Biography of Sarah Ross O'Hagan as a leader in all parts of life, written by Wharton MBA student for a course on leadership from the point of view of the whole person.

1. SARAH ROBB
O’HAGAN
CEO, Flywheel Sports
Leadership Biography
Alice Henly Mitchell

2. Brief Biographical Sketch
FAILURES
- Unable to get first dream job
in the graduate training
program with Air New Zealand
- Fired from Virgin Airlines
Mega Stores division
- Lost citizenship application
and work visa
- Laid off from video game
business called Atari when it
closed down
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Named Forbes “Most
Powerful Women in Sports”
- Named Fast Company’s
“Most Creative People in
Business”
- 40 Under 40 lists by the
Sports Business Journal (2009,
2011, and 2012) Sports Goods
Business (2010), and Crain’s
Chicago Business (2010)
- Ad Age magazine’s “Women
to Watch” (2010)
Sarah Robb O’Hagan is CEO of Flywheel Sports and Founder of
EXTREMEYOU. Sarah’s career includes leadership roles at some of
the world’s most iconic brands including Virgin, Nike, Gatorade,
Equinox and Flywheel. Sarah is from New Zealand and now lives
with her husband, Liam, and sons Sam and Joe and daughter
Gabby in New York. They have a chocolate Labrador named
Edmund “Eddie” Hillary.

3. “I found myself constantly out there being positioned as this person who
had great success, and I would constantly feel awkward about it. So I
wondered why aren’t we telling the truth about the things that happened
on the way to that success? That’s where the first idea came from. We’re
setting this example, particularly for young people, making it look like it’s
perfect almost the whole way along. They’re not realizing that where you
start is as confused and unsuccessful as everyone.Out there when I’m
giving speeches, I’ll say, “I’m in the ‘losers who got fired’ camp, who else
is?” When you talk about it, you make people realize that it’s a really
positive thing in terms of your growth. Don’t be afraid of it.” - SRO

4. SARAH’S INTEGRATED LIFE
Sarah has achieved many four-way wins–integrating
work, community, self and family–using the
following strategies:
▫ Seeking opportunities to work with equally
passionate, mission-driven people.
▫ Working at companies with very strong,
welcoming cultures that feel like a family.
▫ Seeking inspiration and motivation from
everyone she interacts with, from all domains
of her life.
▫ Openly stating during professional interviews
that her kids are unquestionably her greatest
achievement.
▫ Being very open about her failures and
openly, unapologetically turning to her
husband for support

5. LESSONS FROM SARAH
“I think the secret to maximizing your own potential is
being really unabashedly true to who you are.” - Sarah
Based on talking with Sarah and learning about her
life path, I am inspired to:
▫ Seek to work at companies with very strong,
family-oriented, welcoming cultures.
▫ Unapologetically pursue opportunities with a
mission-driven company that is true to my
values and passions.
▫ Seeking inspiration and motivation from
everyone I interact with, from all domains of
my life.
▫ Follow Sarah’s advice to “worry less about
making the right decision and worry more
about making your decisions right.”
▫ Taking pride in and learning from failure to
grow stronger.