297: Four Steps to Get Unstuck and Embrace Change, with Susan David
Coaching for Leaders
Dave Stachowiak
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2017
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Susan David: Emotional Agility
Susan David is a psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School; cofounder and codirector of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital; and CEO of Evidence Based Psychology. She is the author of the bestselling book Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life*.
Key Points
- Showing Up: Instead of ignoring difficult thoughts and emotions or overemphasizing ‘positive thinking’, facing into your thoughts, emotions and behaviors willingly, with curiosity and kindness.
- Stepping Out: Detaching from, and observing your thoughts and emotions to see them for what they are — just thoughts, just emotions. Essentially, learning to see yourself as the chessboard, filled with possibilities, rather than as any one piece on the board, confined to certain preordained moves.
- Walking Your Why: Your core values provide the compass that keeps you moving in the right direction. Rather than being abstract ideas, these values are the true path to willpower, resilience and effectiveness.
- Moving On: Small deliberate tweaks to your mindset, motivation, and habits — in ways that are infused with your values, can make a powerful difference in your life. The idea is to find the balance between challenge and competence, so that you’re neither complacent nor overwhelmed. You’re excited, enthusiastic, invigorated.
Resources Mentioned
- Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life* by Susan David
- Emotional Agility Quiz
- 3 Ways to Better Understand Your Emotions
Related Episodes
- Ten Ways to Pick Yourself Up When You’re Beaten Down (episode 85)
- How to Lead Through Uncertainty and Change, with Jacqueline Farrington (episode 224)
- How to Increase Your Conversational Intelligence, with Judith Glaser (episode 271)
Discover More
Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | We all want to be agile and tackle the obstacles in front of us and get out of our own ways. |
| 0:05.0 | On today's episode, four steps that will help you to get unstuck and embrace change. |
| 0:11.0 | This is coaching for Leaders, episode 297. |
| 0:15.0 | Produced by Innovate Learning, Maximizing Human Potential. Greetings to you from Orange County, California. This is coaching for leaders and I'm your |
| 0:29.3 | host Dave Stahoviac. Leaders aren't born, they're made. |
| 0:34.2 | And this weekly show gives you access |
| 0:36.3 | to the practical wisdom that will empower you |
| 0:39.2 | to become a better leader. |
| 0:41.6 | And speaking of practical wisdom, that's to be one of the big things we're |
| 0:45.1 | gonna zero in on today I'm so glad to introduce you to today's guest because she's going to really help us to get |
| 0:51.2 | unstuck and embrace change, which is something that of course we all need to do as human beings and even more so as leaders. |
| 1:01.6 | It's not only being able to do that for ourselves, but also being able to do that for ourselves but also being able to do that for others. |
| 1:05.4 | And I'm really glad to welcome Susan David to the show. |
| 1:08.1 | Susan is a psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and she's the co-founder and co-director of |
| 1:14.7 | the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital and the CEO of Evidence-based |
| 1:19.0 | psychology. Susan has worked with the senior leadership of hundreds of major organizations, |
| 1:24.0 | including the United Nations, Ernst & Young, and the World Economic Forum. |
| 1:28.0 | And her work has been featured in numerous publications that you'll recognize |
| 1:32.0 | Harvard Business Review, Time Fast Company, |
| 1:34.0 | and the Wall Street Journal. |
| 1:36.0 | She is the author of the best-selling book Emotional Agility Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, |
| 1:41.0 | and Thrive in work in life. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dave Stachowiak, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dave Stachowiak and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.