The Journey to becoming a Global Optometrist with OB Malope

Are you interested in becoming a global optometrist? Join Dr. Darryl Glover and Ob Malope as the dive into what it takes to make an impact on a global scale.

For transcription highlights of this interview, see below:

Introduction:

00:00:00 – 00:05:03

Dr. Darryl Glover: Today I’m super excited because I get to hang out with my brother from another mother. You guys have seen him on the podcast previously. But when I talk about, you know what, a true star, a true innovator, a true educator, a true game changer in the eye care industry. It’s only one person that truly pops the mind that really embodies all of those different titles that I just listed. Friends and family, I like to welcome one of my favorite optometrists, global optometrist, Ob Malope. Ob, how are you doing today, sir? Why did you what an intro Doc? I’m good, thanks. How are you, doc? Hello, everyone. What a privilege. What an honor. It is to be able to connect with the eye care community through Defocus Media of number one podcast platform. So this is a complete privilege to be here with you today, Doc. Hey, man, it’s a privilege and an honor, and a true blessing to be on this call with you today. You see a lot of folks may not know that you and I, go back. I mean, we go back quite a bit of time now. We’ve created some things on a global scale that are out of the states that have really made value for eye care, and the optometric community. And it’s been a blessing to partner with you on these different initiatives, but today I really want to just focus on and talk about your journey in eye care. Because you have a fantastic journey. I mean, just from day one where you started to what you’ve built over time, it’s just priceless. And I really want to just kind of walk through your journey. I really want to take it from day one to where you’re at now, but also talk about the future. Because when I look at you, I look at a global optometrist. And if you’re a global optometrist, that means you have the pulse of the entire world when it comes to eye care. So we need to learn from you. We need to know where this industry is going. But I want to learn how you got there. So all the other optometrists, all other eye care professionals out there that want to get into your shoes that want to make an impact, they can have some tools and tips and resources to be able to achieve that.

00:05:04 – 00:10:01

Ob Malope: And so I applied my mind in terms of figuring out what does each profession cater to when it comes to the longevity of the profession and what is the data to be able to bring for me that I’ll be able to give it my best, the same way I was giving soccer. An opportunity was what resonated with me the most, simply because when I spent time with an optometrist, I looked at the optometrist playing a role in three different facets. They were involved in the educational aspect of their job. The health component of their job. But at the same time, there was a big retail component of their job. And that’s something that I liked because it looked like it would be a profession that I would not easily get bored in. So after spending all of this time with the different professionals in healthcare, the optometrist is the one that stood out for me the most. Prior to that, I knew nothing about optometry. I knew nothing about eye care.

00:10:02 – 00:15:17

Dr. Darryl Glover: And I always share this and I might say this on every single podcast. You know, as eye care professionals, we get to help people with the most precious sense known to mankind and that sight. How powerful is that? How much of an impact does that make? You know, but before we, before you get me preaching because everybody always wants to get me preaching on here. IYou know, I think it’ll be, I think it’ll really set the tone for this interview for this stream to really talk about your purpose, right? Because we can see where you started and we can kind of see what your purpose is, I love to hear from you directly. What is your purpose? And I think that will help guide us down the right direction in this podcast today.

Purpose:

Ob Malope: Wow. It’s been a long time since someone actually asked me that question directly. And the way I would best answer with Doc is that way back in high school, I think one of the teachers said to me that every time you are in a room, the room is different. The people are different. And that is something that has always been at the back of my mind from early in my career that people always used to say to me, you make us better. You make the environment better. You make us feel better. So when I started growing up then and maturing as a human being and trying to understand where do I fit in in the world, what is my why? What is my purpose? One thing that my purpose is stemming from is I’m a match. I truly believe that I’m a match and that my purpose in life is to set people on fire because I come alive when I get to have an opportunity to make an impact or a difference in another person’s life. And so my purpose is birthed from just being able to make a difference in people. And optometry the way I see it has just been a vehicle through which I would be able to live out that purpose.

