The biggest shift in my career happened when I stopped asking:
“What’s happening?”
And started asking:
“Why does this keep happening?”
At first, the difference seems small.
It isn’t.
One question focuses on the event.
The other focuses on the pattern.
And patterns are where success and failure hide.
For years, I managed my clinic the way many business owners do.
A staff member resigned.
I solved it.
Inventory ran out.
I solved it.
Cash flow became tight.
I solved it.
A client complained.
I solved it.
I became very good at solving problems.
The problem was that the same problems kept returning.
Different faces.
Different situations.
Same story.
That’s when I realized I was treating symptoms.
Not causes.
As veterinarians, we see this every day.
A dog presents with vomiting.
A cat presents with weight loss.
A patient presents with recurrent skin disease.
We do not stop at the symptom.
We ask why.
Why is this happening?
What is causing it?
What keeps triggering it?
Yet many of us fail to apply the same thinking to our businesses.
When staff turnover becomes frequent, we ask:
“Who’s leaving?”
Instead of:
“Why do people keep leaving?”
When revenue slows down, we ask:
“Why are sales low this month?”
Instead of:
“Why does this happen every year?”
When clients complain, we ask:
“What happened today?”
Instead of:
“Why does this issue keep repeating?”
The second question is more powerful.
Because it forces us to confront systems, habits, leadership, and decisions.
It forces us to look deeper.
And sometimes, the answer points back to us.
That can be uncomfortable.
But it is also where growth begins.
The clinic owners who grow the fastest are rarely the ones who solve the most problems.
They are the ones who eliminate recurring problems.
- They build systems that prevent mistakes.
- They create cultures that retain staff.
- They establish processes that reduce chaos.
- They stop living from crisis to crisis.
And start building something predictable.
Something scalable.
Something sustainable.
The day I stopped asking, “What’s happening?” and started asking, “Why does this keep happening?” was the day I stopped being a firefighter.
And started becoming a builder.
That single question changed the way I looked at business.
And it might change the way you look at yours.
Dr. Geoff Carullo is a Fellow and the current President of the Philippine College of Canine Practitioners.
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