This week on IAW’s podcast Unlimited HERizons our host and president, Megan Bozzuto, chatted with a member, Vickie M. Crockett Eds, about how to say uncomfortable things like “I don’t know” and use those situations to grow. She is a Fulbright Scholar, and an educational professional with another twenty-three years of instructional experience offering school districts curriculum support and professional development training for underserved students. 

In this episode, Vickie delivers encouraging messages such as…

Finding the root of why we are uncomfortable

Sometimes we internalize the idea of strength as never asking questions and knowing everything all the time. However, this is very unrealistic. Developing strong leadership means acknowledging when you don’t know something and asking for help. 

Yet, getting to that point can be uncomfortable. Vickie says “give yourself the right to say today is a day I’m just not sure and then drill into it because sometimes we tend to avoid those feelings. What is it about this particular moment, day, student, business opportunity, or client that makes it uncomfortable for me? When we drill down into what it is that is uncomfortable, it opens up the pathway to success.” 

No One Can Do it Like You

Starting your business in a flooded market is not the easiest or most comfortable thing to do. Vickie felt so many other people were doing exactly what she wanted to do, so why start her own consulting if others existed. She put off building her business for three years until she had a vital conversation that changed her perspective on everything.

“The concept I had may not have been completely new but the way I was going to deliver it was simply because no one on the planet named Vickie had ever done this. So what I have is going to be different just by virtue of that fact. Embrace those things about who we are as people first and that becomes the DNA we infuse into everything we do and there is absolutely no replication for that” says Vickie. 

Want to listen to Vickie’s full story and get more advice? Listen to Unlimited HERizons updated weekly with different amazing professional women telling their stories. All IAW members can connect with Vickie M. Crockett in the IAW Community!