Last week I told you why I built this.

This week I want to tell you something different. Something that sits underneath all of it. Not the professional case for Leading Veterinary Teams because you already have that. This is the more personal one. The one about why I don’t quit.

I wrote that on LinkedIn this week and I meant it. But this is where I get to go deeper so, buckle up.

I didn’t go get an MBA because I needed someone to teach me how veterinary hospitals work. I already knew how they work. Almost twenty years in this profession, every role except veterinarian, I know where the gaps are. I know what gets lost in translation between the clinical team and the C-suite. I know why the person who is best at the job is not always the person best suited to lead it, and I know why nobody talks about that out loud.

What an MBA gives me is different. I could already speak the business side. I have a bachelor’s in business administration and I have been operating at that level for years. But there is a difference between speaking the language and having the credentials that make people stop and listen when you do. The MBA closes that gap. It lets me walk into rooms where decisions get made in business terms and be taken seriously when I name what I see. The gap between a strategy that looks good on paper and one that actually gets executed. The way that being stuck in the middle without committing to a direction is not a neutral position. It’‘s the most vulnerable one. The reason your top performer becoming a manager without any training is not a people problem. It is an organizational design problem.

I already knew all of that. I just could not always say it in a way that landed in rooms that it mattered.

That’s not a small thing. That’s the difference between being seen as a great operator and being seen as a strategic leader. And that distinction matters. Not for my ego, but for the work. Because the work I am doing with Leading Veterinary Teams requires me to sit at both tables. The clinical one and the business one. And I need to be fluent in both languages to do it well.

So finishing this degree, after almost a decade of interruptions, a pregnancy, twins, job loss, years of telling myself I would get back to it, means one thing above everything else: I kept a promise to myself.

Even when quitting would have been completely understandable and no one would have faulted me for it.

I didn’t quit on myself and I never will.

There’s a reason that matters beyond plain ambition. And no, it’s not motivation. I learned a long time ago, from someone I love deeply, what it looks like when a person makes a major life decision from a place of not believing they had other options. When someone sets aside what they wanted because they did not trust that wanting it was enough of a reason. When they don’t believe in themselves enough so they give up their future for others… I watched what that costs. Not just in the moment, but across an entire lifetime.

I carry that. I carry it for myself, for my kids, and honestly, for every person I work with through this platform and in my future. Because part of what I am doing here, with every framework, every conversation, every newsletter, is trying to make sure that the people doing the hardest work in veterinary medicine never feel like they have to shrink themselves to fit a space that was not built for them. That you never make a decision from fear when intention was available.

That is the real reason I finished. And, if I’m being honest, it’s the real reason I am building this.

I am sharing this here, in this newsletter, because I think a lot of you are sitting on something.

A credential you started and stopped. A course you bought and never finished. A leadership path you keep saying you’ll pursue when things calm down. A version of yourself that you keep putting off until conditions are better.

In fact, I just responded to someone in TikTok yesterday who told me they are frustrated because they have a bachelors degree in science thinking they’d become a veterinarian, along the way decided to become a veterinary technician but can’t take the VTNE because their local school is no longer AVMA accredited and they’ll need to go back to school for two more years before they can be eligible to sit for the exam. The question I asked them? What’s stopping you from enrolling? The time’s going to pass anyway.

Look… I get it, everything costs money. But if you’re waiting for conditions to be perfect, I have news for you. Conditions are not going to get better. They are going to stay complicated and loud and demanding. Money is always going to be an issue if you make money the issue. There’s a way. Everything is figureoutable (I still wish I coined that phrase - but alas, I did not).

Time will pass. The road is still there. You better get walking.

BEFORE YOU KEEP READING. SERIOUSLY. DO THIS.

One of the things I kept putting off was building the assessment I always knew every leader needed. Not a quiz. Not a “which leadership style are you” personality thing. An actual diagnostic that tells you exactly where your leadership is breaking down and what to do about it.

I built it. I am proud of it. And I want you to take it.

It’s free (for you 🫣 yes.. you read that right, I believe in it so much I’m investing in it). You’ll get a full PDF of your results. It covers all five layers of the CLARITY framework and it will show you specifically where you are strong, where you are stuck, and what to focus on next.

I will go first. I took it. My results told me things I already knew and a few things I needed to hear out loud. That is the point.

It takes about two minutes (or less.. it’s only 15 questions). And when you’re done, would you do me a HUGE favor? Would you think about one leader in your hospital or your life who needs to take it too? Send it to them. Forward this newsletter. Share the link. Leadership does not happen in a vacuum and neither does growth!

This week’s episode of Leading Veterinary Teams On Air features Dr. Brianna Tobin, an emergency veterinarian who leads her team without a Medical Director title, and does it really well.

We talked about what leadership actually looks like when the pace is relentless and the stakes are high. She talks about how she influences the people around her, how she thinks about technician utilization in the emergency room, and why she has made it a point to show up on social media as a real person, not just a clinician.

The technician utilization piece of this conversation was one of my favorites I have had on this show. If you have ever felt like your clinical skills were being underutilized, or if you lead a team where that is happening and you are not sure why, listen to this one.

Links to almost anywhere you’d listen! If you like what you hear, I’d love it if you’d subscribe, comment, & share!

I kept putting things off. The community build I always envisioned. The assessment that was rattling around in my head for months. The version of this platform that actually matched what I knew it could be.

This week I finally stopped waiting for the right moment and started building the right thing. And I want you to do the same.

Here’s something I want you to do this week.

Now write down what is actually stopping you. Not the story you tell yourself. The real reason.

I will go first.

The thing I was putting off: building a community that was actually a community and not an overcomplicated place where people came and then never came back. Also, building a diagnostic tool that actually matched the depth of what I know veterinary leaders need.

What was actually stopping me: I kept waiting until everything else was settled first. And since nothing is ever fully settled. So I built it anyway.

Your turn.

The community I originally built has moved and it’s better than ever! By better I mean more simple! Leading Veterinary Teams Community is now on Skool. If you were a member on Mighty, watch the video I posted in the community for details. If you have’t joined yet, the door is open, and it’s FREE (for now): Join now

I’m building out the Leading Veterinary Teams YouTube with more content - beyond the podcast. If you have any questions or pain points you wish someone would answer (that someone being me!) Submit them here.

Consulting calls are open. If you’re navigating something in your hospital or your career and you want an hour of direct, no-nonsense thinking with someone who’s been in the work, you can book here. $150. No fluff.

If this issue hit home, forward it to one person who needs to read it. And if someone forwarded it to you, welcome. I write here every Tuesday. I am also building in public over on Instagram and TikTok at @therealsuzannethomas if you want the less polished version of all of this.

Leadership is a verb. Go lead.

-- Suzanne

Leading Veterinary Teams | Leading Veterinary Teams ON AIR Podcast | Community | Consulting | Stan Store

Suzanne Thomas is a credentialed veterinary technologist (LVTg, CVTg), MBA (c), and the founder of Leading Veterinary Teams, LLC (LVT.vet), a leadership development platform built specifically for veterinary professionals. She is the author of ‘From Competent to Capable: Redefining Success Through Veterinary Technician Utilization and Team Empowerment’, host of the Leading Veterinary Teams On Air podcast, and a speaker and consultant focused on organizational design, team leadership, and operational clarity in veterinary medicine.