She Moved to Scotland at 18 with No Plan, Applied for the Wrong Job, and Ended Up Running the Region — Sarah Medcraf, Moray Chamber of Commerce

Sarah Medcraf moved to Moray at 18 because her boyfriend was in the RAF and she thought, "if it doesn't work, I'll just move back to Yorkshire." That was 2009. Today she's the CEO of Moray Chamber of Commerce, a director of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, and one of the most quietly compelling voices on what it actually takes to lead a business, a team, and a region through everything from a global pandemic to a wildfire season.

She didn't take a straight path. She applied for a marketing role she wasn't qualified for, got turned down, and was offered a different job on the same phone call. She spent the first four or five years digging in and proving why she was there. It wasn't until she came back from maternity leave in 2018 that everything clicked — she finally knew what the region needed, what the chamber was supposed to be, and how to get there.

In this conversation, Sarah talks about imposter syndrome in a way you won't have heard before — including the uncomfortable truth that it gets harder, not easier, as you get older and learn how much you don't know. She talks about the importance of knowing when to sit in the mud with someone, and when to get the whiteboard out. And she shares two ideas from this episode that I guarantee you'll be using by next week.

The pizza boardroom. The I love me folder. You need both.

Moving to a new region at 18 with a wing and a prayer — and what happened nextThe job rejection that led to the right job, on the same phone callWhy the chamber is nothing like the "stuffy old man's club" people assume it isImposter syndrome gets harder as you get older — here's why, and what to do about it"Do you want comfort or solutions?" — the one question that changes every difficult conversationWhat the first week of COVID looked like from inside the chamber: 78 phone calls, zero answersEmotional contagion: why Sarah's mood sets the tone for her whole team every morningThe pizza boardroom — how to run a boardroom without forming oneThe I love me folder — the simplest, most effective thing you'll do this weekWhy women focus on the one negative instead of the 99 positives — and how to stop

Quote of the episode: "Do you want comfort, or do you want solutions? Tell me what you need, and we'll deliver that."— Sarah Medcraf

Playlist song: This Girl Is On Fire — Alicia Keys