Building Emotional Agility in Fast-Paced Environments

Two decades ago, I built this framework because I needed it. I was leading change in a sector notorious for vehemently resisting it — and I was in a role that, truthfully, I wasn’t ready for. Every day, I felt pulled between two voices: “I know we can do this.” and “Oh, what’s the point?” It was disorienting. Some days, I felt unstoppable — brimming with ideas, passion, and conviction. The next, I questioned everything, slipping toward exhaustion and doubt. Out of sheer necessity, I started mapping these inner tensions, trying to understand how the same qualities that fueled my drive could also quietly sabotage me when pushed to extremes. Over the past twenty years, I’ve refined that map into a framework I now use with leaders guiding complex transformations all over the world. And this week, I had the privilege of sharing it in my latest Harvard Business Review article: https://lnkd.in/eqi6Ybmf The article explores five core dimensions — voice, ideas, passion, discontent, and conviction — and how they oscillate between agency (the force that propels action) and ambivalence (the doubt that pulls us back). The goal isn’t to eliminate that tension — it’s to learn to ride it. If you’ve ever led change and felt that same inner conflict, full of belief one day and bone-tired the next, this piece is for you. #Leadership #ChangeManagement #EmotionalIntelligence #Resilience #LeadingThroughChange

In high-stakes interviews, knowledge is useless if you can’t access it under pressure. You know that moment.. Your brain goes blank. Your palms sweat. And instead of solving, you start surviving. But here’s the truth → Problem-solving under stress is not a “talent.” It’s a trainable skill. And the candidates I coach who master it often walk out with multiple job offers. Let me break it down with no-fluff, expert-backed techniques that actually work: 1️⃣ Rewire Your Stress Response with the 4-7-8 Reset When your nervous system panics, your prefrontal cortex (the problem-solving part of your brain) shuts down. Before answering, use the 4-7-8 breathing method: Inhale for 4 sec Hold for 7 sec Exhale for 8 sec This activates the parasympathetic system → instantly reduces cortisol and gives you back cognitive control. 2️⃣ Switch from “Answering” to “Framing” Research from Harvard Business Review shows that candidates who frame the problem out loud sound more confident and buy time to think. Instead of jumping straight in, say: “Let me structure my approach — first I’ll identify the constraints, then I’ll evaluate possible solutions, and finally I’ll recommend the most practical one.” This shows clarity under stress, even before the solution lands. 3️⃣ Use the MECE Method (Consulting’s Secret Weapon) Top consulting firms like McKinsey train candidates to solve under pressure using MECE → Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive. Break the problem into 2–3 distinct, non-overlapping buckets. Example: If asked how to improve a delivery app → Think in “User Experience,” “Logistics,” and “Revenue Streams.” This keeps you structured and avoids rambling. 4️⃣ Apply the 30-70 Rule Neuroscience research shows stress reduces working memory. So don’t aim for perfection. Spend 30% of time defining the problem clearly and 70% generating practical solutions. Most candidates flip this and over-explain, which backfires. 5️⃣ Rehearse with Deliberate Discomfort Candidates who only practice “easy” questions crash in high-pressure moments. I make my students solve case studies with distractions, timers, or sudden curveballs. Why? Because your brain learns to adapt under chaos and that resilience shows in interviews. 👉 Remember: Interviewers aren’t hunting for perfect answers. They’re hunting for calm thinkers. The ones who don’t crumble under the weight of uncertainty. That’s how my students at Google, Deloitte, and Amazon got noticed → not by being geniuses, but by staying structured under stress. Would you like me to share a step-by-step mock interview framework for practicing these techniques? Comment “Framework” and I’ll drop it in my next post. #interviewtips #careerdevelopment #problemsolving #dreamjob #interviewcoach

𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: 𝐂𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 As a sport psychologist, I often talk to athletes about coping with negative emotions following an error (e.g., dropped ball, misplaced pass, or a missed penalty), and how their reaction to mistakes is very important. It is important that athletes (and people) don't dwell on mistakes when they are still in the performance situation - reflection can occur later - and manage their emotions quickly to continue performing so that one mistake does not impact the remainder of the performance. This allows them to prepare for the next play or involvement. This video highlights why this is so important - Ronaldo fails to score from a free kick, outside the box, and within a matter of seconds, he has another opportunity to score. If athletes dwell too on a mistake or a setback and don't cope effectively with negative emotions, they may not be ready for their next opportunity. I have researched coping and coping effectiveness among elite athletes for over twenty years, but this is the first time I have considered the speed at which a person can alleviate negative emotions to be critical. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴? Coping strategies used to regulate emotional distress during a stressful episode are considered emotion-focused coping strategies (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). 4️⃣ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗗𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 1️⃣ Recognise how you feel after a stressful incident (i.e., lost point, poor shot, or wrong call from an official). 2️⃣ Accept this feeling. 3️⃣ Deploy an appropriate emotion-focused coping strategy. This will depend on what has happened and the time available to cope, but it could include any of the following:  🌬️ Deep Breathing 🖼️ Re-evaluate or reframe the situation 🙂 Forgive yourself for a mistake 💬 Engage in self-talk 👥 Seek social support 4️⃣ Generate a challenge state to create a positive emotion. Research has shown that challenge states can cause positive emotions (Thompson et al., 2020). Do this by: Focus on what you want to happen during the next point or next play and how you will achieve this. Reference. Mark Thompson PhD, John Toner, John Perry, Rachel Burke, PhD, & Adam Nicholls. (2020). Stress appraisals influence athletic performance and psychophysiological response during 16.1 km cycling time trials. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, (2020), 101682.

"I can’t afford to show my team how I really feel." I hear this a lot from leaders - especially those who care deeply about their people. They believe that showing stress, uncertainty, or doubt would only make things worse. So they keep it in. They stay “strong.” They put on the armor. But here’s the paradox: 🦾 When you armor up to protect your team, you often end up doing the opposite. - You block trust. - You create distance. - You make it harder for others to speak up or be real themselves. 🧠 There’s a psychological concept for this: Affective Presence. It’s the emotional atmosphere we bring into the room - the way people feel around us, regardless of what we say. Even if you don’t talk about your anxiety, your team still senses it. Humans are wired that way. And when leaders hide what’s real, it creates tension and confusion, not safety. 💡 What to do about it - NAME IT: “This is tough, and I feel pressure too, but we’ll get through it together” When leaders name what they’re feeling in a calm and grounded way: tension releases. Connection builds. People relax and they engage. 🧠 This is Co-Regulation - a key ingredient of psychological safety. When the leader brings openness and calm, the team feels more secure. And safety is the foundation of high performance and inclusive leadership. So next time you feel like hiding your stress to protect your team, consider this: 👉 Your honesty might be the very thing that unlocks their performance. P.S. Have you ever experienced a leader whose calm honesty made you feel safer? I’d love to hear what kind of affective presence has shaped your experience at work. --------------------------------- 👋 New here? Welcome! I'm Susanna. I help organizations with high-performing, inclusive leadership and culture by fostering psychological safety.

Every week, I sit with one article long enough for it to change me—not just inform me. This HBR piece stayed with me because it names a human gap: the distance between the leader we can be on our best day… and the leader we default to when we’re tired, busy, or under pressure. The authors offer four behavioral disciplines to close that gap—and I immediately heard echoes of conversations we’ve had on the Positive Leadership Podcast. (https://lnkd.in/eg9rAaMR) by Ron Carucci and Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic Here’s how I’m translating them through my lens of purpose, courage, learning, and reinvention: When I’m at my best, I’m not chasing a “best self” as a performance. I’m anchored in my “why.” 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳—what I call your purpose self—the version of you that is most aligned with what you’re here to serve. That’s the spirit of reinvention I explored with Herminia Ibarra: you don’t think your way into a new identity; you act your way into it. And purpose is not only personal. It’s political in the best sense: it touches systems. 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺—not just optimize around it. This is where principled dissent becomes a form of love for the mission and respect for the people. My conversation with Gianpiero Petriglieri reminded me that leadership isn’t a pose; it’s inner work—and sometimes the most responsible thing we can do is to challenge what’s normalized. Then there’s the daily stance we choose: 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲. At Microsoft, alongside Satya Nadella I experienced how a growth mindset can become a cultural engine when it’s modeled with consistency (and humility). And 📚Michael Bungay Stanier keeps bringing me back to the simplest discipline: stay curious longer—especially when certainty feels comforting. Finally, the one that quietly decides everything: 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲. Not by forcing transformation overnight—but by building what I call a “growth discomfort zone”: small, intentional moves that stretch us without breaking us. Dorie Clark and Whitney Johnson both helped me see reinvention as a practice, and the S-Curve as permission: what feels awkward today is often the early signal of future mastery. Tolstoy said it with disarming clarity: “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” So here’s my reflective question for you: Which of these four disciplines do you need most right now—and what is one concrete behavior you’ll change this week to make it real? If you want to go deeper (PLP episodes mentioned): Herminia Ibarra — Transforming organizational culture: https://lnkd.in/eD7ni3S6 Gianpiero Petriglieri — Leadership: a matter of love: https://lnkd.in/ef2dEN8t Satya Nadella — Finding meaning in your work: https://lnkd.in/eMiisYyu Michael Bungay Stanier — Doing hard thingshttps://lnkd.in/eZX6rwvH Dorie Clark — Reinventing yourself: https://lnkd.in/eJ4mxkTZ

