The Trailblazers Experience Podcast

EP42 Sarah Middleton: Mastering Career Shifts from Marketing to Mergers and the Pursuit of Work-Life Harmony

• Ntola • Season 3 • Episode 42

Share episode

Send us a text

Have you ever stood at the crossroads of a career shift, wondering how to leap from one field to another? Sarah Middleton did just that, transitioning from a seasoned Marketing Director to a dynamic force in Mergers and Acquisitions. Our latest episode uncovers how she navigated the complexities of integrating smaller companies within a larger brand, emphasizing the art of rebranding startups and the power of effective internal and external communication. Discover the secrets to leveraging the strengths of a larger organization to foster growth and secure more significant contracts.

Embarking on a new career path can feel like uncharted territory, but it's a journey ripe with hidden passions and opportunities. Reflecting on my own pivot from scientific research to B2B marketing, we discuss the impact of graduate programs, mentorship, and the unexpected twists that can lead to fulfilling roles in consultancy and sustainability. We unpack the importance of keeping an open mind and how a collection of skills and experiences can propel you into opportunities that once seemed out of reach. It's about the adventure of uncovering what truly impassions you and the mentors who help light the way.

As we navigate the working world, we're often reminded of the fragile balance between professional success and personal well-being. Our conversation takes a deep dive into the significance of integrity and finding a work-life fit that honors both professional ambitions and personal health. From the challenges of working mothers to the broader implications of mental health awareness, we explore how nurturing an environment of openness can lead to richer, more satisfying career paths. Join us and be inspired by Sarah's story, one that champions resilience, community support, and the courage to embrace change while staying true to oneself.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Overview
00:40 Sarah's Role in Mergers and Acquisitions
05:13 The Challenges of Retiring a Brand
07:18 The Impact of Communication in M&A
09:16 Sarah's Unexpected Career Path
11:23 The Influence of Upbringing and Education
13:15 Milestones and Achievements
16:08 The Evolution of Priorities and Ambitions
22:47 Core Values and Ethics
26:20 Challenges Faced, Including Menopause
32:17 The Impact of Focusing on Menopause
33:22 Improvements for Men and Women
35:47 Work-Life Fit
38:12 Balancing Work and Life
40:17 Setting Non-Negotiables
42:37 The Importance of Fitness
44:48 Building Foundations in Your Career
46:12 The Role of Networking and Mentorship
52:19 Career Aspirations and Goals
56:50 Trailblazer Takeaways

FInd Sarah :https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcmiddleton/
Watch : https://youtu.be/A474g3_AKJc

Listen : to the audio version Apple Spotify .Amazon Music Google Podcasts
Watch and subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@Thetrailblazersexperience
Follow Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thetrailblazersexperience/

The trailblazers Experience:

Welcome to another episode of the Trailblazers Experience podcast, where we aim to share candid conversations with women about their career journeys and lessons learned to date. My next guest is the amazing Sarah Middleton, who's currently Marketing Director in Mergers and Acquisition. She has a myriad of experience working for various organisations and I look forward to having this chat about her journey. Hi, sarah.

Sarah Middleton :

Hi, Ntola, and thank you very much. That was quite a grand entrance, so now I've got to live up to it.

The trailblazers Experience:

I would like to actually start because, marketing Director, when someone hears that they're thinking brand advertising, business, but your career and currently what you're doing now is completely different.

Sarah Middleton :

Yes, so I don't actually do any marketing anymore, which is quite strange. So I've been in marketing now for coming up for 27 years, so I've got quite a long head of grey. My career has been mainly in manufacturing professional services I've done. My most recent role before this one was in e-commerce as well, but it's all been in B2B, whereas my current role is about we.

Sarah Middleton :

I work for a sustainability consultancy. It's a global professional services organisation, 8,000 people across 40 countries, and what we do is, if anyone wants to actually deliver sustainability, we have the consultants that come in, give the strategy and then also can go on the ground and do any audits or remediation work lots of different things. So we're quite an interesting organisation. To grow who we are. We go out and acquire businesses and I'm supposed to be targeted around 10 a year. I haven't done that many this year, but we buy lots of companies and they tend to be from around 30 people. So I'm working on one at the moment that's 30 people, and I'm about to work on one that's 120. So not huge organisations. Often they come from start-up land and they've got to a point where to really grow they need a massive cash injection and it's the choice between getting more cash from a VC organisation or being sold to a corporate like us. So it's quite a different role. So my role is well start-off.

Sarah Middleton :

I have an internal comms and a marketing background, which is just great, because I like to merge the two because, especially in professional services marketing, you've got to really understand your people, because your people are your brand. If you're a big oil company and person from ERM goes in and consults with them, that's the brand, so it's really important. So I do announcements. So right from I work with the acquisition, working up to announcing the acquisition or support on the PR, internal communications, both within our organisation but in their organisation as well, and help them along the change journey. Then my job flips over into more marketing.

Sarah Middleton :

So I have to look at how do they go to market, what's their strategy and then look at it and then look at what ERM is and then try to bring it together and this is where brand comes in as well. So both that's the technical marketing. So I've got some at the moment that do quite a lot of lead generation, lead nurturing, and we don't particularly do that. So how do we either upskill our organisation to do what they do, or how do we change the way that they work as well. So that's one big piece, but then the other is about brand. So I'm sure I mean, natalia, you've worked with organisations that are startups, and moving on is they've created a baby, so it's there. They've thought about the name, they've thought about the purpose, what it means, the brand identity, the website, social media following, and then we have one strong, monolithic brand. So I also have to talk to them about we're going to have to retire your brand at some point.

