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Inspire Club Ep #29 - Sarah Hood
104 Plays8 months ago
In this Inspire Club Podcast episode, host Matt Manners chats with Sarah Hood, Global Head of Engagement & Insights at BUPA, about leadership, employee engagement, and navigating workplace challenges.
Sarah shares how her career at BUPA began unexpectedly, and how her first manager, Yvonne, made a lasting impression by creating an authentic and supportive team culture. This leadership style has remained central to Sarah’s philosophy of employee engagement, emphasizing simplicity and authenticity in driving meaningful workplace connections.
Plus much much more. We hope you enjoy.
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Transcript
Introduction to Inspire Club Podcast
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of the Inspire Club podcast by the Inspiring Workplaces Group. I'm your host, Matt Maners. Welcome back everybody who's listening.
Guest Introduction: Sarah Hood
00:00:18
Speaker
um Straight in to today's guest, who is the amazing Sarah Hood, and the Global Head of Engagement at Boopa. Also proud and privileged to say that Sarah is also one of our esteemed independent judges for the Inspiring Workplaces Awards in the UK and Ireland this year. so Without further ado, welcome Sarah. How are you
Sarah's Early Year Challenges
00:00:39
Speaker
doing? I'm good, thanks Matt. nice to Nice to be on the on the show today.
00:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, well, great to have you. um What's what's new in your world right now? What's what's keeping you busy or both? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, all of it was we we were just saying before we before we got started, it felt like a very busy start to the year, all fun. But um it's been really busy. So, yeah, looking forward to maybe a ah small, um deep breath for Easter before more fun for the rest of the year. But yeah, it seems like the The pace just seems to be increasing all the time. So I don't know whether that's technology or of productivity, or but yeah, it's been very hectic. And I've got two young kids at home, so they yeah they keep me busy as well.
00:01:18
Speaker
Well, that will always add into the hectic the nature of things. so Absolutely. No, I thoroughly agree. It seems to have been a very busy and rapid start of the year. So a bit more ah slow pace at some point would be welcome. And it's probably a nice nice way to take a pause, I suppose, today and
Inspirational Leadership at Bupa
00:01:40
Speaker
have a chat. um And as always, the first rule of Inspire Club and the first question is to share a story about somebody who's inspired you at work and why. um And it'd be great to hear hear about this person. So I deliberated over this one a little bit because ah probably commonly with other people I can think of quite a number of people
00:02:01
Speaker
um like either directly related to my career or you know people who inspire me outside of that. But the one the person I've come back to is my very first manager at Bupa. So I went to university in Manchester and you know hadn't I hadn't planned for a big long career at Bupa. I was in that situation where I needed to get work quickly and I wanted to stay in Manchester and and Bupa's a big employer in Manchester. um And so I went and got a role um as an administrator there and I had just the most incredible um induction welcome onboarding experience you could ever possibly hope for. um And really, that all hinged around a fantastic um leader, and my manager, Yvonne, who kind of managed a team of administrators. And and she, to this day, you know I still sometimes will think about her leadership style, which I think was probably pretty unique for the many years ago that it was. She was just so completely authentic you know from start to finish. you know
00:03:01
Speaker
she would She would come into work and how she felt that day, she would be open about it. She was never pretending to be someone that she wasn't. um She created just a really kind of comfortable, open, transparent dynamic on our team where we could talk about um you know our successes, but we could equally air our frustrations and just talk things through as a team. So I just think that was really healthy and it was such a good start for me. um But actually, I still, when I talk about my career journey at Bupa, because I've, you know, I've had quite a sort of squiggly career at Bupa, um I will always hark back to that brilliant start. So I'm passionate about this now, being, ah being someone who's into it employee engagement and experience. Actually, if you give someone a good start, then you know that it will, you'll reap the benefit of that for for a long, long, long time. It's disproportionate what a difference that makes. So I had, I was so lucky to have that brilliant start. And really, it's thanks to Yvonne.
00:03:55
Speaker
Well, thank you very much, Yvonne.
