Sarah Furness
- Former RAF Combat Helicopter Pilot: A distinguished 20-year military career involving leadership in high-stress operational environments.
- Mindfulness & Performance Coach: Creator of the H.A.B.I.T.S. method, designed to improve mental resilience and high performance under pressure.
- Motivational Speaker: Shares a personal journey of overcoming challenges to inspire resilience, confidence, and mindfulness in others.
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- English
Sarah Furness's 2025 biography
Sarah Furness MA Cantab RAF
Are you a leader who is committed to growth? Do you see leadership as an evolving craft? Do you want to know how to lead high performing teams, who are robust, driven but also emotionally intelligent? How do you lean into failure so you can grow as an organisation, whilst unapologetically striving for excellence?
If these are the sorts of questions you ask yourself as a leader, Sarah Furness is a speaker you will want to hear from.
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. So she has a proven track record leading teams to victory in the most extreme conditions. However, Sarah doesn’t position herself as the only one with all the answers; after all, when she joined the RAF in 2000, leadership was about dominance. It was about leading like-minded people. We now know the best teams are not made of like-minded people. And today’s leader is expected to lead with influence, with emotional intelligence, to create psychological safety. Sarah believes that if our idea of leadership is destined to keep evolving, the most enduring and important trait of today’s leader is to keep evolving. A qualified mindfulness coach, Sarah combines her military expertise with proven cognitive techniques to expertly guide you on your own journey of discovery.
She is fluent in “alpha male” and whilst she takes her work seriously, she doesn’t take herself too seriously. In her No1 Best Selling books FLY HIGHER and THE UNI-TASKING REVOLUTION Sarah explores techniques to train the mind for first class performance, and how to leverage these skills for effective leadership and interpersonal relationships. She has a young son who she adores and who keeps her on her A game.
Every speech is written to the specific objectives to ensure the success of the event. Below are some sample Keynote titles:
- LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE FRONTLINE: Leverage your fear to cultivate emotional intelligence
- TRAIN HARD FIGHT EASY: how to perform like a ninja under pressure
- HOW TO OUTGROW THE COMPETITION: Why we need to change our mindset around mistakes
What people are saying:
I’ve heard many brilliant speakers in my time. Very few have been able to transfer their lessons so articulately into the workplace. Senior Director, IRESS
It was a pleasure to hear you speak earlier, and sparked a number of nerves on my part!! If I had known it was going to be that good, I would have closed the office and told the team to hear you speak. Anonymous, Ex-Special Forces
Sarah Furness's 2025 talks & topics
How to lead fearlessly
Imposter syndrome – we all feel it. Especially as leaders. We’re supposed to be confident and lead the way for others but the truth is that can pretty daunting. Sarah will share how we can change our relationship with fear and use it as a leadership superpower
Outstanding Performance Under Pressure
The key to great performance is actually quite simple. Focus on ONE thing at a time. Simple concept in theory, hard to action in today’s busy world. And that’s why your competition won’t bother. But if you have the courage the prioritise and focus on the ONE thing that matters right now, you’ll outperform the competition AND you’ll make it look easy
Growth and learning from failure
If you want to keep growing (faster than the competition) you need to be prepared to innovate and take risk… which means there will be setbacks. We can leverage that to accelerate growth.
But creating a culture where everyone does this is easier said than done. Some might think the answer is to make everyone feel SAFE. But that’s only part of the story. We also need our teams to be brave and own up to their mistakes. Sarah will show you how.
Bombproof resilience
What’s the first thing that falls off the radar when we’re busy? Self care.
That’s why busy people need to be resilient. But…people are stronger than they think. Even during difficulty. In fact especially during difficulty. Our job as leaders isn’t to rescue them when things get difficult. It’s to believe in them.
How to lead in the new era
Twenty years ago being a leader was about being the loudest and most charismatic person in the room. It was about leading like-minded people. But we now know the best teams are not made of like-minded people. Sarah will share how we can lead inclusively and with credibility in the new era.