Here’s the full transcript of leadership and teamwork speaker Sarah Furness’ chat with Jane Farnham of Great British Speakers:
00:00:08:02 – 00:00:16:42
Jane Farnham
Hi, I’m Jane Farnham from Great British Speakers, and I’m here today chatting to the amazing inspirational teamwork speaker, Sarah Furness. Good morning, Sarah.
00:00:17:29 – 00:00:19:58
Sarah Furness
Good morning, Jane. Lovely to talk to you.
00:00:20:09 – 00:00:38:47
Jane Farnham
Yes, So lovely to see you. Thanks so much for joining us. Now, firstly, you do have a quite remarkable back story that certainly lets you walk the talk when it comes to resilience and leadership. So give us a little bit of background about your, how you started and how you got to where you are now.
00:00:40:10 – 00:01:04:39
Sarah Furness
Yes, of course. So I suppose the thing that’s most interesting to people is that I was in the Air Force. I was a helicopter pilot for 21 years and it all started a long time ago. I sort of set my mind on it when I was 12. Having been inspired by Top Gun. It is very topical, obviously, because Maverick’s out and and I was sort of very lucky to have, you know, parents that really supported me to go off and do this.
00:01:04:42 – 00:01:31:17
Sarah Furness
So it was always firmly in my sights. And then I spent 20 years flying helicopters and going into places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and I was a squadron leader, but I was also leading on these kind of missions. So you definitely, you know, things get ugly from time to time. And we definitely learned some pretty amazing life lessons. But also, we are incredibly well trained as well, you know.
00:01:31:33 – 00:01:46:15
Sarah Furness
But, you know, it doesn’t happen by accident. You know, we have to be able to deal with pressure. So we do get very, very highly trained. And I think that’s something I realized that I had, the kind I could give back to everyone out there who hasn’t had the training that I’ve had.
00:01:47:58 – 00:02:19:17
Jane Farnham
Sounds like quite a remarkable sort of journey that you’ve been on. I mean, so I remember when I was young and I always wanted to, I was doing a lot of actual pursuits. I was thinking, I want to join the forces. And I went to have a meeting and I never quite, I didn’t go down that direction in the end. But is it everything that you expected it to be or was it more or was it a completely different experience? Because I imagine as a woman in your position, you, that you were probably quite unusual.
00:02:20:38 – 00:02:47:54
Sarah Furness
Yeah. It’s such an interesting question and I’m still working out what my answer to that really. Is it everything I wanted it to be? Yes, it was amazing, you know? And, you know, there’s a lot of getting up at 6:00 in the morning and, you know, doing marching at the start and being very tired and digging ditches and all that sort of stuff that I suppose you would expect.
00:02:49:06 – 00:03:13:51
Sarah Furness
So you do get quite tough. But also, I think there’s a kind of shared sense of, I don’t know, it’s all quite adventurous and fun and you get to sort of play at being, you know, I don’t know, you sort of get to pretend that you’re GI Jane. So that’s it’s all quite good fun, really. Obviously, until it gets real and the bullets start flying over your head and you’re there with like minded people who like adventure.
00:03:14:56 – 00:03:37:35
Sarah Furness
So, yeah, you know, it, it kind of it was everything I imagined it to be. It was still quite unusual, you know, for women to join when I joined up because we’re going back 20 odd years and they were only just letting women fly on the front line. So, you know, the women, women were going through and I wasn’t the first by any stretch of the imagination, but there weren’t that many.
00:03:37:35 – 00:03:56:15
Sarah Furness
So it was it was unusual to see women. And I’m you know, I don’t know what it’s like to be a man in this environment. I only know what it’s like to be a woman in this environment. But I you know, I know it was obvious. I stuck out a bit and there weren’t many other girls to talk to, but actually I didn’t know any better.
00:03:57:39 – 00:04:25:24
Sarah Furness
And in some ways, now that I reflect back on it, you know, because we talk about diversity, inclusion an awful lot and, you know, a lot of women who are working in male dominated environments, you know, women in tech and things like that, and they talk about the challenges that women face. But I think probably one of the things I’ve learned is that the men were facing just the same challenges, but in a different way, because, you know, they had this stereotype to be an alpha male and, you know, they were all being alpha males.
