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Toni Reece: Christine, before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Christine O’Connell: Sure.  My name is Christine O’Connell.  I work for Advantage Sales and Marketing as a manager in the talent development department.

Toni: Okay, and whether this is in the work that you do every day or even personally, the first question that I want to ask you is who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Christine: That’s a great question, and I would dare to say I think I inspire anyone that I encounter in my life across the board.  So whether it be personally or professionally, I think one thing I’ve learned is that in life you have an influence on others in one sense of the word and making sure that any time you interact with another individual — whether it be like I said professionally or personally — that you’re aware of that.  And I think every day there’s a little bit of influence.

I think primarily in the workplace it is my staff and my team.  I think I have the ability to kind of see the stars inside of them, maybe the hidden talents, and make them or help them pull those out and, you know, be able to rise to the occasion and do what’s needed to move themselves in their career professionally as well as personally.

Toni: Fantastic!  And when you do that and you work with these people, what do you do?  How do you go about realizing that influence that you have on others that may actually inspire them?

Christine: It’s funny because, you know, someone once said to me, “How do you do what you do?”  And I’m like “I don’t have a method to my madness or a science to what I do.”  “But it’s really about finding out who the person is and what’s important to them, and giving them and providing them the opportunity to grow and move down that path for them in life, whether that falls in the agenda you have for them or not.  And I think that’s probably a difficult piece a lot of people have, “Well, that’s not what I want them to do, so I’m not going to help them.”

My theory is, if I can do anything to help them move to wherever it is, it’s inspiring to them.  They feel … I guess the cool part about it when you hear them say “Thanks for challenging me” or “Thanks for giving me that opportunity” and “That opportunity has made me feel like this, or has made me feel like I can do anything now.”

Toni: How does that translate with what you do on a day-to-day professional level into your personal life?

Christine: Well, I think in my personal life I try to inspire and be there for anyone that I’m friends, family, whatever it is.  And how I do that in my personal life is, you know, I think I’m the one people reach out to a lot.  And it’s such a privilege to think that people reach out to me and think that I can help them walk down a path, figure out a new direction, you know, inspire them to do something different, and just by being there and listening and really kind of giving some personal experiences to lend when I was in a situation or that type of place or what my thoughts were, you know.  But always indicating that really it’s up to them to make that decision and really drive and get what they want out of life because life’s just too short; you have to drive and you have to get what you want because you never know.

Toni: So basically, it sounds as though it relates to both personal and professional.  I just heard some personal ownership taking place that you drive towards others is that, “I’ll help you get to this place, but there has to be some personal ownership along the way.”

Christine: Absolutely.  You know, you can inspire and give positive words and support, but it really is up to each and every person to make that difference or make that change and drive down the path that they want.  And in thinking about it, you really have to take a look at who you are, what you want, and what’s really important to you and drive down that.  And I think making people accountable or asking them to say “Here’s what I think”, but if you … and you get to live with yourself for the rest of your life, what is it that you want to be known for, or what is it that you want this to be?  What is your outcome that you’re looking for?

Toni: Do you run into resistance?

Christine: Sometimes, yes, absolutely.  It’s like, “Oh, it will never work” or the negativity or — it’s horrible to call it this — but the “poor me” syndrome, the victim syndrome.  Each one of us has the opportunity to say “I’m not going to be that person; I’m going to step out of this, I’m going to make myself into what I want to be”, and I think it’s showing them that there are ways or giving examples or stories that lend to that, where you’ve seen it either in yourself or others that could help that person get to that point.

Toni: When you do all of this work to help others to be the best they can be professionally, challenge them, also personally, what do you seek for yourself?  What do you need to be inspired, Christine?

Christine: I need someone to do the same for me, so I don’t think I would be giving back as much if someone hadn’t given to me as much.  There have been a few people in my life throughout my career that have really inspired me; and they’ve given me the opportunities, they’ve taken the risks, they’ve shown me the light in one sense.  You know, “Here, try this, go here” … and if I didn’t have the accountability to step out there and do it, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.  And I give all that credit to those people that have inspired me throughout my career and my life in general.

Toni: And when you are with those people or those people that have shown you by example and provided you with the affirmations to take that risk, do you find yourself when you feel like you might need just a little bit more inspiration or you need to kind of fill that up again, do you reach for certain tools and resources to do that?

