Latest / ChildCare Conversations / 373: 5 Ways Early Educators Can Lead With Confidence and Clarity with Jessica Van Hoose

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373: 5 Ways Early Educators Can Lead With Confidence and Clarity with Jessica Van Hoose · ChildCare Conversations

• 0:00
  Childcare Conversations: Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real-world strategies, honest talk, and a whole lot of support.
• 0:10
  Childcare Conversations: Whether you're running one center or many, we're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity.
• 0:17
  Childcare Conversations: This episode is brought to you by this quarter's sponsor, Playground, the all-in-one child care management software.
• 0:25
  Childcare Conversations: We're all about managing monkeys and saving you time at your center.
• 0:30
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• 0:32
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• 0:37
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• 0:41
  Childcare Conversations: Now, let's get into today's conversation.
• 0:44
  Childcare Conversations: One we think you're really going to love.
• 0:47
  Kate Woodward Young: Welcome back.
• 0:48
  Kate Woodward Young: We are so glad that you've joined us for today's conversation.
• 0:51
  Kate Woodward Young: And I'm especially excited about today's guest.
• 0:56
  Kate Woodward Young: So Jessica Van Hoos, with who is the new CEO of the Nest Schools, is joining us for, well, let's just call it a conversation about authority without apology.
• 1:09
  Kate Woodward Young: And with that, Jessica, tell everybody kind of a little bit about how you got into the industry.
• 1:14
  Kate Woodward Young: It can be literally the 32nd version.
• 1:17
  Kate Woodward Young: And from there, I want us to talk about how you got to your role in this industry.
• 1:22
  Kate Woodward Young: That although we are 98%, 97%, excuse me, according to the Department of Labor, run by women, we aren't necessarily 97% run um well led by women.
• 1:35
  Kate Woodward Young: Let's just put it that way.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for having me.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited to be here with you.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you and Carrie, I think we met last year, and I just did not know that I was sitting at the table with you at the time.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so so, so thrilled to be here today.
• 1:50
  Kate Woodward Young: You know, breakfast at a conference.
• 1:52
  Kate Woodward Young: You just never know who you're sitting next to or who the next CEO will be that's sitting at your table.
• 2:00
  Kate Woodward Young: So, yes, we met at Shift last year uh in Colorado, uh, and that lovely, you know, snow covered.
• 2:07
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, for those from us from the south, we're a little like going, hey, what's this white stuff on the ground?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's right.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: It was great.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think the the quick synopsis is I, you know, my degree is in early education.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that, well, I knew a couple of things.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: One, I always knew I wanted to be in charge.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the other piece is I went to school, really realized how important early education was.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's not getting the time or attention that it deserved.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, realized that I was going to be in early education for quite some time.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: I have done everything from, you know, center being at the pre-K teacher to running a school for several years, then into kind of district and then regional management.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: I've done the things that are not related uh directly to the PL when you worry about quality and the education team, um, and then did advisory for a short time and then landed in this amazing role at the NES as the CEO.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so I am thrilled.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: I could not have found um a better landing place for myself or that more closely aligned with what my values are, but thrilled to be here.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 3:20
  Kate Woodward Young: So I we're just we're just gonna jump straight in.
• 3:23
  Kate Woodward Young: So we're gonna talk a little bit about literally how you got in this seat because I think it's an intriguing story.
• 3:28
  Kate Woodward Young: And if nothing else, if you're listening to this and you aren't sure if you need to have, like, if in other words, you're in childcare and you're like, oh, I don't really need a LinkedIn profile, or I don't really need to be even a personal brand, or or tell people what I do or I'm interested in, especially if you have any thoughts of being bigger, bolder in the industry.
• 3:48
  Kate Woodward Young: Um tell tell everybody, Jessica, exactly how you ended up at the Nest.
