This month I had an eye-opening conversation with Vickie Milazzo, a nurse, legal nurse consulting pioneer, CEO of the Vickie Milazzo Institute and author of “Wicked Success Is Inside Every Woman” (John Wiley & Sons, 2011).
Why “wicked,” I wanted to know, thinking of green witches and the popular Broadway play.
“These are unprecedented, exaggerated times,” said Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD, citing the worst economy since the Great Depression, high unemployment rates, rapid changes in technology and upheavals in health care.
“We’re bombarded by an onslaught of distractions every day, and women are the ‘chief-of-everything officer’ of their careers, households and families,” she said. “If we don’t set our intention on the big, important things, we end up majoring in the minor stuff. To get out of survival mode and into success mode calls for an uncommon, wickedly resourceful mind.”
Seeing too many women taming their ambitions and treading water in their careers, Milazzo wrote her book “for any woman who wants to get to the next level of success — mentally, emotionally, financially or professionally.”
Milazzo did just that in 1982, when she realized that hospital nursing was no longer the exciting, fulfilling career she had sought. She was working overtime to pay her mortgage and her opinionated personality wasn’t working well in an institutional setting.
“I didn’t want to change professions, but I wanted to practice nursing in my own way,” she said.
If she started her own business, Milazzo decided, she could be her own boss. Interested in the relationship between nursing and the law, Milazzo set out to pitch the value of her nursing expertise to medical malpractice attorneys. Although the term “legal nurse consultant” didn’t exist yet, Milazzo became one and went on to start an educational company that trained other nurses in the specialty.
“I had no business skills, so I followed the nursing process I’d learned — assess, diagnose, plan, perform appropriate action, evaluate and start over. I still use that process every day,” she said.
Milazzo also made herself five promises when she realized that having dreams wasn’t enough to change her life and that it would take commitment to realize them.
1. “I will live and work a passionate life.” She wanted to wake up every day feeling excited and energetic.
2. “I will go for it or reject it outright.” You can’t wait for the right time to start living your dreams.
3. “I will take one action step a day toward my passionate vision.” That’s how she created her business.
4. “I commit to being a success student for life.” The quickest way to learn is through the experience of others.
5. “I believe, as a woman, I really can do anything.” If she could save a life in the middle of the night, she could certainly start a business.
“I still live those five promises every day,” Milazzo said.
She encourages nurses to commit to their own promises and reach for their goals. “Nurses today have an incredible knowledge base that can take them in any direction.”
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