00:04:25:24 – 00:04:42:36
Sarah Furness
So in some ways it was even more pressure on them to conform, whereas I was kind of expected to be a bit different. So, you know, at the time I probably saw it as I was in the minority and that was a a weakness, but it might actually have been a strength. You know, you just don’t know. All I know is that I did my best and had a great time.
00:04:42:36 – 00:04:45:09
Sarah Furness
And I learnt some amazing things and met some amazing people.
00:04:45:52 – 00:04:55:04
Jane Farnham
Okay. Well, that sounds brilliant. And you retired. So then how did that evolve into speaking? What was the process and the journey there?
00:04:55:49 – 00:05:18:52
Sarah Furness
Yes, So towards the end of my career, I became really interested in kind of how the mind works. You know, it’s like life doesn’t always run smooth. You kind of have your own moments, don’t you, where you’ll sink or swim. So I had sort of been through some of that stuff and I learnt some some techniques and actually that they’re all based on mindfulness, which sounds a bit weird, but really mindfulness is just training your brain.
00:05:19:24 – 00:05:36:52
Sarah Furness
And I realized that you can train your brain proactively to perform better under pressure and to to feel better under pressure. And I realized when I sort of looked back over all the years of training that actually a lot of the stuff we were doing was training our brain. We just didn’t know it back then. We definitely wouldn’t have called it mindfulness.
00:05:36:52 – 00:05:58:15
Sarah Furness
But I realized we’d actually been doing a lot of this stuff, you know, and, and that really does when you look at sort of high performance athletes, one of the things I’ll often say is it’s about where you focus your attention, you know, and actually that’s, we were trained to be highly focused under pressure, and that’s actually something that everybody can train themselves to do.
00:05:58:15 – 00:06:20:29
Sarah Furness
So I suppose I realized that I had a very, I was in a very privileged position where I could bring to life examples of how we can train our brain and I can show how they work, you know, in combat to give people the kind of proof that actually these techniques really do work, but they’re equally applicable in the workplace.
00:06:20:29 – 00:06:30:23
Sarah Furness
So I was in a very fortunate position that I could, you know, tell some stories that people would be prepared to listen and I could translate them into how it helps people in the corporate space.
00:06:31:31 – 00:06:47:43
Jane Farnham
So talk me through some of the topics that you cover during your speaking engagements. Because obviously, you know, we create and you create bespoke talks to all of your clients and talk us through some of the key ones that you know, that really help in a corporate world.
00:06:47:43 – 00:07:13:51
Sarah Furness
Yeah. So I think probably one of the, it’s really popular for people to come to me talk about high, high performance, high performing teams, how do we perform better, particularly now when we are expected to do more with less, you know, and that doesn’t seem to be a trajectory that’s going to be changing direction. And, you know, the concept behind that is actually very simple, but it goes against the grain and that is, focus on one thing at a time.
00:07:13:51 – 00:07:34:40
Sarah Furness
You know, and I call this uni-tasking, and it’s the antidote to multi-tasking, which we’ve all been doing. And I absolutely believe that this was the way forward. And I thought that’s what we had to be able to do. But when I learned more about how the brain works, because the brain can only be in one place at a time, you know, no matter how good tech is, we still have one brain and it can only focus on one thing at a time.
00:07:34:58 – 00:07:55:35
Sarah Furness
But I also realized that when we were being trained to perform well under pressure, that’s exactly what we were being trained to do and being trained to prioritize and focus on one thing at a time. So I talk a lot about, you know, focus on one thing, and I can tell some stories about various helicopter crashes that I’ve been in that kind of illustrates how effective that is.
00:07:55:35 – 00:08:05:36
Sarah Furness
And that’s been a really popular topic because we all need to know how to get, you know, more out of the day. And we all want to be able to perform at our best. So that goes down quite well.
00:08:05:36 – 00:08:15:21
Jane Farnham
Of course, we’ve got International Women’s Day coming up, so that’s always probably a very busy month for you. So you have developed quite a few keynotes. So what are your most popular?