Christine: I probably reach for people that give me that boost most, so it’s reaching out to those people that were my mentors or going back to maybe something they wrote or something that was inspiring that I’ve read to get me back on page and back in the place where I need to be.  Tools and resources?  Really, it’s anything that’s going to motivate me.  I mean, one thing I do every day with my team is I send a quote of the day because it’s the quote that’s going to inspire me for the day, and I want to inspire them in a certain way.  So it’s the little things really that matter most, I think, and reaching out and having those available to me.  So whether it be a phone call from a friend, catching up, reading a motivational article or a quote, those types of little things really make a difference for me.

Toni: And when you’re exploring your own potential — which in your professional life it sounds like that is really what you do is that you explore other people’s potential and make sure they are successful — how do you do that for yourself?

Christine: I’m always looking for whatever opportunities are in front of me, and I’m willing to take on any challenge.  And it’s interesting, in my career I have moved a lot in terms of position — sometimes by choice and sometimes not by choice — but every choice has been made consciously and has the timing and fate around it that it was the right move to take me in the next direction that I need to go into, and that goes for my personal life as well.

You know, you kind of encounter situations where you can go one way or the other, and you take the risk and you go that way and it actually pays off in the long run.  And it’s just getting out there and putting yourself out there and allowing that risk to happen, and then taking accountability whether it works or it doesn’t.

Toni: Do you think it takes a lot of courage to do that?

Christine: I think it does.  I think it’s a long time coming.  I think for me, personally, it probably just needed a good first part of most of my life, about a quarter of a century before I figured it out, I think, and it’s part of driving down that path.  And I think every day I continue to learn more and more how to do that.

Toni: How do you think someone can do what you did?  Go for the opportunities, realize that you’ve got to put yourself out there, but where do you think they can go to gather that strength and courage to walk down that path?

Christine: I think first you have to believe in yourself, and you have to believe in who you are.  Confidence and self-confidence in who you are is key.  If you’re not sure who you are, I think you need to find who that person is and figure out what it is that motivates you, what inspires you, what are you passionate about?  My passion is helping people do what they do better, so it doesn’t matter what part of my life … that’s what I’m passionate about, and I want to make sure anything I do involves that.  So it’s really about looking inside yourself and saying “Is this where I want to be?” and what it is and going and finding it.  Now if that takes you reading a book, if that takes you reaching out to friends, if that takes you going to counseling, whatever that avenue is to get there is what you need to do to get there.

Toni: I’m sure there’s a ton of resources and tools that you would provide to others to help them get to that place to determine what their passion is and to help them with their self-confidence.  I’m assuming that maybe there were times when you reached for those tools as well.

Christine: Yes, absolutely.  Strengths Finder is one of the biggest things I’ve actually used.  The thing about Strengths Finder I like is it focuses on what you do well and asks you to do more of it, versus what you don’t do well.   I think a lot of times when you use tools, you focus on what you’re not doing good and try to work on that.  I’d rather focus on what I’m doing good and do better of that.  I think that’s one of the key tools.  I mean, there’s many assessments such as Myers-Briggs discs, all kinds of assessments out there that will help you kind of find where you sit, what you tend to do most, that will help guide you down the path of what’s going to work for you, but it’s definitely not what you need to change about you.

Toni: I see.  So the work that you’ve done on yourself, Christine, how would you say that’s translated into your professional career and what you do on a day-to-day basis?

Christine: I think how it’s translated into my career is really the opportunities that have opened, the doors that have opened for me throughout my career.  I think professionally I have a pretty good reputation in the industry.  I know what I’m doing; people know that I know that and there’s just something about it that in your network that people talk about.  And it’s a good feeling to know that it’s not just one person, it’s multiple people, and those connections make everything that has happened in my life happen.  Personally, I don’t know; I think it’s about, you know, really identifying with myself and who I am and where I’m going and following that path.

Toni: And I would think that what I’m hearing you say as well through this whole interview is setting that example, that if you’re not sure, be sure.  If you seek help and influence, make sure that you find the right influence for you, the right inspiration for you, and to take that personal ownership.  Is that what I’m hearing you say through this interview?

Christine: Absolutely.  I think that is right on.

Toni: It’s really amazing.  You have provided a really nice way for people to learn from your interview how the personal development does absolutely tie in to a professional career — and when it fits, it fits — and to never stop seeking and to always know where you sit.  And I think that people listening to this interview will benefit by what you’ve said and learn from it.  So for that, I truly thank you for taking part in this project.

Christine: Thank you.  It was a great opportunity, and I’m so excited.

Toni: Thank you, Christine, and I hope that we speak soon and good luck to you.

Christine: Thank you.

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Toni Reece: Tanya, I want to thank you so very much for agreeing to be part of this project, and before we jump into the questions, could you please introduce yourself?