The trailblazers Experience:

There's a lot there that just to unpack, I mean really just working 360 across from, like you said, nurturing a business that's a startup, but also taking it from the acquisition piece and then saying, right, how do we move this forward, what are the next steps? And communication, I think, seems to be very key in every part of what you do.

Sarah Middleton :

And so that's why I think I, you know, got this role based because I've got a lot of marketing experience, but I've also got a lot of internal external communications experience. I've done crisis comms. I've done some of the most difficult crisis comms, so it does help. You have difficult conversations to get to where you need to be. But yeah, it's, retiring a brand that a startup has created is really hard, and I remember last year, having a conversation with someone is like so my brand is going to be gone from the world and I'm like, yeah, unfortunately it is.

Sarah Middleton :

But then look at the growth that you've had as being part of our business, because what we offer acquisitions is our route to market and our clients.

Sarah Middleton :

So our account managers, we work with all of the largest organisations in the world and you mentioned an aim and we probably work with them so we get them access to that. And I've got one tech startup that we acquired last year and they were getting lots of small contracts and we're just starting to win some really significant contracts using our network and our clients, which suddenly makes them much more profitable. Because that's the big challenge that you have if you're getting lots of small contracts and you've got a tech platform. You know it takes as much effort to deliver to a large contract as a small contract and that's where we really come in. So you just have to remind them of the benefit of being part of our organisation, and our clients expect them to be here and with our, with our standards. Are policies, are cheesiest quality, all of the different things that they expect from a brand like us. So we that we give them that reflected, reflected presence in the market as well.

The trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, I think it's a very big step change. I think until the brand is actually signed on the dotted line, realising what it means to be part of your organization, I think they're oblivious, isn't it that everything's going to change, but actually for the better, yeah, sort of a net.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah, and, and a big part of the job, even with the marketing side, is change communications. So one of the very first engagement I have with an acquisition and that would be Six weeks out we're really fast when it comes to acquisition, so it'll be about six weeks out. I quickly realized in this role because we're acquiring lots of smaller businesses and I am used to, and that I had to help them understand the change journey and a lot of them are really smart, well educated people. You know I've got one acquisition and they're all filled with Harvard graduates. You still have to go through this is the change journey. You're really excited about where things are gonna be here, your people here, but you still haven't got your head round the fact that you're gonna lose control of this business, total control, and the baby that you nurtured and grew and spent so many hours and developing is not gonna be there in 18 months.

Sarah Middleton :

And then the other side is, you know, back to the lead gen. We're very much about demand gen, not lead gen. We we cross a lot when. About content marketing? Where is a lot of these organizations? They pay them mortgage based on the lead pipeline and it's very difficult to say actually you don't need that anymore because those leads coming in through your website Really small value and not very profitable. But you work with our account managers and you'll have massive account. But that's a loss of control and, yeah, I'm sure it's a lot of emotions when times were tough, which they always are in the start of organization.

The trailblazers Experience:

I think I mean that's music to my ears because even just from a retail perspective, you know we're all about gen lead generation, but actually where is the demand and where is the the profit in terms of what that turns into? So it's, it's. It's difficult, I think, for many Businesses where they started and nurtured that from the beginning, putting their first person on the database and converting it into a sale. But if it hasn't been profitable and it's not helping the business and it's, it's definitely a step change. So you described to me, sarah, I mean you have an amazing role which is cross functional, working across people customer, external comms, internal comms. I know legal, legal ease, the way back. What has been your journey and did you see yourself in this particular sector when you started out?

Sarah Middleton :

No, no, really interesting, because when I say I'm a chemistry graduate which is completely different, and what? What usually happens when the everyone expects me to have done media studies or English, and then I've had situations, this really funny story. So one job I had, I sat down and I had to do some sort of some marketing campaign for a new product and this engineer stood up and said, right, I'm gonna explain galvanization to you, right, and he went into All this data and it's like did you understand that? I went, yeah, I got a degree in chemistry and he went okay, so that's one of the challenges I've had through my career and that's probably, you know, a woman science, but moved into communication. So, yeah, I'm a chemistry graduate.

Sarah Middleton :

I am spent a year working for bp exploration, looking at in a lab, looking at how we can enhance oil recovery, which is quite an interesting place to be, but that was back in the nineties, very different time. But that was really informative to me because I decided that I was not right in the lab. I was quite clumsy and accident prone, which is never a good thing. Yes, so it wasn't the right thing for me, but I absolutely love science and I love this manufacturing. I love b2b. That's that's where I want to be. I have no interest in fncg. It's where I want to be because the science really interests me.

Sarah Middleton :

Now you ask me a chemistry question. I'll probably struggle to answer it, but I still have the training and the thought process is to be able to understand what they're talking about. So let's get back to your original question. It's really interesting you say about that because I didn't. I, I come from I don't know quite I would call a normal background. You know my parents didn't go to university. I went through, you know, state school system fairly standard, fairly standard from my point of view. Education, I didn't know companies like erm existed. So consultancy and I think I would really like to have gone and been a consultant in our business. It looks really exciting, specially for For the young. There's an awful lot of young people in our organization that do some really fascinating things on site. So I think I would actually like to do that.

