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LEADERSHIP
LAB
TThe American Veterinary Medical Association
(AVMA) Veterinary Leadership Experience (VLE)
had a profound effect on me in the summer of 2007. I
really didn’t know what to expect and thought that it would
just be another kumbaya event. I know that you have been
involved in those events: lots of extroverted people, like me,
high-fiving, networking, and lots of one-upmanship, my kind
of crowd. I have to say how wrong I was about this one event
and how it would shape the way I think.
The AVMA VLE is an experiential program developed
in 2004 for veterinary students and faculty. The original
template for this leadership experience came from Washington
State University’s Cougar Leadership Program. The
first VLE class in 2004 had 80 participants. The number of
participants grew to 110 in 2005, and then in 2006, there
were 145 individuals from the United States, the Caribbean,
Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The focus
of this program is the development of the non-technical
skills in veterinary students and faculty, which have a direct
impact on our profession. A 1999 KPMG study recognized
leadership as a vital component of the skills, knowledge, and
abilities of our profession, and this precept was embraced by
What you learn at the
Aggie Veterinary
Leadership Event*
1) When venturing out your comfort zone remember:
“No one is going to die and no one is going to cry”
2) Don’t be surprised by your own capabilities
3) Creativity is a group activity, two brains are better
than one
4) You never know until you try
5) Adults learn best by doing things, not passively
listening
6) It’s a safe learning environment, it’s okay to make
a mistake
7) It is better to serve than be served
8) Most problems occur because of a breakdown
in communication
9) The biggest growth is what happens on the inside
10) If you want to build leaders show them your passion
*Now known as the Texas A&M Aggie Leadership Event
or TAMALE (Coined by Dr. James Marshall)
22 • CVM Today • Winter 2012
the National Commission on Veterinary Economics
Issues.
The VLE was designed to increase participants’
awareness of their inventory of non-technical skills to help
balance their veterinary technical skills. Whereas the faculty
at the colleges of
veterinary medicine
are working hard on
teachingthe technical
skills of our
profession, the VLE
helps to address the
development of the
rest of the doctor.
The basis of the
VLE is the emphasis
on the principle of
knowing oneself.
One cannot expect
to be an exceptional
leader until
one learns to lead
oneself through selfawareness
and self-
management. Once
one can lead oneself,
one can lead others
and manifest true
by Dr. Dan Posey, ’82
Veterinary
The
Leadership
Experience Eff ect
Team building experiences are now a part
of the CVM’s New Student Orientation.
leadership-caliber values—principles, integrity, compassion,
and emotional intelligence. The central leadership philosophy
of the VLE is servant or relational leadership.
My entire experience at the VLE was enlightening. First,
we weren’t meeting in classrooms on a college campus but
in the mountains of Idaho next to the Spokane River. This
heightened my energy; who can argue with early June in
Idaho? What amazed me is what I learned through this experiential
program. The VLE was developed and continues
to evolve through an interactive curriculum that encourages
positive transformation by alternating between small group
and individual challenges. The small-group activity can be
as easy as allowing someone to fall backward off a table and
the group catching them and as complicated as trying to figure
out how we are going to fit 12 people on a 4-by-4 piece of
tarp; it has been done before. In both of these exercises, the
skills that are reinforced are trust, helping to break down
our interactive space, communicating in a collaborative
environment, and demanding that you become aware