Deborah, with her thirty years of being an ltrepreneur and creating over seven companies,
knows exactly what it means to accept the mission. When you make that
decision, when you accept the mission to become a solopreneur, to take yourself
and your talents to market, then you embrace a life of not only unlimited
possibilities, but also the unknown. It's an elixir of fear and bravery that
only someone who's taken the leap really understands. On our show, deb digs
deep with her guests to highlight what you the listener wants to know, the
stories, the whys, and the hows to navigate the journey to success.
Get ready to hear from some of the most incredible mission takers from Generation Z
to boomers. So sit up, perk up, and get ready to be
blown away. Now here is your host, Deborah Drummond. Hello, Hello,
Hello, welcome that mission accept it. You've not been with us before?
I am really what does that mean? Oh? This is gonna be
good. I bet you. If you decided to watch the Mission Accepted podcast,
you've got our mission inside you that's probably brimming to happen, either personally
or professionally, I have to say, and you know, I'm gonna kind
of keep it low a little bit because I've got some incredible people that do
podcasts and have their own podcasts. But you guys know that I think you
are the best audience because you engage and you tell me your stories and you
share what our speakers are sharing, and you're just you're in like it's like
you've taken the mission with me, which is why I love showing up here
every week. So not only are you guys the best audience today, but
you are the most resilient. You have overcome things, you have jumped through
hoops, you have you know, taken that ball and thrown it in for
a touchdown on many occasions. But you know what, sometimes resilience can get
tough. Sometimes resilience can get like, I don't know if I got it.
You know, I don't know if I got it. Because I have
a show about missions and people that take mission, and we talk a lot
about why we stay on that mission, and sometimes it's all about courage,
bravery, like pulling it in. But wouldn't it be nice if you had
someone that was doing the marathon with you, like you guys know, I'm
a huge advocate about having coach, trainers, experts, you know, spiritual
people in your life, personal development people in your life, whoever it is.
But I love having someone run with me. Right, you guys know
this run I'm doing, or let's us say walk I am doing across Ireland
and you know what, I suckered someone into do it with me because it's
so much more fun And when you feel like slowing down, they keep you
to pace. Right. Resilience is tech at times at different times in your
life. So guess what. Guess what, you guys are going to get
even more resilient. You're going to learn things about resilience because lucky me,
I found someone to do some running with and I got to listen and talk
with Saskia and I love her life, Saskia Christian, and she is going
to talk about being resilience. Isn't that kind of like? Is that kind
of like? Does that kind of work? Doesn't that kind of work?
So I'm going to stop introducing and stop leading in I think I let the
cat out of the bag about what people are going to learn about today.
So Saskia, welcome to the Mission Accepted show. Thank you so much,
Debra. It's such a pleasure being here. Thank you for having me on
this amazing platform. Absolutely, miss Yes, Ok, well we're all soul
for Nerds, sister headed up here because we both believe in resilience and you
know, being courageous and bravery and talk performance and that kind of thing and
doing it together. So, look, you are an incredible you know,
you're known as a resilience master. You are a very powerful life transformation coach.
You have vast experience from different arenas on different platforms, authoring and et
cetera. But what what's your story? You know you're gonna help us with
our stories. So what's your story? Did you just wake up one day
and go, oh, resilience coach? I don't think so. What brought
you to us? That's a great question. So that's a powerful why I
do have it resonated on in my personal journey as well as my professional journey.
Pretty powerful, And it would go as far as back in high school
where I did not pass like a major exam. Everybody who is just really
looking for teenagers to excel in this exam because it really determined the trajectory right
in their life and so I did not pass my subjects, and so I
actually had an amazing opportunity for a comeback with a wonderful mother, wonderful home
environment, and I got a whole new school environment to help me those strategies,
those test making strategies, so I can excel. And that's when I
I realize the importance of cultivating resilience in one's journey. And my book on
Purpose, the book Chatter that I wrote in On Purpose Strategies for Living and
Leading, I did reference that example, but there were so many more.
