In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Midori Verity, a three‑decade veteran entrepreneur and co‑founder/CEO of Fuel the Fire Accountability Groups. Midori shares why mentoring stuck entrepreneurs brings her joy, emphasizing the power of awareness and actionable plans. She stresses that a leader’s mindset—particularly managing stress and anxiety—unlocks creativity and effectiveness. Midori advocates setting big, aspirational stretch goals to attract top talent and generate momentum, citing examples like Google and Netflix. She recounts her first job at Heller’s Baby News, where she learned a value‑first sales approach that still guides her. Midori recommends fellow podcaster David Alexander for future episodes and provides her contact details (@MidoriVerity, fueltofire.co). The conversation blends personal anecdotes with practical leadership advice for business owners.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Yes, I am Midori Barati. I've been an entrepreneur for nearly 3 decades. And I'm also the co-founder and CEO of Fuel the Fire Accountability Groups, which is all about helping business leaders achieve those stretch goals that they set.
Well, Midori, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
I would say from being a mentor for entrepreneurs for so many years, The thing that consistently keeps me doing what I do and loving it and making me smile is when I see an entrepreneur who seems to be stuck in a certain area. It could be with finance or with marketing, anything, and they don't know the next step to do or they're scared. And being able to talk to them enough, one, to bring up the awareness that they can be— see what is going on, but then number two, helping them devise a plan to to overcome that challenge. And just watching their shoulders kind of lift up and their confidence build and that aha going off in their mind, that is what consistently brings a smile to my face.
I love it. I can just hear that passion in your voice. It's so great. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I would say, you know, I'm all about mindset, and what I see consistently for those who are in a leadership role is some people have learned how to deal with stress and anxiety, which is kind of par for the course when you are a leader, and then those who haven't learned how to really get a hold of it and put it into perspective. So that is where I would want them to start off on is learning the mindset techniques and the approach on how to deal with the inevitable issues and problems and challenges and obstacles that come from being a business leader. And because when you get a hold of that, you have more creativity. Your brain is— the energy from your brain is not getting sucked up so that you have more power tools in your pocket and so that you're more effective as a leader.
I love that. Yeah, it's, it's being able to put the mindshare towards the things that make a difference as opposed to the things that are more distracting. Am I correct?
Absolutely, 100%.
Yeah, that's great, great advice. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what insight would you give to other business leaders?
What I always have my business leaders focus on is on creating big fat aspirational goals. You know, those exciting goals, those stretch goals. And here's why. Because when you have these big aspirational goals and they are clear and you share them with your team, everyone in the company understands what it is that you're striving for, you will, one, have— you will attract a higher quality of staffing. Number two, the momentum that you build in your company is phenomenal. When people know what they're looking to— working towards, and it's something where they can see the value of it, it's exciting. Google does this, Amazon, Netflix, all of these companies use the system that involves aspirational goals and making sure that they're clear to everyone in their organization, and as well smaller companies. But that is the number one thing If you really want to have a long-term successful company that is doing leaps and bounds, that's where I would focus.
And I've seen that time and time again with successful organizations and not successful organizations where, you know, they don't rally the troops on a, you know, a focus that's so important that everybody gets on board with. So I love that, that insight, and that's something that all of the entrepreneurs listening will really appreciate from you. So thank you. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself, would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
I would say David Alexander, who owns Social Origins, and he is a big podcast guy. And so what's great about him is he doesn't have his own podcast, but he helps business leaders and organizations really amplify their message and position themselves in a way where they do a podcast and it reaps benefits. In fact, um, Erin, who's my co-founder with me, she and I are going to be starting a podcast with him over the next few months. So I would say David Alexander would be a great guest.
Sounds like it. I look forward to talking to him. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
My first job that I really remember is for a company called Heller's Baby News, which is located locally here in Sonoma County. And what's great about Heller's Baby News is that it's independently owned, and it was small enough that as an employee, if you really wanted to learn the ins and outs of the business, you could. And I did. I wanted to. So they were willing and allowed me to learn all aspects. So I learned how to close out in the evening and make sure and reconcile all the, you know, the receipts. And I learned sales from a standpoint of helping the customer, not that slimy sales thing, but just really helping these customers find out what do you need for your baby, what's the best thing that's gonna keep them safe, and bringing value to them and watching them feel confident with how you were, you know, what you were presenting to them. And to me, that has stayed with me. That is something I continue to use, but that is kind of this tool that I've kept in my pocket. Because when you bring value to people, it's, it's indispensable. And so that's always been my approach to sales from what I learned when I was 16.
And the, the true, true aspect that we all know is people buy from people. And so if you bring value to that interaction, they're more likely to buy from you. Am I right?
100%.
Yep, exactly. So Midori, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
You know, the best way is just go on to social media, and I'm everywhere. Um, it's @MidoriVerity, and you can also find me if you go to our website, which is fueltofire.co, and, um, and I will get the message.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Get hundreds of amazing business insights from previous guest episodes on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening.
