Susan David

Susan A. David (born 13 September 1970) is a South African psychologist, speaker and author.

Early life David was born in 1970, in Gauteng, South Africa. She attended Waverly Girls High School from 1984 to 1988. David received her BA in Applied Psychology & English (1992), Honors in Applied Psychology (1995), and her MA in Psychology (2000) from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. David got a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Melbourne. David then conducted post-doctoral research in emotions at Yale University.

Career David founded the management consulting firm Evidence Based Psychology in 1999 and serves as its CEO. David co-founded the Harvard/McLean Institute of Coaching in 2009 and served as co-director. David edited the 2013 books Beyond Goals and The Oxford Handbook of Happiness. David wrote the self-help book Emotional Agility, which was published with Penguin Random House in 2016. Emotional Agility talks about the concept of productively managing and accepting emotions. Emotional Agility reached #1 on The Wall Street Journal bestseller list. The concept of emotional agility was named as the best business management idea of the year by Harvard Business Review. David gave a TED talk in January 2018 called "The Gift and Power of Emotional Courage". By the end of 2018 it had 6 million views on the TED website.

Personal life David lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and two children.

Awards 2016 Best Business Management Idea of the Year 2016 Books for a Better Life Award Winner | Psychology 2017 Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea of the Year 2017 Axiom Business Book Award Medalist