Emotional Agility

I discovered this book through Scott Barry Kaufman, who raved about Susan David and her work in his excellent book Rise Above. He told us that cultivating emotional agility was one of the primary ways to overcome a victim mindset and realize our full potential, and that was enough for me. Susan is a psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the cofounder of the Institute of Coaching at McClean Hospital, and the book delivered on every bit of that promise. The core idea is powerful: emotional agility means holding your most difficult emotions loosely, facing them courageously and compassionately, and then acting in alignment with your deepest values. Not relentless positivity, but genuine humanity. If you want to move from bottling or brooding to showing up as the Hero of your own story, I highly recommend this book. Big Ideas we explore include Emotions, Showing Up, The #1 Tip, Dead People's Goals, and Emotionally Agile Kids.