Susan David, PhD, is an award-winning psychologist at Harvard Medical School and one of the world’s most influential management thinkers. As creator of the concept of Emotional Agility, her recent work has focused on the urgent need to meet the challenges and emotional complexities of this time with focus and action.

Emotional agility is more important today than at any other moment in recent history. It is central to engagement, culture, leadership, innovation, adaptability and wellbeing. The World Economic Forum calls Emotional Agility a key skill for the future, and Thinkers50 recognized Susan with the Breakthrough Idea of the Year Award, noting, “Emotional Agility is the new currency for leading successfully.”

David has a passion for keynote speaking and management consulting, and is a renowned executive coach, who applies her knowledge of emotions, human motivation and change to individuals and organizations. She frequently works in the areas of personal leadership, culture, engagement, and people strategy.

David has been an advisor to numerous leaders faced with difficult situations, including mergers and acquisitions, leadership transitions, and strategic revisions. She routinely consults at the most senior levels of Fortune 500 companies, and with other global organizations from industries as diverse as financial services, information technology, healthcare, utilities, pharmaceuticals, and mining. Her world-wide client list includes Ernst and Young Global, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Development Program, BHP Billiton, JP Morgan Chase, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nestlé, among many other multinational firms.

She edited the definitive "Oxford Handbook of Happiness" with a foreword by His Majesty the King of Bhutan – the first country to measure Gross National Happiness (Oxford University Press, 2013). She also edited "Beyond Goals: Effective Strategies for Coaching and Mentoring" (Gower, 2013). She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review and her research has been featured in TIME, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, and Inc.com, among other major publications. David’s article "Emotional Agility" stayed on Harvard Business Review’s “Most Read” list for months. In a short time, nearly a quarter of a million people had downloaded it, and it was named by Harvard Business Review as an “Idea that Shaped Management” and was the winner of the Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award. Its popularity was the impetus for her book by the same name, published by Penguin (Avery) which was named a #1 Wall Street Journal Best seller and has been translated into multiple languages. David’s TED Talk on the topic went viral with over 1 million views in its first week of release. She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and guest on national radio and television.

David is a global citizen who loves to travel. She backpacked across the world for nearly two years and has lived in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and now, Boston, USA. In December 2016 she will co-lead the first all-female expedition to Antarctica – it’s aim being to increase the influence and impact of women in science. In her daily life, she enjoys spending time with her two young children, Noah and Sophie, and her husband Anthony. She finds happiness in the small things while also managing a busy academic and working schedule.

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