Sarah Armstrong-Smith: When Culture Fails: What Crisis Teaches Us About People, Power and Prevention

In this episode of Secrets of Learning and Development, hosts Julia and Valerie sit down with Sarah Armstrong Smith, former Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft and author of Effective Crisis Management and Understanding the Cyber Attacker.

Sarah’s career spans fraud investigation, crisis response and cybersecurity, with frontline experience of major global events including the 9/11 attacks, the 7/7 London bombings and the COVID-19 pandemic. What connects them all is her enduring focus on human behaviour,  how people respond under pressure, and what gets overlooked until it’s too late.

Together, they explore why so many lessons from major crises are ignored, how small issues spiral into large-scale failures, and what leaders can do differently to build cultures of integrity and accountability. Sarah shares candid stories from her earliest days investigating fuel card fraud to her time managing crisis response in some of the world’s most high-pressure environments.

They also discuss the motivations behind cyber attackers, the dangers of diluted reporting, and why integrity, not process, is often the deciding factor in how well an organisation recovers from disaster.

This episode is a rare behind-the-scenes look at what happens when systems break, leaders freeze, or culture fails. With clarity and conviction, Sarah makes the case for braver conversations, sharper foresight and truly putting people first.

Whether you lead teams, manage risk, or want to understand how to respond better when the pressure is on, this conversation is packed with insight.

Key Learnings

Culture is the real crisis indicator.
Many disasters aren’t the result of sudden events, but of longstanding warning signs that were ignored or downplayed. Poor culture, where employees don’t feel safe to speak up, leadership avoids uncomfortable truths, and red flags are buried, creates the perfect conditions for failure. The real risk isn’t always technical; it’s cultural.

Cyber threats are deeply human.
Behind every cyber attack is a motivation, and it’s not always financial. From nation-state espionage and disinformation to insider threats and emotionally manipulative scams, understanding the human drivers behind attacks is just as critical as protecting systems. If we focus only on the technology, we miss the full picture.

Guest Information: 

Info@securehorizons.co.uk
Sarah Armstrong-Smith | LinkedIn

Keynote for Tech Show London: https://www.techshowlondon.co.uk/tech-show-london-2026-programme/keynote-presented-by-sarah-armstrong-smith?

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