I actually had the opportunity to live in four different countries, including the United
States, and I can't tell you what a powerful example of resilience that was.
Not only did I cultivate resilience to do exceptional things, gain scholarships,
just meet and connect with amazing people, and develop myself in such a phenomenal
way, but I also gained cultural competency out of it, because relatability,
empathy, and resilience will take you places. So I'm the resilience strategist.
Also, even my corporate career of close to twenty twenty years, I served
there as a resilience ambassador for the company and I said, okay, when
I need to be able to have a greater outreach so I can improve the
lives of so many, give them the tools that they need to overcome those
set packs, work through those difficult navigate through those difficult challenges, and have
long lasting striving and empowerment the greatest gift. So that's when I started Boost
True. Boost True allowed me the birth of a boost True allowed me to
be able to do that. Resiliency is a gift. Need to know what
resiliences, How grace and resilience were beautifully together, and that's the IPI created
a design with professionals in mind. Whether you're a corporate executive, business professional
leader. Everybody wants to know how they can deliver a great comeback in their
life, how they can inspire orders because everybody experiences set back and challenges.
But the thing is the differentiator is how do you overcome that, How do
you stand out? How do you make an impact? How do you inspire
others? And that's what I'm here to do because that's the power that I
have. That's my superpower, that's your superpower, and we talk about that,
you know, recognizing your why, recognizing your superpower doubling down or reminds
me of when my daughter when she was young, she was in grade three
and she was having some challenges right she was showing up with some learning differences
and assimilating information differently. And I went to a colleague of mine and he
gave me the best advice that carried me through both children, and he was
like, everyone right now is going to be focusing on the problem. Teachers
are going to be focusing on the problem. Tutors are going to be focusing
on the problem. Find her gift and double down. And it has been
a powerful strategy enough that my son nineteen now is launching his own company.
But as people listen to you speak, you talked about supporting corporate and then
you have now branched out and you're supporting many even for someone like yourself who
studies resilience. So obviously for you, you've got some things down pat But
for those listeners out there, because we have lots of them that are either
entrepreneurs and they're kind of like they're at the end of the like they're like,
is it going to happen? Is it going to this? Or people
that have are considering venturing into entrepreneurship, or even the other way around entrepreneurship
back back into something stable. What is just some of the ideas. If
someone is at a place where they're really they are being as resilient as they
can, what would you say to them. That's a very very very good
question that you raised. I would say, first of all, to dial
in on resilience in particularly in those moments of transition in our lives and we
all go through that, we have to give each other first of all,
grace, right, but understanding and giving grace that there needs to be a
self awareness that needs to be cultivated, right, So we need to of
course heal, right, in order to really grow in that self awareness and
build that self confidence and leverage or support system, right, because that's a
social resilience is a very important component in building over all resilience. So you
leverage all those positive factors, but most importantly improving yourself giving yourself greace to
just adapt to the change, because that's what it's about. It's not a
it's not the old normal. It's a new normal that you have to drive
in and that requires grace. And that's exactly what my you know, package
or my portfolios are really about just helping, you know, leverage grace and
resilience so that people can at any moment or any season of their life.
I talk about the seasons as in winter, summer, spring, right,
whether you're in transition or not, we all go through those seasons of life.
But applying those grace and resilient principles to those seasons so that people can
move from succumbing to striving, but not only try long lasting, hopeful,
striving investoration again in their journey. So what I'm hearing is one of the
answers would be grace, having grace with yourself, understanding that you're going through
transformation, supporting yourself in community, is that what you're sharing. Supporting yourself
in community, and of course with resiliency requires an action planner. You have
to be strategic so know you're you know objectives, really be clear on that,
and just as you execute or exercise grace, be intentional in terms of
achieving those objectives because at the end of it, at the end of it
all, at the end of the journey, you want to be able to
achieve purpose, right, and the purpose needs to be impactful and not just
about yourself of course, yes, you need to be nurtured and become the
best self for everyone around you, But it's also about how you should ask
yourself, how can I empower? How I can improve the experience of others?