Sarah Middleton :

But yeah, I took a decision. I got on a when they used to have graduate milk rounds. I went on the commercial graduate milk round for company called bc gases who massive. They got taken over the code Linda now. But yeah, and I did lots of different placements and the bit I really loved was marketing. I did some fantastic marketing then, like in the old days of doing direct marketing, you know, and getting that box of samples and opening up and getting the smell. So that's where I really cut my teeth from a brand and marketing point of view. So, yeah, no, I didn't expect to be where I am today.

The trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, and it's interesting what you said where you went to university and you know you started working for bp and then you made a step change. There was a decision isn't a decision tree, as we call it where you said, well, I can keep on going in this direction, being the club clumsy one in the lab, and you sort of went in that direction as well. Interesting what you said about consultancies, because I'm even now working for the businesses that I work for, hearing how people come into management consultants, yeah, equity and just seeing that journey. I wasn't told about that growing up. It was either you're a doctor, you're an engineer or you're an accountant. But to actually see that there's so many other directions you can take and sustainability as well as a sector I mean, with all the laws that are being passed and the climate change and all the initiatives that are going on, there's so many roles that are going to be creative through that as well, and the business I'm in spin around since 1971 so I don't need that and so it's been around a long time.

Sarah Middleton :

But, like you and I think one of the things and I don't see it changing very much in the school system if you're going to, if your parents you know on and I'm in the right circles to understand the kinds of careers that you could go in your school just pipe you through all of the different things. So I got told well, your options are secretary teacher, beautician. I was gonna do any of those and thankfully I had the most amazing chemistry teacher woman who just inspired me to go into chemistry. I just left it. But I didn't know what I would do chemistry. I think I chose it because I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I looked at pharmacy, I looked at optometry, lots of different applied sciences was. I'm not sure I want to do that. So that's why I did chemistry and I didn't know what I wanted to do when I came out.

Sarah Middleton :

So thankfully, I did the year in industry with bp, which really started to write. Okay, I understand the different things. I saw marketing, I saw h, I saw finance, all the different things, and then I have my role within the lab, but it is very difficult, I think, for for young people at school these days to really understand the breadth of the things that they could actually go into. And as adults and mentors, I think we could do so much more to support that and give back to school and help them understand. Help help Our future, the ones that are going to be paying our pensions when we get old, understand what types of careers that are that can give them real satisfaction.

The trailblazers Experience:

Definitely and I think that's sort of one of the highlights I think of starting the podcast is someone's gonna listen and say they might be new, now doing the chemistry degree and say, right, I'll finish that, but now I know step two. I could actually explore a different avenue and just hearing about the different amazing careers and opportunities that are out there. So when you do see that job advert you know online, you actually just go for it and not use what you've studied previous is an excuse not to go for a different career will win past.

Sarah Middleton :

I mean I'm I remember really distinctively me Applying for the job that I got on the milk round the, the BOC job, so I'd. So my year in industry was my third year at university. I was really clear I wanted to do a year in industry Because I didn't know what I wanted to do and I'm quite a pragmatic, practical person so I like to experience things before make a decision. So that was really great. I came back to my final year, really focused on I don't want to do a PhD, I don't want to stay in academia, I want to get out there and some money and get into business. That that was my focus.

Sarah Middleton :

And it was funny because when I in my final year I was put in with a group of year threes who done a straight degree and they kept asking me why you're applying for these jobs, why are you going to all these milk round Meetings? And it's like because I need to get a job now, because then I'll start in. This was pre Christmas. This was like October To start the job in September next year. You don't need to think about until after graduation.

Sarah Middleton :

I remember Christmas Eve. I filled out some like 10 application forms For graduate milk rounds on Christmas Eve, all my friends I know we're out drinking and doing other things and that was my focus because I wanted to assure my future, which was amazing because when I went into my finals I already had a job and I had an unconditional offer of a job, so that took all the pressure off getting all of those grades. I knew in September I would be starting starting my new life. And that new life amazing because it was, I think I did five different jobs in different areas and that time so yeah, and I think, probably do you think it's also your upbringing as well, where you were just forward planning.

The trailblazers Experience:

You just wanted to, you know, to forward plan, to have some stability for yourself.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I did. I mean, I'm coming up for a big birthday this year and I've never been at work, you know. So that that's part of me. I, if I feel that things aren't working out where I am, I start looking and making sure that I Make my future stable, you know, and I've got a family now, so I have to think about that, obviously. But yeah, I've never not worked and that that's part of who I am.

The trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, definitely so. Just thinking about things that have contributed to your growth, both personally and professionally you've already touched on one of them that you know you're very hard working. Your your very consistent, for your stability is important, and I think that speaks volumes to you and your role. But what are some milestones or achievements that you're particularly proud of, just on reflection?

Sarah Middleton :

Getting my chemistry degree. It was really hard. It's really hard but it's great to say to people I've got a degree in chemistry and they all go oh wow, that's interesting and so that was one. But actually, interestingly, you know the whole narrative about parents becoming a parent. That's such a massive milestone in my career. So, whilst it was really tough, my kids are coming Teams young teams now, so things are much easier when, when they were little, obviously the childcare burden the juggle, as I used to call it you know working husband.

