An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Always pursue your personal and professional growth, even if it causes some discomfort.
We are starting a new interview series about the world of entrepreneurship beyond the classroom — a realm where theory meets grit, and education meets real-world challenges. We want to hear about critical business wisdom that often goes unspoken in academic settings. I had the honor of interviewing Kevin Knighton.
Kevin Knighton, PharmD, is the Pharmacy Manager/General Manager of South River Compounding Pharmacy in Richmond, Virginia. He joined South River and Revelation Pharma in April 2024, quickly becoming a well-liked teammate and trusted leader.
Kevin received his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2016 and his Doctor of Pharmacy from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy in 2020. Before joining South River, he was a Clinical Infusion Pharmacist for Amerita, Inc.
Thanks for being part of this series. Let’s jump in and focus on your early years. Can you share who was your biggest influence when you were young and provide specific examples of what you learned from them that helped shape who you’ve become and how you live your life today?
My grandfather definitely was a big influence on me growing up. He had Parkinson’s disease, and I wanted to learn about his medications because they were so interesting. When I was in high school, I started researching them and learning about their uses — which ones impacted receptors and caused a reaction that would enable him to live a more normal life than if he didn’t take medication at all. This curiosity spurred me toward studying pharmacy.
Staying on the topic of influence, who has been your biggest catalyst more recently and what can you share that you’ve learned from them that led you to making changes in your life?
Without a doubt, my first pharmacy manager was a catalyst for me. She taught several invaluable lessons, like always putting the patients first and providing them with the best patient-centered care possible. She also taught me the importance of collaborating with different providers in order to do what’s in the patient’s best interest and not necessarily what’s most profitable for the business. Finally, she taught me how to care about your staff and other workers and how to make sure that they are progressing in their careers.
In this interview series, we aim to reveal what seasoned entrepreneurs wish they had known when they were starting out and capture what the textbooks and college professors left out. Mistakes are invaluable. Can you name one specific mistake you made early on and learned the most from but wish you’d been forewarned about?
When studying pharmacy in school, you learn about medical conditions and which medications may be best for each patient. In the real world, there are lessons that you haven’t been taught, and the best way to learn is through your own decision-making and action-taking. For example, ordering fell under my purview when I joined South River Compounding Pharmacy as the Pharmacist-In-Charge. While some of the vendors had a history with the previous management, I learned to use my own judgment and look beyond these existing relationships to see if there were better deals or rates available for the pharmacy and our patients. Don’t be afraid to shop around and negotiate — I’ve negotiated and gotten us reductions on things that the former management had not.
Is there a leadership myth you believed early on that you’ve since debunked through your real-world experience?
The biggest myth I’ve found is that you can oversee your staff with management roles and keep your hands clean. However, as a leader, I believe it’s my job to work side-by-side with my staff, get my hands dirty, and be on the team rather than just a figurehead. We succeed as a team, and doing this together is so rewarding.
Getting your hands dirty and working with your team to succeed and grow the business is so rewarding. When you do this, you increase team camaraderie as well as build potential to maximize the business to its full potential.
What’s the key operational insight you’ve gained since running your business that was never mentioned in any classroom?
You’re not just the leader or manager of a business. You’re a jack of all trades who needs to pivot and address issues quickly — like fixing a printer at 5p on a Friday. You need to be flexible and willing to handle any situation.
Did college prepare you for scaling a business? What specifically was missing?
In college, you look at the macro components of a business (what is being sold, what your company offers over the competitors, etc.), but what truly needs consideration are the micro components (what is the projected growth of the business for the next 5 years, what does this mean dollar targets, etc.). These are often not covered in the classroom but are quickly picked up on the job. The larger scale details are good to know, but focusing on the smaller scale ones will lead to a business’s success.
Any unexpected challenges in team dynamics that your academic experience didn’t prepare you for? How did you handle it?
Team dynamics are interesting and not a topic regularly covered in college. Remembering that each teammate is a person, not just a cog in the wheel, is important. Each person has a different background, and some may have medical constraints that require them to miss work for appointments. Being able to help the team fill in the role of the absent person is a big part of my role as manager. It’s also important to make sure the patients are still being cared for and that the rest of the team can work productively.
Have you had to unlearn any widely accepted business ‘wisdom’ in your journey? What was it and how did it affect your strategy?
I’ve had to unlearn the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If you think about it, how can a business grow if no one wants to stray from the norm and venture into something new? Being too comfortable with day-to-day operations can cause the death of innovation and lead to stifling business growth. My strategy is to look for opportunities to expand continuously — we’ve recently secured licensure in two states, which will open the door to potential patients for South River and provide a better growth potential for the pharmacy in the long term.
What’s your advice for new entrepreneurs? What are your “5 Things You Won’t Learn in College But Must Know to Succeed in Business”?
- Take more risks than you’d be comfortable taking.
- Get to know who you work with — remember, they’re a person, not just an employee.
- Think big and aim high — even if what you’re thinking doesn’t necessarily seem like a big deal (it could lead to greatness).
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
- Always pursue your personal and professional growth, even if it causes some discomfort.
How do you ensure your team not just understands but embodies your business principles? Any techniques you wish you’d known earlier?
Personalization isn’t just for patient care; it’s for teammates, too. We should remember that not everyone in a room (or on a team) understands things the same way as you do. It’s important to personalize what it is you want to share with each person. Deliver the reasoning behind a new policy in a manner that puts it on a level that they can understand. Explaining the why to the team in a way that they can easily digest makes it easier for them to understand how a new policy in the pharmacy can impact the patients.
If we were sitting together two years from now, looking back at the past 24 months, what specifically has to happen for you personally and professionally, for you to be happy with your results?
I’m fortunate enough to have reached what I think is my best quality of life since joining South River. In the future, I want to see the pharmacy continue to expand and grow as a business. I want South River to be the leading pharmacy for our patients and providers and to show them that we always have their health and well-being in mind.
Looking back over the last two years, what key accomplishments make you satisfied with your progress?
I am most satisfied with having made the jump from a staff pharmacist at a sterile compounding facility, to a pharmacy manager/general manager at a non-sterile compounding pharmacy with one of the leading innovators in the compounding pharmacy industry, Revelation Pharma.
I am incredibly satisfied to have turned South River from a pharmacy that was net negative to one that has become net positive in the eight months since I entered the position of pharmacy manager/general manager.
As someone with significant influence, what’s the one change you’d like to inspire that would benefit the most people?
In my role, I’m able to focus on the patient as a whole and not just on the prescription that we’re providing. Recently, a patient called, saying she couldn’t afford one of her mental health medications. I was able to give her special pricing to make sure that she could afford the medication and continue her plan because her mental health is more important than just turning a profit.
How can our readers keep up with your work?
South River Compounding Pharmacy is available on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn — we’d love to see you there! You can also follow Revelation Pharma’s Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for updates on our family of compounding pharmacies.
Thank you so much for joining us! We wish you only success.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator, and launched and leads an online leadership development community which can be downloaded for free for iOS and Android.
Kevin Knighton of South River Compounding Pharmacy On 5 Things They Forgot To Mention In College was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.