my name is Caroline Ferguson and I am a
snowflake so in case you’ve never heard
this term used to describe humans before
it is not exactly a compliment it is a
word that tends to be used in schools in
homes in football terraces in workplaces
around the world
to describe those of us who are judged
to be too sensitive too emotional too
thin-skinned to all these words so
what’s our crime
we are HSPs we are highly sensitive
people now this is a term that was
coined in the 90s by one of my personal
heroes dr. Elaine Erin who is a clinical
and research psychologist and dr. Erin
and her team discovered that 20% 15 to
20% of humans that’s one in five of us
those plenty of you in this room are
what they what is termed highly
sensitive which basically means that we
process sensory information at a more
intense level than the majority of the
population so highly sensitive people
are more aware of and more responsive to
everything the good and they’re not so
good and it is a normal thing to be
highly sensitive it’s been found in a
hundred different animal populations so
far so if you’ve ever had a dog that
startled easily or a cat that you just
went to comfort you chances are they
were snowflakes too so it is an
evolutionary imperative the reason that
there are so many of us highly sensitive
people around is because without us we
wouldn’t be here so when you look at the
millions of years of human evolution
everything out there was a threat to us
you know the weather the wildlife the
terrain the landscape even each other so
we needed people in the tribe who were
more observant and more reflective we
needed people who could tell for example
when the peacemaker from from the next
tribe was lying we needed people who
knew that now and not next week was the
right time to bring the animals down
from the mountain
so basically highly sensitive people are
a survival strategy we needed them you
know the the the shaman the medicine
people the observance the the
intuitive’s the empaths
the sensitive ones because if we were
all warriors we would all be dead so
highly sensitive people are far from
being a problem that needs to be fixed
we are actually a survival strategy and
despite the fact that we are able Usha
nari imperative what we tend to hear
mostly in public is about the downsides
it’s about the tears and the overwhelm
you know the difficult parts of it so my
purpose here today in beautiful Crete
where I notice the Sun had just come out
is to enlighten my fellow HSPs and those
of you who know us who love us and
especially who employ us about the power
of being highly sensitive and about how
to unlock the value of this remarkable
trait and that that really is my job
here so superpowers I believe that
everyone on this planet has has a
superpower at least one which is things
that they do better than most other
people and with highly sensitive people
there tend to be a mix of these
superpowers that come in now we are all
somewhere on this sensitivity spectrum
you know I’m I’m up the the far end bear
with my snowflake so we’re all somewhere
on on this sensitivity spectrum so what
does it actually like to be highly
sensitive what does it mean well first
of all let’s dispel a couple of myths
it’s not about being shy or introverted
30% of HSPs are actually extroverts and
it’s absolutely not
a female characteristic which it’s often
thought to be because it shows up
equally in men though they may be less
prepared to admit it so let me talk you
through some of how it looks for me
personally physically first of all I’d
be worth mentioning that this number
here is the number of snowflakes that
fall to earth in a year I mean that’s a
vast number what’s extraordinary about
that number is that all of those
snow flakes are completely unique and
what’s also unique is the experience of
being highly sensitive it shows up
differently for everyone so I’d just
like to talk you through some of how it
shows up for me so you already know
about my unruly tear glands um I now
accept that my quick emotions are just
simply part of who I am and I’m no
longer ashamed of them as I was for many
years it knows is also a factor with me
as Sharon will attest if there is a lot
of noise going on I find it quite hard
to concentrate then we’ve also got
sensitivity and in terms in physical
terms in that I have to cut all the
labels out of my clothes and I can’t
wear scratchy fabrics because if my body
is uncomfortable I find it really hard
to focus and I also have a really sharp
sense of smell and I remember many years
ago I was lucky enough to go to Paris
with my flatmate and I was trying to
describe to her the this particular
smell that you get in the Paris metro
and I was saying it’s a whiff of North
African market you know there’s a
there’s a little bit of burning rubber
in there and a splash of public toilet
and my my nan HSP friend just shrugged
and said it smells like a stink to me so
you know welcome to my world
so that’s kind of some of how it shows
up for me now as I mentioned I believe
that everyone on this planet has a
superpower at least one something that
they do better than everyone else and
despite the fact that we were all unique
there are particular there’s a
particular strength in certain
characteristics that many sensitive
people share and I just like to talk you