Sarah Middleton :

He worked away quite a lot juggling my career with that one and I think it really focuses you on what's important in your role. It makes you an awesome project manager because you know you've got to get home To feed the kids, pick them up. You've got deadlines to pick them up, get home, do it and you have to juggle your life around making sure that you expand your career but also making sure those little people in your life are safe, fed, warm, loved. That's such a massive thing and I think that's made a huge difference to the way I am with my career In terms of me as a manager. You know, like I was met with someone the other day and it's interesting about me as a manager. You know it's like remembering that the people that work for your adult. So that's about adult, adult relationships and because you know what a parent child relationships like, because you've got children at home and you know that, like being dictatorial, micro management never works on a child, is certainly not going to work on an adult. There's lots of things that you can learn from being a parent Into into the place of work as well.

Sarah Middleton :

And and also, I think, the other thing, and you know before, before children, I was hugely ambitious and I think, actually with the children it brings the human side into you and you start to soften your way because you again you see that if you're really hard on a kid, they scream and shout no different to an adult really. So yeah, that's a massive milestone for me as well. Other milestones that can really think about I think the other end actually of Child rearing is when things start getting much easier, and that started for me in the last year. Suddenly you've got the headspace to really Start your career again and I think I'm in an interesting period, especially now that you know the whole ages and things hopefully is starting to crumble. You know I think about someone. You know I'm 50 this year so and you would normally think about someone at the age of 50 is being ready for retirement in five years. This is no way I'm retiring five years, second wind.

The trailblazers Experience:

That's amazing. I think it really speaks volumes. Talking about, I feel like as a woman, you go through different chapters. You get it over your life, so, whether it's your 20s, your 30s, your 40s or 50, and then the added impact if you are married, if you are a parent. It just put things into perspective and it really resonated with me when you said, when you Not that, I've never. I've always been ambitious and you're still ambitious, but your priorities just change, the things that you used to give a shit about when you didn't have kids. You're like I need to prioritize completely differently, isn't it as well?

Sarah Middleton :

No, I said I'm a woman of a certain age.

The trailblazers Experience:

You know, I don't give a shit anymore so, yeah, I think the older you get, or there's a certain age where you, before you, had fear of missing out, but then now you have the joy of missing out.

The trailblazers Experience:

No anymore, no phone yeah and that's an interesting aspect, I think, of your role is, once an acquisition is complete, then you're moving on to the next one. So you know there's that norming and storming people trying to, you know, assert themselves in that situation. Once they've gotten over that, now you can get down to business and go through with your project plan and what you need to do.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah, but the thing is you have to do it back to the compassion, and you know it's more than empathy is it's, it's it's compassion. You have to do it all with compassion. You gotta understand that these people are going through a massive change, change of control, change of lifestyle, going from a small business to a big corporate. And that's a really hard transition because big corporates do not move that fast, you know, and there's a whole reason you have to start explaining the reasons why, because you know the things that you do have impact somewhere else. So it's, you know, the whole butterfly effect is very true in corporate. So that's why sometimes you got to work a bit slower, but I think with the working slower you get much bigger impact and that that's quite a big mindset change. So you've got to understand that it's really difficult. And then also the legal guys. You know they suck up a lot of time, so so a lot of the times during acquisitions, these guys aren't getting much sleep.

The trailblazers Experience:

You know it's like? Isn't it for the next part of the process to be complete forms to fill out.

Sarah Middleton :

You know you think about you selling a house right. Multiply that by 50 and then be responsible for 30 to 100 people. It's yeah, it's quite interesting.

The trailblazers Experience:

Talk to me, sarah, about your core values and your ethics and how that shapes how you deal with your, with your clients. I think a lot of it is coming through in the conversation that you have strong core values and ethics. Just what? What are they for you?

Sarah Middleton :

Hmm, interesting one. So sustainability is really important to me. When this job came up, actually, it was like this really hits home with me about the planet, you know, and we need and it's not just about planet is planet and people, you know, and the you know the three P's panic, people profit. You know. That's the only way that we're really really going to affect change is getting into these large corporations and helping them to change. And I maybe I'm naive, I don't know I fundamentally believe that these humans within these organizations, the majority of them, do not want to see our planet burn and they do not want to see temperatures rise by whatever. They don't want to see their back gardens becoming the sea, you know so. So actually I really relate to the purpose of our business. Sustainability is our business, that's, that's our, that's our core values. So so that's really really important to me.

Sarah Middleton :

Integrity is so very, very important to me as well. So, again, what I really like where I work now is there is a lot of integrity in this business and there's some really difficult conversations happen about different things like oil and gas. Should we work with oil and gas and all these different things, and and and that's great. I like the whole adult, adult conversations that we have in this organization. So that that's really important.

Sarah Middleton :

I suppose it's you know integrity, but also have worked in places where it's parent child and that's no fun. So being treated like an adult, having a say within the organizations, is really important to my values as well. And the final one is you know stability and family. That that that's really important to me and that's really hard to come to terms with. You know, when I've done these values, you do these processes that lead leadership courses working out your values, and you don't quite want to put that down because you think that's a bit boring and safe, but actually it is important to me. It's it's it's it drives a lot of the decisions. You just got to own it.

