Nearly 12 months of steering the Durvet bus (loaded up with our fine team) down the ol' animal health highway is now in the rear-view mirror and I find myself enjoying some quality time in a turkey blind.

It’s been a fast and furious ride to say the least. And as I sit here and watch the sun rise and listen to the woods wake up (which never gets old, by the way), I’m pondering a few things I’ve learned over the past 12 months.

First, don’t believe everything you think because at least some of it is probably just “stuff” that you’ve created in your own mind!  That said, being a little paranoid can be a good thing too.

I’ll be the first to admit the bus ride hasn’t been easy at times… there were some things we saw coming and some surprises too.  There was plenty of change and a lot of learnin’ going on and, quite frankly, there still is and always will be!

The change and learning curve wasn’t just with me. It was pretty much our entire Durvet crew adjusting to new things. I’m proud of each of them for rising to the occasion and I’m honored to have the privilege to be behind the wheel of the bus that they’re all such a big part of.

We’re nearly half way through our 2016 fiscal year and I’m very excited to say we’re on pace for yet another record year!  We are very thankful and blessed!

Something else that was reinforced over the past months, that many of us learned under Bob Hormann’s leadership, is that there’s no “coasting” on this bus ride because the only thing that stays the same is change!

So whether it’s industry consolidation, new government regulations or changing product trends, Durvet will be keeping our eyes on the road and our hands on the wheel (no texting and driving) so we can continue to serve our members and their customers for many years to come!

One final thing that hit me right square in the eye, other than the sun that’s well over the horizon now, (Note to self:  Next time don’t put the turkey blind where you look straight at the sun when it comes up… brilliant!) is that real leadership requires that you don’t have all the answers.

Yes, you read that right. Leaders shouldn’t have all the answers and certainly better not think they’re the smartest person in the room. It took me some time to figure this one out and come to the realization that leadership isn’t about having all the answers...it’s about having the right questions. 

You know, those really hard ones like "Why?" and "How?" This is a tough one for me because my DNA is such that I love solving problems and taking care of business.  It can be hard to step back and take time to ask the questions needed to arrive at the best solutions.

Have you ever heard answers to problems that sound like this:

-We need to communicate more!
-We need to work together better as a team!

I hate to admit it but I’ve given answers like these in the past.  While this might be a starting point, it’s vitally important to go deeper with better questions like:

-What specifically are we going to do today and tomorrow to communicate better?
-What specifically can we do to work together better as a team?

Better questions lead to better answers and better results.

With that in mind, as we move the bus forward at Durvet, we would appreciate it if you could take 2-3 minutes to fill out the following survey. Your comments will help us tremendously.  

SURVEY

Whether you’re a member, a customer of a member, a member employee or one of our valued suppliers, we’d love to learn from you.

I hope you enjoy getting to know Durvet and our team better through our blog. But most of all I hope you enjoy your bus ride wherever it’s taking you!

All the best!

-Todd

P.S. - For those of you familiar with Mike Gallagher’s March Madness bus ride stories you’ll understand the bus reference! If you’re not familiar just ask Mike sometime about joining us in the fun next spring.  Who knows, maybe Mike will write a blog about it sometime!)