A Process of Personal Change and Realigning with Values Led to C+B

Welcome to the C+B® blog. This series features topics related to improving well-being for people and animals. In this post, Erin McCann, MBA, MSc, C+B® Founder/CEO answers some questions, including how C+B® resulted from her firsthand experiences.

What inspired C+B?

C+B® resulted from experiences applying change management strategies to many aspects of my life to improve health and well-being for myself and my animals.

Since early childhood, I’ve valued improving well-being for people and animals, increasing capabilities through education and learning, and achieving self-defined personal, academic, and (later) professional goals. However, over time I began to put career achievement above almost everything else in my life, pursuing success in the workplace at the expense of all the other things (health, well-being, and continuous learning) I also care about most deeply.

Around 2014 I realized that, although I was grateful for the many rewarding experiences and opportunities I'd had, especially working with and learning from so many inspiring colleagues and clients, I wasn't living in alignment with my values (health, well-being, continuous learning). Although I enjoyed several aspects of my work, had achieved many goals I'd set for myself, and felt thankful for resulting outward signs of success, over time, I recognized that I had prioritized the dreams, opinions, and aspirations of others and lost track of my own values in the process. As a result, I was frequently not present in the moment, felt a growing lack of meaning and purpose, and wanted to re-align my definition of success, in work and life, with these aspirations I valued most.

Through this process, I recognized that I needed to make changes for myself before I could help others. After several reiterative attempts at re-prioritizing, I went through a lengthy process of personal change management. This led to a new career working in roles leading change management and continuous planning across education, health, and veterinary care and ultimately inspired and informed numerous change management strategies used through C+B.

What did this personal change management process involve?

Up until this point, I had typically focused on success in the workplace at the expense of personal improvement, hadn’t sought out career opportunities to apply my skills in these areas that I valued most deeply, and now wanted to be more deliberate and values-driven with career and life outside of work.

For me, change management began with accepting a new professional role that involved working directly to support education, health, and well-being. Then, I identified goals I wanted to accomplish that involved health-focused habits and behaviors, such as being intentional about nutrition and consistent with fitness. From there, I researched, developed, and implemented change management strategies, tracking progress, and noting what helped new habits last. With each sustained change, I applied what worked to other aspects of health and well-being.

Why include animal well-being as such a central part of C+B?

Like so many others, I consider animals part of the family. Beginning at an early age, I began caring for animals and prioritizing animal well-being. Adopting animals with pre-existing conditions and special needs from shelter and pound environments required me to learn more and guide change management to optimize my animals’ health and quality of life.

While working on my own lifestyle changes, I recognized that I should be doing the same for my companion animals. I sought guidance from veterinarians on ways to improve animal health, increase enrichment, and ensure proper care and attention as animals age, then developed change management approaches to improve the consistency of at-home care, information sharing with veterinary teams, and overall animal health and well-being.

In addition, while aspects of personal change management are inherently self-focused, often achieving personal improvement positively impacts others—and in my case, I recognized that several of my goals also benefited animals. For instance, one of the motivating factors to improve fitness was to increase physical strength to ensure that I could easily transport my 60-pound dog in and out of my vehicle. Another factor was wanting my dog to live a long, healthy life, which motivated me to implement strategies like increasing and measuring daily walking time to ensure that he obtained enough exercise.

How did your life change through this process?

These change management approaches led to sustained improvement in many areas, including health, nutrition, mindfulness, and fitness. Using these frameworks also helped me identify activities I found intrinsically motivating, such as serving on non-profit boards and in other strategy roles that support education, health, and veterinary care. In doing so, I also continued to learn more about combining change management and practical science to improve well-being for people and animals.

I also discovered that others share these challenges. Many of us seek to make changes to improve the quality of life for ourselves and our families, including animals, yet don’t have the knowledge and change management frameworks to maintain improvement over time. Although tools are available, sustaining lasting changes to support the health and well-being of people and animals can be difficult. C+B® is committed to supporting and simplifying these change management processes.

Were there any parts of this process that you found particularly challenging or surprising at the time?

One of the most challenging parts of the process was adapting previous routines to reset my focus, pursue a new direction, and start living more deliberately. For instance, while navigating this change management process, I took a break from all social media for over a year.

Although I found stepping away from social media to be a difficult, significant change, I took a break from social media for three reasons: to ensure time for properly setting and achieving goals that aligned with my values, to prevent the fear of missing out from distracting me from this change management process, and to limit the likelihood of seeking validation from others as I implemented changes. 

Previously, I had realized that several of the social media practices I followed seemed helpful for work productivity and frequently appeared beneficial in the moment, yet resulted in excessive amounts of screen time and did not support long-term health or success. Ultimately, I recognized that I hadn't been aware of how much time I was spending on social media, which could instead have been spent on health, learning, and well-being, and chose to step away to reset my priorities. Although many were surprised that I paused and, in cases where this functionality wasn't available, deleted social media accounts, I needed to get back in touch with my values (health, well-being, continuous learning) and figure out what a meaningful path would look like for myself.

After sustaining progress in the goals I had set, I rejoined social media with a framework for being more intentional, including using social media to support this work while avoiding excessive screen time and other potential drawbacks that I had found counterproductive.

What’s next for C+B?

C+B® helps organizations and individuals use change management strategies and practical science to improve well-being for people and animals. We partner with veterinary and health professionals, organizations, and caregivers, increasing capacity for change to better support caregiver and animal needs. Our work emphasizes inclusive design, enhances communication, and cultivates continuous progress.

We have all navigated changes over the past two years. As we move forward, enhancing and sustaining well-being for people and animals remains essential. C+B® supports organizations and individuals seeking better well-being among their teams, clients, and families, including animals.

Many of us currently face return-to-office considerations within our organizations and as caregivers, involving changes to routines and at-home care schedules for families, including animals. From guiding organizations in enhancing well-being-focused efforts for teams to helping caregivers more consistently implement veterinary recommendations and at-home care for their animals, C+B® improves well-being for people and animals through better strategy, engagement, and change management.