The trailblazers Experience:

I think so, and I think it's also an anchor. You know it's an anchor as it's your foundation, it's your center point, it's your true north, where you sort of circle back if you are going through any challenges which I'm going to, you know, ask about are there any challenges that you faced? You need something to send to you and draw you back and to remind you why you're doing certain things. I think, and stability and family, if that's the core value for you, hold on to that with all you can. At the end of the day, I think that's really important. Challenges so many, yes, and you know you work in such a dynamic and multifaceted industry. You know, especially as a working mom, you've got two amazing girls. How talk to me about one that stands out where you just think, wow, that was real. That was a difficult moment for me.

Sarah Middleton :

And this one is quite personal, I suppose, but I'm happy to talk about it. And menopause, you know I'll put that that elephant in the room, and I'm so glad that people are open about talking about it. That was real. I went through it quite young and didn't know I was going through it and that was a really challenging period. I see myself as quite a strong person who knows her mind. I lost my mind, totally lost my mind with it.

Sarah Middleton :

Thankfully, one day at work not here in a different company, but they do it here as well they have one of these menopause awareness sessions and I started going tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Oh, wait, a minute, is this, what's going on with me? Literally anxiety. It was just horrific and I hadn't realised what was going on, but I ignored it. I kept ignoring it. I'm too young for that, you know. I'm only in my early 40s, mid 40s. I'm too young to go through this and I don't want everyone to think that I was old. So I ignored it and it just got worse.

Sarah Middleton :

And then, the day that I went I'm going to do something about this rang the doctor, explained my symptoms and then they said do a blood test Right? Yes, you're in perimenopause and here's some tablets. My world changed in 10 days and I just think now and I hope any women that listen to that is if you think that this is going on with you, you're having anxiety attacks, you think you're depressed, all of these different things go and see the doctor because it's fixed in as little as it starts being fixed within 10 days and it changes your life and you think why did I have all those years of doubting myself? And then suddenly it's just a hormone imbalance. So I would say that that was a really, really big challenge in my life.

The trailblazers Experience:

Because, once again, it's something that's not talked about. It's probably taboo not in many cultures as well and there is no handbook for you to say right, when I get to this stage, I may have to change how I manage my time and how I do things at home and at work. It's just not there.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah.

The trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, and also go ahead, no go, and also, I think what it's also shown a light on is by organizations focusing on menopause. They're also focusing on everything that encompasses being a woman, and that's leading to improvements within the businesses, too.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah, and the thing that I'd like to add I think it leads to improvements for men as well. Yes, not having to be a certain way. I started working in the 90s when our city boys with shirt, jackets used to go to work with a very nice suit and good shoes and all of that sort of thing and put on this face yeah, I have my work face and then my home face. You don't need to do that anymore and I think people speaking up about the challenges, they have neurodiversity in there. You have age, different ages, family, all the different stages of life and actually making it a bit messy. I think it's made things so much better for everybody.

The trailblazers Experience:

I think so. I think the consideration bar has just been set. I think there's been a real step change, and that's a good thing as well.

Sarah Middleton :

There was in my last company. There was a whole. I know you're a mental health first aider as well. There's a whole load of mental health activities in my last place and the thing that stuck out for me was just asking one really simple question and that was how are you feeling today? And it's just an interesting question that, and I think we all need to do it much, much more. You know, we're all humans, you know, and we spend so much time at work. We should encourage people to talk about it. And the other stat that really depresses me actually is once men get past a certain age, the mortality rate of men, I think, is much higher than women, but it's only up to a certain age, and once they get past a certain age, then it's on parity. But a lot of that is about mental health and just getting into these loops, and it's just so sad because there is nothing in this world that should make you think that it's not worth carrying on, really not.

The trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, there's a lot about everyone just wants to be seen and be heard and just be acknowledged and, just like you said, how are you actually doing today? And sometimes there's a silence, the person opens up and you didn't even expect it. But I think now that organizations, schools, whether you're going to the gym, this genuine interest in people wanting to know how people are doing, I think is really good.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah, definitely we're going full circle.

The trailblazers Experience:

I mean, you have such a wealth of experience and some valuable lessons, probably, that you've learned along the way. How do you balance work, or what they call work-life balance? What does that mean to you, sarah? I don't like that term.

Sarah Middleton :

I'll put that one out there. I actually don't like that term. I don't know if you have ever followed squiggly careers. No, it's brilliant. You need to listen to it. So Helen and Sarah run that and they talk about work-life fit. It's not about balance, it's how you fit it together and that's that is actually. I should have probably put that in one of my values. That's really really important to me. Back to you know the family. I want to make sure that I see my girls grow up and be part of their lives and grow, guide them. So it's almost like they can climb on my shoulders and do it than I did. So that's really important and that's about me being with them. So, yeah, it's work-life fit. I'm really lucky.

Sarah Middleton :

Before lockdown, I had a job that was quite local, which was brilliant. So I went to the office and that wasn't a problem. Before that, I had a job where I had a really long commute and that was horrific. I never saw my kids when I wasn't tired. I used to leave the house before they got up. My husband used to take them to nursery. I used to come home and pick them up and I would just be like a zombie and that was just horrible, and during lockdown I really didn't like working from home.

