Adrian's Story
I trained at the University of Bristol Veterinary School, graduating in 1995. I joined a busy small animal practice in DH Lawrence country and had a great grounding in how to be a small animal vet.
However, after a few years, I realised I needed to explore different clinics and learn new things; things not taught at veterinary school in the nineties, such as business skills, communication skills, teamworking, mentoring and leadership.
Over the next few years, I tried several different types of clinics and a spell as a locum but struggled to find the kind of clinic I could see myself working in long term. In actual fact, with the benefit of hindsight, I can now say that I had reached a point of total burnout and disengagement with the profession, verging on depression. In 2001, as a last-ditch attempt to ‘get out’ I applied for a veterinary business advisor job at Hill’s Pet Nutrition, a division of Colgate.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition saved my veterinary career and stopped my destructive cycle.
More by accident than design I had found a business whose vision and values aligned with my own. Working as part of a large organisation, I found structure, purpose and support that enabled me to flourish and grow, with a profound effect on my psychological health, family and relationships.
Then, in 2004 on a snowboard trip to Austria, I suffered a slipped disc and was faced with a significant amount of time recovering. I avoided surgery and discovered the joys of yoga and pilates as part of my rehab, spending sixteen weeks off work. My job at the time involved visiting clinics across the UK, driving over 50,000 miles a year. This was not sustainable with my back injury. During my recovery, I contemplated my options, including leaving Hill’s, starting a business or going back to clinic, which I couldn’t face. It forced me to re-evaluate and re-frame where I was.
The solution became moving to head office and embarking on ten years of career progression through the Hill’s business. I started as the office technical vet, becoming veterinary affairs manager in 2008, responsible for Hill’s presence at professional shows and congresses, leading a team of vets, nurses and managers in delivering the professional programmes. Following that, a short stint as key account manager led to five years as Customer Development Director for the veterinary channel in the UK and Ireland.
I learned leadership skills, how to manage a team and with a tremendous senior leadership team in the UK and European business, learned commercial and business management skills. Throughout my time at Hill’s the power of a strong company culture, of core values backed up by a strong performance-led mindset and with the support of a business that values people were impressed upon me.
And that’s where my coaching journey began, alongside Colgate colleagues on CP training programmes. I realised that my interest lay not only in making a business perform, but how people are any company’s greatest asset and how to help them achieve great things. Coaching and mentoring open doors to untapped skills, un-imagined performance and the ability to succeed at anything you turn your mind to.
When Hill’s decided to relocate their office, I decided to strike out on my own and build my own business. Initially a business consultancy, I trained with The Coaching Academy, gaining my Coaching Diploma in 2018 and launching Emerge Coaching soon afterwards. I became involved as a volunteer and speaker at Vets Stay GO Diversify and in 2022 became one of two directors joining the founder Ebony Escalona to build a business behind it and incorporate Emerge into VSGD..
Vets Stay Go Diversify’s community continues to grow and go from strength to strength, reaching nearly 30,000 people globally in 2024. We worked hard and had a lot of fun, testing concepts such as recruitment, courses and events within the community. Some worked and some not so much, so in summer 2024 I made the tough decision to leave VSGD and relaunch my coaching project, this time as ANP Coaching.
Coaching is goal led, believing in the infinite resourcefulness of the coaching client. I take enormous joy in watching my clients achieve their dreams, change their lives and find happiness. I’d love to coach you too.