through those superpowers now the first
one is our ability to notice and process
at real depth what’s going on around us
highly sensitive people tend to observe
everything at this micro level so we
pick up on subtle details and patterns
that other people miss it also means
that we can sometimes block mistakes
earlier as I did with the ad agency you
know my colleagues may have been mocking
my tears but none of them picked up on
this crucial point that was obvious to
me the second of our superpowers is
imagination and creativity we read
in finding beauty in the ordinary and in
observing and creating remarkable works
and it’s no surprise that so many
writers artists performers musicians are
highly sensitive it’s not just about
grand gestures though we are also able
to apply that creativity to to more
mundane things writing a report or
cooking a meal can be just as creative
in activities as as crafting a work of
art so the third of the superpowers is
that we tend to be conscientious highly
sensitive people really want to do a
great job for you so they will plan and
they will prepare and sometimes it might
take a little longer to make decisions
because there’s so much information
coming in that we need to process but
when we do you know that we are making
very considered decision if you’ve got a
complex project that needs a safe pair
of hands I highly recommend that you put
it you put a highly sensitive person at
the helm number four is about our
intuition our gut feel so we have so
much information coming into our
unconscious minds all the time because
of our depth of observation and
processing that it informs how our gut
feel and so if somebody who you know is
an HSP says they have a feeling about
something or an idea about something or
someone you need to pay attention to
them because you know chances are that
they’re probably right and as an example
a few months ago I had a hunch a very
strong hunch about something and I
launched a survey relating to people
who’ve experienced work-related burnout
and I’ll share some of the findings with
you in a minute but but my hunch proved
to be spot-on
my intuition was accurate and then
finally our fifth and final superpower
is empathy
we can’t help putting ourselves in your
shoes and feeling some of what you’re
feeling we pick up on your body language
we tend to have a very strong mirror
neuron so we mirror your posture in your
vocal tones and you like being with us
because we make you feel good you feel
seen and heard by us
and also it means that we can read minds
I’ve lost count to the number of times
my mindset training clients have said to
me how on earth did you know what what’s
going on in my head because I’ve been
paying attention to you
now you can’t talk about the super power
without also talking about the fatal
flaw that Rob’s the hero of strength and
here is for Superman it’s kryptonite for
highly sensitive people it’s having too
much going on yes we are prone to
overwhelm particularly if we’re not
feeling very well or if we’re tired or
we’re up set and some of the things that
can affect us and can take us into a
place of overload include noise so if I
for example talk you through a typical
day in an open plan office for highly
sensitive people it’s going to be really
noisy you’ve got people talking you’ve
got phones ringing you’ve got fire alarm
tests you’ve got public announcements
you’ve got the hum of the
air-conditioning and the computer on
your desk then it’s busy you know you’ve
got people wandering around you you’ve
got desk side meetings going on this
constant activity we’ve got our eyes
we’re staring at a screen all day you’ve
got the glare and you’ve got the
overhead lights then there’s the average
open plan office by mid-afternoon
doesn’t snow it’s you know people eating
at their desks and you’ve got pumping
pollution from from printers and from
photo copiers and you’ve also got those
horrible aerosol sprays that you get
fresh air things the job itself
you know there’s overwork there’s too
many meetings there’s personality
conflicts there’s there’s there’s
perhaps the the meaning your job isn’t
as meaningful as you’d like it to be and
endless endless meetings then wait as a
sensitive person we need to take time to
recover it at some point during the day
and the only place that you can recover
in the typical open plan office in the
toilet which is hardly the ideal
environment when you feel like you’ve
got a volcano erupting in your chest and
then also if you’re commuting you know
you’re stuck in traffic you’re you’re
packed onto cram trains and buses and if
you it’s the northern winter it’s dark
when you get up and get home for
months on end and then also at home
you’ve got you know perhaps money
worries
you’re not seeing enough of your partner
your kids no time for social life no
time for for your wellness it’s frankly
it’s exhausting even if you’re not
highly sensitive and there are some
offices which aren’t like this but for
many people this is their daily routine
and putting yourself through this day
after day without being able to properly
recover is eventually going to lead to
emotional and and mental and physical
stress and then we welcome to burnout so
I mentioned that a few months ago I’d
done a survey about people who had