00:08:15:21 – 00:08:38:09
Sarah Furness
So that one, you know, the sort of high performance one is definitely very popular. I also love talking about leadership and that can, you can, that that can have a few titles because it could be empowerment, particularly around International Women’s Day. It could be leading in a male dominated environment, or it could be more of how do we increase cognitive diversity.
00:08:38:22 – 00:09:04:22
Sarah Furness
But the theme that I really like to bring out in that is how we become comfortable with this idea of not being everything to everyone and, you know, taking feedback on and that sort of thing of rejection that we might feel and the kind of those interferences we have to get past to be able to create a space where people can speak the truth, but also where we can hear the truth.
00:09:04:22 – 00:09:26:29
Sarah Furness
So really we are grappling with our own kind of feeling of, you know, not being liked or, you know, that kind of imposter syndrome that comes up. And I really love talking about that because I think we all feel that self-doubt. But as leaders, we all feel like we should have all the answers all the time. So I really love kind of connecting with the audience and going, you know, it’s not just you, it’s me too.
00:09:26:29 – 00:09:35:20
Sarah Furness
And actually I’ve seen a lot of men who just have exactly the same self-doubt, and it’s a really lovely kind of experience where we can just all share that we’re all human.
00:09:36:07 – 00:09:59:13
Jane Farnham
It’s really honest and authentic, isn’t it? I love the phrase, you can’t be everybody’s cup of tea otherwise you’d be a mug. Yeah. Oh, I love that. I just think that’s really powerful. And you also have a bit of an entrepreneurial streak I hear. So how has the coaching aspect going for you?
00:10:00:05 – 00:10:17:18
Sarah Furness
Yeah, I am. I love it. I absolutely love it. And, and I started out, you know, when I left the airforce, I started out as a mindfulness coach. That’s what I was going to do. I thought mindfulness is going to, it’s going to, you know, cure all of everyone’s suffering in the world. And I just want to rid people of pain.
00:10:17:18 – 00:10:39:34
Sarah Furness
And that was my, that was my mission. And the speaking kind of happened because the people that were coming to me for coaching were coming to me because of my military background. So they were kind of like, I wanted to dip my toe into this and I’d like to learn how to deal with thoughts and feelings, but I don’t want to start kind of ‘oming’, you know, and I don’t want you to make me write a gratitude journal.
00:10:39:48 – 00:10:43:48
Sarah Furness
And I feel like you’re not going to do that because you’ve been shot at and you’re a helicopter pilot.
00:10:44:15 – 00:10:49:39
Jane Farnham
And the military and ‘oming’ just tend to poles apart, they’re polar opposites.
00:10:49:58 – 00:11:11:25
Sarah Furness
Exactly. Exactly. And yet, if you say military mental toughness, people go, that makes sense and actually they’re the same thing, really. So I realized I was attracting, you know, a sort of particular type of client that might think that all that stuff was a bit fluffy and didn’t relate to them. But they’re very interested in how to train their brains to perform better.
00:11:11:25 – 00:11:31:21
Sarah Furness
And so that really helped me to kind of find information and that’s how I got into speaking. I realized I could, you know, tell these stories that brought these things to life. So what I do now really is I kind of focus on the speaking and then that allows people to kind of try before they buy almost and get actually quite like what you’ve got to say.
00:11:31:21 – 00:11:48:05
Sarah Furness
I quite like her methods. Not going to make me meditate for five hours a day and then, you know, then we can sort of develop that, that appreciation of each other, cause I think coaching is going to come to you. You can’t go. You can’t go around poaching people and going, Have you got any problems? Are you feeling weak in any way?
00:11:48:34 – 00:12:00:36
Sarah Furness
Kind of aggravate that a little bit so you feel really insecure and then we can work together? You know, I like it when people can come to me and go, I like what you’re about. I think you can help me with a particular problem. And that’s a really lovely space to be in.
00:12:00:36 – 00:12:10:48
Jane Farnham
So the energy seems to be bursting off you and I can see the passion in your work. So what gives you the biggest buzz about speaking?
