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Sarah Firisen

Sarah Firisen was born in London, England but has lived in New York for 30 years. Sarah's had a variety of roles over her career, most in and around technology, but the thread through them all has been her passion for helping organizations and their people to deliver on and tell their disruption stories. A strategic, creative innovator and storyteller, Sarah is finishing up a book, The Impromptu Game Plan. This book (and related podcast) explores the career and life stories of people who’ve made pivots in their lives to create more meaningful careers that utilize their strengths and experiences and speak to their passions and values. Email: sfirisen@gmail.com

Website: https://theimpromptugameplan.com/

Innovating the future of office life

Posted on Monday, Mar 28, 2022 1:20AMMonday, March 28, 2022 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen Over the last few weeks, I’ve been spending more time in the office than I have since the start of COVID. I work for a technology start-up, and our New York office used to look and feel just as shows like Silicon Valley portrayed such offices: cool furniture, fancy coffee machines, lots…

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Living a purposeful life in the metaverse

Posted on Monday, Jan 31, 2022 1:25AMMonday, January 31, 2022 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen My name is Sarah Firisen, and I’m 5ft 2 inches tall and work in software sales. But I’m also, or used to be, Bianca Zanetti, a 5ft 9 size 0 (which I’m also not), fashion designer and proprietor of a chain of stores, Fashion by B.   No, I’m not bipolar. Bianca Zanetti…

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The education innovation dilemma

Posted on Monday, Dec 6, 2021 1:25AMMonday, December 6, 2021 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen Many years ago, I returned to my old high school for a visit with friends who were classmates back in the ’80s. Exploring the school and marveling over what had changed and what remained exactly the same, we ventured into the language lab. The room smelled exactly the same as it had…

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The Innovation of the Great Resignation

Posted on Monday, Oct 11, 2021 1:10AMMonday, October 11, 2021 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen I recently spent a few weeks in the UK, which is suffering from a labor shortage post lockdown like the US. Though, unlike the US, some of the UK’s problems are self-inflicted Brexit wounds. The shortages are rippling through every sector, and as in the US, that includes hospitality. Coming out of…

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The future of happiness

Posted on Monday, Aug 16, 2021 1:10AMMonday, August 16, 2021 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen My eldest daughter has a new boyfriend. I met him the other day, and he seems to be a very nice young man. When I told her I liked him, she replied, “He makes me so happy. Happier than I’ve ever been.” The first blush of love is wonderful. Young love perhaps…

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The future of more meaningful work….post-lockdown, corporate workers take stock

Posted on Monday, Jun 21, 2021 1:25AMSunday, June 20, 2021 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen When we were young, most of us indulged in the speculation, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” Many of us said things like a firefighter, a doctor, a nurse, or a teacher. As children, we instinctively looked at the world around us and recognized the careers that seemed…

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The future of not working

Posted on Monday, Apr 26, 2021 1:25AMMonday, April 26, 2021 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen I recently had a conversation with someone I know who is around 50 and has been out of work since the COVID-19 pandemic started. He’s had a challenging life over the last 20 years or so dealing with addiction. While he once had a successful career, since rehab, he’s been working pretty…

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Zooming our way to better health – the future of the doctor’s visit

Posted on Monday, Mar 1, 2021 1:30AMMonday, March 1, 2021 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen I just spent two months living on the Caribbean island of Grenada. It’s a wonderful place with a somewhat antiquated healthcare system. To visit Grenada, I had to have a negative PCR test within 72 hours of flying. I was planning to go to a clinic and wait in line, which I’d…

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One good thing about COVID-19, we finally got the tech to work

Posted on Monday, Jan 4, 2021 1:40AMMonday, January 4, 2021 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen This Christmas, I stayed in a Marriott in the town where my kids live. Like most people, my business and personal travel has mostly ground to a halt in the last 9 months. So I was pleasantly surprised by the check-in experience the hotel provided me to allow for social distancing. I’m…

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Innovation in a time of COVID-19