• 3:55
  Kate Woodward Young: Because I think that's an intriguing story for folks who, you know, may think it went through because it didn't go through your normal headhunter route.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, it didn't.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what's I think that's such a good point just about today's conversation.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: I will definitely tell you that.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I think your piece about personal brand, especially I think as women, a lot of times is we think, okay, well, I'm good with the children or I'm good with the people.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you really have to put yourself out there and it's uncomfortable.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, you think about, gosh, how many people are looking at my LinkedIn page?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Most of them are just curious.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Are they hoping I fail?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, certainly when you make a big transition from somewhere that you've been at for a very long time.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so putting your own thoughts and ideas out there, um, oftentimes that you know people are going to disagree with um or or not align with, LinkedIn actually brought me so much traffic as I stepped out of, you know, a company in a role that I had been at for many, many, many years, you know, almost two decades, and really into this realm of, okay, you know, I don't have to necessarily be what this company wants me to be.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to put out there what my true thoughts, beliefs are, what I think about how you run an organization.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the first step, oftentimes as women, is putting yourself out there that sometimes we let ourselves be painted into a box of um, well, they're good at quality or they're good at early education.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: You have to ask for it.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: You have to say, hey, I would like to continue to see the financials, right?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Even in the quality realm, I would say, hey, I have really an eye for operationally what this looks like.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to continue seeing those financials.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then oftentimes just call out what you see and be brave about it.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to be a little brave, have some confidence, be bold about the things that you do see and what the opportunities are.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it gets shut down.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes people think, well, that's not gonna work.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: But more times than not, it got me a second conversation where people really saw value and what I saw and could connect the operation to the PL.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we talked about this.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: You almost have to be bilingual.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think you have to speak children and people and also own your financials and show that you can show up for that.
• 6:13
  Kate Woodward Young: Well, what's really interesting, yeah.
• 6:14
  Kate Woodward Young: So Carrie and I both grew up in entrepreneurial households and we're reading profit and loss statements as teenagers.
• 6:20
  Kate Woodward Young: And so we just presumed everybody knew how to do this when we first got in the industry.
• 6:24
  Kate Woodward Young: That's true.
• 6:25
  Kate Woodward Young: And, you know, I started, you know, hope helping early childhood business owners literally three decades ago, uh, as a certified business analyst.
• 6:34
  Kate Woodward Young: And so like I came at this industry in a kind of a backwards approach and absolutely fell in love with both parts.
• 6:42
  Kate Woodward Young: And people are like, oh, aren't you passionate about children?
• 6:45
  Kate Woodward Young: And I went, no, I'm passionate about the business owners who support children.
• 6:49
  Kate Woodward Young: Like, I want the business owners to be successful and I want the leadership to be successful.
• 6:55
  Kate Woodward Young: Like that's where my my heart lies, which is hard to say when everybody goes, oh, I just love kids.
• 7:01
  Kate Woodward Young: And I'm like, I uh I like them.
• 7:05
  Kate Woodward Young: I like them a lot.
• 7:06
  Kate Woodward Young: But it, you know, I got here from kind of a slightly different route.
• 7:11
  Kate Woodward Young: And so I love that.
• 7:12
  Kate Woodward Young: And yes, absolutely.
• 7:13
  Kate Woodward Young: We need to be seen, we need to be heard.
• 7:16
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, you know, I was fortunate to get those experiences pretty young.
• 7:19
  Kate Woodward Young: And so when I realized that other people didn't get them, or that as a culture, like again, what my mother experienced in the 70s should not be what we're still experiencing now, right?
• 7:32
  Kate Woodward Young: Like, so 50 years later, we should not be having some of these same conversations because, well, we just shouldn't be, right?
• 7:41
  Kate Woodward Young: Like, we've all been so I have I have two daughters who've gone through, you know, workshops and conferences and girls state and this and that and all these opportunities for female leadership, all the way down to um stuff with Cheryl Sandberg and the band bossy movement and that kind of stuff, right?
• 8:01
  Kate Woodward Young: So, like, even what you talked about taking making your voice heard, half the time, if we if a guy said the exact same thing we'd say, yeah, everybody'd be like, oh, what a leader he is! He's going to take charge.
• 8:12
  Kate Woodward Young: And you're like, I swear I said the exact same phrase.
• 8:18
  Kate Woodward Young: And a lot of times, even as women in leadership roles, somehow we get into a default mode.
