Sarah Langslow (1999) is an executive coach and founder of her own leadership development business, who has recently published her first book, Do Sweat the Small Stuff. Here she talks about her professonal journey, and how the lessons from that and her parallel career in rowing have shaped her work today.
Please tell us a bit about your time at Cambridge. What did you learn from your experiences with LMBC and in the Boat Race?
I read Geography at St John’s, motivated by an inspirational teacher, Matthew Leeming, who sparked my enthusiasm for the subject. I loved the variety it offered and if I’m honest, my time at Cambridge more closely resembled a double-major – in Geography and in rowing!
From novicing with LMBC in my first term, racing for W1 in Lents and Mays with Maggie, I spent the next two years trialling for Cambridge, racing for Blondie (the women’s reserve crew) in 2001, and the Blue Boat in the Women’s Boat Race in 2002. I loved the physical and mental challenge of rowing, as well as the friendships and camaraderie. Yet looking back it gave me so much more.
I built resilience and mental strength from handling the many highs and lows of the trialling process. I learnt the importance of enjoying the process, not only the result – essential given that I lost both of my Boat Races. I learnt to appreciate the value of proper preparation, or more accurately how to stay warm in freezing conditions in Ely! I made lifelong friendships, forged through shared experiences, both of elation and despair.
And I gained a love for a sport that still has me firmly in its grip 25 years later, and which still brings me new friendships, experiences, learning and above all a lot of fun.
Please give us a brief overview of your career journey.
During my final year I was firmly focused on training for a Boat Race, so when Arthur D. Little offered me a job, I was happy to accept and get back to rowing! Nonetheless, it was a great choice. I spent five happy years there consulting across safety and risk, transport, energy and sustainability, while learning the ins and outs of project delivery, client management and more.
In 2007 I returned to Cambridge to study for my MBA at the Judge Business School. Twelve months later I had a huge new international network, new knowledge and a better understanding of myself. I switched career and joined SMBC Europe in their oil and gas project finance team in late 2008 – not the easiest time to get hired in the financial services sector!
Fast forward five years and I had concluded finance wasn’t really for me, and with the help of a coach (my first time working with one) I moved back into consulting and joined Gas Strategies, a boutique advisory firm, in a senior role.
While it suited me much better, it still wasn’t quite right. I’d always enjoyed, and had a flair for, working with people and something my coach had said to me stuck in my mind: ‘I think you’d make a good coach.’
After a lot of research, and some financial forward planning, I took the plunge. I signed up to a year-long coach training programme and, in early 2016, left Gas Strategies and set up my own business to make coaching my career – something I’ve been doing ever since.
What do you do in your current role?
I’m now an executive leadership coach. I work with individuals one-to-one, using challenging conversations and reflective questions to build self-awareness, enhance their communication skills, understand and shape their impact, and ultimately become more effective at leading their teams and organisations.
While I work with a wide variety of people, my ideal client is one rung from the top of an organisation, reporting into the C Suite. My clients typically lead large teams, are required to balance both strategic and operational considerations, and manage the demands of motivating and developing their people while also having to simply get stuff done. Coaching provides them with an invaluable support structure to navigate these challenges.
My role provides a lot of variety, which is important to me. In any given week I might be working with leadership teams, delivering a workshop or bespoke training, or speaking at a conference or internal company event.
I’ve also just published my first book! Do Sweat the Small Stuff: Harness the power of micro-interactions to transform your leadership explores the profound impact of our speaking, listening, habits and behaviours on those around us. It’s a highly practical handbook for leaders which shows how your everyday micro-interactions impact others and guides you to think through which of those to adapt and change.
What are the benefits of coaching and what advice would you give to someone considering working with a coach?
Time to think in a supportive, independent and non-judgemental space is often the biggest benefit. The demands of our jobs leave us so busy that having time set aside to slow down and reflect, with a partner who challenges us and helps us see different perspectives, makes a real difference.
A good coach balances support and challenge, encouragement and accountability, empathy and tough love. They will help you think differently and practise different behaviours. And for me, fun is also a key ingredient in coaching. Helping my clients to gently laugh at themselves and their situations can bring a lightness that helps everything feel more manageable, rather than feeling like a heavy weight.
If you’re considering it, the best way to discover if coaching or a particular coach is for you is to try it. Talk to a few coaches, see if there’s chemistry, and be brave and take the leap.
What’s next for you?
With the book now published, my focus is on getting that out to as many people as possible and sharing the messages in the book as widely as I can through speaking, workshops, training and coaching. I believe it can make a real difference, and it’s on me to make that happen.
Outside of the business, rowing never went away! As a British Rowing national umpire, I frequently spend my weekends umpiring at regattas and head races around the UK, and I’m also on the Boat Race umpires panel and part of the volunteer team at Henley Royal Regatta. It keeps me pretty busy, but I wouldn’t change a thing!
Learn more about Sarah and her book at www.dosweatthesmallstuffbook.com