Sarah Wells

Excellence isn’t reserved for a select few. It’s a mindset that anyone can adopt, no matter who you are, or where you begin.

In this transformative keynote, Olympian Sarah Wells will reveal how we can all cultivate excellence in ourselves and in organizations. Sarah will share the core principles that drive excellence: the power of belief in yourself, the courage to do things differently, and the resilience to rise from setbacks. By going all in on your unique strengths and experiences, you can unlock success in ways only you can achieve.

Through compelling stories and real-life examples, Sarah will help audiences understand that excellence isn’t about perfection, it’s about breaking free from limiting beliefs and constantly striving to outperform who you were yesterday.

With more than a decade of competition at the highest level, along with a master’s degree in leadership & innovation from the Smith School of Business, Sarah delivers powerful, research-backed insights that unlock the mindset and practical tools to cultivate excellence in everything you do.

Join Sarah to discover how to make excellence your daily standard and watch it transform not just your work but every facet of your life.

Key take-aways:

• Excellence is for Everyone: Learn how to adopt an excellence-driven mindset, no matter who you are or where you start, unlocking your potential for growth and success.
• The Power of Going ALL IN: Discover how believing in yourself is the foundation of achieving greatness, and how this belief can propel you to break through limiting beliefs.
• Excellence is Contagious: Discover how surrounding yourself with high standards can elevate your performance and create a ripple effect in your organization.
• Courage to Be Different: Understand the importance of daring to take unconventional paths and leaning into your unique strengths to create success only you can achieve.
• Strength in Setbacks: Gain practical strategies for turning failures into learning moments, understanding that resilience in the face of setbacks is key to long-term success.

Change is constant, and how we respond to it defines the trajectory of our success.

In this inspiring and transformative keynote, Olympian Sarah Wells invites you to reframe the way you think about obstacles and setbacks. Drawing from her journey as an elite athlete, Sarah will share the essential mindset shifts that empower individuals and organizations to not just face adversity, but to use it as a catalyst for growth and innovation.

Sarah knows firsthand that success is not about avoiding hurdles but mastering the art of overcoming them. With her three powerful strategies, you’ll learn how to embrace life’s detours and turn them into stepping stones toward a reality greater than you ever imagined.

Through her engaging stories of resilience, grit, and excellence, Sarah will reveal how cultivating a mindset of adaptability and excellence helps you thrive in uncertain times.

This keynote offers more than just inspiration! It provides actionable tools and strategies that your audience can apply immediately. Sarah will show how excellence, resilience, and a willingness to face challenges head-on can transform obstacles into opportunities. Attendees will leave with renewed confidence, armed with the skills to embrace change with grace and turn setbacks into successes.

Key take-aways:

• Unexpected changes can lead to even better outcomes, if you’re willing to embrace new opportunities.
• Lean into your strengths during change, as they provide the best path for leading others through uncertainty.
• Believe in yourself, even when plans change, because your adaptability will keep you moving forward.
• Your past experiences and skills are powerful tools that help you thrive in the face of change.
• Your unwavering commitment and energy inspire others to stay focused, even in uncertain times.

In today’s fast-paced world, true success doesn’t come from following the same path as everyone else, it comes from embracing what makes you unique and daring to think differently.

In “The 16 Stride Factor,” Olympian Sarah Wells shares the game-changing strategy that helped her defy the odds in athletics. She’ll show how individuals and organizations alike can apply this approach to supercharge their own goals and unlock new levels of success.

While most 400m hurdlers at the Olympics take 15 strides between hurdles, Sarah broke the mold by crafting a strategy that played to her strengths, taking 16 strides instead. This unconventional approach, tailored to her unique abilities, was key to her Olympic success.

In this dynamic presentation, Sarah will challenge you to embrace unconventional approaches, leverage your team’s distinctive abilities, and cultivate a culture that celebrates experimentation and exploration without fear of failure or a need for guaranteed outcomes.

Get ready to break away from tradition, harness your organization’s unique strengths, and discover how to achieve success in a way that only you can.

Key take-aways:

• Conformity Crushes Creativity: When we embrace unconventional thinking and break away from traditional approaches, we open up new paths to success that others may overlook.
• Lead with Authenticity: We inspire our teams most powerfully when we lead in a way that’s true to our unique strengths, rather than trying to mimic how others inspire.
• Inspire Boldness Through Action: By taking risks and not being afraid to try, we encourage those around us to step outside their comfort zones and make bold moves too.
• Failure Fuels Growth: Whether or not our experiments go to plan, each effort provides valuable lessons that drive future innovation and evolution.

