Sarah McGuinness is one of New Zealand’s leading specialists in burnout and sustainable performance. She is the Founder of Revolutionaries of Wellbeing (ROW), a movement dedicated to breaking burnout culture - for good. Through ROW, she is building an international community of leaders and changemakers committed to creating healthier, more sustainable workplaces.
Sarah helps leaders and organisations answer one of today’s most urgent workplace questions: how do people and teams sustain performance under pressure? Her work combines research, organisational practice and lived experience to turn complex workplace challenges into practical, relevant action.
Her areas of expertise include human capacity, burnout and recovery, sustainable performance and psychosocial risk. Rather than treating burnout as solely an individual wellbeing issue, Sarah examines the wider conditions in which people work - and what leaders and organisations can do differently to build workplaces where both people and performance can be sustained.
Sarah is completing a Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, where her research explored how senior doctors recover from burnout while continuing to work, providing new insights into the relationship between work, recovery and organisational conditions. She is also completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Human Performance Leadership at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Sarah holds an honours degree in psychology and a degree in communication, alongside specialist training in professional coaching, adult education and fitness.
Her perspective has been shaped by more than two decades of working with organisations across New Zealand, Australia and internationally, along with her own lived experience of burnout. It is also shaped by time spent supporting communities through major disruption - including the Christchurch earthquakes - and countless hours in the mountains, where she continues to explore what sustainable performance looks like in practice.
Sarah also volunteers with Coastguard New Zealand in search and rescue and serves on the Coastguard Queenstown Board. She has been featured by media including Stuff, NBR, RNZ, Newshub, Seven Sharp and Newstalk ZB.
Talking Points
How Do We Keep Going Without Burning Out?
Leaders today are expected to deliver business as usual, navigate constant change, support their people and keep performing themselves. Something has to give. This keynote explores how leaders can sustain both themselves and their teams while navigating today's relentless pace of work.
How Do We Keep Going Without Burning Out?
The Hidden Load: Making the Invisible Visible
Most organisations measure workload, but few understand mental load. This keynote explores the invisible cognitive and emotional demands that affect daily performance, why capacity is in short supply, and what organisations can do to reduce the load before burnout becomes the visible symptom.
The Hidden Load: Making the Invisible Visible
Rethinking Recovery
What if recovery wasn't a reward - but part of work itself? Drawing on Sarah's research into burnout recovery, this keynote challenges traditional thinking and explores what meaningful recovery looks like in modern work and life. Audiences will leave with a fresh perspective on recovery and practical strategies they can apply immediately.
Rethinking Recovery
Human Capacity: Are We Ready for Tomorrow’s Challenges?
Technology, AI and transformation are changing work faster than ever. Yet human capacity - the very thing organisations rely on to navigate that change - is often missing from the conversation. This keynote explores whether organisations have the capacity to respond to what comes next, and what leaders can do now to prepare their people and workplaces for tomorrow’s challenges.
Human Capacity: Are We Ready for Tomorrow’s Challenges?
Burnout at Work: Where to Focus and What to Change
Burnout is one of the biggest challenges facing today's workplaces, but knowing where to start can feel overwhelming. This practical keynote helps leaders and teams understand the key drivers of burnout, where they can have the greatest impact, and the practical changes that make the biggest difference.
Burnout at Work: Where to Focus and What to Change
Mastering the Midlife Load
Careers, parenting, divorce, chronic illness and the countless demands of modern life can all collide at once. In this honest and practical keynote, Sarah shares lessons from her own journey alongside evidence-based strategies to help people navigate life's busiest seasons with greater clarity, capacity and confidence.
Mastering the Midlife Load