00:15:17 – 00:20:00

Dr. Darryl Glover: And you’re making a difference. You know, you make a difference, right? But you figured out that, yes, you can do it on a one-on-one level by seeing patients, but now you’ve elevated it and taken it to the next level in your educating eye care professionals, by the masses. And you’ve touched so many people. So you’ve been able to figure out that cheat code of essentially duplicating yourself, replicating yourself to make sure that, you know, you’re making that impact, making sure that you are that catalyst because you know you can’t do it by yourself. It’s a family. It’s a team. It’s a unit.

OB Malope: Absolutely.

Dr. Darryl Glover: It’s a village. We have to do it together. And I love that you were able to accomplish that. And you know, that’s a perfect segue way into moving forward because, you know, when I see Ob Malope, I see an educator, I see an innovator, I see a leader and I see a global optometrist. And I really want to discuss your journey. And I really want to break down each and every one of these areas. I really want to get into it. And I want to start off with the education piece because you mentioned that earlier to me, you said, you know, you figured out with eye care, education, health, and retail, you know, that’s the three segments that create value for the patient or that you see where there’s an opportunity. But the first thing you mentioned was education. And I really want to talk about education before we get into innovation, leadership, and becoming a global optometrist. So if you could just kind of tell me, you know, how did you know that education would elevate your career?

00:20:00 – 00:25:11

Ob Malope: And in my third year, Dr. Dirk Booysen stood up in the class and asked us the question of how do we define optometry? And exactly I said to him what I said to you, I said, optometry has the information that you have to know before the patient walks into the optometry practice. The information that you need to be able to apply in the examination rule, and then you have to wear your sales head when the person walks out of the examination room. And I realized that most practices struggle with implementing all three components at every single point in time. So then you said to me, Ob, if you can be able to have a business, this was 2006, in my third year of Optometry school, he said to me, Ob, if you can be able to have a business that can be able to teach people what you have just said, you will sign and you do well in that particular business. So for me, I knew that I struggle to be in a contact lens lecture. I struggle to be in a pathology lecture. I struggle to be in a pediatric lecture. So how can I bridge the gap for people that were just like me? In terms of education, you might not be able to be knowledgeable and apply yourself the same way that the other students can apply themselves. But you love being in practice, implementing the work. So the idea of simplifying complex content that we are all learning optometry school started way back in 2006. And that’s what led to that initial point of, say, wait a minute. How about you start writing books that will simplify all these complex matters or subject matters?

Dr. Darryl Glover: Yeah, you know, I love that Ob. I really do, man. And when you think about what you just said, I mean, it’s so powerful, right? Sometimes we don’t, we don’t think about the patient. I know it sounds weird, but we don’t think about the patient when they’re in the exam room. We kind of go into that exam room when we look at the chart ahead of time and we already know what we want to say. But sometimes a patient just needs to have that conversation, right? You know, as optometrists, we’re not only eye care professionals, but we’re also psychologists, right?

Ob Malope: Absolutely.

Dr. Darryl Glover: We sit down, we have conversations with people and we’re there for them. We’re leaders in our community. We show up for them when they need support. And sometimes we just have to, you know, get out of our own way and just actually focus on the person that’s in front of us. It’s funny that you mentioned this stuff about, you know, patient care. I actually have the opportunity to speak at Indiana University virtually this past Friday and I gave a speech on how to really be successful in patient care.

00:25:11 – 00:30:09

Doctor-Patient Relationship:

Dr. Darryl Glover: And the one thing that I stressed Ob was that you have to understand the power of the doctor-patient relationship. And I really broke down this concept by breaking down the word patient. And I looked at “P”, as being able to really prioritize care. I really just put in that patient first, putting them on a pedestal, being prepared, getting through optometry school, right? That was the P and patient. And for “A”, I looked at a is being attentive, right? You got to be attentive. You got to make sure that, you know, you’re looking at things through the patient’s eyes. You’re practicing empathy. You’re really making sure that you understand the person that’s in front of you and that you’re using verbal and nonverbal cues to make sure that that patient understands that you are tuned into them, right? And then for the “T”, I looked at that as trustworthy, right? Are you being honest? Does that patient trust you? Because if they trust you, they’re going to tell you everything that you need to be successful to find a solution for that patient. And then the “I” in patient for inclusive, right? We got to provide an inclusive environment for all patients that walk in. You got to make sure that if someone that’s handicapped, you have an office that’s accessible to that. You’re going to have resources and tools, literature, for folks that may not speak English, to be able to understand that or how to communicate with them, you got to make sure that you have everything in front of them. So that they get the same care that everyone else gets. You got to be able to accept all backgrounds, all colors, all walks of life when they come into practice. And then the “E” in patient, is being able to empower, right? You really want to ensure that you bring that patient into the conversation. You give them autonomy.

00:30:10 – 00:35:02

Dr. Darryl Glover: Something that I wanted to jump in on is, you know, these books, man, you’ve done a phenomenal job when it comes to writing books. And I would love to just maybe get a high-level perspective in regards to your books. You know, I’m gonna pull them up on a screen here. It looks like we got about 5 books here, man. If you could maybe break down from top to bottom, maybe 30 seconds to a minute, what each book is about and what value it can create for eye care professionals out there. Yeah.

Optometry Books:

Ob Malope: So thank you very much, doctor, for highlighting that. We all experienced the impact of the pandemic. One way or another, a lot of practices were not prepared for the pandemic or anything similar to that. So the strategy book that you see there is a book that encompasses three different components. The objective appeal of your business, the financial growth aspects of your business and how do you build a sustainable business look at the consumer, which is the patient, client, or customer, however you want to focus on it. The market that your business operates in and the optometry practice that you are creating. So those are the key elements focused on in the book in terms of what you have done, leading up to the pandemic, what you did through the pandemic and how can your business continue to thrive and succeed ten, 15, and 20 years from now. In the marketing book right at the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Glover and I, we had been building very big or large media platforms. And we discovered that a lot of optometry practices went into panic mode when the pandemic hit. They realized that there were websites that had brands, they had social media, but everything was all over the place. So the two of us collaborated and we created a very practical tool where we focus on each and every single component of your marketing strategy from a digital media and one-to-one marketing perspective in terms of what is it that you need to be focused on from your optometry practice to continue to excel in this uncertain economic environment that you are finding ourselves in. So the book is very practical. It touches on all things marketing.

00:35:02 – 00:40:02

Ob Malope: Then the pathology book was written by a fantastic optometrist in South Africa, Marietjie Cillers. She took the anterior segment and broke it down on what we, as optometrists, get to see on a day to to day basis in optometric practices. And she took all the conditions that we can encounter from the anterior segment and she broke it down in terms of what to look for, what it looks like that would be similar to it. How to manage it, and how to follow up on it. So it’s a very practical book. And for me, you mentioned doctor Glover that we can’t build extraordinary practices without our teams. Our teams are the catalysts in our businesses. The people on our staff, they’re the most valuable resource that we have at our disposal. So it’s a practical guide for optometric stuff is a book that was written for optometric staff so that we can unlock the full potential that exists in them in order for them to elevate our practices to the next level. And the book at the bottom there. That was our very first baby. This is a great business guide for coming for practices. How I came about writing this book. I realized that leadership is the essence of everything. Everything rises and falls on leadership. So in the business guide for optometrists, we focus on key elements of leadership from an automatic point of view. As the leadership goes, so does the rest of the team. And so we highlight key leadership principles that optometric business owners need in order to structure their businesses around. And there was our first book in 2016. And yeah, that’s basically the history behind the book. And yeah, I’m super grateful for other people that have been supporting us in making sure that these books are available to the global eye care community.