How do I show up after going through such setbacks and challenges? Am
I really a better person every day? And all those things that I'm telling,
all those parts of the process is really what I do offer professionals,
whether they're in corporate or entrepreneurs or even in the spiritual base as well.
That's what I teach them to, those nuggets and those solutions so that they
can enjoy this but have it love lasting effect. Right. I know that
we talked lots, and I know that a word, a key word for
you is empowering. That you love to empower. When we talk, you
share with me how much you love to empower in your words and in your
writings and whatever is about empowering And where do you think that comes in for
somebody? Like at what point does you just finished talking about? Kind of
like a little bit at the endgame, make sure what you're doing is impactful.
But as someone who is a life transformation coach, you must see people
through different stages, some of them not so groovy. You know, the
people's stuff comes up as we know what it's your philosophy around empowering, how
do people tap into that? What point do they start to grasp that,
particularly if they're in that from a life transformation piece. Absolutely, and empowerment
is a key. It's a key. I will just say it probably strategy,
but it's very important to me. And it's important that we deal with
that or we address that from a mindset level. And that's exactly what I
did in the on Purpose Strategies for Living and Leading book where I talk about
turning the tables from victim to under cover of victor. And that means that
we as professionals regards to whichever hemisphere in we do have unique talent set that
we can offer the kim that unique potency that no one else has, and
we just need to have that right mindset. And I did propose a formula
for actually making that mindset transition through resilience to confidence and to strategy and moving
to victor and being able to go to that full transformation so that you can
have excellence success that you've been dreaming of and walk in passion and purpose fulfilled
their thing. And I do have to say empowerment for me, one of
the main motivation factors for me actually going into boost true is really how I
can empower executives and specifically female executive leaders who may be struggling with their influential
power walking in authenticity, like having that servant and authentic leadership. And of
course please understand their men or their who are all sold male leaders who are
also needing that type of guidance and growth, and so I provide that solution
kit to help them to elevate so that they can maximize and really fulfill their
maximum potential and have the best experience, have excellence in their professional journey,
and not only that, inspire all those around them so that they can also
be exceptional and then you'll have that wonderful environment of creativity, innovation and productivity.
And that's what everybody is looking to have. So empowerment is a very
very important knob in one's journey. But of course it goes hand in hand
because you have to heal and that's where my trauma informed coaching comes into as
well. Almost everybody suffer from some type of type of trauma. I have
suffered in the past, and I do create that tailored experience, that tailored
plan I have for any particular leader, so they can they can have that
self leadership, that personal development, have that healing and then walk in striving
and you know, and live in powered lives. You bring up a good
when you're when you're talking about I could almost visualize, you know, when
you're talking about working with women in corporate that are in leadership roles that are
within confines that may not be theirs, and how do they feel empowered and
how do they step into authenticity when maybe some of the structure is not necessarily
a structure that they would you know, formulate, but they've got to work
with that. I would imagine that's a little tough. Yes, it is.
It is very child and I've seen in my seventeen plus year in high
tech sector, right, I've had the opportunity to cross paths with many,
many leaders of different you know levels or career ladders of you know, success.
And what I've seen work beautifully is when when you get the best results,
when a leader shows up with transparency, being authentic and really fostering that
empathetic, supportive culture around them and that makes it so much easier for them
to win, get commitment from their team members, and get easy buying because
there's the trust factor, and there's the competency factor, and again the servant
leadership. I've created ten seas for mastering servant leadership with particularly female executives in
mind, and that addresses the whole knob of contract. That's one of the
seas. It helps people to value perspectives not only you know, be confident
in the perspective that you show up with, but also vile the perspectives around
you. And I can tell you how powerful that is in terms of turning
the knob in your favor for influential power. It's so it's a critical component
of servant leadership. Absolutely absolutely. Is there an experience that you've had yourself
that you can share, whether it's you know, it doesn't have to be
a on a grand scheme, but you've obviously you talked about you know,
I think when you talked about not passing a test, we all went,
oh, yeah, yeah, you know, I was the last person picked
in baseball, or I didn't quite make the team, or I didn't quite
make the grade, or I didn't you know, I got over you know,
someone else got picked over me in terms of a physician in the world.