experienced burnout at work and there
were some really interesting results the
the top level findings essentially were
38 percent of those who responded to me
and I didn’t mention sensitivity in the
survey 38 percent proved to be highly
sensitive and that’s twice the level at
which you find HS peas in the general
population which indicates that HS peas
are twice as likely to suffer from
burnout that was my instinct the second
headline figure was that there is 80%
presenteeism and I’ll talk about that in
a minute and that’s a that’s a really
that’s a figure that businesses need to
pay attention to so burnout doesn’t just
impact individuals in their families
there’s also a massive cost to
businesses in terms of disruption lost
productivity hire hire staff turnover
but also damage to culture and and
morale
now this presenteeism as I mentioned was
a headline figure and presenteeism is a
is an even bigger problem around the
world than absenteeism it means that
people are turning up for work mentally
or physically unfit and around the world
it is responsible for billions of
hundreds of billions of dollars in lost
productivity every year it’s a massive
problem but people don’t feel that they
can take time off work for stress when
they need to because they’re worried
that it might impact their jobs and then
basically what what is happening is that
stress levels are rising all over the
world you know in addition to conflicts
we’ve also got
austerity and polarizing politics
happening everywhere at the moment so
it’s just leading to this general
buildup in stress and what we found is
some really quite distressing shocking
status health statistics in the u.s. one
in in five people are experiencing
mental health problems in the UK it’s
one in six but here in Greece it’s more
than half of the population who
responded to a poll saying that they had
not felt mentally well and that is you
know has massive implications for for
everyone around the world one of one of
the issues with being highly sensitive
is it in the Far East it’s considered
okay to be sensitive but here in the
West it’s it’s really not it’s not cool
particularly among men and what we’re
finding is that boys are being told not
to show emotion not that it’s unmanly
that it makes them weak and that’s
leading them to suppress their emotions
outside of themselves with with really
damaging consequences in the UK every
160 SEC 160 minutes a man takes his own
life now here in Greece the suicide rate
is not as high as that it’s quite it’s
much lower relatively because of
cultural and religious and social
attitudes but it is rising since
austerity happened how many and and what
we are finding also is that 80 percent
of those who take their lives in Greece
are male now how many of those are are
HSP we don’t know but what we do know is
that if we keep piling on this pressure
it is going to just create more and more
stress for citizens and for employees
now just a change of tone business
leaders what can you do to make sure
that you are unlocking the value of high
sensitivity but without burning through
your people well there are two things as
far as I am concerned number one because
this is a superpower is through
acceptance so accept that one in five of
us are going to be experiencing things
more intensely than others accept that
your workplace is almost certainly
causing stress and accept that as an
employer you have a responsibility to do
no harm
so step one acceptance step two is about
positive intervention take action to
make the working for you easier there
are relatively small things that you can
do to make life easier for HSPs which
will actually work beautifully for
everyone so for example stop the culture
of overwork dismantle that culture
within your business enable flexible
working and make sure that you remove
the stigma of occasionally working from
home it is not a clear career limiting
choice then create private spaces and
encourage people to use them when they
need that downtime to to decompress and
recharge their batteries and then place
greater focus on on well-being and
wellness training and/or mentoring so
those are some of the things that you
can do as an employer to unlock the
power of sensitivity so finally a call
to action I invite all of you to be
curious about sensitivity to be curious
about what it might be like and if you
would like to find out if you are search
online for HSP self-test and you can
find out whether you are but embrace
that characteristic in yourself and in
those that you know so families and
teachers don’t tell your boys to man up
please encourage them to in to accept
their emotions and to embrace them as
the superpower that they really are
friends and colleagues don’t tease us
when we’re frazzled and overwhelmed
nobody needs to be ridiculed when
they’re struggling and employers what
has it cost you what does it cost you
how many people have you good people
have you lost and what does it cost you
in terms of your productivity of your
your culture and and your turnover in
terms of your employees so I really
challenge employers to embrace
neurodiversity
within their workforce because there are
diamonds there and the last thing I’d
like to say is you know be there for us
because we are always there for you
thank you you