00:50:02 – 00:55:23

Dr. Darryl Glover: And as leaders communication is everything. So I look at, you know, where we’re at in life, we have a job. And we have to do it. And we’re talking about that gap, we are that gap. We are those leaders to really help push for the profession. Next, I really want to pivot and go into innovation, right? Because you are definitely an innovator. You have brought things to South Africa to Africa that the eye care professionals have never seen. And I would really like to just dive into that. You know, in your opinion, why is innovation important? And talk about some of the innovation that you brought to South Africa that’s really expanded to the entire continent, but also globally as well.

Innovation:

Ob Malope: Wow, what a question. Thank you very much, doctor. Doctor Glover, innovation is key. It’s critical because everything else around us is evolving. So for me, how I see innovation is you can not stay in the same place as you were, ten years ago, five years ago, or two years ago. Because you have to evolve and elevate yourself. And by doing so, we’re going to elevate everything else that people are going to be experiencing that we have to offer. Because people are going to constantly want new things. People are going to want to experience new things. We have to make sure that when it comes to optometry, and eyecare, we give people the very best. In order for us to give them the very best, we have to produce the very best. We have to attract the very best. We have to look forward to wanting the very best. And that’s all about innovation. You can not stay the same. It’s like a relationship. I’ve been with my wife for 18 years. It’s a very, very long time. You have had to evolve all the time, you know? And I realized that I’m going to stay the same. In my relationship, my spirit relationship is going to go stale.

OB Malope: So for me, I’m constantly looking at what area of the things that I love in eye care can I be more innovative with when I started optometry, the CPD platforms, the CE platforms were you either attending a CPD lecture or you read an article and you have to fill in a questionnaire. Now, we decided to wait a minute. The world is going in a different direction. Why can’t you make the article into a video format where someone is looking at a video of a CE lecture of something that is from someone who’s talking about something that is practically happening in practice and you’re learning from someone who is in practice doing exactly what you are doing from a different country. That’s a better and faster way of learning. Other than sitting and just reading an article on some questionnaire. So some of the things that I brought into the South African market or the African market was we brought an online CPD platform that we developed that focused on creating CPD courses across the different competency areas in South Africa. At the time that we launched this, there wasn’t anything like that in South Africa or Africa. So we created a platform that resulted in topics that covered all the different competency areas in eye care from a video point of view. So our platform 80% of the content is in the form of videos that you can watch and it covers topics that we all experience in practice. Then I took it a step further because I do a lot of trading and development workshops. I recorded myself writing and development workshops across a wide range of topics and I put all the content online and I created the business trade academy so that when you think of sales training, marketing training, patient communication posts, dispensing, any topic that you can think about that involves interaction between your staff and your patients.

01:00:04 – 01:05:07

Dr. Darryl Glover: So Ob, man, you’re dropping gems in here, man. I mean, we’ve touched on education. We touched on leadership. We touched on education, leadership, innovation, and all of those things. Let’s talk about being a global optometrist, man. I mean, this journey has just been phenomenal for you. So I’d love for you to maybe just share, you know, the day in a life of what a global optometrist experiences, and then also potentially, you know, some of the countries that you’ve been able to visit or host lectures.

Ob Malope: I know, it’s a packed question. Yeah, for me, Doc I realized when we had a contact lens conference in South Africa. 2017, this is where it started 2017. We had a contact lens conference in South Africa. And a year before our speaking at a general conference locally here, and one of the contact lens organizers was sitting in the front row. And I was speaking at this conference and I had a standing ovation at the end of the conference. And I don’t speak about anything contact lenses. And at the end of the lecture, then I leave, she came to me and she says, you know what? I just love your energy. I love what you are just all about. I don’t know how this is going to be possible. But I want you to talk at our contact lens conference coming up next year. And we don’t even know what you’re going to talk about. But just want you to talk about anything you want. So that’s how I started thinking differently. And I decided, how do you then turn your practice into a contact lens institution? Because at the time, I realized that a lot of practices, don’t know how to prescribe both contact lenses and spectacles to patients as a management solution. It’s as if it’s either this or that. So then I decided I’m going to go to this conference and show people how to prescribe both as a number one option for patients, including sunglasses, of course.

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