Susan David

“The way your people engage with emotions impacts every level of your organization, from culture to engagement, wellbeing to leadership—EVERYTHING.”

• #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author
• Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award Winner
• Harvard Business Review Management Idea of the Year
• Cofounder of the Institute of Coaching (a Harvard Medical School/McLean affiliate)

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 8,000,000 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 most important asset: 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.

Building Emotional Agility

Rapid technological change, globalization, and hybrid work have fundamentally disrupted the way we live. We are increasingly caught between organizational demands and environmental realities. Organizations need flexibility, teaming, customer-centricity, innovation, and inclusion. Yet at the same time, accelerated complexity conspires against positive change, leading to rigidity, strained relationships, and lower wellbeing. The demand for people and organizations to be agile has never been greater.

Developed by Susan David, Ph.D., Emotional Agility is a practical, science-based roadmap. It’s a set of essential psychological skills for our fast-changing, complex world: skills that allow us to remain engaged, open, and values-connected, and to reincorporate our most challenging feelings as sources of energy, creativity, and insight.

Emotional Agility is at the heart of mental health, leadership, culture, collaboration, and innovation—everything that matters to healthy people, organizations, and communities. Now more than ever, it is crucial. Thinkers50 recognized the Emotional Agility framework with its coveted Breakthrough Idea Award, noting, “Emotional Agility is the new currency for leading effectively” and The World Economic Forum calls Emotional Agility a “key skill for the future.”

The connection was palpable. Your impact is profound. I can’t wait to work with you again! — Ernst & Young

We had such an amazing experience! Thank you. I had high expectations about your involvement from the beginning and the outcome was better than I could have hoped for. You really reached our participants ‘in their hearts.’ — McKinsey & Co.

Honestly, I have never seen anyone embrace our challenges and help to explain solutions in such a precise and beautiful way as you did today. You exceeded my expectations (and the expectations of our CEO and HREVP) X 100. They (and I) were absolutely riveted. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. — Sabic Leadership Conference