Posted on Monday, Nov 9, 2020 1:30AMMonday, November 9, 2020 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen When I was in my twenties, I didn’t own handbags, I didn’t even have a wallet, I used to stuff my keys and money into a pocket. This was easy when I had one credit card and not a lot of cash. But as I got older, I began to see the…

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A brave new world to live and work in

Posted on Monday, Sep 14, 2020 1:30AMMonday, September 14, 2020 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen I’ve telecommuted from home for many years now. Before COVID-19, I would rarely turn my camera on when I was on video chats. And if I did, I’d make sure to put makeup on and look somewhat professional and put together from at least the waist up. But since lockdown started in…

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Taking virtual education beyond Zoom: How VR and AR can help

Posted on Monday, Jul 20, 2020 1:10AMMonday, July 20, 2020 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen I was a Philosophy major in University from 1988-1991 (degrees are 3 years in the UK). To be accurate in British terms, I read Philosophy. Some friends and I would socialize with a group of our professors. We’d often talk and drink late into the night in the living room of one…

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When the Real World turns Virtual…the new reality of office life?

Posted on Monday, May 25, 2020 1:20AMMonday, May 25, 2020 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen Two months ago, COVID lockdown was still new; in the US it was horrific that 3,000 people had died and  I wrote about some possible longer-term technology innovation that might come out of  this crisis.  Fast forward to today and the US has just passed an unimaginable, grim milestone, 100,000 dead. And while…

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Technology in a time of Covid-19

Posted on Monday, Mar 30, 2020 1:20AMMonday, March 30, 2020 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen I’ve been telecommuting on and off for over 17 years. I first started working from home because I’d moved 150 miles away from the company I’d been contracting for over the previous 4 years. Back then, I worked in a small team that was part of a larger team in a huge…

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The Sephora Syndrome

Posted on Monday, Feb 3, 2020 1:25AMMonday, February 3, 2020 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen First off, let me just get this out of the way: we share too much data about ourselves knowingly with companies and they collect, use and share even more than most of us are aware of (read through those lengthy privacy notices recently?). And unless you live in Europe with its pretty…

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The tale of Joanne the Roomba, Or, does work have to be such…work?

Posted on Monday, Dec 9, 2019 1:10AMMonday, December 9, 2019 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen When I moved into a new, larger apartment with my boyfriend a couple of months ago, I decided to buy a Roomba, robot vacuum cleaner. I named her Joanne. I love Joanne, my boyfriend is less of a fan. He finds her hour and a half or so a day moving around…

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The future of knowledge

Posted on Monday, Oct 14, 2019 1:10AMMonday, October 14, 2019 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen This morning I rode an Uber to JFK from my apartment in Queens. I do this regularly and normally don’t worry too much about it, but this morning, there was just something about the driver that concerned me, though I couldn’t put my finger on what. But every time his, very loud,…

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Governing in black and white

Posted on Monday, Aug 19, 2019 1:20AMMonday, August 19, 2019 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen I’ve just come back from a lovely vacation in Ireland. We did a lot of driving and usually had the radio on, often to RTE, the state run station (the equivalent to the BBC in the UK). At least once an hour an advertisement would come on reminding people that they need…

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The jerk in the machine

Posted on Monday, Jun 24, 2019 1:20AMMonday, June 24, 2019 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen Many years ago, my father and I were at a backyard BBQ in New Jersey hosted by someone we barely knew, I think they were somehow connected to my step-mother. At some point, the topic of flag burning came up and, before we knew it, we were engaged in an extremely heated…

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The digital divide – when even the beggars need smartphones

Posted on Monday, Apr 29, 2019 1:20AMMonday, April 29, 2019 by Sarah Firisen

by Sarah Firisen I was standing in Penn Station the other day waiting for a train and someone passed through begging for change. I’ve lived in New York City long enough that I don’t just start taking my wallet out and going through it in crowded public spaces, but beyond that, I don’t have change.…

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