Dispensing Leadership: The Dog Days of Summer

Every pharmacy professional knows the feeling when summer hits, schedules fall apart, meetings get pushed, and productivity seems to stall. Although some may see this point in the year as a drag or even a reprieve from the hustle and bustle, the most successful leaders within pharmacy use it as a time to improve.

In this episode of Dispensing Leadership, hosts Shawn Bjorndal, PharmD, RPh, and Jesse McCullough, PharmD, dig into why this slowdown isn't just in your head. The “dog days of summer” are a real, calendar-marked phenomenon dating back to the ancient Romans, and they genuinely disrupt business rhythms.

Rather than treating this seasonal lull as a setback, Jesse and Shawn reframe it as a leadership opportunity. Drawing on the idea of directional leadership, and the often-overlooked skill of leading yourself, they explore how moments of forced downtime are the perfect time to sharpen the axe through learning new skills, gaining a fresh perspective, and coming back stronger when things pick back up.

Jess shares a personal story from early in his pharmacy career, when a simple daily reading habit during a slow summer sparked his entire leadership journey. He offers this as proof that small, consistent investments in yourself can compound into real change.

If you've ever felt frustrated by the slow pace of summer, this episode offers a mindset shift worth hearing. Watch the full conversation to learn how to turn disruption into your next breakthrough.

In Dispensing Leadership, a podcast offering from Drug Topics and RPhAlly, Bjorndal and McCullough discuss essential leadership skills for pharmacists, how to develop them, and how to advance the pharmacy profession. All new episodes of Dispensing Leadership will be available in a video format via DrugTopics.com on the second Monday of each month. Check out our most recent episode: The Total Cost of Commitment.