Career Reflection: 21 Years at Bupa
00:03:57
Speaker
It sounds like it had a big impact. And it was is, I don't know whether it's surprising or not, the amount of guests that we have who go right back to the beginning and the person who's inspired them, that first positive experience and shows you what how how we can feel. um has How long have you been at Booth? Is that a two person question? No, not at all. It's over 21 years now. So crazy long time. Yeah, I did I did leave temporarily and then I came back. So but yeah, I've done I've I've been in the people function for gosh, eight, nine years now. And previous to that I was in operations. So I've done in our health insurance and provision businesses, I've done sort of operations management.
00:04:42
Speaker
And do you think you take take some of those feelings and and ways of doing things that have been exhibited all those years ago and into how you're trying to drive the engagement at Booth for today? Yes, great. A good good question. And yes, I think so. I think, you know, because I've been in, ah but certainly pre ah prior to the people function, I was in a lot of leadership roles and actually actually she inspired me through all of that. And I even noticed that when I was maybe more new to management,
00:05:11
Speaker
I was, you know, there are times when I don't think I was authentic in my style as she was. So she's been a constant inspiration, because I think that's a really important thing to aspire to. and But now, gosh, absolutely, you know, when I think about um how, not easy, because it's not easy what she created, but the sort of simplicity of that being such an important foundation for good engagement, it's not necessarily all this complexity that people think it is, it's, it can be as simple as a really great authentic leader, just creating a really nice team culture and team climate. So, um yeah. Yeah. It's basic, following basic you know who human principles of kindness and caring. and Yeah, but absolutely. Well, i'd I'd love to meet Yvonne.
00:05:58
Speaker
Yvonne on the show. Yeah, well, yeah you never know. you know So um to to the the negative side of the heaven and hell thing that we do, um has there been something that's happened that has driven you to positively change things at work? So you you know, something you'd never want to see happen again in the workplace, that you can't, okay, didn't like that.
00:06:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's probably more of a style for me. So I'm i'm probably going to be a bit vague here, but I feel quite strongly about this. And and and over the year my my career, i you know I think we all probably experienced this. it's It's when you come across those people who are very downtrodden. And and you know everyone's you know I know you know people are all fighting their own wars. And so I i you know i like to think hopefully these days I'm not too judgy of people. But what i what I have found frustrating, but it's been a source of inspiration for me, is when people can of kind of get downtrodden through frustration, start to feel disempowered and get into that mindset of, you know, we've tried that, it didn't work. And they're sort of just planting their feet in the ground. and And if you come in, you know, as a leader or or a colleague in any kind of context, you're trying to create some change, and they can be really quite tricky.
00:07:09
Speaker
um I found that you know I've been in different types of roles and that you know that can sometimes be, that you can come across that kind of mindset. So that's a constant inspiration for me to just sort of keep going and keep finding my ways around that. Because um some of my prouder moments are when I've worked with people like that and actually I've still managed to to bring about positive change. yeah so um and And it's an inspiration for me to maybe, you know, in the back end of, you know, but the late later part of my career is I certainly don't want to become that kind of person who sort of, you know, has that mindset. of Oh, we tried that and it didn't work. I mean, I think it's probably less relevant these days, given how quickly things are changing and progressing. Yeah. yeah So the the opposite of a curious mindset. Yeah. yeah i yeah Perfectly put. Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:59
Speaker
OK, yeah, well, I think we all we all know those people and they they need to be inspired again, don't they? in In some way or form. It's fun inspiration. What's a major workplace priority right now in and your world or the wider world?
Navigating Growth and Uncertainty at Bupa
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, probably more for but for Bupa at the moment. where You know, it's ah it's a good time to be in health care. and We've had a we've had a you know really sort of monumental last few years and the pace is continuing. So we're in quite high growth at the moment um globally. um And that that's trajectory is just looking to to continue. That's against the backdrop, though, of like worldwide uncertainty um and also from a people perspective, kind of talent marketplace uncertainty. So there's there's good in it and there's there's sort of risk and and sort of you know reasons to to maybe you know sometimes wobble a little bit. So for us, it's all about growth. So certainly,
00:08:58
Speaker
you know, for me and and thinking about people and engagement and culture and, you know, working in ah in a people function where we're thinking about talent and attracting and retaining the the very best talent. it's It's just constantly trying to think ahead, trying to take yourself out of the day to day. I feel lucky to be in a job where I can kind of, you know, I do have a bit of time to think medium and and long term and just try and think about how we might be able to design and plan for. um Because, you know, again, the gone are the days of business growth being just a case of hiring a ton of people, that's just not possible now. I think we need to think much more smartly. We need to be redesigning jobs, you know, very, very quickly. I worry that we're a bit behind on that with how fast AI is coming. um And, um you know, if there's any element of fear around AI, we kind of again, it's like back to what I was just saying, it's like that case of sort of knowledge is power, get to know it. I don't think there's any excuse nowadays for people not to
00:09:54
Speaker
be understanding quite a bit of detail there so that they can embrace it. Because it will, and it is affecting all of us. so And it's probably the biggest unlocker to growth. So so yeah, that that's a big priority for us. as It's growth, but it's I think in 2024 and looking ahead, it's like maybe the way that businesses have grown in the past is not necessarily going to be the same path that we go on. So it's thinking creatively and being curious about how we might achieve that growth um in different ways.
