Bryn Hyndman, medical director of Qi Integrated Health, said her greatest professional advancement came out of a “career misstep.”
In 2005 she graduated as a naturopath from the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in New Westminster, and shortly afterward moved with her husband to London, England, as he was completing his graduate studies. It was there that Hyndman hit a professional wall.
“Naturopathic doctors are not licensed in England,” she said. “So 18 months later I found myself starting medical school in the Caribbean.”
The move proved fruitful, she said, as it would allow her to apply her knowledge of holistic medicine to her role as a family doctor. In 2011 she graduated from St. Matthew’s University medical school, and she now feels like she has two sides to her medical training.
Hyndman said Qi Integrated Health, which employs a staff ranging from physiotherapists and acupuncturists to Pilates instructors and doctors of traditional Chinese medicine to help patients get over ailments, has also gone through some situations where it was forced to pivot.
Early this year, at a time the company was struggling with some financial and leadership challenges, Hyndman attended a CEO forum breakfast, which she was initially reluctant to go to because she’d never taken a business course in her life, and also because she knew there wouldn’t be any fellow doctors there. But the meeting put her in touch with Rise, a human resources consulting company, which proved to be a game-changer for Hyndman and the staff at Qi Integrated Health, she said.
“We increased our level of trust in each other, established better ways of communicating interpersonally and throughout our organization, and clarified our company’s purpose and vision,” she said. “The icing on the cake is seeing the innovation and creativity that we manifested during the challenging times.”
Hyndman said it was tough to go through a period with the company in which there was “not enough cash, too few resources and limited skill sets.” However, if she could go back and do it all again, she would.
Birthplace:
Vancouver
Where you live now:
Vancouver
Highest level of education:
MD
Currently reading:
The 9 Types of Leadership: Mastering the Art of People in the 21st Century Workplace by Beatrice Chestnut
Currently listening to:
The Beatles, compilation album
When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up:
Waitress
Profession you would most like to try:
Pilot
Toughest business or professional decision:
Personal: with my husband’s support, a long-distance marriage throughout my medical school studies. Business decision: taking majority ownership of the company.
Advice you would give the younger you:
Make a business plan before launching your website and business! Don’t take someone’s word for it. Do the homework, understand the numbers, and have weekly and monthly cash flow statements and projections
What’s left to do:
Scale Qi! Fifty clinics
Join us to celebrate the 2017 Forty under 40 Awards on January 23, 2018, at the Vancouver Convention Centre. For tickets and event info visit http://www.biv.com/events/40under40