So how did you anything like that, like personally where you've had to
pull upon your own resilience, whether it's that situation or something last week.
Because sometimes it's the little stuff, right, I mean cessca It can be
like the littlest thing can trigger something off or you're not in you're in a
really stressful time in your business or what have you, and then that the
one little thing. So from an everyday standpoint or something that you've gone through,
is there something you can share that is relatable to the audience. Yes,
yes, yes, And I could definitely say on my own personal life
my own health journey as well, I've had to overcome challenges and I was
able to from those challenges have a reset. Of course, it was painful.
Change is always uncomfortable, always, but when you see the beautiful results
that emerge, it's just it's just wow, just wow. And that's what
I had. I benefit from that. I did the work and I said,
Okay, well this is my health challenge and I need to overcome that
because it was taking a real toll on my life. And so I actually
lost like close to forty pounds coming out of that journey. You know of
illness and you know having surgeries and so forth. So that was the greatest
test of resilience recently that I had to endure, and I'm so glad I
had it because I can tell someone that, yes, it is doable,
it is possible, because I've seen it work myself and everything that I do,
how I show up, it's really because I have deep convictions about it
and the success because I've seen it myself, either see it to myself or
I've seen it work powerfully in the lives of honors. Another beautiful example in
being a leader in corporate Americas that I actually had the opportunity to lead a
technical team to manufacturing quality X lens just before leaving my corporate season. And
the feedback, because feedback is important, right, that's really what tells you
what you're doing, what you're how are you showing up? You have to
listen to others, and the feedback was really resounding, is that something is
different about you. It's like you're so easy to connect with and because of
that, you get us to do things. And people were saying, oh,
I'm working for I'm delivering these results for sasking I'm like, no,
no, no, no, no, you do not work for me,
right, So, but you understand when you show up with authenticity and you
show up like here with kere empathy and compassion for others. And this was
a global, you know, leadership initiative that I had to lead, and
so the test was really when I got there, it's like, wow,
you have remarkable and unique leadership skills. And I said, wow, it
must be. It must be resilience showing up here beautiful again, so you
know, and of course that helps me the authentic factor when you're confident in
who you want because you've you've been through so many things before. I can't
tell you so many financial aspects of my of my of my academic journey.
And when it's grad school undergrad, I had no idea how I was going
to start the program or even finish it. And resilience showed up again because
I have a positive outlook and that is very very important, and because I
was very engaging, and you know, of course, show up, work
hard and everything, but have respect for honors. Don't matter where therefrom because
you don't know somebody's story and I listened, and because of that, people
listen to me, and they said, oh, there's where you can get
funding. There is where you can get research resystem ship. And that's how
I was able to, you know, finish my master's tis and be able
to start a whole wonderful career in the high tech sector as a chemical engineer.
So I've seen it work. I've seen it work, and I always
love these setbacks because I emerged so beautifully in the comebacks. Well, when
you talk about, you know, working in a leadership, and I'm conscious
of the time that we're going to be wrapping up really soon. But when
you talk about that leadership, you know, you teaching leaders and you know,
the big thing is when I'm talking to colleagues that are running organizations or
what have you, there's like this dance between being authentic being seen as a
leader, and the polarity of that. So some of the feedback it's difficult
not to be an authentic leader in terms of out there, but an authentic
leader honestly on the inside. It's been interesting conversations. I've been having a
lot of them lately, So I'm so glad that you're here. But when
you talk to people that have to lead teams or lead corporately, or lead
organizations or what have you, where does that fit in? That must be
because they're like, hey, you show up at this as this authentic,
resilient leader and they were so in awe with you and you had all this
connection. What do you say to people in those positions? Yes, I
think it's there is a there's still high level possibility for you to show up
as a as an authentic leader and still gain the respect of the team members
and the people that you serve in your work community. Yeah, you don't
have to divulge, you know, at the workplace. You don't have to
divulge personal details or anything that about your you know, very personal details about
your life. But you have to really show it's important that you show the
human component and connect with it's humans we're dealing with, collect genuinely, right,
authentically with all and when they can feel as though like you do have
a heart posture of some form. I'm not saying sympathy, that's a different
story. Right when you have a you have that heart posture of like they
matter whatever is going through at their point. Like, for instance, somebody
may ask an extension on deadline for project. I'm a product manager professional,
you know. So you come up and they were like, okay, whatever,
and it's okay, Well, what's what's going on? They was like,
okay, I have this or whatever, but I'll do this, but
I'll make sure it gets done by tomorrow. And because of my authentic leadership
and I level with them, Okay, this is exactly where we are,
and you know where I can give grace and so forth and show up it
understanding, right, understanding it's a person that I'm dealing with. I get
remarkable you know, cooperation from them, and the results are just beautiful.