• 8:25
  Kate Woodward Young: And that's one of the things that I want to challenge is if you're listening to this episode and you're like, you know, that resonated a little bit.
• 8:32
  Kate Woodward Young: I can see where that came where Jessica was coming from or where Kate was coming from.
• 8:36
  Kate Woodward Young: You know, so as you listen to the rest of this conversation, start thinking about the places where maybe you've defaulted to somebody else in the room.
• 8:45
  Kate Woodward Young: It may be another female, but may it not be another female, but you knew you could have done it, you just chose not to say it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's so true.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that the way we say it oftentimes is just as important.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Having that pause, having some executive presence, not just shouting back and being the first answer.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think early in my career that I wanted to be the first one, you know, as the teacher's pet to answer the question and make sure I got it correctly.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I do think that there's value, of course, in having the right information and working really hard.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I think also you don't have to be the only one shouting in the room, right?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Wait for the time to speak up, that it's really going to make an impact.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and again, being bold and confident and shouting out to the leadership great things that your team is doing or that you've led, or even that your team has just accomplished on their own because you chose the right team.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay, and you should highlight those things and call them out.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Just they're not going to call them out for you.
• 9:46
  Kate Woodward Young: Well, not only call them out, but make sure you include not just the we, but the I did this because like I was in a had conversations, a lot of conversations just this past weekend with a bunch of really strong women.
• 9:59
  Kate Woodward Young: And it was amazing how many times they kept using the we.
• 10:03
  Kate Woodward Young: And I'm like, yeah, but it was your idea.
• 10:07
  Kate Woodward Young: But it was you selected that team.
• 10:09
  Kate Woodward Young: So at some point in time, you have to put that I in team.
• 10:12
  Kate Woodward Young: You have to acknowledge that I'm the one that did that.
• 10:16
  Kate Woodward Young: And it's okay, you know, because if you don't toot your own horn, nobody else is going to toot it for you.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think I've I've also just been pretty um lucky in a lot of areas to have some really amazing leaders, um, both directly that I reported to that really, you know, showed me how to show up in those conversations and that did the work on the back end to help me prep for conversations when I was going to be in a boardroom or in a in a room with a lot of executives.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: How do I prepare for those things?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: No and how what things are they going to ask?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you have to count on your leaders, but also speak up to your leaders and ask the right questions to make sure that you're prepared to enter those rooms, to prepare, you know, um, that they don't always, you know, focus around the people and the children.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: But most of what you're going to be asked are business related questions.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I agree with you, Kate.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I my parents have owned a plumbing company since I was very young.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I had to balance my checkbook starting at 15 to the penny.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and my parents would- You mean ESW didn't count?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, somewhere.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: To the penny, or we had to start over.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I I can I agree with you.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think that you can do both things well, though.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think I say this often, you can run a wonderful early education facility where children are thriving and parents feel good about where they're keeping their children, and you can run a really high quality business as well.
• 11:49
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, they they shouldn't they shouldn't be exclusive.
• 11:52
  Kate Woodward Young: It's really hard to make them exclusive.
• 11:54
  Kate Woodward Young: It is.
• 11:55
  Kate Woodward Young: If you're an awesome program and you're not making money, you're not gonna be an awesome program very long.
• 11:59
  Kate Woodward Young: Right.
• 12:00
  Kate Woodward Young: And like, you know, that's what I, you know, every time I get people who are like, well, I don't really care about the money.
• 12:05
  Kate Woodward Young: I'm doing this because I love the kids.
• 12:06
  Kate Woodward Young: And I'm like, yeah, and I know that you love your staff, but you should not take out loans to make payroll.
• 12:12
  Kate Woodward Young: Yep.
• 12:12
  Kate Woodward Young: And at some point in time, um, you're gonna want to get paid.
• 12:18
  Kate Woodward Young: You know, you still need to be able to cover the bill, right?
• 12:20
  Kate Woodward Young: So, like, I mean, I love meeting those owners with a big heart.
