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Toni Reece: Okay, Sally, we are officially being recorded for the Get Inspired! Project.  Thank you so much for agreeing to the interview.  Before we begin with the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Sally Petersen: Absolutely.  Sally Petersen, I am the President of MAD Consulting (MAD stands for “Make A Difference”) and I consult business leaders with Fortune 100 companies.

Toni: Great!  Well my first question for you, Sally, is who do you inspire and then how do you do that?

Sally: Sure.  I would say I inspire those that I work with in the business community, leaders, coworkers, colleagues, business colleagues, people in various organizations I support and work with.  In addition, I would say I also try to inspire my family, friends, and my children.

Toni: Okay, and when you do this, when you work with your clients in the businesses and so forth and also in your daily life with your children and your relationships, how do you go about inspiring others?

Sally: It’s funny, Toni.  I don’t think there is any magical formula of how you inspire someone.  I think it is typically a mixture of different actions.  Probably one of the most important, I would say, is having an unwavering sense of optimism, of positivity, that others can look for when maybe things might not be going their way, but they know they could count on you for direction, for hope, or even just for a listening ear.

Toni: Oh, great!  When you are working with others and you are inspiring or listening and you are being as positive as you can be, is there a certain technique or approach that you do to help others explore their potential?

Sally: I would say there are a few things I do.  One is, I really try to discover an individual’s strength.  What do they bring to the table, what are they good at, and sometimes it’s a surprise to them when you uncover what those are.  I use a tool called Strength Finder.  It is by Tom Rath, and it’s actually a book you could buy on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, at Borders.  You could purchase the book and within the book there is an online assessment tool; and while taking this online assessment tool, there are 36 trades you could be categorized of where your strength lies based on how you completed the assessment questions.  And what I love about that is oftentimes, my clients, my colleagues, after they take that test, as I said, sometimes they are surprised what their true strengths are.  And what I do to help them advance their strengths and create that inspiration within them is look at how they could apply those strengths to what they do every day.  Whether it is something in the business world or something personally they are challenged with at home.

Toni: Oh, I see.  So you match whatever the assessment results are as far as their own strengths into exploring their potential, which could also be very inspiring for them.

Sally: Absolutely; and the tool hasn’t failed me yet.  I have done it with my children.  There is actually a child’s version for kids, for those moms and parents out there trying to inspire their children.  The book is called, “How Full Is Your Bucket,” and it’s kind of looking, you know, not only your strengths and what you bring to the table, but it’s helping a child realize their actions impact others each and every day.

Toni: Oh, okay … so therefore, there is a connection there of the choices and consequences.

Sally: There you go; exactly.

Toni: I see.  When you are looking for inspiration, Sally, and you need to fill your own bucket, where do you seek it?  What do you need for your own inspiration?

Sally: For my own inspiration, Toni, I would say I need three things.  One is to be surrounded by like-minded people, those that believe we could genuinely make a difference, those with authentic souls; meaning they know their mission, they know their purpose, they know what they are here to do and go about doing it each and every day with a lot of passion and a lot of rigor.  That would be one.

Another one, I would say, is if I’m looking for inspiration is anything that drives creativity.  I think creativity is a spawn of inspiration, and when you are in a creative environment — whether it be a location or a mindset — I think that really helps to inspire thoughts, ideas, passion.  Lastly, I would say graciousness; being grateful, counting your blessings, and having an appreciation for what you have.  I think that brings tremendous inspiration if you point it in the right direction when you sometimes may have fallen off the path.

Toni: Can I just clarify, did you say gratefulness or graciousness?

Sally: Graciousness.

Toni: Graciousness.  So what is the difference, from your perspective, of graciousness and gratefulness?

Sally: I would say gratefulness … very similar; first, by my own personal definition, being grateful is being grateful for what you have.  Being gracious is sharing that disposition with others, that grateful disposition with others.

Toni: Okay.

Sally: There is a quote I carry in my day planner that I often read — if not once or twice a day — and I will share it with you real quick if I could.

Toni: Sure!

Sally: It is a quote by Melody Beattie, and the quote is this:  “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarify.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates vision for tomorrow.”  And so I think that mindset of being grateful or being gracious has a tremendous impact and correlation to inspiration.

Toni: Oh, that’s fantastic, I really enjoyed that … and the graciousness part is sharing the gratefulness.  What a succinct way to describe that; that is what being gracious is, is sharing your gratefulness, so I thank you for that.  When you are looking for like-minded people and authentic souls and staying in that state of grace to share how grateful that you are, are there techniques or resources that you look for that help you to do that?

Sally: Sure.  There are a few resources that I use.  I am becoming very active right now in social media.  I am using Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, various online mediums to find those like-minded people.  Through those avenues, I get a lot of creativity, a lot of new ideas on how I can expand my business and how I could make a more positive impact with my family; and I think, you know, those tools that are so readily available to us, sometimes we overlook.  We have to dig down deep and, you know, find where those alliances are and see how you could apply them to, not only get inspiration, but really make a difference in what you are trying to accomplish every day.

Toni: And when you are looking to explore your own potential, what do you do?  How do you explore your own potential?

Sally: When I am trying to push myself in terms of inspiration and exploring my own potential, I will relentlessly try new ideas with a passion and an unwavering commitment like no other.  I truly believe I am from the mindset that every million times you fail, that next time you succeed will be the best success you would have stumbled upon, and you don’t know you’re going to get there until you try, try, and try again.  So, I think just trying new ideas, learning from your failures, not getting down, remaining optimistic, and trying again, I think not only helps me, myself, in terms of my own inspiration, but it helps inspires others as well.

Toni: So how would you correlate that back to how you inspire others and help them explore their potential?  The social media and the tools, the alliances that you are forming, the new ideas that you try out, the passion that you sustain, learning from your failures, how does that — and does it — correlate back to the inspiration and exploration that you provide to family, friends, or colleagues?

Sally: I would say, I think a correlation … I think how that expands is role modeling.  I think everyone is a role model.  Children are role models.  Business leaders are role models.  We all, you know, give that role model title to typically star celebrities, famous athletes, the President who is a great role model; but the reality is we are all role models.  We are all looking at each other for how we handle situations and how do we take defeat, how do we rise above challenges; and I think through my mindset of being gracious and positive and carrying enthusiasm and passion, I think that allows me to almost, I want to say subconsciously, be a role model to others.

Toni: Well Sally, I thank you so very much for providing this snapshot of what your approach is in inspiration and exploration of others and their potential as well as your own needs of inspiration and how you explore your own potential; — and how that just comes full circle — and sharing that information with others who can learn and also benefit from your approaches and needs.  I am so grateful that you have shared this and wanted to take part in this Get Inspired! Project; so I thank you for your time on this interview.

Sally: And thank you so much, Toni.  I think the work you’re doing is absolutely fantastic.

Toni: Thank you and I hope that we talk again soon.

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For more information about Sally Petersen: www.madconsulting.org

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