One of my first jobs was stocking shelves at a local retail store. My fellow stockers and I would spend hours in the aisles, tagging products and rotating and replenishing merchandise. Customers would often stop to ask us when a specific product would be back in stock. More often than not, we couldn’t give them a good answer – but not because there wasn’t one. The truth was, when products were out of stock, it usually came down to the ordering system we used, which simply didn’t work. As employees, we had no doubt we needed a better system, and we brought it up to our managers time after time, but our voices were not heard, and our opinions and experiences were not solicited. Changes were made but not by listening to employees.

Today, as president of the largest veterinary practice in the world, I am accountable to tens of thousands of Banfield associates – and the clients they serve and the pets they care for in the same way my retail managers should have been accountable to me. In contrast to my prior experience, I know that if I want our practice – and the veterinary industry as a whole – to be the best it can be, I need to listen to the challenges veterinary teams are facing every day and better understand the innovative ideas they have and actions they’re taking to overcome them.

My commitment to listening doesn’t just mean surrounding myself with leaders I trust to help manage the various aspects of Banfield’s business. It means seeking diverse perspectives at all levels, both inside and outside of our business. It means understanding that the decisions I make about the direction of the company aren’t made in a vacuum. Instead, they’re informed by the daily experiences and brilliant insights of our network of veterinary professionals, as well as those of other segments of the healthcare industry.

And it means understanding that every voice can be a source of innovation and growth.

Last week, Banfield brought together more than 150 peers for our 16th annual Pet Healthcare Industry Summit (PHIS). It included an impressive mix of industry leaders who share our goal of improving the veterinary profession and believe collaboration is essential to our collective success, such as deans of veterinary medical colleges, heads of nonprofits whose work is intertwined with ours and CEOs of major animal health suppliers.

I had the privilege of spending two days sharing our experiences and learning insights from those in attendance. And although it’s come to a close, those conversations haven’t stopped. We’re turning insights into actions, and we’re seeking solutions to shared challenges and opportunities. In the past, PHIS has explored the issue of student debt in our industry, allowed us to share the improvements we’re making in our own practice and helped translate lessons from human healthcare into veterinary environments.

I was inspired by the energy at PHIS this year. It’s clear that everyone who attended from across the industry came to innovate. We workshopped real, complex problems and discussed solutions to issues that don’t even exist yet. Getting ahead of potential challenges in the industry is critical, and we need to lead the way by listening and learning from doctors and from our associates – and by continuing to share our diverse perspectives with each other. The industry is going to look dramatically different just five, ten years down the road, and last week, I got a glimpse of that future and how we’ll get there together.

These exchanges of ideas and information are a critical driver of progress and innovation in the veterinary community. They help keep the industry informed about important developments in pet health, foster more efficient hospitals that continually improve the standard of care as new information and new resources become available, and create and maintain strong connections among all facets of the healthcare industry.

I’m excited to share what we’ve learned at the 2017 PHIS with Banfield associates, but I’m also eager to hear their reactions. I look forward to continuing and expanding conversations to encompass day-to-day obstacles they encounter and the opportunities they see to enhance our business and hospitals. These interactions with our associates – from administrative staff to veterinary technicians fresh out of school to seasoned veterinarians – are just as important to me as the conversations at PHIS.

Veterinary teams in particular understand the value of listening. As medical practitioners, they are accustomed to consulting with each other to validate their own assumptions, to help think through tough cases, to share wisdom and experience and to offer support. And as listeners, the community is also accustomed to sharing information with each other to help the industry as a whole become stronger. This happens on an individual level, but also among practices dedicated first and foremost to improving the quality of pet health. For example, Banfield makes an effort to empower the veterinary community by sharing resources like our Veterinary Emerging Topics (VET) Report, State of Pet Health (SOPH) Report and anesthesia book.

This collaborative environment means that just like other medical fields, veterinary medicine is constantly evolving. Inspiration and disruption can come from a number of sources – even places you might not expect. That’s why making an effort to invite others to speak and to take the time to listen is so important. As a leader, it’s my responsibility to create an environment that motivates Banfield associates and our partners and competitors across the industry to share ideas and solutions. Banfield’s future – and the future of the veterinary industry – depends on it.