Why do you think that leaders hide from funding
their vision? And how can then those leaders
lean into funding that vision? I think there's
a real fear of failure. And there's a lot of
self -doubt, which leads leaders to question
the feasibility or the worthiness of their vision.
can often make them avoid seeking funding because
they fear they'll be rejected. And this is something
we see not just for leaders. I see this really
commonly across the board. And then there's also
imposter syndrome. We tend to think of that occurring
at kind of lower levels, but leaders with self
-doubt. may often have exactly the same experience.
And that's what I have noticed when I'm training,
that a lot of leaders, they're not as comfortable
to speak up and say they're suffering with imposter
syndrome, because they feel that it's something
that lower level employees should experience,
but they should know exactly what they're doing.
But imposter syndrome is very, very normal, no
matter what level you work at. And really one
of the best ways to combat self -doubt is to
use it as a signal for growth. So it's often
a signal that you care deeply about your vision.
We tend to think of self -doubt as I'm not good
enough, but often it really is just I care so
much that there's a lot on the line. And when
you kind of reframe it like that of it's normal.
to have a little bit of self -doubt. And actually,
when you see individuals that are so confident
that there's no doubt at all, often they're the
ones that falter because it's that little bit
of doubt, that passion, that drive to do better
that can often make you perform at your best
because you also realize that there's room for
improvement. So when you reframe that mentally
as instead of a failing, It's an opportunity
to refine your pitch and maybe even deeper your
conviction. And also when we talk about imposter
syndrome, I think one really important thing
is just normalizing vulnerability because leaders
feel like they have to be impenetrable. Yes.
And that's just not, again, not feasible. But
it's not often talked about by leaders because,
again, they want to be the. person that people
look to so how can i show vulnerability but actually
what the research shows is that when leaders
show vulnerability they're perceived as more
authentic and people prefer to lead people be
led by people that they see as human with human
flaws but instead of just saying you know i can't
do this or i'm scared of doing this you have
to layer it as I get nervous over these things
too, but here's what I do to keep myself moving
forward. So frame it as a positive, but be open
about your vulnerability and your fears too.
It's crazy that you mentioned that because a
lot of times, like when I connect to leaders
and I'm talking to them, I feel more connected
if they're able to be more vulnerable with me
and I'm more likely to work with them. um beside
them if if they are more vulnerable if if they
are and it also gives you a chance to see them
in a human light where they went through what
you do maybe they're going through what you do
and if they can do it so can you there is there's
a harmony in that and the greatest leaders actually
practice what you just mentioned absolutely and
leaders also feel like they kind of have to be
perfect and they must be flawless and again that's
another reason why it can stop them seeking funding
but again that perfectionism is an impossible
goal and when other leaders get together and
say hey i struggle with this too it's a little
reminder of you know what even the people that
i look at and think are perfect they have vulnerabilities
too and they have a little bit of self -doubt
too so it's just normalizing that to lower levels,
but also within networking communities. Yeah.
But the difference with just sharing your vulnerabilities
and great leaders is they know how much to be,
how much to share at the right time and for the
right amount that uplifts and brings in the conversation
together instead of... bringing it down uh yeah
they are very very good at that i think that's
something i aspire to be uh you make a great
point about sharing versus over sharing yeah
exactly exactly so when it comes to you abby
what were some of the times where maybe you you
were like i think i'm hiding from funding my
vision and what did you do to overcome that well
i definitely had The over emphasis on perfection.
I have through my whole career, I have felt like
everything I've had, that everything I put out
has to be 100 % perfect, because I recognize
the importance of reputation. So my thinking
was, if my reputation falters even a little bit,
then it's going to negatively affect me. But
what I found was I wasn't putting things out
at a fast enough pace. And I was questioning
myself so much that I was overthinking things
that didn't need to be thought about so deeply.
And it was hindering me. But when I had that
realization of it doesn't need to be perfect,
but I know I have to put my all in. But there
has to be a point where you say, I can't keep
going at this. So I spent a lot of time. recognizing
where that limit was for me of i still drive
to do the absolute best that i can with everything
that i put out but i also recognize that there's
going to be flaws you know even when when i published
my first book when i re -read it recently and
i noticed little typos and things i would change
and i could have kept going and going and going
and i'm writing a new book now and i'm reminding
myself of that learning process of doesn't have
to be perfect because it's never going to be
perfect but you do have to put it out yeah thank
you for sharing that i think that was very insightful
um abby what would what tips would you have for
um leaders and entrepreneurs um in your opinion
i think the most important thing with entrepreneurs
and leaders really if you get down to it is the
why what is your purpose behind the vision what
is the passion there what is that anchor point
that is your mission because your why it needs
to be understood by everybody else because why
would they go to you what is it that makes you
special but more importantly you need to understand
it because your why can't come later that driving
force has to be the foundation of everything
you build because otherwise you're going to end
up doing so many different things and you're
going to feel a little bit discombobulated and
it's like I'm doing this but this doesn't make
me that happy and everything feels a little bit
scattered but my why is making science accessible
And everything I do is driven by that core mission,
that core purpose, something that just I wake
up in the morning and it's my passion and it
drives me. And before you go and put out funding
calls or anything or content, figure out your
why. Thank you for sharing that. I think this
goes directly into my next question about your
why. Me and you talked about your why last time
you came on the show. But I think our audience
will really, really benefit about talking about
some of the stories that pertain to your why
are very inspiring. I think I would love to hear
those. I said my motto is making science accessible.
Yeah. But it really goes so much deeper than
that. It's not just my love for science and content
and psychology. It's that I truly believe that
education is a lifeline. Yes, psychology. you
know when i was very young i was in a very difficult
place i had a difficult upbringing and i was
kicked out of college kicked out of home but
i managed to get back in with my psychology teacher
and psychology became the first thing i'd ever
really been good at and the first thing i ever
really had an interest in and when i started
to develop that and go okay well maybe i could
be good at this and i started to see my grades
increase and then because it was psychology i
started to understand myself and that became
the lifeline for me and from that point i was
so driven to just answer questions because there
are things that we don't know about people we
don't know about how to be the best um the best
leader or the best partner or anything But science
has a lot of those answers. So for me, it was
being part of the solution to creating an answer
about human behavior that wasn't known. And I
just fell in love with that. And I realized that
as amazing as science is, and how many answers
we have to questions that we don't even know
to ask sometimes, it's not always accessible.
And that's why I moved out from being a full
-time academic and moved into the private sector
because I realized in academia, it's thriving
with science knowledge. You know, that's the
point. But outside of academia, it's not always
accessible because of a lack of understanding
of the language, the terminology behind paywalls,
just generally not being able to understand research
papers because they are very complicated. And
I recently got asked, well, how do you know?
what's a valid paper and what isn't. And my only
real answer is when you do a PhD and when you
get to the point of a full -time academic, you've
been training for years, you know, as a reviewer,
as a scientist to get that qualification, part
of the assessment is, are you able to critically
assess research papers and write research papers?
So you go through years and years and years of
training to understand. how to read science that's
not something you can expect someone who hasn't
dedicated their life to science to do and nor
should we so we need to find a way to make that
more accessible so for me when i see someone
who doesn't think that they love science doesn't
think they like science or doesn't think they
can understand it when i see a little spark of
passion in them of oh i get this And I see a
little bit of passion or a little bit of excitement
or I see just that growth of knowledge. For me,
that's the best feeling in the world. So that's
my why that making science accessible. Thank
you for being here today. I'm really happy that
you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.