Sarah Middleton :

And then I got to a point where I started to actually see the benefits of it. I got this job and I'm a fully remote person. I do go to an office because I go mad if I'm here all the time, but it just enables me to do very strange hours because I've got a global role, so I work in different time zones all the time and so I might be up really early, up really late, but during the day I can go and spend some time with the kids or pick them up or do lots of different things. So that's really important to me. So it kind of blends in and comes together. Sometimes it goes wrong, but not usually.

The trailblazers Experience:

And now I've got a really amazing husband who also works from home and we somehow muddle through together, yeah, but also what you've just mentioned about the different roles that you've had one where you had to commute, one where you were closer to home. But even now, although you're remote, you've acknowledged that you're working remotely, but you have to work with different time zones. There's always a given take with deciding what you want to do and how that fits with your life in that moment.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah. And then there's some other non-negotiables now in my life and this is, I think, one big tip for everybody my fitness. So this is something that we can talk about together, because we both go to the same gym and so with my fitness it used to take second place and I used to find that, yeah, I'd go to the gym in the evenings, it would be sporadic. And so I actually made a commitment to myself maybe two years, maybe a bit longer, is I will prioritize my fitness, and what I was finding was I was giving the best of myself to work. It's like, no, I need to give the best of myself to myself.

Sarah Middleton :

So now I'm in the gym every morning and that's non-negotiable. But if I I mean there was, I think, last week I couldn't make the early sessions, so I went to a lunchtime session. But that's part of who I am and I make it non-negotiable. Now it's blocked in my diary. People know I say, look, I'm really sorry I can't do that time because that's when I go to the gym, but I can do that time or that time and I work around it and it's the same. There's lots of other things with that. So my children go to dance lessons Again, I need to take them there. I block it out, I work around it, and I think that's really important as well when it comes to work. Life fit is making sure that you get the best of both worlds, and then on the other side, the company gets the best of me, because you know I'll have meetings at really weird times. I think I had a 230 at one point in the morning, so it's it's got to be given take.

The trailblazers Experience:

Do you think that the ability to set non-negotiables for yourself comes with confidence and, I guess, experience? Because when I think about myself I don't think I could have ever in my 20s said to my I was also into fitness then but I was also putting on the waist side because, you know, the job was the priority at that time. But now at this level I know okay, if fitness is a priority for me, really, the time slot for me is really early in the morning. Do you think that comes with experience as well? I think so.

Sarah Middleton :

But also my mindset to fitness has changed a lot, and it's not about you know the goals of doing an event. You know I used to be into running, cycling. It was the goal was I wanted to do a marathon, a half marathon, or I wanted to do a race. That's not my goal anymore. My goal is very much about I want to be living the best life I can for as long as I can, and so it's really important that I make myself fit and strong for that. Because you know, I've seen what happens when someone doesn't look after their body and it's not very nice and I don't want to be like that when I'm old. So that makes it such a priority.

Sarah Middleton :

Because you know that what you're doing now it's like putting money in a pension, isn't it? It's like you know what you're doing now is going to make your life so much better in the future. Now you might say, well, you could die tomorrow. Well, yeah, I could die tomorrow, but I might live for another 40, 50 years, and I don't want to be that person that's walking, can't walk. I want to be living it, you know, as much as I can. So that's the important thing in my goal with keeping my fitness and making it non-negotiable.

The trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, I mean, that's really a nugget right. There is just, even if you know it's an exercise every woman can do is just to sit down and actually say what am I? I was working threes, you're three non-negotiables. And then what are realistic ones you can implement now, even if you just focus on one? That's already a start in the right direction as well.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah, and it's not putting yourself under too much pressure. So when I started out, it was I just turn up and if I don't like it I go home. But the important thing is to turn up and then give it a go. And then every time you get there, you're going well, I've got up, now I may as well give it my best. And then it's like it's about consistency and keeping on. And then one day you suddenly go, wow, I can do that now. How did that happen? That was just like was it?

Sarah Middleton :

There's the theory of the? Was it the 1% rules? If you do something 1% better every day, that's 100%, it's an increment. Yeah, it's compound and all of that sort of stuff. Exactly, yeah, let's not go into that. But you know, if you have let's not talk percentage you got 100. And you have. You know, every day you do 1%, you're 100. Later on, you know.

Sarah Middleton :

So you have to start somewhere. You need to think about that and maybe that big thing about the career as well. So when you're young, you want to rush to that next level and you want to rush to that next level, and actually it's far better to sit back and go. Do you know what? Now's the time to get all of the different foundation foundations to my career. So then when I get older, I really understand what I'm doing.

Sarah Middleton :

So I mean, from I've got quite a breadth of experience from when I was younger. I've been in sales, I've been in retail, I've been in marketing big, I've been in large scale marketing. You know, I've been all over. And now from my job in M&A, it's like it's lovely because everything comes together and it's like there's there's nothing. I see when I go into a business that I go, I don't really understand that. I said, no, I've got some experience that we did that from there. Right, I can see how this could move to here and we can fit it together. And that's really important. If I think about any young person, ambitious person coming out of university or out of school is don't rush it, you know. Look at what you can do to build your foundations, because that will pay off later.

