Sarah has been trusted by executive leaders who want to make a positive difference for 25 years. This trust is earned through a combination of deep executive experience, breadth of post graduate study and life experience beyond what is typical for someone of her age.
Sarah is a masters level coach with her research focused on executive coaching and the role of mental fitness in the CSuite. She has an MBA from Henley Business School, coming first in her class for Final Exams and a Distinction for her MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology. She is trained in Nancy Kline’s Time to Think; Franklin Covey time management; and in Kristen Neff’s mindful self-compassion.
Her portfolio focuses on Board Chair and Non-Executive Director roles. She currently is Board Chair in two women founder owner high growth organisations, D&F Creative and 93% Club and NED of a housing association. Current and previous roles tend to focus on organsations in high growth or significant change/transformation phases.
Prior to starting Thrive, Sarah held three senior executive positions. As Executive Director at Linklaters, she led a 2,500 person global change programme, prior to which she had a chief of staff type role in the executive office. At Korn Ferry WHM, she was both COO and Head of the UK Leadership Consulting Practice as the business moved from PE backed to NASDAQ listed. As CEO of an autism school and outreach centre in Colorado, she tripled revenue, fundraising and young people served, replaced the board, and started the process for a second site. Sarah’s early career was spent as a lawyer with Slaughter and May.
Sarah moved between the UK and the US since the age of 11, and with experience of two exits and five acquisitions, as well as a focus on owner led or PE backed businesses, she is wholehearted about transformation, and how to lead people in a world of ambiguity. This experience was key to her role, alongside Thrive, as Associate with the Moller Institute at the University of Cambridge, creating and delivering leadership programmes for executive teams. Sarah works on pro bono social mobility and EDI projects and was a standing judge for the UK Social Mobility Awards for six years.
Sarah was widowed suddenly at 41 and her dear eldest son died when he was 23. Her research for her MSc was influenced by her experience of grief while working at executive level and by her experience of the internal challenges many high achievers overcome. It is her strong belief that our ability to stay steady during times of uncertainty can be a significant factor in personal happiness and professional success.
It is effort not time that is needed to transform, change and lead. Effort feels time consuming because it requires we avoid the automaton shortcuts our brain otherwise loves to take. But, it is not time consuming.
We work with people in relatively short but intense bursts; and then we stay with people and teams, through nudges, so that they make the transformation and changes needed
Everyone can have their dream career – – within companies; as a portfolio professional or entrepreneur. It may take a long or short time to get there but we can make a plan for it, and taking small steps all the time, will get you there. Dream big.
People and teams have much more potential than they think – it’s about sharing expertise and ideas and you can get there.
We are not low cost but we are high value. We guarantee that you will have tactics and strategies to achieve your goals after working together. And if you don’t, we will refund your fee.
Commitment – to the people we work with, to challenge and support them to get what they want. We don’t give up.
Compassion – for how hard it is to build your own business, to grow a non profit, to fit everything in, to fall and get back up (Japanese proverb- fall seven times, stand up eight – that’s Thrive)
Curiosity – learning, sharing, learning some more. Ask questions, question the questions, question the answers! The answers are there somewhere, we just have to find them, seek them out, search for them.
Energy – sometimes we just need to strong shot of “oomph”, a ray of sunshine in our day, a starburst at night. A sense that someone believes in us and will help us to get there.
Clarity – we’ve had a glimpse of numerous sectors, sizes of business, cultures, we’ve grown, we’ve cut….we’ve studied, we’ve read, we’ve researched….together, we can cut through and create the simple, clear steps to moving forward.
