The power of emotional courage

Emotional Intelligence gets a lot of attention within leadership. By increasing empathy and compassion through accurate awareness and acceptance of emotions, real widespread change can be ignited.

Susan David’s talk on emotional agility and the power it delivers is inspirational. Her personal story of grief and loss, and her radical acceptance of difficult, unpleasant emotions helps paint a clear picture of emotional intelligence.

The accuracy with which people label their emotions is essential for mining those emotions for data, and later aligning them with personal values.

Here are some powerful quotes from her talk.

• “Discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life.”

• “We generate the pathway to our best selves via our emotions.”

• “What he showed me is that courage is not the absence of fear; courage is fear walking.”

A valuable tip that was offered during the talk was an appropriate use of language in the description of emotions. For instance, rather than saying, “I am angry,” replace it with, “I’m noticing that I’m feeling angry.” Separating the self from the emotion to use emotions as data, is useful in aligning values and actions.

Dr. David is the author of Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life. This award-winning emotional intelligence book guides people into building this agility and understanding that emotional intelligence is key to a successful life. Her work is based on 20 years of research in emotions.