So you can be comfortable in who you are, be confident. I'm very
confident in the person who sits before you today, and that's because the different
culture and environments have prepared me well to show up with understanding and have that
active listening so that I can get to really where people are and be able
to compromise and meet them half away. I don't need to divulge all my
personal business and details to do that. Yeah, it's interesting, right,
It's been a big conversation. It's been a lot of circle of leadership conversation.
Because there's been a lot of people coming from corporate going into entrepreneurship and
there's been this relief. But where does it you know, where does that
line? So it's been interesting. So I know that we just have a
lot that's just a lot big part of our audience. I'm going to ask
you something completely different. I mean, there's no question that you have this,
and I know that you've got some beautiful offers on your website. I'm
going to ask you to just bring those up and talk about them in a
minute. But I loved when you said deep conviction. I love that,
Like when I think about resilience or courage or bravery, or strategy or structure,
like from a core level, it's like, what gives you that deep
conviction? Right, there's like I think there's faith and deep conviction, and
I think they have a relationship, but I don't think they're the same thing.
And I loved that you said that. So here's something that I don't
know if you believe this or not, but I'm going to go with it,
and I'm going to ask you a question because you know, you talked
about mindset and there's this great story Jack Canfield and I don't know if you
know Jack Canfield, but he was responsible for a lot of the books Chicken
Soup for the Everything under the Sun, right, Chicken Soup for the Soul.
And so I had a chance to spend some time with him many years
ago, and he told me of this story of how he really believed putting
all his dreams and aspirations on a list in his office for everyone to see.
And many times we don't do that right, we keep them in a
treasure man or in a book, or whatever it is. And so he
said, I really I put it there. And the story was that he
wanted to fly. He wanted to learn how to fly this very special jet,
and there was only two of them in the world. It was a
fighter jet, and so the chances of him being able to fly that jet
was pretty slim. But one day this gentleman walked into his office to have
a meeting with him for nothing to do with flying, and he happened to
see his list, and on his list was this jet to be able to
learn how to fly this jet, and this person was one of two people
only in the world that knew how to fly that jet, and said,
if you want to fly that jet, I'll take you. So my question
to you, my dear friend who goes and helps and motivates people and helps
him inspire, and you are pouring out to people, not necessarily on your
business list, but on your I would love to list. Let's put something
out there in the world for you. Let's give back to you. So
if you could say to the world, I would love do you have something
that we can share today that you would just love to see happen or you'd
love for yourself, or so I would say, I would love to be
to actually show up as a global resilient strategist, all right, or just
individuals out there, okay, because it's the individual experience, right that really
matters more, and then you influence the community, all right. I want
to be able to be that person, that agent that gives the individual that
passion driven come back experience that they've been longing for so that they can live
their dream lives. That's my mission there. It is there, it is
So it's always kind of you know what, Sometimes that question comes up for
me and I was like, okay, today, it's today, it's for
Saska. So here's my last question that has nothing to do with anything of
what we just shared about. So you're on your way to a desert island
and you have a suitcase, and in that suitcase you have room for one
album. What album could you not imagine not listening to for the rest of
your days. It can't be a it can't be your playlist. So what
band, what song? What album would you take with you to that desert
island? Oh? Wow, that's in good question there, so question,
it's a it's a big question. Oh wow. Okay. So I do
love Yolanda Adams and Fate and her music is just really does move me,
you know hard. Yeah, but it's really a question with a steel because
I'm also from a culture of steel pan or es and that puts me in
a wonderful spirit. Right, I love that so much. Yeah, okay,
So we're going to just for see put you land at Adams. Yes,
yes, very inspiring and deep because on our show we just you know,
we just believe that music is a powerful vibration and it helps inspire and
motivates and gets people through anything. And if you're going to take on a
mission, you're going to need some music. You're going to take on a
mission, you're going to need some music, yes, and strengthening, strengthening
and empowerment and knowing that you can do, you can get through. That's
why I choose Landa Adams because a lot of our music is geared towards that.