00:12:10:48 – 00:12:33:25
Sarah Furness
It’s a shared sense of humanity, I think. You know, I, I definitely went through a period in my life where I imagined I was the only person in pain and no one could possibly know what it feels like. And then as I got through that, I realized it sort of, I don’t know, I saw something I could never unsee, you know?
00:12:34:19 – 00:12:49:10
Sarah Furness
And then I realized I’m not the only person that’s got this stuff to deal with. And then when you start to kind of talk about it, but not in a victim way, but more in a positive way and go, yeah, you know what? Life’s tough, but humans are brilliant and look at what we can do. You know, we put our minds to it.
00:12:49:31 – 00:13:09:12
Sarah Furness
So it’s more of a kind of a tribute to humanity. And when you start to share that and you start to see people’s eyes light up and and, you know, and share, you know, you just feel so connected to other people. And I find that people are so warm and so open and so open to sharing their experience.
00:13:09:12 – 00:13:18:00
Sarah Furness
And it’s just, you know, it’s just the most rewarding experience when people are, you know, sort of connecting to you that way and you feel, you know, you’re like part of the, you know, a bigger thing.
00:13:19:37 – 00:13:28:51
Jane Farnham
Well, you know what? It’s been absolutely lovely chatting to you today. Now you’ve got your book out because you’ve written a bestseller. Yeah. Tell us a bit about the book.
00:13:29:33 – 00:13:52:48
Sarah Furness
So the book was, so the book is here, Fly Higher. It is the best seller. Thank you to all the people who answered my call because it was very strategic, you know, comes out on a particular day and then you bully everyone into buying a book on that particular day. So huge thanks if you’re listening and you bought the book.
00:13:54:01 – 00:14:06:46
Sarah Furness
But yes, the book was I think part of it is when you are a speaker, you know, people go, oh, so you must have a book, you know, and you see these speakers and they kind of throw books into the audience because that’s just every speaker has got a book. So I was like, Oh, I suppose I should write one.
00:14:06:52 – 00:14:25:12
Sarah Furness
But I actually love writing and also this is really, you know, if you want to sort of have me as a coach, but maybe you don’t have the time or the inclination, this is everything I think you need to know to, to fly higher. So it’s not a memoir. It’s got plenty of stories in it, but it’s not an autobiography.
00:14:25:37 – 00:14:45:50
Sarah Furness
It’s a book about how to train your mind. And it’s got some, you know, funny stories along the way that kind of brings these to light. And it’s very much people describe it as, you know, it’s very much like having a conversation with you Sarah. So, you know, you can kind of hear me speaking to you and going, Right, come on, let’s just get rid of the B.S. and and, you know, work out what’s holding us back and let’s all go and be fantastic because we deserve to be.
00:14:46:31 – 00:14:49:34
Jane Farnham
So lots of key takeaways in that book. I’m looking forward to it.
00:14:49:35 – 00:15:09:09
Sarah Furness
It’s got yeah, it’s got quite a few exercises in it and I’m very inspired by Ruby Wax. If you’ve come across Ruby Wax’s work, she’s done quite a few books and I’ve got a few of her books behind me and her survival guide. She’s got a mindfulness guide for survival. And in it, you know, you could write little things in the book and sort of make it your own.
00:15:09:09 – 00:15:20:07
Sarah Furness
I thought, you have. I want to do that. I want this, I want this book, Fly Higher, to be your kind of, your training manual for the mind that you’ve got with you. So there’s the space in it for you to kind of make it your own and write your own ideas down.
00:15:21:07 – 00:16:00:36
Jane Farnham
Go out and get your copy today. So it’s been amazing chatting to Sarah. Thank you so much. And if you would like to book Sarah, an inspirational lady as we come in to International Women’s Day in March to discuss adversity, resilience, leadership and peak performance, mental health, wellbeing, teamwork, communication, so much we can, Sarah will, of course, speak to you, adapt to talk to suit your audience and get the message across that you need delivered to your team. Then just contact myself or Steve at Great British Speakers on 01753439289 or you can email bookings at bookings@greatbritishtalent.com. Sarah thanks once again.
00:16:01:01 – 00:16:02:43
Sarah Furness
Thank you so much Jane Lovely to be here.
Sarah Furness, leadership and teamwork speaker at Great British Speakers