snowflake so in case you’ve never heard
this term used to describe humans before
it is not exactly a compliment it is a
word that tends to be used in schools in
homes in football terraces in workplaces
around the world
to describe those of us who are judged
to be too sensitive too emotional too
thin-skinned to all these words so
what’s our crime
we are HSPs we are highly sensitive
people now this is a term that was
coined in the 90s by one of my personal
heroes dr. Elaine Erin who is a clinical
and research psychologist and dr. Erin
and her team discovered that 20% 15 to
20% of humans that’s one in five of us
those plenty of you in this room are
what they what is termed highly
sensitive which basically means that we
process sensory information at a more
intense level than the majority of the
population so highly sensitive people
are more aware of and more responsive to
everything the good and they’re not so
good and it is a normal thing to be
highly sensitive it’s been found in a
hundred different animal populations so
far so if you’ve ever had a dog that
startled easily or a cat that you just
went to comfort you chances are they
were snowflakes too so it is an
evolutionary imperative the reason that
there are so many of us highly sensitive
people around is because without us we
wouldn’t be here so when you look at the
millions of years of human evolution
everything out there was a threat to us
you know the weather the wildlife the
terrain the landscape even each other so
we needed people in the tribe who were
more observant and more reflective we
needed people who could tell for example
when the peacemaker from from the next
tribe was lying we needed people who
knew that now and not next week was the
right time to bring the animals down
from the mountain
so basically highly sensitive people are
a survival strategy we needed them you
know the the the shaman the medicine
people the observance the the
intuitive’s the empaths
the sensitive ones because if we were
all warriors we would all be dead so
highly sensitive people are far from
being a problem that needs to be fixed
we are actually a survival strategy and
despite the fact that we are able Usha
nari imperative what we tend to hear
mostly in public is about the downsides
it’s about the tears and the overwhelm
you know the difficult parts of it so my
purpose here today in beautiful Crete
where I notice the Sun had just come out
is to enlighten my fellow HSPs and those
of you who know us who love us and
especially who employ us about the power
of being highly sensitive and about how
to unlock the value of this remarkable
trait and that that really is my job
here so superpowers I believe that
everyone on this planet has has a
superpower at least one which is things
that they do better than most other
people and with highly sensitive people
there tend to be a mix of these
superpowers that come in now we are all
somewhere on this sensitivity spectrum
you know I’m I’m up the the far end bear
with my snowflake so we’re all somewhere
on on this sensitivity spectrum so what
does it actually like to be highly
sensitive what does it mean well first
of all let’s dispel a couple of myths
it’s not about being shy or introverted
30% of HSPs are actually extroverts and
it’s absolutely not
a female characteristic which it’s often
thought to be because it shows up
equally in men though they may be less
prepared to admit it so let me talk you
through some of how it looks for me
personally physically first of all I’d
be worth mentioning that this number
here is the number of snowflakes that
fall to earth in a year I mean that’s a
vast number what’s extraordinary about
that number is that all of those
snow flakes are completely unique and
what’s also unique is the experience of
being highly sensitive it shows up
differently for everyone so I’d just
like to talk you through some of how it
shows up for me so you already know
about my unruly tear glands um I now
accept that my quick emotions are just
simply part of who I am and I’m no
longer ashamed of them as I was for many
years it knows is also a factor with me
as Sharon will attest if there is a lot
of noise going on I find it quite hard
to concentrate then we’ve also got
sensitivity and in terms in physical
terms in that I have to cut all the
labels out of my clothes and I can’t
wear scratchy fabrics because if my body
is uncomfortable I find it really hard
to focus and I also have a really sharp
sense of smell and I remember many years
ago I was lucky enough to go to Paris
with my flatmate and I was trying to
describe to her the this particular
smell that you get in the Paris metro
and I was saying it’s a whiff of North
African market you know there’s a
there’s a little bit of burning rubber
in there and a splash of public toilet
and my my nan HSP friend just shrugged
and said it smells like a stink to me so
you know welcome to my world
so that’s kind of some of how it shows
up for me now as I mentioned I believe
that everyone on this planet has a
superpower at least one something that
they do better than everyone else and
despite the fact that we were all unique
there are particular there’s a
particular strength in certain
characteristics that many sensitive
people share and I just like to talk you
through those superpowers now the first