00:10:22
Speaker
yeah lot there's a lot there and I jump jumped jumped out at me was obviously we're talking about hectic start of the year and things ever changing at a constant pace now and but you're able to think ahead so how you how are you able to scrap out some time for this medium and long-term thinking because I know I struggle with it. I'm sure there'll be lots of this on this podcast. How? Yeah, I mean it's a massive challenge and I'm probably lucky to be in the kind of role that's almost focused on that. So a predominant focus of my role um because I'm in our group function so I i' i have a sort of global remit
00:11:03
Speaker
We have a lot of people who focus um on engagement and support our leaders in our businesses in our various regions. So my job allows me, and I, you know, I'm the sort of, I'm, you know, supposedly connect these people together and, and, you know, make sure that we're all speaking to each other and sharing best practice. But I, my job is, I suppose, partially very focused on the future, because a key part of my role that I suppose is maybe quite unique, and there might be other people listening who have this kind of role, but I'm the person who's kind of when the executive team want to know what's the future, what are the new progressive ways of doing XYZ in employee listening and stuff like that. I'm the person who's expected to have that knowledge. So I think it's a really and a key part of the role
Listening to Employees for Growth
00:11:43
Speaker
and and it can be a challenge to carve out that time. But, you know, it's really helped me being curious, you know, really not seeing kind of reading stuff externally as a side of the desk job. It's actually a fun fundamental part of a sort of COE type role that that mine is.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. The other thing that comes out, and this is this is a tough question, maybe in the sense that I'm in constant awe of people like yourself who who work in these roles around the world. um Because quite often you have to deal with both the business issues, but also just issues that society is throwing at us on ah on a daily basis. And you mentioned that the high growth, despite worldwide disruption, in many different ways. How do you How do you tackle or be aware of that worldwide disruption with people walking into offices around the world? like yeah is that Is there something you you try to be aware of or is there something you actively do? It's a great question. I think two things come to mind for me around the two key things that you've got to have to be able to navigate all of that is one, just incredible leaders and going back to Yvonne, like if we've got
00:12:56
Speaker
ah a few thousand Evons at Bupa, which I suspect we do, um yeah then actually I think that goes a long way, because that means our people have got leaders who they can, you know, talk to, feel cared by, feel listened to, you know, like, so having having great leadership is, and authentic, caring leadership is is really, really important. and i And I think, I feel like, and this is probably not unique to Bupa,
00:13:19
Speaker
probably everyone experienced this, but certainly the pandemic sort of, I feel like that really fast track, that really leaders being caring, you know, they really showed up for for people and that's, and it feels like that's continued on. The second bit, and and this is more closer to home for me in my current role is, is you've got to be listening to your people, you just got to be listening, listening, listening and and what they're, you know, paying attention. So we don't go through the motions on our engagement surveys. We, every time we do a survey, we're designing it looking back at what our people told us from the last survey, making sure that we're being as present with them in terms of what are they talking about at the moment? What are concerning people at the moment? And, you know, can we ask more about that? Can we get a bit more curious about that kind of stuff? And, um you know, again, ah you know, ah lucky, but sometimes challenging part of my role is trying to summarize what people are talking about to an executive team. You know, when we've got tens of thousands of voices, you feel quite responsible because you want to
00:14:17
Speaker
You want to relay all of that information, and but it's just trying to do it in a smart way. i've I have so many questions, so but but I'm going to try and stick to our our usual set, but like yeah it's your you you you work is such a very interesting role. um and behold The whole link between employee experience and customer experience is something from the bottom of the head. But what's the best experience of work you've ever had?
