Susan David, Ph.D., one of the world's leading management thinkers, operates at the nexus of business and psychology. She is the creator of the concept of Emotional Agility, and uses this lens in her consulting, coaching, and keynotes, and in the development of psychometric tools to analyze, assess, and develop these skills. 

Her focus is on how Emotional Agility contributes to effective people strategies, particularly in the areas of employee engagement, wellbeing, interpersonal relationships, high-performance leadership, and organizational culture change. Her TED Talk on Emotional Agility has more than 11 million views. Susan is also a co-founder and co-director of the Harvard-affiliated Institute of Coaching.

Susan is a sought-after keynote speaker, coach, and consultant to C-suite executives. Her unique combination of pragmatic business experience and extensive scientific knowledge allows her to help leaders meet the most pressing business challenges without losing sight of their people. 

She routinely consults internationally at the most senior levels of large organizations and has extensive experience in industries as diverse as financial services, information technology, healthcare, utilities, pharmaceuticals, and mining. Her client list includes Ernst and Young Global, the World Economic Forum, BHP Billiton, Telstra, the United National Development Program, JP Morgan, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nestlé, among many other multinational firms. 

Susan is author of the definitive Oxford Handbook of Happiness (Oxford University Press), Beyond Goals (Gower). She also authored the top-rated Harvard Business Review article “Emotional Agility” which was named as a Management Idea of the Year and was the impetus for her #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, “Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life.” Her work is frequently featured in the national media including Harvard Business Review, TIME, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, and Inc.com.

Here's a secret: self-compassion does not make you weak or lazy. 

There's a misconception that you need to be tough on yourself to maintain focus as you move toward your goals. On the contrary, research shows that self-compassionate people aim just as high as self-critical people do. The difference is that self-compassionate people don't fall apart when, as sometimes happens, they don't meet their desired result.

Instead of expecting your disparaging inner critic to be waiting in the wings if you fail, turn instead to offer yourself words of kindness and support while you work your way toward your goal.

Susan David, Ph.D.

Psychologist. Harvard Medical School. TED Speaker. Author of the #1 WSJ bestseller Emotional Agility. Co-Founder of Institute of Coaching.

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It's hard to maintain a sense of calm when you're juggling a deadline at work, a weekly calendar full of meetings, and ongoing family responsibilities. 

If your emotions are threatening to send you over the edge, try to identify exactly what you're feeling.

Stress is different from anxiety and anger is different from frustration.

Correctly labeling your emotion is the first step to achieving greater balance.

We are most in our wisdom when we understand bothness. 

We can be afraid and still engage with a challenge. We can grieve and still laugh at a joke. 

Life is full of contradictions—embrace it in all its complexity.

Just show up. You don't have to always get it right or be a perfect person. 

You DO have to be willing to show up to your uncomfortable feeling and say,"You're here. I'm here. Let's talk."

When we show up to our difficult feelings, we prime ourselves to anticipate pitfalls and prepare more effective coping methods for critical moments.

Taking small, values-aligned actions is a really powerful way to build the life you want.

For example, if you choose to be generous to your colleague, what is the impact of that action? This micro-moment of generosity predicts an upward spiral where you will be more likely to be generous in another moment. On the other hand, when you make choices that are incongruent with your values, it can lead to a downward spiral—taking you away from the life you want to lead. 

Start small. 

The research: “Increasing prosocial behavior and decreasing selfishness in the lab and everyday life” (Gloster, Rinner, & Meyer)

Display rules are the lessons we teach our kids about what is and is not an appropriate emotional response to any given situation. 

A display rule might manifest itself through a directive like “Buck up! Boys don’t cry,” which signals to a child that uncomfortable emotions are signs of weakness and to be avoided. This kind of response deprives a child of the critically important opportunity to sit with their feelings. 

It’s critical—because over time, the way we talk about emotions becomes the way they talk to themselves. These early lessons shape their coping strategies, wellbeing, and adaptability for life.

Change is inevitable. Approach your life with a sense of possibility and renewal.

Let's try the emotional agility stress-buster.

Scenario: You often get stressed out when faced with a long to-do list.

1. Give yourself the space to simply feel that way. Say it, whether out loud, or in your head: "Okay, this is my go-to reaction when I have a heavy workload. I am feeling stressed." 

2. "I still have the power to decide how to act in this moment. I will choose not to snap at my coworker, because I value kindness." 

3. This stress is telling me to divide my work and approach it one step at a time instead of getting overwhelmed by everything at once. 

4. "I am feeling stressed, but I am not defined by my stress." 

How'd it go?

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