The trailblazers Experience:

It's being a sponge, isn't it? Just absorbing every department, every opportunity, every ad hoc task that you're given, you know, just adding to your toolkit.

Sarah Middleton :

And then you have a mortgage before you get married. Well, and the marriage is not the big one, but the kids and mortgage stop you from being quite flexible. I think I lived in my first few years out of university. I think I lived in five different cities and 15 different houses. You know I moved all over and that was brilliant. It was hard, but brilliant for me now because I can even like sales. I did sales for a year, 18 months, and now as a marketer, you know I can understand how. Yeah about customers and well, that's just not going to fly with a customer. They're really not that interested in X, y and Z. You need to get it as they're busy people and they're more focused about their lives and not on your product.

The trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, it gives you the leverage, isn't it? Your background and your eclectic mix of experiences, from science to marketing to brand, just able to throw it all in the pot and just, I think, come from a, have a different perspective, being able to empathize you talked about empathy. I think is a very good thing as well, let's talk about networking and mentorship and has that played a crucial role in your career advancement?

Sarah Middleton :

Hmm.

The trailblazers Experience:

Or not, probably.

Sarah Middleton :

That's a good thing. Yeah, a proper play. Yeah, usually I meet lots of people. Yeah, I mean especially in my. If I talk about my role now, it's really important. So I think I mean, coming to this job, I did not know anybody in the company. That was the first time that had happened to me for many, many years, so that was quite strange. And I got in without networking, although I got quite, I'd say, friendly to the recruitment consultant who really helped me get into this job. So that was really important. So if you take one side for career success in your role, getting to know people really quickly is really important. But that's how you come into an organization. So it's interesting.

Sarah Middleton :

You know you have the first 90 days thing and everyone thinks that they've got to burn the world up in the first 90 days. And I look at it slightly differently. It's like you've got to build those relationships in the first 90 days so you can achieve what you see you need to achieve from 90 days. So networking, being human, talking to people, is really important in my job to get stuff done. You know when finding you know it's the favorite network. Now I've got this announcement coming up. Really need your help because I need a social post writing and I need a video, and can you just quickly do that for me, really, really important. So that's one part of networking Mentorship. I wish it had played more of a part in my life than it actually has, although it has done in the last, I'd say, eight or nine years actually. So I've got a couple of people that I turn to for conversations in the organizations that I'm in. I try to develop relationships with people, I think. Do you know what they can really help me develop and give different perspective? So that's really important to learn as well.

Sarah Middleton :

But also poking back into your networks from the past, you know, like I think I got one job and I applied for it out of the blue. I saw it, I thought it's good. I think that HR manager I used to work with is the HR director there Reached out to her and said, yeah, I am, let me go and have a chat to so and so, and then that made my pathway into the organization much easier. The other thing is, you know, applying for jobs and things is really hard these days. You know, linkedin companies get spammed with people just doing random applications and there's a lot of filtering and software involved.

Sarah Middleton :

So, again, if you've got experience in networking, having the courage to contact someone directly and say, hi, I've seen this job looks interesting I'd love to have a chat with you to find out if it's a role that I'm appropriate for. Would you mind? And do you know what? It's funny? Someone told me that technique Nine times out of 10, they want to have a chat about it, and that's really important too. So, yeah, it's probably played a much more of a part of my life than then. I think I wish I got into it and be more vulnerable In my 20s to be able to ask those questions. It was always very much. Now I know what I'm doing. I'm gonna just do it in my way, and I think I made some missteps because I didn't have those people to go and talk about it.

The trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, it's finding your, your circle. Isn't it within your industry? Or, if it's not in your industry and you're looking to Do a step change, it's introducing yourself to those, which is very hard, like you said, you know, attending events or Approaching someone on LinkedIn, it's so. It's really difficult because you're once again. I always Compare it to being back in high school you know I'm trying to introduce yourself to people, but I think being being authentic and being vulnerable, what's the worst that can happen?

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah, yeah, very much so, and I think that's that's a really important thing is, once you realize that actually vulnerability is a huge strength Rather than a weakness, life changes quite a lot. People want to help you. People are humans. You know, not everyone is out there to to stab you in the back in corporate life, and I think sometimes maybe it's the TV that does it to you. You kind of think, ah, now my daughter's watching suits at the moment and that's all corporate backstabbing and you like that going. This doesn't really happen, you know, but that's what they see, that's what kids see about the corporate world, and actually we're all just humans trying to get through life together, aren't we I?

The trailblazers Experience:

Loved what you said about the first 90 days is about building relationships, observing understanding the business so that after the 90 days you know who your tribe is. So, circling back what, what are some of your aspirations or goals now for your career? You're really making a massive impact in in marketing, brand strategy, coms, working with different businesses, transitioning businesses from one way of working to another. What, what's next for you?

Sarah Middleton :

Well, interestingly really I mean, I'm coming up for a milestone, yeah, which makes you really think about what's next, and and also in terms of the transition from being a full-on parent to a parent of teens is Suddenly you've got time.

The trailblazers Experience:

It's weird, yeah, they don't need you as much, do they?