one is our ability to notice and process
at real depth what’s going on around us
highly sensitive people tend to observe
everything at this micro level so we
pick up on subtle details and patterns
that other people miss it also means
that we can sometimes block mistakes
earlier as I did with the ad agency you
know my colleagues may have been mocking
my tears but none of them picked up on
this crucial point that was obvious to
me the second of our superpowers is
imagination and creativity we read
in finding beauty in the ordinary and in
observing and creating remarkable works
and it’s no surprise that so many
writers artists performers musicians are
highly sensitive it’s not just about
grand gestures though we are also able
to apply that creativity to to more
mundane things writing a report or
cooking a meal can be just as creative
in activities as as crafting a work of
art so the third of the superpowers is
that we tend to be conscientious highly
sensitive people really want to do a
great job for you so they will plan and
they will prepare and sometimes it might
take a little longer to make decisions
because there’s so much information
coming in that we need to process but
when we do you know that we are making
very considered decision if you’ve got a
complex project that needs a safe pair
of hands I highly recommend that you put
it you put a highly sensitive person at
the helm number four is about our
intuition our gut feel so we have so
much information coming into our
unconscious minds all the time because
of our depth of observation and
processing that it informs how our gut
feel and so if somebody who you know is
an HSP says they have a feeling about
something or an idea about something or
someone you need to pay attention to
them because you know chances are that
they’re probably right and as an example
a few months ago I had a hunch a very
strong hunch about something and I
launched a survey relating to people
who’ve experienced work-related burnout
and I’ll share some of the findings with
you in a minute but but my hunch proved
to be spot-on
my intuition was accurate and then
finally our fifth and final superpower
is empathy
we can’t help putting ourselves in your
shoes and feeling some of what you’re
feeling we pick up on your body language
we tend to have a very strong mirror
neuron so we mirror your posture in your
vocal tones and you like being with us
because we make you feel good you feel
seen and heard by us
and also it means that we can read minds
I’ve lost count to the number of times
my mindset training clients have said to
me how on earth did you know what what’s
going on in my head because I’ve been
paying attention to you
now you can’t talk about the super power
without also talking about the fatal
flaw that Rob’s the hero of strength and
here is for Superman it’s kryptonite for
highly sensitive people it’s having too
much going on yes we are prone to
overwhelm particularly if we’re not
feeling very well or if we’re tired or
we’re up set and some of the things that
can affect us and can take us into a
place of overload include noise so if I
for example talk you through a typical
day in an open plan office for highly
sensitive people it’s going to be really
noisy you’ve got people talking you’ve
got phones ringing you’ve got fire alarm
tests you’ve got public announcements
you’ve got the hum of the
air-conditioning and the computer on
your desk then it’s busy you know you’ve
got people wandering around you you’ve
got desk side meetings going on this
constant activity we’ve got our eyes
we’re staring at a screen all day you’ve
got the glare and you’ve got the
overhead lights then there’s the average
open plan office by mid-afternoon
doesn’t snow it’s you know people eating
at their desks and you’ve got pumping
pollution from from printers and from
photo copiers and you’ve also got those
horrible aerosol sprays that you get
fresh air things the job itself
you know there’s overwork there’s too
many meetings there’s personality
conflicts there’s there’s there’s
perhaps the the meaning your job isn’t
as meaningful as you’d like it to be and
endless endless meetings then wait as a
sensitive person we need to take time to
recover it at some point during the day
and the only place that you can recover
in the typical open plan office in the
toilet which is hardly the ideal
environment when you feel like you’ve
got a volcano erupting in your chest and
then also if you’re commuting you know
you’re stuck in traffic you’re you’re
packed onto cram trains and buses and if
you it’s the northern winter it’s dark
when you get up and get home for
months on end and then also at home
you’ve got you know perhaps money
worries
you’re not seeing enough of your partner
your kids no time for social life no
time for for your wellness it’s frankly
it’s exhausting even if you’re not
highly sensitive and there are some
offices which aren’t like this but for
many people this is their daily routine
and putting yourself through this day
after day without being able to properly
recover is eventually going to lead to
emotional and and mental and physical
stress and then we welcome to burnout so
I mentioned that a few months ago I’d
done a survey about people who had
experienced burnout at work and there