00:14:42
Speaker
And why? Yeah, yeah so that this ah maybe hopefully an interesting one. it's ah It's a real like paradox. This one for me because it was a my best experience at work was I just changed role. This is when I worked in operations management and they just change role into what was quite a big contact center customer service management role where I went in and I had a team of um nine team managers and they all had teams. So it was it was I'd done a little bit of um contact centre management. And I got this was now kind of a really big contact centre management role in our stains office. So a big big office for Boopers UK insurance business. And I think on the second day I got there, um the office was flooded, which is quite actually quite a high risk thing in that part of of the very west of London because of all the wetlands around it. But um the office was flooded. So I was straight into a scenario of
00:15:37
Speaker
being on a business continuity emergency team where we had to ah relocate, um put into place a contingency office that we had a contract with, but basically relocate a couple of hundred people to work out of a different office, get all of the tech set up. um i I was having to lead a team of leaders um who I'd only just met um and having to do, you know, huddles every hour with people I barely knew. And the reason why I look back on it so fondly, I remember the feelings of being in it. It was really quite stressful. I was really quite scared. I was really out of my comfort zone. um And, you know, you've got all of that discomfort from just not knowing people and being the new person and in a leadership role. You feel like everyone's looking at you, but
00:16:23
Speaker
There was just so much good came from it because it in some ways it was such a lucky start for me and and this team because we got to know each other so quickly. But I had no option but to be authentic because I just simply didn't know the answer to so many questions being fired at me. But I think they saw that I was ah you know the kind of person who would go and sort stuff out. you know um We all rolled our sleeves up and we got through it. It ended up lasting for a good three or four weeks, I believe. And by the end, you know we were going out and getting everyone McDonald's breakfasts. And it actually turned out to be for many, you know, actually a really happy time, even though, you know, when it first happened, we all thought, oh my goodness, could anything worse happen? You know? Wow. Wow.
00:17:06
Speaker
I want to ask whether you'd be happy to see a flood again or not. I don't know, I don't know. Amazing. It is amazing, talking about pandemic as well, how the difference becomes the norm so quickly. So we've been flooded and then you're working through it and then all of a sudden that just becomes the norm. Yes, exactly. And so I need to look back on it quite quickly.
00:17:33
Speaker
yeah And that's where you need great leaders as well, as you've been talking about. um ah This is my favourite question. So everybody that listens to this podcast knows what's going on.
Best Advice Received: Embracing Fate
00:17:43
Speaker
What's the best advice you've ever been given? And and and what was it? And who is it from, if you know? Best advice, I think, because ah ah only because I've been given lots of amazing advice. but And again, it was the first thing that came to mind um because it's just been so constant throughout my life is from my mum and she's Scottish and I'm not going to do the accent.
00:18:03
Speaker
but there's a phrase in Scotland which is, what's for you will not go by you. And it's just the loveliest piece of advice because if you're in a situation like you're going for a job or you're, you know, you're you're putting yourself out there and you're frightened and something may or may not happen down to you. um It's just a lovely thing to have in the back of your mind because ah it it's a bit sort of, you know, it's all about fate, really. It's trusting in um what you know what's meant to be is meant to be um and it just it's really it's helped me relax look so many times in my life and you know when things haven't come off and you can feel disappointed or you feel like you've missed out on something um I think it's just a lovely piece of advice to fall back on um and just kind of you know helps helps ground me and and you know keep faith in and optimism. I love it that's fantastic that''s why that's why I love this question because there's so many
00:18:54
Speaker
oh bet you've got I bet you could write a book on the but the ones that you've heard now. You're telepathic Sarah. I've literally just written down we need to do an ebook of all i love that go the advice come from the podcast. um you You'll be first paid.
00:19:13
Speaker
inspiration that came on this, or came on this recording. But yeah, no, I think we should definitely. I love that once we will not go by. It also reminds me of what I had Tom Hanks talk about we're going like, it shall pass. So yeah, but oh, absolutely. It's a good one. Yeah, you're you're winning Oscars, everybody loves you. It'll pass. You get a bad review. it it'll It'll pass. Yes, so yes.