• 12:24
  Kate Woodward Young: Like, and and they're the ones I really, really want to try to connect with.
• 12:27
  Kate Woodward Young: Sometimes they're the hardest because they just are like, you know, they have the resources or they will take the resources out of their personal life to make sure that they can use it.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: But that only goes so far.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's wonderful, Kate.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where I've been pretty successful when I talk to even school directors is talking about, you know, if if you aspire, right?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And there are lots of people out there that do, they just don't articulate it well.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: What do they want to do at the next level?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: But sitting down with them and saying, okay, tell me what you know about your business.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let's assume whether you're in, you know, multi-site or you know, you're in franchise and you just have an owner that's over two, and you have more of a regional person that you're talking with, but really getting them to like fully own their business is sitting down with them, like you're talking about, and saying, okay, what are your revenue streams?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: What bills do you have to pay out?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: How much is payroll?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: What percentage of your revenue is that?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: And those don't, I mean, people go, I don't want to talk about that, you know, but that's that's the truth of how your business continues to thrive, how you can serve more people in your community or expand to a different community.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And let's be real, children and families need options today, and they need high quality care and not just as a throw-up word that we continue to use over and over again, but true high quality, meaning we're serving children and we're serving our staff, and they're providing continuity of care for our children.
• 13:53
  Kate Woodward Young: Well, I think what's great about that is so one of the things I also like to kind of plant as seeds, and I'm sure y'all actually know these numbers, but is getting folks to actually think about what is the impact you actually have on the financial aspect of the community, and talking to people who are my least favorite word in the English language, just.
• 14:13
  Kate Woodward Young: And I'm just, I just own a child care center.
• 14:17
  Kate Woodward Young: And then we start having a conversation, and all of a sudden I'm like, no, you don't just run a child care center.
• 14:22
  Kate Woodward Young: You've got about a hundred kids.
• 14:23
  Kate Woodward Young: You run a$1.5 million business.
• 14:26
  Kate Woodward Young: Right.
• 14:27
  Kate Woodward Young: Or you're a manager of a$1.5 million business.
• 14:30
  Kate Woodward Young: Oh, you've got a couple hundred kids.
• 14:32
  Kate Woodward Young: Okay, so you run a two million dollar business.
• 14:34
  Kate Woodward Young: Right.
• 14:35
  Kate Woodward Young: That is a whole different just, you know, go out in the community and start talking about and then do the math.
• 14:41
  Kate Woodward Young: My favorite.
• 14:41
  Kate Woodward Young: So this is my favorite story.
• 14:43
  Kate Woodward Young: Come, I know they listen, so they're probably going, oh, she's gonna tell that story again.
• 14:47
  Kate Woodward Young: But we had a client, or I still have a client in South Texas that has three locations.
• 14:54
  Kate Woodward Young: And what was really interesting is we talked about, which I often do, how many of the parents get to still work because you provide quality care for the kids.
• 15:03
  Kate Woodward Young: Well, we took it with that particular series of schools a step further because of the age of the parents, the age of the grandparents.
• 15:10
  Kate Woodward Young: So we were able to actually really start to track their numbers by how many abuelas and abuelitas also got to still work because, you know, because you're a grandparent in your 40s, you are not really ready to retire and take care of your kid, grandkids, right?
• 15:23
  Kate Woodward Young: So, you know, we started looking at those numbers and we started realizing that all those, all those, although they weren't big schools, in their community, they really were responsible for about$6.5 million worth of workforce revenue that stayed in the community because of the number of adults who got to still work and not stay home.
• 15:47
  Kate Woodward Young: And they didn't have to worry.
• 15:48
  Kate Woodward Young: They they had safety, they had, you know, they had a quality program.
• 15:53
  Kate Woodward Young: And those are things that hardly ever, I mean, I've had maybe one conversation with a childcare owner in the last 15 years that even remotely kind of even ever thought about between their employees and the parents in their program, how much revenue got to stay local.
• 16:09
  Kate Woodward Young: And then I challenge them a step further and go, imagine if only 1% of all of your expenses actually were paid locally.
• 16:18
  Kate Woodward Young: Right.
