Transitioning from Military Service with Sarah Smith-Barry

Sarah Smith-Barry is the founder and principal consultant at Freego Consulting.

She is a business psychology practitioner both on LinkedIn and in real life, improving the workplace through the use of personality and cognitive tools along with tailored roadmaps for leadership and teams to succeed.

As a disabled Army veteran herself, and key member of the veteran family of Military City, San Antonio, it is important to her that she spends any free time volunteering at Veteran Service organizations, like FourBlock, where she assists veterans in their transition from service to the civilian workforce.

Top 3 Takeaways

1. Stress begets strength—while uncomfortable in the moment, stress is an inherent part of hormesis, a process through which your body and character can heal stronger as a result of adversity.
2. Think big... but not too big—focusing on a grandiose purpose or passion can lead to disappointment if you force the issue. Find your footing with something here and now and have faith that your bigger why will emerge in due time.
3. Commitment is key—before you can direct another person to a better tomorrow, you have to ensure that they’re bought into your vision of what’s possible and ready to do what it will take to get there.

From the Source

“Early on in my career and kind of having to go through that [injury] and watch other people around me who are also in recovery going through that, it kind of gave me a hormetic effect on my character.“

“Find something in the world that you care about and pursue that, and that's going to give you the passion purpose that you're looking for in the interim while you're feeling out how to kind of navigate and learn to communicate in the civilian sector.”

“if you have the ability to speak with who you might be leading in the future ask ‘What is it that you need from me?’, ‘What kind of support would you like to have but maybe don't?’ and see where you can provide it.“

“We're trying to put the human back in the workplace and really make it a human-centered design.“

“You have the ability as a coach or mentor or leader to be able to direct your people in the right direction, but if they don't buy into it, It's very unlikely that they're going to go that far.”

Connect with Sarah

Website: www.freegoconsulting.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahsmithbarry/

Twitter, Clubhouse, etc.: @sarahsmithbarry

References

“Celebs Who Served” sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-who-were-in-the-military-2016-11

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/20-hollywood-stars-served-military-210528490.html