Welcome to Get Fired
Your weekly spark to lead bolder, work braver and maintain your sense of humor in the midst of it all.
Hey there — I’m Sarah Robb O’Hagan, and if we haven’t met yet, here’s the short version: I’ve spent my career leading teams and companies in some of the most high-performance, inspired environments around — from Nike and Gatorade to Virgin and Equinox. I’ve also been fired. More than once…
I’ve written books like Extreme You: Step Up, Stand Out, Kick Ass, Repeat and am currently working on a new book titled, you guessed it - Catching Fire to help people unlock their own potential, fuel performance together and show up more boldly in life and work, instead of burning out alone. I’m an executive, an entrepreneur, a proud Kiwi American, a failure-fluent risk-taker, and — above all — a believer in bringing all of yourself to the game.
And now, I’m launching this Substack.
Why this, why now?
Because being fired, definitely taught me a lot about what it takes to Get Fired - that amazing feeling you have when you’re performing at your best as part of an epic team. That kind of joy can spill over to everything in your life and it’s why I’m eager to help others find it.
I’ve always loved sharing what I learn — leadership lessons, cultural trends, embarrassing missteps, bad hair days,
human performance insights and the occasional random musings about workplace culture that make me laugh — to help others push beyond their own limitations and build work lives that actually feel worth living.
But lately, I feel a greater urgency. As we race headlong into this AI-fueled future of work, I’m asking myself (and maybe you’re asking too):
What happens to our humanity if we don't intentionally protect it?
I just can’t bring myself to be a boiled frog who wakes up one day in a hyper-automated world where our energy, creativity, and soul get sidelined. GET FIRED is my answer to that. It’s a place to reclaim joy, purpose, performance — and yes, a little irreverence — in how we show up at work.
I want to build a community here. Not of followers, but fire-starters. People who believe that high performance and fun are not mutually exclusive. People who want to grow, stretch, stumble, and share. People who are done pretending to be corporate robots and are instead ready to be real — in how they lead, how they work, and how they role model and show up for others. We’ll push each other. We’ll laugh at the ridiculousness of work culture. And we’ll keep our humanity front and center as the world changes around us.
What to expect each month:
💥 A fresh post — my own writing and research on leadership, fulfillment, and performance
🎤 Insights from leaders I’m interviewing both for my current book and through the Lightning Lessons I teach online
🛠️ Links to practical tools and resources you can actually use — for yourself and your teams
🔥 Occasionally: a kick in the pants, a laugh, or a sharp callout of LinkedIn humble-brag nonsense
I’m fired up to get this going — and even more fired up to have you along for the ride.
Welcome to GET FIRED. Let’s do this!




So refreshing! Thank you for writing and calling all fire-starters in. Sending greetings from Chicago.
Great to see you here. I’m a Substacker too. @lessgrindmorejoy. Happy to support you always and learn more in the process.