Sarah Furness Keynote Speaker

Experienced RAF Combat Helicopter Pilot and Squadron Leader
Led operational combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan
Two-time bestselling author

Sarah Furness's Biography

Sarah Furness is a two-time bestselling author, keynote speaker and former combat helicopter pilot who served 20 years in the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Drawing on her military experience, Sarah became a performance expert, creating the Healthy Automatic Behaviours in Threatening Scenarios (H.A.B.I.T.S.) Formula, which trains the mind to achieve zen-like calm and self-belief under pressure.

She is the author of two #1 bestselling books, Fly Higher and The Uni-tasking Revolution, and has inspired countless individuals to embrace resilience, find strength in vulnerability, and lead in the new era.

After graduating from Cambridge University, she pursued her dream of becoming a combat helicopter pilot, eventually leading as a Squadron Leader on operational combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sarah’s experiences have taught her that resilience and peak performance are not instinctive; they are learned. Intelligent, capable people may not always feel as strong as they look, but Sarah has dedicated herself to unlocking the secrets of resilience, performance, and courage under fire for others. She provides insights into leading emotionally intelligent teams, creating psychological safety, and embracing failure as an opportunity for growth.

As a speaker, Sarah Furness is known for her willingness to confront difficult truths, captivating her audiences while delivering practical and actionable strategies for leadership. Fluent in “alpha male,” she is dedicated to helping others feel as strong as they look.

Excelling under Fire

How teams win together and bounce back stronger together

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 ok… 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?

Sarah will share how to change our mindset so that we learn from our setbacks, take early corrective action to reduce mistakes, and create resilient harmonious teams

Practise Scared

Build competence and confidence rep by rep Outcomes: Greater psychological safety, growth mindset, confidence and competence.

The modern world has become a comfortable place for most people. That means we’ve learned to distrust discomfort and to avoid it. We hide from discomfort by using labels such as “safe spaces” and “imposter syndrome”. Instead we need to create “brave spaces” and leverage our imposter syndrome to push the boundaries. Sarah will share her revolutionary Practise Scared method that will show you how to excel at what you do under extreme pressure and build bombproof confidence.

Key messages; Life isn’t a rehearsal but every experience can be treated as a rehearsal that brings you one step closer to doing it better next time. Practice is what makes good behaviours automatic under pressure.

Practising scared is how to find the sweet spot just beyond your comfort zone where the best performance and growth happens.

Leading during change

Bombproof in uncertainty Outcomes: Greater probability of success, team cohesion, Harmess cognitive diversity.

We all need to equip ourselves for the future and move with the times. However AI is only ONE variable that we need to consider. We need to be able to adjust to all of the future variables, both seen and unseen. Therefore embracing change, adapting, recovering from setbacks and navigating uncertainty are all things we must do but it’s sometimes easier said than done. Sarah will share battle tested mindset techniques that will help you lead with clarity and confidence, adapt and grow in rapidly changing landscapes, build genuine human connections that stand the test of time across dispersed teams, harness the intellectual firepower of your teams so you can be the disruptors of the future.

She spent 20 years as a Royal Air Force combat helicopter pilot and Squadron Leader, leading operational missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and making high-stakes decisions under pressure.
She translates the lessons of military aviation into practical insights that help leaders stay calm, focused and decisive in complex environments.
She developed the H.A.B.I.T.S. Formula, a framework that trains individuals and teams to build resilience and perform with confidence under pressure.
She shares practical strategies for building psychologically safe, emotionally intelligent teams that learn from failure and sustain performance.
She is a compelling keynote speaker whose honest storytelling equips audiences with the mindset and tools to lead with courage and resilience.