• 16:18
  Kate Woodward Young: So you, you know, and yes, I mean, I'm all about making sure the budget's right, but even if you just bought your cleaning supplies locally, or you just used a local franchise of a pizza company instead of a corporate pizza company for pizza days, you know, or even better, that local mom and pop single store Mexican restaurant starts catering all your events, right?
• 16:43
  Kate Woodward Young: So it's like, yeah, it's really easy to go online and do Olive Garden, and Olive Garden will deliver everything.
• 16:49
  Kate Woodward Young: And and and I'm just as guilty as the next person, but anytime I do that, the next day is always the local Greek restaurant.
• 16:56
  Kate Woodward Young: Like yes, absolutely that balance.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I think that's wonderful.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the more that our um our school leaders and business leaders really think about that, like what is their impact in the community today, as well as what does it look like in the future?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: What's the impact you're making on the next generation, which always goes to the heart of early educators?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: But being able to spout those statistics off to community leaders, to um representatives, right?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: If we're talking about politics and how much of this.
• 17:31
  Kate Woodward Young: It comes back to your getting in the room.
• 17:33
  Kate Woodward Young: Sometimes we don't always know what rooms we need to get in.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I I, you know, that was as I knew, as my trajectory grew from, you know, regional leader to then doing more school support um at a larger company, I knew that I needed to be in rooms and I needed to hear different opinions because I had been at the same place for a very long time.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, um, always raising my hand to let me let me do that, let me take that on.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: I got into government relations, right?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so more of those conversations, getting in rooms with the executives of small and large childcare umers and facilities, not to mention people that I had, you know, been led by that were women leaders, right?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: That we had maybe acquired um a group of, gosh, I think it was like 28 or 29 schools at the time, and they had a woman president at the time.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I think that there are different avenues that you can get there, but every single one of them has shown me that if you just be bold, you know, sometimes you're wrong, that's okay.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's okay to to make up for it and say, you know what, you're right.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: I that wasn't exactly correct.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let me come back to you with the right information.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: But getting in the right rooms, having um leaders that are both men and women that have been in this industry a very, very, very long time, hearing um how they process information, how do they think about the future of our industry and our business?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it just taught me different ways to approach it, that there's not just one way to get there, but um, how do I make sure that I'm building the right skills?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking to the right people to continue to build that.
• 19:15
  Kate Woodward Young: So if somebody's listening and they're kind of like, I don't know, let's just say they're in their 30s and they're sitting here going, well, I kind of like that idea.
• 19:24
  Kate Woodward Young: How did you find or where did you find the people who you went to and said, I'm gonna be in this room.
• 19:30
  Kate Woodward Young: What do I need to be prepared for?
• 19:32
  Kate Woodward Young: Or what rooms do I need to go to?
• 19:34
  Kate Woodward Young: Because I'm a huge advocate for mentoring, for coaching, for, you know, if you're a female leader, don't just climb the ladder and crack the glass ceiling.
• 19:42
  Kate Woodward Young: It's make sure you're holding somebody up that ladder with you.
• 19:44
  Kate Woodward Young: And, you know, have you turned around and are you bringing them up?
• 19:48
  Kate Woodward Young: Because I talk to owners, oh, I've been in the industry for 31 years and I'm looking to sell.
• 19:52
  Kate Woodward Young: And I'm like, how hard are you looking?
• 19:54
  Kate Woodward Young: Because I'm suspecting that if you've been in 31 years, you probably have a parent or a staff person who's the same age you were when you started.
• 20:03
  Kate Woodward Young: Why are you not looking to sell there?
• 20:05
  Kate Woodward Young: I mean, I'm all about like, I mean, I get, you know, VE support and PE support.
• 20:10
  Kate Woodward Young: Like, I mean, I get all of that.
• 20:11
  Kate Woodward Young: Yeah.
• 20:12
  Kate Woodward Young: But if we're talking local and you've got like this one lady was so cute, she had never even thought to look at her own staff.
• 20:19
  Kate Woodward Young: Yeah.