Sarah Middleton :

What am I gonna do now? I'm bored. So you know that that's a big thing, but I'm young enough to really enjoy it as well. So, from a career perspective, it's really starting to think about what can I do in my 50s to lead me into to 60s? And you know, I Said for quite a while now I don't actually want to retire, but I don't want to be working full-time, you know so. So how can I get from here to doing something where it's part-time work or voluntary work, if need be, or it's, you know, non-exec roles, what, what is that future going to be? So that that's that's the piece I need to focus on now is working right. Where do I go in the next few years? But that that's a way off yet. So it's about building that experience to go right. How can I become an Inspirational mentor to other people or businesses? So so that's my. My focus now is to really start thinking about how I can do that, and it's an exciting phase, isn't it?

The trailblazers Experience:

I think you have a very high self-awareness and have always had a forward view about things. So it's just the next chapter, isn't it Really next chapter?

Sarah Middleton :

and you've always got to think about it in in chapters. Back to you said earlier and it's funny I was talking to someone might be my mom, actually about Women are really lucky in that their lives are in lots of chapters and each chapter you've got to reinvent yourself. So you know, you, you go into the world of work when I was young, anyway. You go into the world of work and suddenly you have to be almost Half-man because that's what the world of work expected in those days. So that was one chapter. Then you get into it. You know another chapter where you have children. So suddenly it's just like it.

Sarah Middleton :

I remember trying to be this work person and this parent and it was hard. It'd be like I'd see my kids and I'd be like, what person is like? Then I'd have to go to and and that doesn't work. So you have to reinvent yourself. You go on mat leave. Actually, mat leave was the first one. It was like suddenly what do I do in my time? And you're just running around and changing nappies. So that's a reinvention. You go back to work and juggle. So we have lots of chapters in life and I think women, a lot of women, are really good Readjusting their lives to the new chapters, and I think that's where we really live we adjusting their lives to the new chapters, and I think that's where we're really lucky. You know, rather than sitting there and getting stuck and moaning about the world, but actually going do you know what let's go out and do something different and also acknowledging that it's okay, you know, it's.

The trailblazers Experience:

It's actually okay. I was talking to a young lady the other day who's it's got two amazing children. She's juggling a lot of things and just had to remind it. You're not going to be 100 percent every day, you know, and that's okay.

Sarah Middleton :

Yeah, you know, if you take, if you take when you're in, you know early work, you're probably out a lot of nights not getting a lot of sleep You're not going to work a hundred percent Then when your children you know children up all night, you're not gonna be a hundred percent. Your children get older. You worry about them when they're not coming home at a certain time. You're not going to be a hundred percent. Then you might your parents might be getting sick as well. So you're not going to be a hundred percent. No one is it, if Not many people are a hundred percent all the time. And as soon as you realize that it's liberating, definitely, definitely.

The trailblazers Experience:

Sarah, we've had a really great conversation and we're now into trailblazer takeaways. If there were three tips that you'd love to share, you know, having shared your story, which has been very interesting, what?

Sarah Middleton :

would they be? Jump into every opportunity that comes your way. You know, one of my friends has got this saying I say no when I can say yes. You know, obviously, don't be reckless, but if you see an opportunity, I I was Tim Ferriss has this thing called a fear planner and Looking ahead and going right. So if I do this, what could go wrong in the future and how can I mitigate it? So, so, really take, take those opportunities, even if it's not on the you know, the career path or the life path that you expected, because those unexpected opportunities are often Absolute gems, you know, and and teach you things that you, you would never have learned. Anyway, so that would be one um. Next one, I had another one in my head and it's just popped out um. So, uh, take every opportunity that comes along.

Sarah Middleton :

Don't take yourself so seriously through life. You know it's. We're all humans trying to get from a to b. Be kind. You know that old adage that everyone says just be kind, because you never know when that's going to come round and Bite you if you weren't kind. So so that's really important. And treating people as you want to be treated, as humans, because we're all going to get there. That was it.

Sarah Middleton :

So with that one as well is, you know, there's a guy called Peter Crone who always talks about If you were that person Living that person's life and had that journey that that person had, you would be doing Exactly the same thing as they were doing. When you get that perspective, if you just kind of let it go, you know, when there's, you know they're just a human trying to get through life um, third one, third one, I think it's got to be about confidence. In your earlier life I was hugely young. Back to the front. It was because I didn't have the confidence in who I am and and actually, when you get to a certain age, you're like that's not important, you know just who you are, just just be yourself. Be vulnerable, um, because people just want to help you. And when you're vulnerable, you know people connect and and that's really important is is about connecting to people, a human level.

The trailblazers Experience:

Sarah, this has been amazing. You have a very high self-awareness. You're very observant, um a forward thinker, forward planner. I can see that in you, lots of resilience. But empathy just speaks out to me and I think you know in your journey, sharing how your background having a chemistry background, but also your family and how that's sort of transitioned into the role that you are now, I think you should be very proud of yourself, thank you, and thank you for sharing your story because I'm very confident it's going to help someone have that epiphany. So thank you so much.

Sarah Middleton :

You're in sharing in your ways. I mean, you know we go to the gym together, so we know each other quite well, and you just just say get on with it, and then I watch you and how strong you are and all the other things. So you know, I'm going to give you a pat on the back.

The trailblazers Experience:

Pat on the back. On that note, thank you so much. Thank you.