How Veterinary Leaders Build Trust

I thought I knew the answer. Maybe you do too?

If I asked you how leaders earn trust, what would you say?

Experience?

Confidence?

Credentials?

Maybe a title?

That's certainly what I've always believed.

In fact, over the last few months I've caught myself wondering whether I needed to share more of my experience on my website and social media. I’ve even started to wonder if maybe I needed yet another certification. Or if maybe I needed to highlight more of my résumé.

It all seemed logical. Credentials = Credibility after all… right?

Despite letting go of chasing a title years ago, I’ve struggled to truly let go of this idea that more “letters after my name” would mean I’m more credible. That is, until someone said something recently that completely rocked me.

A conversation I wasn't expecting

Picture this.

I'm sitting on a Zoom call with a group of veterinary professionals. We're introducing ourselves, catching up, and just getting to know one another when someone asks a simple question:

"Who's your favorite veterinary influencer?"

People start throwing out names.

Then, out of nowhere, someone says,

"I mean... Suzanne's the biggest influencer on this call."

I laughed. And not the polite, red cheeks, embarrassed, "thank you" kind of laugh.

But the genuine, you've got to be kidding me, wtf are you talking about? kind of laugh.

I remember saying: “Guys... what are you talking about?" Because frankly, I don't think of myself as an influencer. Honestly, I never have. I shared something my friend and colleague, Alyssa Mages, says that has always resonated with me: we're striving to be influential, not influencers.

That feels much more like me and much more aligned with what my goals are. “Influencer” after all, has kind of a negative connotation. Or, if we’re going back to our credibility conversation, some people perceive influencers as people who are charismatic and fun, but don’t have much expertise. Whether that is actually true or not is not the point (because when you look into many of the veterinary “influencers” backgrounds this perception is actually NOT true… look it up!) but I’ve always been weary of being lumped into a category that is perceived negatively. Admittedly, the more I get to know many of the people in this space, the less I actually care what someone calls me, but “influential” feels more true for me at this point in time. Most of the people on the call nodded in agreement. One even said “wow I like that!”

Then one of them looked at me and said:

"You've changed the way I think about leadership. I've always worked overnights because I wanted to get away from leadership. But after meeting you, you've made me realize there are leaders who actually care about their people. Not all leaders are bad."

Pause.

What she didn't say

Here’s the thing.

She didn't mention my résumé.

Or my MBA.

She didn't mention that I have a Bachelor's in Business and a Bachelor’s in Veterinary Technology.

She didn't mention that I’ve worked for years leading teams in veterinary medicine or that I spent years as a veterinary oncology, internal medicine, and ER/ICU technician before transitioning into leadership.

She didn't mention any of it.

What did she talk about? How I made her think, how I’ve made her feel about leadership.

It immediately hit me.

Credentials may open the door but credibility is built when someone leaves a conversation with you seeing leadership differently than they did before.

I don't think I've ever said something like that out loud before. But the moment I heard her say those words, I realized it was true. Maybe I've been measuring credibility with the wrong yardstick.

Credentials open doors. Credibility builds trust.

Let me be clear. I'm incredibly proud of my education.

I'm proud of the years I've spent in practice, in operations, and leading veterinary teams (I mean, I named my whole business Leading Veterinary Teams!) Those experiences have shaped who I am today and they absolutely matter both to me but also for the work that I do. But they aren’t what she remembered.

She remembered a conversation we had, an instagram reel, a podcast episode. She remembered the consistent message over years of knowing me and following me that has shifted her perspective. She remembered walking away from interactions with me believing that leadership could look different than she'd experienced before.

That’s not a letter behind someones name. That’s credibility.

And those two things aren't the same.

The wrong yardstick

It makes me wonder how many of us are exhausting ourselves trying to prove we're qualified instead of doing the work that actually builds trust.

The funny thing is, I've spent years coaching leaders through moments where they say things like:

"I'm the youngest manager."

"I've only been credentialed for x amount of years."

"The doctors won't respect me because I’m not credentialed yet"

"I’ll get respect once I prove myself."

On the surface those all sound like confidence problems. But the more I think about it, I don't think they are. I’m starting to think they're credibility problems. Somewhere along the way we've convinced ourselves that credibility comes from another certification, or promotion, a fancy title, or a certain about of years of experience. Maybe Linkedin is to blame but let’s be honest with ourselves for second - that’s not how credibility is built. Credibility isn’t built overnight, no, but it’s also not built simply from the impressive resume. What this person proved to me in a few short sentences is - credibility is built one conversation at a time, one decision at a time, one interaction at time, and one person at a time. Over time. Consistently.

What people actually remember

Imagine in 10 years you run into Erika. You were Erika’s supervisor.

What do you think Erika will remember about you?

My guess?

It probably won't be your exact title. Or how many years of experience you had. She probably won't remember the letters you had after your name (unless you walked around saying “hi, my name is Suzanne ABC, DEF, GHI, LMNOP. LOL!)

What will Erika remember? I’ll tell you! Because I bumped into Erika a few years ago while walking around the mall. She was an assistant manager when I was her manager back in my retail days. When I saw her she ran up to me, hugged me, and started excitedly telling everyone at the store how I was the reason she was the District Manager for the company. That I had helped her learn how to have difficult conversations and how to run a business while still treating people well! She was so excited to introduce me to everyone and tell them to thank me for teaching her “everything she knows.” I still laugh about that interaction because I was so young when I led Erika, but even back then, before I had any of the language I have now, I was on my soapbox about treating people well (see? It works!)

The moral of this story is that people will remember how you made them feel after a difficult conversation. They’ll remember whether they felt safe bringing you bad news, whether you believed in them before they believed in themselves. They'll remember whether you challenged them to think differently and they’ll model their way after you because people often do the things to/for others that have been done/for them. Why not make that positive?

Maybe that's what leadership really is after all. Maybe it isn’t convincing people you’re qualified, but having people become more capable because they crossed paths with you.

Why this matters

Ironically, I started thinking about all of this and came to this realization while building and delivering the very first Leadership Without a Playbook case investigation (webinar).

As I looked back over the case, I realized that I didn't spend 45 minutes teaching people how to become better leaders. I spent 45 minutes asking them to question what they believed leadership was in the first place. During the call we investigated why it feels so hard and what we can do about it. Maybe that's why the comment from that Zoom call stuck with me so deeply.

She didn't remember any of my credentials. What she remembered was that I had changed the way she thought.

One question to leave you with

This week, instead of asking yourself:

"How do I prove I'm qualified?"

Try asking:

"How am I helping people think differently?"

Instead of asking yourself:

"How do I prove I'm qualified?"

Try asking:

"When someone leaves a conversation with me, what do I hope they've gained?"

Is it a new skill? or a little more confidence? Maybe you’d love for them to leave with a different perspective? or something as simple as … hope?

Because credentials might open the door to the conversation, but credibility is built one conversation at a time, when people leave thinking differently than when they arrived.

And maybe, just maybe ...

That's where trust is actually built.