Tanya Domier: Absolutely, I am Tanya Domier, and I work for Advantage Sales and Marketing.  I’ve been with the company for 20 years now, although that seems unbelievable for me to even say, and I’m President of Advantage Sales and Marketing, and I run the marketing side of our business.

Toni: Well, thank you so much for doing this.  The first question that we’re going to be asking is, when you think about all of the people that I would imagine that you promote and work with in what you do, even relationship-wise, who do you inspire and how do you go about that?

Tanya: Well, it’s hard to know who I really do inspire, but I can share with you who I try to inspire as I go throughout the days.  I hope that I inspire … I sort of look at my life in two different ways … I hope I inspire my family.  I have three boys and a husband and brothers and sisters and parents, and certainly I hope that I inspire them at least in some way — though it might be harder with your children than your associates at work — and certainly hope that I inspire my team I work with — a very talented team that I have a ton of respect for — and I hope that in some way I’m able to inspire and motivate them.

Toni: And when you do that, and you think about inspiring personal relationships and work relationships, how would you go about that, if you had to give that some conscious thought on how you might want to inspire others?  What does that look like?

Tanya: Well, I think to me, inspiring others is really bringing out the best in other people; that’s what inspiring really means to me.  I mean, everybody has potential to do great things with their life and everybody has different gifts, so to me it would be inspiring people to bring out those gifts and just to be the best that they can be using whatever gifts they have.

Toni: And how would you know?  How would you work with someone in order to either make those gifts present within themselves, so that they know that those gifts are there, so that you can draw those out?  How would you go about that?

Tanya: I think first of all, just talking to people honestly and being vocal about where you see people’s gifts are the first steps, because you’re right, some people don’t recognize their own gifts.  Others might think that they have different gifts than they really have, but I think that just really calling out things when you see them as a gift and talking about the fact that you’re really great at this and really figuring out how you nurture that, how do you encourage them to go in that path.  If it’s personally, and somebody is really good at something, talking about it, vocalizing it, giving them reinforcement.  And the same way, it’s not that different at work.  It’s just whether the gifts are personal or professional.

Toni: And I think that leads very nicely into the second question, which is, when you think about consciously inspiring others to recognize those gifts and to use them, that feeds into how you might explore other people’s potential.  So when you explore other people’s potential at work or personal relationships, what do you do to do that?

Tanya: Well, I try to watch, I try to listen, and I just look for people’s natural inclinations.  One of the things that I’ve learned from my mentor is to never try to put a square peg in a round hole.  Everybody’s great at something, so if in somebody’s work life you can minimize what they’re not naturally inclined to be good at and maximize the time they spend on things that they’re really good at by redefining jobs and making sure that you just have people’s strengths at work for you; so I would just look to encourage those gifts, watch — and I think I have a pretty good sense for what people are really good at — and then just try to steer them in that direction.

Toni: Does that happen consciously?  So, for example, if I’m around you, is that just something that you do, that you would be watching and listening for my maybe hidden potential, or possibly misplaced potential?

Tanya: I think absolutely.  I don’t know that I’m great at looking for hidden potential.  I think that what I would watch for is where the gifts are.  So probably by nature of my job, I don’t have a chance to get that deep, but I’m always looking.  The first thing that I look for are people’s gifts.  What are they really great at and then, on behalf of the business, how do we deploy them for our greatest success.  So yes, always watching for them.

Toni: And how would you … in your children and your personal relationships, how would you define personal gifts that you might see?

Tanya: Oh, I would say personal gifts; one child — and it might relate more to skill than to gift — but I have a 14-year-old son who is just a great orator.  He is just wonderful when he gets up in front of people.  So just from an early age talking about that gift, and that’s really a gift to connect with people and how do you use that gift for the good?  I mean, just really looking at all the different ways that in his life he might be able to apply that gift, and as he’s choosing activities and he’s becoming who he wants to be, how do all of the things that he did … how do those things roll up and support that gift?

Toni: That’s a great example.  What do you need, Tanya, to be inspired?  What do you look for?

Tanya: That’s a great question.  What do I need to be inspired?  I need to win to be inspired; I get my fuel and passion for winning.  And winning means a variety of different things, whether it’s winning a piece of business or whether it’s winning by seeing our business grow by people growing.  I’m very goal-oriented, so I’m inspired by making our visions become reality.  That is how I’m inspired.  I get my energy from winning, and that helps me to inspire others.

Toni: And how do you seek that?  How do you know that “Okay, here I am.  I’m maybe a little bit low and not very inspired today, and I’m going to be seeking inspiration.”  So how would you go about that?

