Leadership and Creating Clinic Culture with Dr. Elaine Klemmensen

Ostriches, volunteering in Africa, giving birth on the way to open a new vet clinic, and pizza for breakfast! This conversation has a little bit of everything!

Dr. Elaine Klemmensen takes us on her journey of almost 30 years in the veterinary profession. Stepping into fear along the way, Elaine and her husband Rob got intentional about the life they wanted to create. Driven by their vision, Elaine shares many of her stories and struggles as she learned to lead in veterinary medicine.

After graduating from WCVM in 1991, Elaine’s adventures in veterinary medicine have included associate, practice owner, locum and volunteer with eight organizations in seven different countries. Passionate about leadership, development, and workplace culture, she recently embarked on her latest adventure, founding Evolve Leadership Coaching and Consulting where she is determined to help veterinary leaders discover the “secret sauce” that will move their team from surviving to thriving.

In our energetic conversation with Elaine we talk about:

• The struggles of learning without intentional mentorship
• The importance of a "learning from mistake" mentality
• Creating a practice where people love coming to work every day
• Finding people that share your vision, and why shared values matter most
• Creating space for reflection
• Navigating the waters of selling a practice in a small town
• Elaine's "Secret Sauce" for leadership and management
• The Impact Round

Thank you to Elaine for carving out some time to share her experience and wisdom on our show!

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Any questions, comments, feedback, or requests for guests can also be sent to theveterinaryprojectpodcast@gmail.com. Thank you for listening and we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday for another episode of The Veterinary Project Podcast!

- Jonathan Leicht, DVM and Michael Bugg, DVM