Susan David

Susan David, Ph.D. is one of the world’s leading management thinkers and an award-winning Harvard Medical School psychologist. Her TED Talk on the topic of emotional agility has been seen by more than 60 million people across various platforms, and is one of the most viewed talks of its year. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, and often appears on national radio and television.

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. David is also a co-founder and co-director of the Harvard-affiliated Institute of Coaching. She has developed the concept of Emotional Agility, recognized by the World Economic Forum as a key skill for the future, and provides keynotes on related topics including The Gift and Power of Emotional Courage, and Building Emotional Agility in Turbulent Times to Transform Work Culture.

David is a sought-after keynote speaker, coach, and consultant to C-suite executives, with a unique combination of pragmatic business experience and extensive scientific knowledge that enables 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 Nations Development Program, JP Morgan, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nestlé, among many other multinational firms.

David is author of the definitive "Oxford Handbook of Happiness" and "Beyond Goals." 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,” which has been translated into 30 languages and received multiple awards.