I recently went one-on-one with Mony Iyer, President of Banfield Pet Hospital.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you.  How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Mony: My journey to leading Banfield Pet Hospital has been shaped by a passion for problem-solving and fostering organizational growth. Throughout my career, I have discovered success and failure are often intertwined. My greatest growth has stemmed from both my achievements and my mistakes, especially in leadership. I learned (sometimes painfully) early in my career that effective leadership is not just about having the best ideas but also about inspiring and motivating others to work towards a common goal. Regardless of where you are in your career, it is crucial to engage closely with your people, understand where they are coming from, and ensure that you’re able to tailor your messages and strategies in a way that resonates with the company’s culture.

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?

Mony: Growing and scaling a business are distinct concepts. Growth focuses on understanding and meeting customer needs, while scaling involves expanding operations strategically to maintain efficiency and profitability.

In the services industry – particularly healthcare – staying patient- and client-focused is crucial. Success depends on meeting the needs and expectations of patients and their owners, not just on provider-centric metrics like the number of doctors or clinics. True success lies in providing accessible and valuable services that clients want to use.

Scaling requires a different approach. It involves identifying key growth drivers, investing strategically, optimizing costs, and improving efficiency. This means making careful resource allocation decisions to support continued expansion.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?

Mony: Good leaders are good decision-makers. Making good decisions requires integrity of thought, analysis, and relevance – and, importantly, communicating those clearly to the organization. 

Every decision must be based on a clear understanding of what you’re trying to solve. Analysis often keys off of things we know to be true or confirmation bias. It’s important to examine this. Relevance is incredibly important, but it can be difficult for people to be honest about whether their work is truly relevant to the business.

Effective leaders also consider less-traditional solutions and are willing to make unpopular decisions and drive them to conclusion - even if not everyone understands or is on board with them. This is necessary for driving the business forward and strengthening the employee and customer experience. 

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Mony: Don’t just listen to your employees, but really hear them. At Banfield, we have over 19,000 Associates – just 5% of them sitting in our headquarters – with the based majority in hospitals across the country. I regularly bring members of my senior leadership team along with me on listening tours nationwide, visiting hospitals to meet with our Associates face-to-face to not just learn from them, but act on their feedback.

One example of this is hearing from our teams that recognition was really important to them. They wanted a way to recognize one another in a meaningful way. In response, we re-launched a program called TailWags that allows our employees and, importantly, our leaders to applaud the great work happening across our practice. In 5 months, our employees sent nearly 30,000 TailWags – more than one for every Associate in the practice. If the sender opts to make their recognition public, our leadership can also view these and add further recognition as well as get a sense for what great looks like in the field.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Mony: We have a number of challenges to overcome in our industry, whether it's capacity, productivity, or changing expectations from doctors or clients. But regardless of challenges you’re facing, there are steps you can take as a leader to achieve success.

To improve the client experience, focus on the employee. Exceptional customer service boils down to ensuring your workforce is aligned with company culture. Banfield supports 19,000 Associates – including 3,000 doctors – nationwide, all with their own motivations, challenges, successes and joys. It’s about taking the time to truly understand your workforce and what drives them so you can help connect them with your company culture and provide them with the training to create a great customer experience. 

This is essential in a people-driven business, like healthcare. AI won’t take the place of care - it can support and augment the work of the practitioner in many ways, but healthcare will always be a contact sport, so culture and training are essential. 

Don’t underestimate the power of community engagement programs. The impacts of community engagement programs are multifaceted, benefiting Associates and communities. Data shows the positive impacts that volunteering can have on reducing stress and boosting moods, which is especially important for the veterinary industry amid an unprecedented talent shortage and a profession dealing with mental health challenges. In a Banfield-commissioned survey of 2,000 working Americans, nearly half said volunteering improves their mental wellbeing and those with a paid volunteer program reported feeling more loyal and prouder to work for their employer – yet roughly only 20% have access to such a benefit.

Recognizing that many Associates would like to volunteer but struggled to find the time, Banfield launched the Banfield Gives Back fund this year, which covers payroll costs for hospital Associates to volunteer. In a survey of Banfield Associates who recently volunteered: 86% said they felt a greater sense of purpose in their work; 95% said it made them feel proud to be a Banfield Associate; and 86% felt a stronger bond with their coworkers.

Never stop seeking new solutions to problems. Healthcare industries – from human health to dentistry to veterinary care – are facing capacity issues. There aren’t enough providers to meet the increasing needs of patients. Addressing this issue is critical, yet no one has been able to fully mitigate this tension. At Banfield, we focus on innovative, team-based care solutions to maximize hospital capacity, empowering our Associates at all levels to operate at their highest potential. This approach leverages insights from human healthcare and new technologies to optimize staffing, free up time, and create a positive work environment conducive to development. This team-based care approach provides the time and resources for continuous learning and upskilling, enabling staff to embrace new technologies and, in the veterinary field specifically, deliver exceptional pet care.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?

Mony: Leading a winning team is a complex task, and the key to success lies in investing in employee wellbeing and training to ensure your people are aligned with what your company is trying to achieve. Fostering a culture centered around company values requires a deep understanding of your people and the different motivations that drive their work. By building strong relationships with team members, investing time in understanding them, and empowering them, we can build a level of trust that fosters a more positive and productive work environment. This results in a team that is more motivated, engaged, and high-performing.

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?

Mony: In large companies, departments can easily become siloed. At Banfield Pet Hospital, we prioritize cross-departmental collaboration and teamwork within the Mars Veterinary Health family of practices. While roles are unique, all teams, including sales, marketing, and branding, must work towards our shared purpose – A Better World for Pets – because pets make the world better for us.

Early in my career, transitioning from a strategic role to sales was challenging. I initially undervalued the day-to-day work of my team, which led to a decline in morale and performance. This experience taught me to appreciate the critical role of every function in our success. Rebuilding trust started with listening, understanding, and valuing the work of others, which made me a better leader. This approach proved successful later in my career when I had to lead an organizational restructuring – over 95% of my team stayed with me through the change, which was truly gratifying.

Ultimately, leadership is about people. It’s essential to see things from your team members’ perspectives.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Mony: I love when people are focused on results. My dad had a sign in his office that read, “We appreciate efforts, we reward results.” I model that – and it’s not just financial results, but anything that is making a difference to an organization and its people.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

Follow Adam on Instagram and Twitter at @adammendler and on LinkedIn and listen and subscribe to Thirty Minute Mentors on your favorite podcasting app.