What could your team do if they believed anything was possible? What if every setback fueled your next breakthrough? What if every challenge revealed a hidden opportunity? Sarah’s story is a testament to that possibility.

As an Olympian and an Amazing Race contestant, she has transformed trials into triumphs, mastering a 4-step system to help your team chart the course to an Amazing Race!

In this high-energy keynote, Sarah will reveal the proven system she’s used to transform fierce competition and unexpected roadblocks into unforgettable achievements. Through vivid storytelling and hard-earned insights from both the track and the world’s toughest race course, Sarah will guide your audience to:

• Adopt a Champion’s Mindset: Cultivate unwavering belief in your goals, empowering your people to take bold action and stay the course, even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed.
• Turn Setbacks into Stepping Stones: Master the art of reframing every challenge as a springboard for innovation and growth, so your team sees roadblocks as the fuel for their next big win.
• Drive Outstanding Results: Discover how to identify and amplify individual and collective talents, unlocking extraordinary performance and breakthrough results.

This session is a game‑changer for any organization seeking to energize teams, accelerate performance, and achieve breakthrough results. Get ready to revitalize your ambition, ignite your passion, and set the pace for an amazing race—your race—toward a future where nothing can hold you back.

Key take-aways:

• Embrace a Champion’s Mindset: Equip your team with the confidence and habits to take bold action—even when the path is uncertain.
• Transform Setbacks into Accelerators: Turn every challenge into a catalyst for creativity, innovation, and forward momentum.
• Harness Unique Strengths: Identify and amplify individual and collective talents to unlock breakthrough performance.
• Sustain Unstoppable Momentum: Build the tools and practices needed to maintain energy, collaboration, and progress mile after mile.

In our society, success is frequently measured by our ability to set and accomplish objectives. However, success should not be limited to merely tangible outcomes or accolades.

While outcomes are essential, it is equally crucial to cultivate a system that motivates and encourages us throughout the process. Unexpected circumstances may arise, and goals may shift, yet having a resilient and adaptable approach is critical to maintaining momentum and achieving success.

This workshop will focus on developing success criteria that will not only help the participants achieve their objectives but also maintain their focus and drive along the way.

By exploring and identifying the elements that motivate and inspire us, participants will learn how to incorporate them into their personal and professional lives.

By the end of this workshop, attendees will have a clear understanding of what success means to them and how to maintain their motivation and resilience on their path towards achieving it.

KEY ACTIVITIES

• Reflection of successful moments
• Understanding what is at the root of your success
• Letting go of outcomes only, to see success in the everyday

OUTCOME
Participants will walk away with a new perspective around what success can look like, along with a clearly defined success criteria to use as a measuring stick for future endeavors.

Most superstars have an incredible team helping them operate at a high level. This workshop will equip attendees with practical tools and techniques to intentionally design their ideal team of supporters.

We will examine their current network, identify individuals to seek assistance from, and determine how to effectively engage with them.

Attendees will learn how to conduct a comprehensive audit to determine which individuals possess the knowledge, experience, and resources to assist them in achieving their goals.

Additionally, we will examine how to effectively communicate and engage with these individuals to foster a supportive and collaborative relationship. Join us for a transformative session that will empower attendees to build a dream team of supporters and achieve their full potential.

KEY ACTIVITIES

• How to audit your network to fill your knowledge gaps – and know who to ask first!
• Build your dream team – mentorship and support
• How to ask for help from others and not feel like a pain in the butt

OUTCOME
Participants will create a dream team of support and learn a process on how to tap their network for any need.

True leadership isn’t just about titles, it’s about the ability to inspire and uplift others. This workshop is designed for individuals at any stage of their leadership journey who want to understand why inspirational leadership matters and how small, intentional actions that leverage their strengths can create lasting impact.

Through engaging discussions and interactive exercises, participants will explore the key traits of inspirational leaders and uncover simple, everyday strategies, unique to them, that they can apply to motivate and empower those around them.

By the end of the session, attendees will have a deeper understanding of what it means to be an inspiring leader and how to embody that role through consistent, intentional actions.

KEY ACTIVITIES

• What is Inspirational Leadership
• Inspiring leader examples
• Exploring inspirational leadership traits
• Applying inspirational leadership

OUTCOME
Participants will identify the core elements of their inspirational leadership brand, develop an action plan to integrate inspirational leadership into their daily management practices, and create a strategy for gathering feedback from colleagues and managers.