Sarah Furness

After graduating from Cambridge University, Sarah followed her dream to become a combat helicopter pilot in the RAF. As a Squadron Leader she led on operational combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and she was the first female helicopter pilot to fly and lead UK Special Forces missions in Iraq.

During her experiences both at home and at war, she made two important discoveries;
• Resilience and performance under pressure is NOT instinctive
• BUT humans have an extraordinary ability to excel and lead the way under pressure... when they know how.

This prompted her to retrain as a mindfulness coach so she could understand how we can work with our brilliant, but mischievous, minds and become extraordinary. She now has one mission. To share the secret to outstanding leadership, performance and courage ‘under fire’.

After hearing Sarah’s stories the audience will walk away with performance, leadership and resilience techniques that are backed by science, proven in combat and immediately transferable into the workplace. She is fluent in ‘alpha male’ and whilst she takes her work seriously, she doesn’t take herself too seriously.

In her number one best-selling book (in business management), Fly Higher, Sarah explores techniques to train and rewire the mind for resilience in adversity, and how to leverage these skills for effective leadership and interpersonal relationships.

Every speech is written to the specific objectives to ensure the success of the event. Below are some sample keynote titles:

• Train Hard Fight Easy (Performance)

• How to thrive “under fire” (Resilience)

• How to lead fearlessly (Leadership, teamwork, diversity, inclusion)

• How to outgrow the competition (change, growth)

Train Hard Fight Easy – How to perform like a ninja under pressure
Outcomes: Greater productivity, Improved decision making, Increased resilience under stress, reduced burnout.

Context: War veterans are not naturally cool under fire. People are not born with 007-esque levels of stoicism. It's a learned behaviour. And you can learn it too.

Discover the unique H.A.B.I.T.S. formula that Sarah has developed; proven methods used by combat pilots which have been refined through her exploration of the human mind. You will learn practical tools for greater focus and productivity, reduced errors and reduced stress. What’s more you’ll make it look easy.

Learn also how to delegate without abdicating so you can multiply output, create space for strategic thinking and increase team engagement.

These techniques may have been learned on the battlefield, but they are absolutely transferable to your workplace.... and they work.

How To Outgrow The Competition – Why we need to change our mindset around mistakes
Outcomes: Accelerated learning, create growth mindset culture, increased staff engagement and retention.

Context: Nobody gets out of bed to crash a helicopter. And yet mistakes will happen. Sarah can attest to this.

Mistakes are okay… so long as we learn from them, right? But what if our traditional mindset around mistakes is precisely the reason we don’t learn from them?

And consider this, if an organisation fires someone when they make an honest mistake, they’ve just fired the person who has the most information about what went wrong, and is most motivated to put it right.

Being ruled by a fear of failure won’t pay off in the end… but the truth is, no matter how irrefutable the logic is, it’s hard talking about mistakes.

Sarah will share how to change our mindset so that we learn from our setbacks and we take early corrective action to avoid setbacks in the first place. And it doesn’t happened by being running away from failure – it happens when we lean in.

How To Lead Into The Future – Leverage fear to cultivate emotional intelligence
Outcomes: Greater probability of success, team cohesion, overcome imposter syndrome, improved inclusivity and cognitive diversity.

Context: The number one thing that holds humans back? It's fear.

It can manifest in different ways; fear of rejection, fear of failure. Let’s be clear – this is what it means to be human. It’s not going anywhere. But it can really interfere with our decision making as a leader. In a team it can lead to group think, censorship and risk aversion. In fact it’s a real buzz kill.

Whether you are looking for greater inclusivity, better teamwork, or more confident leadership, it’s the same starting point. It starts with understanding your fear to understand others, then leveraging it to lead intuitively.

Sarah will deliver outcomes for greater probability of success, collaboration and a culture where people can thrive.

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Clients often ask about purchasing books for giveaways and delegate packs. Below you’ll find a selection of products by Sarah Furness. Click the images to view on Amazon's website. For bulk orders, please speak with your Booking Agent.