were some really interesting results the
the top level findings essentially were
38 percent of those who responded to me
and I didn’t mention sensitivity in the
survey 38 percent proved to be highly
sensitive and that’s twice the level at
which you find HS peas in the general
population which indicates that HS peas
are twice as likely to suffer from
burnout that was my instinct the second
headline figure was that there is 80%
presenteeism and I’ll talk about that in
a minute and that’s a that’s a really
that’s a figure that businesses need to
pay attention to so burnout doesn’t just
impact individuals in their families
there’s also a massive cost to
businesses in terms of disruption lost
productivity hire hire staff turnover
but also damage to culture and and
morale
now this presenteeism as I mentioned was
a headline figure and presenteeism is a
is an even bigger problem around the
world than absenteeism it means that
people are turning up for work mentally
or physically unfit and around the world
it is responsible for billions of
hundreds of billions of dollars in lost
productivity every year it’s a massive
problem but people don’t feel that they
can take time off work for stress when
they need to because they’re worried
that it might impact their jobs and then
basically what what is happening is that
stress levels are rising all over the
world you know in addition to conflicts
we’ve also got
austerity and polarizing politics
happening everywhere at the moment so
it’s just leading to this general
buildup in stress and what we found is
some really quite distressing shocking
status health statistics in the u.s. one
in in five people are experiencing
mental health problems in the UK it’s
one in six but here in Greece it’s more
than half of the population who
responded to a poll saying that they had
not felt mentally well and that is you
know has massive implications for for
everyone around the world one of one of
the issues with being highly sensitive
is it in the Far East it’s considered
okay to be sensitive but here in the
West it’s it’s really not it’s not cool
particularly among men and what we’re
finding is that boys are being told not
to show emotion not that it’s unmanly
that it makes them weak and that’s
leading them to suppress their emotions
outside of themselves with with really
damaging consequences in the UK every
160 SEC 160 minutes a man takes his own
life now here in Greece the suicide rate
is not as high as that it’s quite it’s
much lower relatively because of
cultural and religious and social
attitudes but it is rising since
austerity happened how many and and what
we are finding also is that 80 percent
of those who take their lives in Greece
are male now how many of those are are
HSP we don’t know but what we do know is
that if we keep piling on this pressure
it is going to just create more and more
stress for citizens and for employees
now just a change of tone business
leaders what can you do to make sure
that you are unlocking the value of high
sensitivity but without burning through
your people well there are two things as
far as I am concerned number one because
this is a superpower is through
acceptance so accept that one in five of
us are going to be experiencing things
more intensely than others accept that
your workplace is almost certainly
causing stress and accept that as an
employer you have a responsibility to do
no harm
so step one acceptance step two is about
positive intervention take action to
make the working for you easier there
are relatively small things that you can
do to make life easier for HSPs which
will actually work beautifully for
everyone so for example stop the culture
of overwork dismantle that culture
within your business enable flexible
working and make sure that you remove
the stigma of occasionally working from
home it is not a clear career limiting
choice then create private spaces and
encourage people to use them when they
need that downtime to to decompress and
recharge their batteries and then place
greater focus on on well-being and
wellness training and/or mentoring so
those are some of the things that you
can do as an employer to unlock the
power of sensitivity so finally a call
to action I invite all of you to be
curious about sensitivity to be curious
about what it might be like and if you
would like to find out if you are search
online for HSP self-test and you can
find out whether you are but embrace
that characteristic in yourself and in
those that you know so families and
teachers don’t tell your boys to man up
please encourage them to in to accept
their emotions and to embrace them as
the superpower that they really are
friends and colleagues don’t tease us
when we’re frazzled and overwhelmed
nobody needs to be ridiculed when
they’re struggling and employers what
has it cost you what does it cost you
how many people have you good people
have you lost and what does it cost you
in terms of your productivity of your
your culture and and your turnover in
terms of your employees so I really
challenge employers to embrace
neurodiversity
within their workforce because there are
diamonds there and the last thing I’d
like to say is you know be there for us
because we are always there for you
thank you you
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