Veterinary Economics board member Bob Levoy passes away

Bob LevoyIn the world of veterinary practice management, Bob Levoy was an oddity. He studied best practices in the offices of physicians, optometrists, podiatrists, dentists and more and shared them with the nation's veterinary practice owners and managers.

He gently reminded our industry full of folks who focus on pets to take a breath and consider the human beings on the other end of the leashes to make sure their needs were being met. He regularly asked practice owners to find out whether their team members were happy, and he encouraged doctors to look inward and ask themselves the same question. And he usually did it with a rare humility, quoting directly from the books, the speeches and the thinkers he most admired.

His work appeared for decades in the pages of Veterinary Economics and more recently on dvm360.com in a regular monthly column as well as more in-depth features. Writing for so long, it's guaranteed he changed lives-for the better.

For Bob, business offices, human hospitals, doctors' officers and veterinary practices were never good enough. They could always be better. He led the charge to show us how.

Veterinary Economics and its readers will miss him.

‘The invisible employee'

Back in 2007, Bob Levoy wrote about a book he'd read talking about “invisible employees”-team members who felt underused, unappreciated and ignored. It's his advice to counter that sadness and resentment that we held onto the most at Veterinary Economics:

As Bob Levoy wrote, “When is the last time you ...

> thanked an employee at the end of the day for a job well done?

> gave a staff member a raise without being asked?

> had fresh flowers delivered to your team after a hectic week at work?

> sent a fruit basket or small gift to an employee's home in appreciation of his or her extra efforts?

> sent an e-mail or thank-you note to a staff member who went above and beyond the call of duty?

> celebrated the achievement of practice goals or the completion of special projects with plenty of public pats on the back?

> told your staff how important they are to your practice and how much you truly appreciate them?”

For more of Levoy's timeless wisdom, visit dvm360.com/levoy. Any one of his columns is a 10-minute read for a year's worth of wisdom.