394 - Should Business Leaders Have Mandatory Clinic Time?

Dr. Josh Rosen (known online as D-O-G-T-O-R Josh) joins host Dr. Andy Roark to debate a provocative question: should veterinary operations leaders who come from outside medicine be required to complete a clinic-based onboarding before leading teams? They explore the tension between “medicine people” focused on individual patients and “operations people” focused on scale, and how lack of day-to-day context can lead to decisions (like shorter appointments, pricing changes, wellness plans, or staffing shifts) that fuel burnout, harm client relationships, and hurt retention. Rosen argues leaders do not need technical skills like drawing blood, but they do need repeated, ongoing clinic exposure (such as weekly doctor shadowing) to understand real workflow and build sustainable, collaborative relationships between medical and operational leadership. Dr. Josh Rosen is a relief veterinarian and veterinary content creator based in the New York metro area, practicing across NYC, Long Island, and Northern New Jersey. A graduate of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, his clinical interests span preventative care, urgent care, soft tissue surgery, dentistry, dermatology, and internal medicine. Working across many practices has given Dr. Rosen a rare, unfiltered view of what's actually happening on the ground in veterinary medicine today, including the growing gap between how organized medicine operates and what the people doing the work know it needs. He channels that perspective into his platform, @dogtorjosh on Instagram, where he covers clinical empathy, effective communication, team culture, and all the relatable laughs we share in this amazing profession. Today, he's advocating for a profession led by those with real, lived veterinary experience, rather than metrics alone. Mentioned in this episode: Uncharted Practice Owner Summit at NAVC SkillShop Owning a veterinary practice comes with challenges no one teaches you in school. The Uncharted Practice Owner Summit, hosted at NAVC SkillShop in Orlando, is a hands-on leadership workshop designed to help owners strengthen their teams, improve operations, and make confident business decisions. This small-group, working session focuses on real-world tools and honest conversations, not passive lectures. Spots are limited. Register now! Register for Uncharted Practice Owner Summit at NAVC SkillShop here! Register for the Dont Get Sued course! On Demand Team Training Bundle Great medicine can still lead to tough conversations with clients. The Team Training Bundle gives your veterinary team practical tools to handle angry clients and communicate clearly in the exam room, so every interaction builds trust instead of tension. Flexible, on-demand training makes it easy to strengthen communication across your entire clinic. Learn more about the Team Training Bundle here! Office Hours w/ Dr. Andy Roark Inside the Uncharted Veterinary Community, Dr. Andy Roark hosts Office Hours where veterinary leaders can bring real-world challenges and get practical guidance from someone who understands the realities of practice life. These sessions give veterinarians, practice managers, and team leaders a chance to ask questions, workshop difficult situations, and gain perspective on issues like team dynamics, communication, burnout, and clinic operations. Instead of navigating leadership challenges alone, members get direct access to Andy’s insight along with the support of a community of veterinary professionals working through many of the same challenges. Register for Office Hours here!

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394 - Should Business Leaders Have Mandatory Clinic Time? is an episode from The Cone of Shame Veterinary Podcast by Dr. Andy Roark.

This episode is 25:40 long.

This episode was published on Apr 30, 2026.

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