00:19:38
Speaker
Kind of like that, you know, a bit different to what you what your mum said, but it's kind of like, you know, just keep going, you know, and what's for you, you know, we'll fight, we'll not go by. I was up in Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago, actually, with with my wife Ivy watching the rugby, watching Scotland beat England, and it was an absolutely fantastic part part of the world. So, yeah, i love to get back up there.
00:20:01
Speaker
Yeah. My dad's half of the family's all Scottish. so Oh, nice. civil yeah yes And I sound it, I think. so
00:20:11
Speaker
Always lovely going up to my mum's from the north of England, dad's from Scotland and I sound like this. Yeah, well, no, exactly the same here. both Most my parents are Scottish. I think I'm like the black sheep of the family. but yeah yeah always Always welcome in the pubs with this accent.
00:20:30
Speaker
Fantastic. um but You might have might have already mentioned this um in passing, but with regards to leaders, what's the most important quality for a leader to possess?
Authentic Leadership: Sarah's Journey
00:20:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think non-surprisingly, for me, it's got to be authenticity. um Yeah, and I was trying to think why I feel so strongly about that, but I think it's just, and maybe it's coming with age, it's just that whole, and maybe it's because I saw myself when I was a young leader not doing this because i you know I think sometimes when you're and you're new to leadership um you sort of think that you're well maybe it's imposter syndrome it's probably I mean again I'm no scientist or academic there's probably a whole so a ton of stuff at play but I certainly didn't feel um all authenticity was far from my mind when I was in my 20s when I became a leader it was you know dress formally you know act powerfully act confident and and I quickly learned
00:21:28
Speaker
that um actually when you know when you drop your guard and are really open with people about not really not having a clue on certain situations, that's when you get the best response from people. And really, it's only through your people. um you know Again, I've been quite lucky, I think, in some jobs that I've done, certainly in our provision and our clinical lines um with BUPA that i've umve I've rarely been able to do the job of the people I've led.
00:21:55
Speaker
so In that sense, that can help because you can't tell people what to do and how to do it. You're achieving your goals through your people. So that really opened up my passion for engagement because I'm a real believer in that upside-down hierarchy. It's, you know, it's it's the people who are delivering to our customers, or the people who are making the big difference. And it's just our job to support them and enable them. um So yeah, authenticity, huge for me, because I just think, you know, um bringing the heat all of our
00:22:26
Speaker
you know, whole humanness into work is hugely important. I don't, you know, i I really don't think that division between home and life nowadays, it's, I don't think that compartmentalization is necessarily healthy and conducive to, you know, a good culture at work. I think we just need to bring it all, you know, talk about our feelings and emotions. And yeah actually, you can start to then use that as a strength um And you know it really builds happy teams when you know all of it can be discussed and brought. So yeah, authenticity would be my my big one.
00:23:00
Speaker
That's a fantastic one. um and And listening to you you speak to Stenio, a number of questions arise quite unsurprisingly. um I like you, I'm not saying this is putting words in your mouth, but I found it very hard to be me.
00:23:20
Speaker
for a long time, not until my late 30s. I'm actually going, no, actually, this is who I am. Take it or leave it. And there's a real freedom and power that comes from that like awakening, I suppose. um
00:23:36
Speaker
ah So I felt like that from a number of my peers and colleagues have gone, you know, it's kind of, it takes time to suddenly feel comfortable being yourself. but Listening to being, bringing a full self to work, opening up, do you feel like we're accelerating that now with with the work that people like yourself are doing, hopefully with the Inspiring Workplaces Awards, showing that actually if you create a culture, a safe culture where, you know, voice matters, you're listening, actually that will allow people to be authentic from the get-go and be themselves when they enter the labor market and therefore become a ah leader quicker.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yes, yeah I do. and And as I mentioned before, I do think in some ways the pandemic maybe helped us out. It's like a silver lining of of it. You know, it helped us out maybe because leaders had no choice but to just, you know, every everywhere everyone it was all hanging out, wasn't it? Everyone was in a different situation. Everyone was in their own kind of version of hell in some regards. And so it maybe fast tracks some of that stuff.