Yes, whatever you're doing is temporary right now that you're going through you
know, set back, but just look at the beautiful life that you have
ahead of you and you're you know, is designed for greatness purpose and that's
what I'm about. I'm a very purpose driven individual. I'm a wonderful path
of purpose right now, wonderful suson perfect. Well, look, please share.
We're going to have it in the show because we have audio and video,
so please share with us where people can go find more. I know
you have classes and now you have books. I know you have programs they
run continuum, so please tell people where to go and find that information.
We will definitely have it in the show notes as well. Yes, yes,
yes, thank you for that opportunity. So the Resilience Booth, my
website first of all is boost true dot com, b O s T t
hru dot com and there you'll see the resources in the Summit workshop. The
workshop offering that you have a two hour workshop around the resilience. Wonderful subject
and it's really meant to just help somebody really understand what resiliency is, how
they can incorporate elements of Greece and the resilience in different seasonal you know,
phases of their journey, and really how they can have that purpose driven come
back and be rewarded for their competencies and for their hard work become most importantly
the best version of themselves. So we have all that practical strategies to help
you. You know that you can develop and you can sustain. And of
course there are other my book that I co at the on Purpose Strategies for
Living and Leading that's also available there on the website. My chapter is chapter
three Reclaiming Power. And then of course the I do have seasonal Striving Navigation
e course that's being launched here in Gajabi as well as the Resilience Resilience five
step plan on how to overcome and become unstoppable. Well, let's leave it
with that powerful world people, so unstoppable. You came to the not only
the most resilient audience today, but you are unstoppable. Let's leave this podcast
feeling unstoppable. I want to thank you so much for being our guest today.
Such a pleasure. You're such a beautiful soul. I'm so excited on
our journey in terms of, you know, unfolding this beautiful friendship. And
I was called it bisship and friendship because we're doing both together. And look,
people, if you would like to be sitting in that exact same seat,
sharing your passion and your purpose and your message, please reach out.
This is not difficult. It's Depth Drummond dot com. You can just go
on to the website. You can fill up the contact and we'll be in
touch or debit Deep Drummond dot com. And you cannot absolutely forget about what
we've got going on. If you want to talk about all of the things
that we heard today about stepping out, then you have to come to the
step up. Oh yeah, did step up yesterday in the meeting, But
show up, speak up, and stand up. Yes you incredible twenty two
summits for women and those that support women, and also the incredible book two
hundred and sixty two women compiled in a book that is launching International Women's Day
twenty twenty four. I don't normally give dates, but if you're listening to
this after that, you know, just go to the website and get that
book. And there's two unred sixty two women of gumption, sharing all,
giving all, telling all. And I'm sure you know of the movement that's
happening. And we're probably doing a live book signing in a town or a
country close to you, So thank you for that. And if you want
to just come fill up, just come fill up on the eighth day of
every single month. We so appreciate you. Thank you for being our guest
today, and we so appreciate you. You're the most amazing listeners. Thank
you for staying with us, Thank you for sharing to all the people that
listen to all over the world. We're so appreciative of you. Until we
meet again, you guys know what to do. You need to be well
and you need to stay groovy. So I'll see it again next week.
Bye for now, Bye bye,