Vicki Macdermid
Advisor & Leadership Coach
Harnessing the Power & Wisdom of Horses
What makes a great leader? Vicki Macdermid can show you, and there’s no whiteboard in sight.
What are some of the roles you’ve held in your career?
My roles have included being the first female partner in a large accounting firm, a TEDx speaker, leadership coach and creator of my own leadership philosophy using the transformative power of horses.
Why do you choose to work with horses to create leadership qualities?
I could go on forever, but in a nutshell, my work “translates” leadership principles into exercises with horses to accelerate learning and self-awareness. You learn to build relationship, to work as a team and to lead while acknowledging “control” of the other is disempowering – leadership is a dance.
Horses are the greatest teachers. In leadership workshops, they have nothing invested in “success.”
They have no ego and clearly aren’t motivated by a pay cheque. They are there in the moment (as we should be). They act as a giant mirror. If we choose to really see, with more than our eyes, what’s amplified and reflected back to us, it forms the foundation of building self-awareness. This gives us better choices on how we can manage and self-regulate.
What are you most proud of in your career?
I was the first female promoted to partner at #Pitcher Partners. I led teams and created new programs, but my single proudest moment was being the sponsoring partner for a new partner in 2017.
As a partner in professional services, I was often the only female in the room and I’m proud that I was vocal about gender equity, inclusion and diversity. I’ve since been joined in the conversation by many other women and men.
What’s the hardest thing you’ve done in your career?
Giving a TEDx talk on horses and leadership. It was a gruelling process and I was still making edits right up to the day of the event. Once I was on that stage, nothing else mattered except sharing the philosophy of the Power of Intention and Connection. Was it perfect? No. Was it impactful? Yes. I needed to own my power to serve others.
Website: https://www.vickimacdermid.com
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