00:24:38
Speaker
um I think yeah as you were just asking about that, i was what came to my mind was i think I think what gives me a lot of optimism and faith for the future is I think younger people nowadays, ah I think what's the dynamic and the the dynamic of work has changed, right? So it's not this parent-child thing where the leader is the parent and you know that the, I don't want to say power, because it's not necessarily power, but the dynamics of work are changing where um you know ah we our ah our talent and our people who work for the organisation really are
00:25:09
Speaker
the powerhouse of the organization. yeah And you know, we listen to them, they've got the answers for our business. um It's all about empowerment and unleashing innovation through your people. It's not, i yeah I think this sort of command and control style of leadership is is really getting very, very old fashioned very quickly. And I think young people are coming into the workforce, it was a different mindset maybe to what you and I had when we first started work. We maybe come in into work saying, oh gosh, you know, I'll just do what I'm told. I'll behave myself, you know, and, you know, one day I'll be a grand leader who can tell everyone what to do. And it's just not like that these days. It's, um so it's almost, you know, um the workplaces demand, it's almost a bit like a chicken and egg, isn't it? I think you need, ah you need great leaders who've who've got the right mindset. But equally, I think
00:25:57
Speaker
younger people particularly are demanding that kind of leadership that they're kind of you know and even you see how people interact in society you know that that sort of full humanness is I think you know it's becoming the way that people are with each other um which I think is just is real is a real positive if a work massively definitely long may continue yeah absolutely because I just yeah wouldn't want to be creating those kind of leaders that will I walked into the workforce in because it was like that. You know, put up and shut up yeah um yeah until your time comes 20 years from now. Yeah, exactly. you know know and so That wasn't that inspiring to us. We had some brilliant people I worked with, but that wasn't the most inspiring environment to people. so
00:26:48
Speaker
um Having heard what you do and how well you do it, it what's ah what's a good go to productivity trick for you?
Productivity and Self-care Tips
00:26:57
Speaker
um Probably two of them. One is is absolutely looking after myself. So um I really have learned probably the hard way that I just can't be effective at work if I'm not looking after myself in life. so things like running, things like um sleep, things like eating well, things, yeah, sort of just having everything in balance will will open up productivity. And i'm I've learned over the years to kind of, start and it's shifting as ah as I've had children and stuff, trying to understand those red flags as they're coming up, because, you you know, when you're coming to a point of possible burnout, you need to, you know, put measures in. So that's probably my number one for productivity is just looking after yourself.
00:27:42
Speaker
but two like time management tools. I'm a ah bit old school or actually my husband is quite a, he's like a black belt time manager um and he's a bit old school and he's got a paper to-do list but what he does you know almost religiously every day is he has this to-do list but he um puts all of his to-dos on the good old fashioned, urgent, important grid. And he will map that out pretty much five days of the week and it's worked really well for him. So actually I've sort of picked that up from him. I was aware of that that model, but um I don't do it every day, but every now and then I will do that. And again, it just helps keep you in the strategic. It helps keep you in the work that makes the biggest difference. And sometimes for me, it's helped me. I can you know sometimes be a bit of a people pleaser when I've got lots of demands at work.
00:28:29
Speaker
it's you know it really gives you perspective in terms of, you know, gen know or you know i have to I have to just almost ignore that no noise over there because what I need to be is over in that strategic land because like you know no one else is going to do that for me. Yeah, yeah well and that's really, really helpful looking after yourself. That's something I'm personally trying to do much more of this year because I definitely feel the you know, the benefit and the necessity of actually, like you say, you need to, you need to definitely put yourself first yeah um got to be able to help other people. So yeah,
00:29:02
Speaker
um cool. So let's kind of onto some of the more like quick, fun part of the podcast. Only bird or night owl. I'm a night owl by you like you know by nature,
00:29:16
Speaker
um but unfortunately I'm a night owl who's living in an early bird's you know body with young kids at the moment. so I'm hoping as they get older I might be able to revert to my my natural night owl, but yeah so I'm probably a bit of a grumpy early bird at the moment for the last few years.
00:29:33
Speaker
oh This is obviously a tough, tough question. A favourite album. And if um you have a song that if you need to get going, do the urgent actions, what song would you play to get you fired up? Yeah, so massively, massively into music. So favourite album is really tricky. but yeah and And this is a bit niche, but and my favourite album of all time is Blacklight by Groove Armada.