• 20:20
  Kate Woodward Young: Let alone a staff person who might be in her early 20s.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:24
  Kate Woodward Young: The same age she was when she started that school.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Isn't that funny?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, um, I had a client when I was doing advisory and I just uh talked to him the other day, where he was kind of doing the same thing and and really it didn't feel like anyone in his school was ready.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there was some.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, really good point because I think about when I first took over school, I was 22 years old, and I remember a parent coming into me and saying, You're in charge of the school.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: And with all the confidence of the world, I said, Yes, I am, you know, and looking back now, I had no idea what I was doing.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank goodness.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we all survived.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that finding the right people is key.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: There are lots of people out there, whether you know them personally, if you're in a larger corporation, it's probably easier to find people that have been in operations.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you've got to see the other side of it.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how do you really step up and support a school?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: But if not, there is, there are so many people on LinkedIn at these conferences in communities that would love to be helpful and just have some conversations with you and give you a different perspective.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: I know I absolutely am.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Again, LinkedIn is um have I started again this journey on the nest, but it gave me different people to have conversations with that uh were starting to use AI, that were um having different.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Different platforms available uh for providers.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people are just trying to sell.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: So you really have to have some discernment there on who's trying to really sell you something versus what can actually create value.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: And there are so many tools out there to create value.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: There are so many tools out there to help give you a leg up.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, for even a lot of times when you're in a uh particular corporation or business, people haven't looked outside because we're so busy putting out the fires inside that if you bring an idea from the outside, if you really get curious and creative and connect with people, whether on social or in conferences or on LinkedIn, I really feel like that gives a lot of people the advantage to say, hey, I have an idea.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: And the number one rule is, and I can save you money, right?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Or I can improve right.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so, and there's a lot of that out there that people are just really nervous about kind of taking the next step.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I can help with productivity or I can help save, I think this can help save us money.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Can we have a conversation about it?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: You will immediately start getting uh people that react to you, but make sure you're well prepared.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to have the right information.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Get those people either in your circle or in the industry.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Many, many, many people are willing to give a hand.
• 23:20
  Kate Woodward Young: So, in today's episode, down in the show notes, Jessica has provided how you can reach Jessica.
• 23:25
  Kate Woodward Young: Now, that doesn't mean that everybody who's listening can get the link to inbox her.
• 23:29
  Kate Woodward Young: She gonna she's gonna call me back and go, I'm never doing that again.
• 23:33
  Kate Woodward Young: So um uh think about where you are in your leadership journey.
• 23:38
  Kate Woodward Young: So, or maybe leadership isn't even how you define it.
• 23:41
  Kate Woodward Young: Maybe it's your next step in your journey.
• 23:43
  Kate Woodward Young: So if you're pretty sure that CEO is a good 15 years down the road from you, then don't reach out to Jessica today.
• 23:51
  Kate Woodward Young: Go find somebody who maybe has worked with Jessica.
• 23:53
  Kate Woodward Young: Go into Jessica's connections and find some other folks who might be maybe where you want to be in five years.
• 24:01
  Kate Woodward Young: Because again, if we always wait uh until that next person's perfect, then we're going to miss all of the people right now who are probably more than prepared to take on the challenge.
• 24:14
  Kate Woodward Young: They're excited about taking that challenge.
• 24:16
  Kate Woodward Young: It's not that we have a pipeline issue.
• 24:19
  Kate Woodward Young: I think we have a recognition issue.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely agree.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's always someone that has, you know, fire in their belly to uh to get ready and take the next step.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so let's like recognize them, but don't be shy.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: If you are that person, raise your hand and get some help.
• 24:35
  Kate Woodward Young: Yep.
• 24:35
  Kate Woodward Young: Don't be afraid to be that person.
• 24:38
  Kate Woodward Young: Absolutely.
• 24:39
  Kate Woodward Young: Well, thank you so much for joining us on today's conversation.
• 24:42
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• 24:48
  Kate Woodward Young: And we can't wait to talk to you in a couple of days.
• 24:52
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• 24:53
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• 24:59
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• 25:05
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• 25:12
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• 25:18
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• 25:23
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