079 | Emilia Elisabet Lahti | The yin and yang of strength and gentleness

This week we welcome my "SISU sister" to the forge. Elisabet and I have so much alignment around the concepts of doing hard things, overcoming adversity, being tough and staying the course. But to also make room for changing course when needed, softness, gentleness, compassion for yourself and those we lead. You will come away with ideas of how we can be both tough and gentle, and why we should. This is the leadership model of the future. We discuss what it means to honor yourself. And that pushing on is not always the best choice.

Show notes:

Elisabet is an international presenter on topics related to positive psychology, courage, leadership, and high performance. She is also a transformational mindset coach supporting individuals who are committed to cultivating compassionate leadership and integrity in their daily lives

She conducted her PhD research for the Finland-based Aalto University School of Science and Technology in which she is pioneered the research on the ancient Finnish construct of sisu, which denotes courage and determination in the face of extreme adversity and the ability to unlock hidden inner strength when it is needed (find the research paper on embodied fortitude here and its press release here).

Elisabet´s work has been featured by The New Yorker, Business Insider, Scientific American, BBC, and Forbes among others. Elisabet has given talks at Fortune500 companies such as Facebook and Salesforce, as well as Stanford University, The International World Congress on Positive Psychology, The Consciousness Summit, TEDx, and Singularity University at NASA Ames in Mountain View, California, where she also studied futurism and exponential technologies while attending their Global Solutions Programme.

Elisabet has a master's degree in social psychology from the University of Tampere in Finland and in a master's degree in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. She is a former student of Dr Martin Seligman and began her master thesis work on sisu was advised by research professor Dr Angela Duckworth in 2013.

Her personal life mission involves being a catalyst for human connection and compassion. She believes it is our collective responsibility to create socially warm, inviting spaces that empower people to reach their fullest potential. Elisabet enjoys facilitating meaningful connections across geographical, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries and has been hosting story circles and women's groups since 2013.

Website: https://www.sisulab.com/

Buy the book! https://www.amazon.com/Gentle-Power-Revolution-Succeed-Finnish/dp/1683649699