00:29:58
Speaker
but one which came out in 2010. It's not particularly well known, but I just think it's an absolute masterpiece. So ah I go back to that one time and time again. ah My song, probably, You've Got the Love by Candy Stanton. and Nice. Yeah. So the Candy Stanton version? Yes, the Candy Stanton version. Yeah. Awesome. That's not on our playlist. So let's go straight to the playlist. I think that was in Layer Cake. um ah Favorite film?
00:30:28
Speaker
Favorite film again, ah Interstellar is my favorite film. So I ah have a big brother and it's the one thing that we share in life that not many of my friends do is that we're a little bit of sci-fi geek. So ah yeah, I love Interstellar, like a meaty science fiction movie. so were yeah That would be it. That's the one Nolan I've not done. I went to go watch it and I wasn't in the right frame of mind, so I didn't... It's pretty heavy. It is pretty heavy. Yeah, go on. No, I love Nolan, so I don't know why. I need to go back to it. I love McConaughey as well. Yeah, I know. I've not seen Oppenheimer yet. I'm building up to that. But again, I know that it's not light work, so I'm trying to find the right moment to watch that film. Yeah, well, having missed it in the cinema now, I've got a flight to America for our awards there. Oh, well, there you go. I'm hoping that'll be a really good three hours. Yeah, I think so. I would be doing the same.
00:31:30
Speaker
um Best place in the world you've ever been to? um Iceland, definitely Iceland. My mum is, ah her mum was Icelandic, so I'm lucky enough to have Icelandic family.
00:31:43
Speaker
I've been there a few times, and but it just it even just as a tourist forgetting my family connections, I just think it's the most extraordinary place on earth and absolutely adore the place. um would you It's probably an impossible question to answer, winter or summer? Do you know what? That's such a good question because I've done i've done it, kind of again, very lucky I've done it all. My most recent trip was in the middle of winter and it was because it was just coming out the back end of Covid and We had another trip cancelled, so we went there at last minute and I was almost a little bit dreading it because, i you know, again, it's well known that you'll only get, you know, three, four hours of of daylight, but actually it was the coziest, most wonderful trip.
00:32:25
Speaker
um in Reykjavik and we went to the Blue Lagoon and that kind of stuff. so But summer summer was incredible for getting out and seeing the island because you just get all of that daylight all of the time. But you need to take a sleep mask if you're going to sleep because it's really screws with the heads going to beds in the daylight.
00:32:44
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, so I to have to have do it twice then at least. Yeah, unfortunately so. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm devastated. I've got to go tomorrow. Awesome. And if you've got, who would be a great guest for the podcast?
Future Guests Suggestions
00:33:03
Speaker
Yeah. Well, gosh, I mean, I could think of all the biggies, but um all the Americans, but um you might not, you might not get the Brené Browns or the Barack Obama's, but um People maybe closer to home that I think yeah um would be fantastic on here are people like Catherine Garrett, who wrote that fantastic inclusion book. She's great. I love listening to her. And um yeah, I think she would be interesting. And Linda Grattan, I'm a good follower of g Linda Grattan's work. I think she's a great speaker. And again, she's got so much wisdom. um Definitely. So yeah, yeah two two for me. Yeah, no, two fantastic suggestions, actually. But I follow both those people as well.
00:33:43
Speaker
And funnily enough, I'm a distant relation to Barak Obama through marriage. so yeah so um But my cousin's uncle is Barak Obama. Wowza, that's amazing. that's and what Maybe you can get him on then or Michelle. so no No chance. Absolutely zero chance. yeah but the that they There you go. Fantastic. Well, I mean, I've had such a wonderful time with you, Sarah, and i so many more questions. Hopefully we can catch up in person. maybe
00:34:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that would be fantastic. Yeah, no, it's been a lot of fun. Thank you. It's a fun thing to do in the middle of the day. Well, look, do you have anything else you'd like to say before we say goodbye? No, just thank you. I mean, it's ah it's a really enjoyable podcast series and I just feel yeah very lucky to have been a guest on it. So thank you very much. Well, thank you. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you to everybody that continues to listen and we'll be back again soon. Take care of yourselves. All right. Bye bye.