professional. What are a few of your daily habits that you believe have helped you to achieve success along the way?

Gene O’Neill:
Okay. Yeah, fair question. I think that, well, the way I approach my daily routine and when I start my day is I look at three different things. One is I try to learn something new every day. So, whether that’s reading about what’s going on in the world or in your profession, I try to come away from the day with saying that’s something that I didn’t know yesterday, which is going to help me moving forward. The next is I always… someone asks me, “What do you do every day?” And I don’t sit there, I don’t do debits and credits and accounting. I don’t sit down and write articles every day for a magazine, but what I do is plan. I do a lot of planning.
What’s next? So, I look around the organization and I don’t want to be static. I don’t want to sit still. Even though things are working well, I think that’s the time to look at it to say, “Okay, what can we do better with this? How can we excel at this? Or what can we do that no one else is doing right now? How do we make that jump and what are the things that we should be thinking about?” So, I’m always planning about what’s next. So, learn something new every day, plan on what’s next. But the most important part is really check in with my staff. I do a lot of walking around. I’m the old school walking around management by walking around.
I feel that if I sit in somebody’s office and talk to them for a while, I get a better feel for not only what they’re doing, but how the organization is doing as well. In this age of remote workforces, it’s a little bit more difficult. You have to reach out and make a conscious effort to reach out, but I think that just makes it that much more important to make sure that connection is there between how I see the organization and how the staff sees the organization. So, those three things are kind of how I run my day.

Stacy Pursell:
Mm-hmm. Well, you’re certainly a visionary, Gene. Well, we all know that careers have ups and downs. What has been the biggest adversity or challenge that you have encountered throughout your career?

Gene O’Neill:
Well, okay. There were many. I’ll tell you, there was a lot of ups, a lot of downs, but I think that you learn from the downs and you move forward, you don’t dwell on them. But the one that comes to mind for me is I became the CEO of NAVC in September of 2019. So, coming out of our first event of the year, which was VMX of 2020, we were flying high. We just came off a great event, large attendance, everything went well. And then what happens? Two months later, we get hit by COVID. And now I’m going back and trying to steer the shift in a different direction that I had planned on steering the ship when I told the board what my plan was back in September of the previous year, what’s going to happen now.
So, we had to take some hits there, which were painful. And for us, luckily we had just gotten through our VMX event, but we also had our virtual online learning platform up and running and that was becoming more of a force for us. So, although it was a big adversity at first hitting with COVID, everyone shut down their offices. We came out of it in a better spot because we learned how to fight through that and how to come out with products that no one else was delivering at that time. And our VetFolio platform really, really pulled us through that year and even through the following year. So, that was the biggest challenge that I can think of, but we stayed with it. We fought through it.
We came out better on the other end and we’re continuing to build on some of the things that we thought about during that period.

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

Gene O’Neill:
I think what I would tell my younger self is don’t follow the money. Find something that you absolutely love and the money will follow you.

Stacy Pursell:
I love that. And then what message or principle do you wish you could teach everyone listening to our podcast today?

Gene O’Neill:
I think the first thing is don’t let fear hold you back. Waiting just opens the doors for others to fill that space that possibly meant for you. Taking chances and changing things are, it’s scary business, but when it’s calculated and thought out and the risk is thought out, it pushes the organization forward. Are you going to fail? Most likely. There’s a lot of failures out there, but without the failure, then you just stay where you are and you don’t have any growth. So, I mean, some of our best ideas have been born out of some of the initial failures that we had. We changed some things. We asked what we did right, what we did wrong, but we continued to do them.
We didn’t just throw them away and try something new. We stayed with it because it had worked for us for a reason, maybe not completely, but we stayed with it. But we always went into everything with a plan B. Like I said before, what’s next? That’s how we operate. We’ll try something, but if it doesn’t work, what’s the plan B? So, that’s for the general listener. I think for the leaders out there, I think the best message that you can give to the leaders is just get out of the way and let your people do what they do the best. Be there for counseling and for guidance, listening, but just let them do what you hired them to do.

Stacy Pursell:
That’s great advice. Well, Gene, some of our guests say they’ve had a key book they read that helped them along the way. Do you have a keybook in your life that has impacted you the most?

Gene O’Neill:
I do. I do. And I read this back in my SeaWorld days and it continues to stay with me to today. The name of the book is The Goal and it introduces process improvement, this is going to sound technical and scary, but it’s really not. It introduces the concept of process improvement and the theory of constraints, if you’ve heard about that, but it’s told through a fictional story of a failing manufacturing plant manager. Like I said, it sounds intimidating, but if you think about everything that we do, everything we do in life, both professionally, inside, outside your work, everything is a process. Everything that you do is a process. Setting up this podcast today for you, Stacy, was a process.
And if you believe that every process can be improved, which we know that every process can be improved, this is the book you want to read because it opens up your mind. And although the book is stated in a manufacturing environment, it just talks about how this manager changes processes to make things more efficient. And if you want to learn about improving processes, there’s thousands of books out there. This one stuck with me because it wasn’t a textbook. It wasn’t all theory. It was written in fiction, which made the story exciting. You’re rooting for, you’re rooting for the manager to succeed and then when he fails, you feel bad and you commiserate with him and then he has other successes.
So, that stayed with me for a lot, a lot of my career and I’m always asking, how do we do things better? So, if I could get anybody or everybody in my organization to read something, this book would be it because they would then understand why I keep asking, how do we do something better?

Stacy Pursell:
I love that. Well, Gene, you’ve got the mic. What is one thing you want to share with our listeners of the People of Animal Health Podcast before you drop the mic today?

Gene O’Neill:
Okay. Well, I think that the one mic drop moment I would throw out there is don’t ever think that you are the smartest person in the room. I think the day that you realize that you’re not, that’ll be the day that you rise above the crowd.

Stacy Pursell:
That makes so much sense. Well, Gene, thank you so much for being my guest today on the People of Animal Health Podcast. It’s been such a pleasure to have you here. Thank you for taking the time with me.

Gene O’Neill:
Oh, I appreciate the invite and I’m happy to join at any time, Stacy, if you want to have me back on, but you’re doing a great job here and I appreciate it. Looking forward to hearing more of your podcasts.

Stacy Pursell:
Thank you, Gene.