Post by Sarah Furness

Ich mochte Deutch sprechen, aber ich habe all mein deutsch vergessen. This loosely translates as “I’d like to speak German but I’ve forgotten it all.” I actually memorised this phrase when I was 16. I’d decided to drop German as a subject and the language was vanishing quickly from my mind. I decided this would be the most useful sentence to commit to memory. Every time I visited Germany since then I could say this phrase with absolute confidence…. and literally nothing else, which could be confusing. Anyway, I was delighted to have a chance to deploy this sentence again talking to Diehl Aviation yesterday. I still speak absolutely no German, which was confirmed when the taxi driver said a lot of words to me that made no sense at all... but I got in the taxi in the knowledge that Alexis Douay from Orators was all over it. It was an absolute pleasure to speak to 120 executives in Bad Worishofen yesterday. If you didn’t know, Diehl Aviation are a supplier to Airbus and make pretty much everything in the cabin apart from the seats. And I can pay tribute to their handiwork because they gave me a sample of aircraft cabin to take back. (see adorable photo 🐼) It’s going straight into my shrine to aviation (see other photo - I really do have a shrine) My favourite comment (which I will paraphrase) - “what you said made a lot of sense because deep down I know it already, but it can get lost in the noise; it’s helpful to reminded to take a step back and do ONE thing a time. And that’s a great description of what I do. I don’t tell you how to do your jobs. I wouldn’t have the first clue how to make intelligent cabin design features. And I won’t give you a list of things you’re doing wrong and what you should do instead. I tell stories that help you see what was always there, to lift the veil on the answers you already know, but got drowned out by the noise. And it’s a privilege to do so. Big thanks to Jörg Schuler Sabine Bürmann and Manuel Beron for inviting me to part of this leadership conference. Gutted I couldn’t stay for Bavarian night.. #Diehlaviation #leadershipconference #conferencespeaker #aviation