Tanya: Besides coffee, I’m one to really wait it out.   I think certainly time to myself, which doesn’t happen when you have three boys and a very busy job; it sounds great, but that really doesn’t happen.  I’ve come to accept the fact that I just have cycles when I’m more inspired than others, and I don’t try to consciously get myself inspired.  I know that it’s going to take a little time and a new cycle of inspiration is going to come, so I don’t get too concerned about it.  I don’t seek to spend a lot of time on how it’s going to happen, I just know that it will happen.

Toni: Do you ever reach for certain tools or techniques to kind of keep yourself inspired and motivated?  What do you reach for?

Tanya: You know, I would say that not consciously, but I really reach for people.  I have amazing people in my life who are tools for that, whether they are friends on a personal level, whether it’s my family, whether it’s the people that I surround myself at work with; those are really my tools.  Those are feeding off of other people’s inspiration and gifts … inspires me when I’m not feeling particularly inspired.

Toni: And when you are exploring your own potential and, you know, always re-motivating or learning and growing, how do you do that?  How do you continuously explore your own potential?

Tanya: I think it just evolves.  I mean, for me it’s never being satisfied with not learning something, always doing something new.  I’m always learning.  The job that I’ve had … even though I’ve been here for 20 years, I’ve always had a different job and always focused on something new and something exciting.  So for me, finding growth is how I grow and how I stay inspired.  Once I’ve got something mastered, I look for something new in the company to develop or to do, and that’s how I really get my own personal growth and inspiration.  I’m a big believer that you don’t wait for it to come to you; you come up with how am I going to grow and then you put forth that plan.  And for me, I’ve been able to do it at the same place through a variety of different businesses, and that’s how I’ve been able to grow.

Toni: When you look at the personal perspective of this, of inspiration and exploration in the workplace, it seems like it’s been phenomenal in that you don’t wait, that you do seek.  And you’ve been there 20 year,s so I would imagine that that has worked very well for you.  But in your personal life, what do you seek for that growth, and what tools might you reach for?  What do you do to continuously explore your own personal development?

Tanya: Well, I wish that I could tell you that I have a lot of time for that.  I would say that’s probably been on the back burner for me, but I certainly … for me, it’s rewarding enough to watch my family; I mean, that’s my personal growth.  I’ve chosen to work and have a demanding and a busy job so for me, the way that I get personal growth is by helping other people in my family grow.  And I’m sure when they’re out of the house and in college, it will take on a new life; but for now, because I don’t have much time, personal growth, aside from work, is just making my family thrive and happy and helping them to become the best that they can be.  That’s really it.

Toni: Listening to you, I am wondering how would you define the difference between someone’s potential and their gifts?

Tanya: I think there is a direct correlation between somebody’s gift and somebody’s potential, and I think that depending what your gifts are determines how much potential you have in business.  In the personal setting, I would say it’s completely different, but in business, depending what gifts somebody has to me is directly correlated to how far they can go, at least in our business and in our world.  And I think people can become better at things that they are not naturally inclined to do, but I’ve not seen people lacking those great business gifts and still make it tremendously far.

Toni: And how are they different in the personal side of things?

Tanya: Well, I think that it’s much more important on the personal side of things to be a well-rounded human, to be a good person, to focus on the things that really matter in life.  However, I think that when you get into the work side, you just have to have skills.  And to me skills and gifts … some of your gifts help your skills; but in life, your gifts just help you become a great person and help you serve others, and I think it’s different.

Toni: It’s interesting, isn’t it, because this interview with you has been very much from a business perspective and almost making it sound like, from your own personal development, that’s taken a backseat so that you can help your family to grow.  However, you speak about gifts and potential and having them be very different from personal and business.  Yet, in this interview, they’ve been very much the same because I’ve written a note here that says that people’s gifts will help them to be better and help them to be good, and you are using your gifts at work to help other people develop and explore their own potential and their own gifts as you watch and listen.  And you’re doing also the same, very much the same thing, on your personal side as you watch and listen to those around you personally to help them with their gifts become good and help explore their potential and hidden talents.

Tanya: Yeah, that is interesting.

Toni: It’s a direct correlation in this interview, and it’s really been fascinating to hear you unravel that.

Tanya: That’s interesting.  That’s insightful for me as well.

Toni: Well, I have to tell you, we really appreciate tremendously your input — being as busy of a woman as you are — into this project, and I know that there are many, many people who will read and hear this interview who will resonate with your position and your thoughts and learn from not only what you said, but also the insight and benefit from it as well; and for that I thank you so much for your time in this interview.

Tanya: Well thank you, Toni, I appreciate it as well, and your project sounds very, very interesting, and I’m sure it will inspire a lot of people, so thank you.

Toni: You’re quite welcome.

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