Leadership is more emotional than we’re comfortable admitting. Not in a dramatic way. In a human one. Every decision carries emotion. Every interaction triggers it. Every moment of pressure reveals it. That’s why emotion matters in leadership. It shapes how people experience you. It affects judgment before logic has time to catch up. It determines whether others feel safe bringing you the hard things. The issue isn’t emotion itself. It’s what happens when emotion runs unchecked. Strong reactions—especially under stress—tend to teach the room something: What’s safe to say. What’s risky to raise. What’s better kept quiet. Over time, those reactions become patterns. And patterns become culture. What matters most isn’t what you feel. It’s how you manage your response. A few tips that have really helped me: 1/ Insert a pause between trigger and response. Even a brief one can shift the outcome. 2/ Name the emotion silently before speaking. Frustration, defensiveness, urgency—labeling it softens its grip. 3/ Separate signal from story. Emotion often points to something important. But not always to the right conclusion. 4/ Respond with curiosity before certainty. Questions keep conversations open. Reactions tend to shut them down. What you feel is human. What you do with it is leadership. What reaction took you the longest to unlearn? --- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for Leadership and Career posts.

I’ve found myself navigating meetings when a colleague or team member is emotionally overwhelmed. One person came to me like a fireball, angry and frustrated. A peer had triggered them deeply. After recognizing that I needed to shift modes, I took a breath and said, “Okay, tell me what's happening.” I realized they didn’t want a solution. I thought to myself: They must still be figuring out how to respond and needed time to process. They are trusting me to help. I need to listen. In these moments, people often don’t need solutions; they need presence. There are times when people are too flooded with feelings to answer their own questions. This can feel counterintuitive in the workplace, where our instincts are tuned to solve, fix, and move forward. But leadership isn’t just about execution; it’s also about emotional regulation and providing psychological safety. When someone approaches you visibly upset, your job isn’t to immediately analyze or correct. Instead, your role is to listen, ground the space, and ensure they feel heard. This doesn't mean abandoning accountability or ownership; quite the opposite. When people feel safe, they’re more likely to engage openly in dialogue. The challenging part is balancing reassurance without minimizing the issue, lowering standards, or compromising team expectations. There’s also a potential trap: eventually, you'll need to shift from emotional containment to clear, kind feedback. But that transition should come only after the person feels genuinely heard, not before. Timing matters. Trust matters. If someone is spinning emotionally, be the steady presence. Be the one who notices. Allow them to guide the pace. Then, after the storm passes, and only then, you can invite reflection and growth. This is how you build a high-trust, high-performance culture: one conversation, one moment of grounded leadership at a time.

“You’re training them to think under pressure” Geno Auriemma doesn’t negotiate. He envelopes his players’ games in mindset in every activity in every session. He paints his X’s and O’s in attitudinal qualities. He demands comfort-busting moments within metabolically exhausting activities. “You’re training them to think under pressure” Every action, every second, every activity, every session, every day, every week, every month, every season. A relentless commitment to mindset. For me, when I think of mindset, I draw on three qualities - three silent mediators of performance that impact every second technically, tactically, physically. Attention Intensity Intent These are skills and competencies that can be trained and that can combine to form individual mental frameworks for ambitious players looking to discover just how good they can be.

“If you have to scream to get your voice heard at the table, you are probably not making the right points,” one of my first managers once told me. The power of quiet authority is something I learned very early in my career. In the corporate world, you will often sit in rooms where everyone is speaking loudly. Arguments fly. Opinions clash. Sometimes you are the youngest person in the room, surrounded by people twice your age and experience. It is tempting to match volume with volume. But asserting authority does not always involve raising your voice or forcing your opinion through. Asserting authority often involves being clear, structured, and calm. It involves listening more than speaking, choosing your moments carefully, and making points that are hard to ignore because they are logical and well thought through. Quiet authority comes from preparation. From credibility. From consistency. When you speak less but add value every time you speak, people begin to lean in. You do not need to dominate the room. You simply need to move it forward. Volume may command attention for a moment. But clarity commands respect for much longer.