Ideas change everything

Should we cry at work?

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TED Business |

TED Audio Collective

• February 2021

Feelings are complicated. And even more so at work. We like to believe the ultimate professional is stoic, but what important information do we miss when we disregard our emotions on the job? In this episode, Harvard psychologist Susan David helps us break free from the "tyranny of positivity" and embrace the full range of our emotions. After the talk, host Modupe Akinola extends this idea to the workplace by examining a time she shed tears at a meeting with colleagues. Listen and subscribe to TED Business and more podcasts from the TED Audio Collective at audiocollective.ted.com.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Feelings are complicated. And even more so at work. We like to believe the ultimate professional is stoic, but what important information do we miss when we disregard our emotions on the job? In this episode, Harvard psychologist Susan David helps us break free from the "tyranny of positivity" and embrace the full range of our emotions. After the talk, host Modupe Akinola extends this idea to the workplace by examining a time she shed tears at a meeting with colleagues. Listen and subscribe to TED Business and more podcasts from the TED Audio Collective at audiocollective.ted.com.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

About the speakers

Psychologist, researcher, author

See speaker profile

Harvard Medical School psychologist Susan David studies emotional agility: the psychology of how we can use emotion to bring forward our best selves in all aspects of how we love, live, parent and lead.

Modupe Akinola

Psychologist, educator, writer

Modupe Akinola's research examines how organizational environments can engender stress, and how this stress can influence individual and organizational performance.

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TED Audio Collective

The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. They're for listeners as excited by psychology and design as science and technology — who want to dig deep into today’s most exciting ideas. Subscribe, like, favorite or just listen, anywhere you get your podcasts.

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Listen and subscribe to TED Business

Whatever your business conundrum, there's a TED Talk for that — whether you want to learn how to land that promotion, set smart goals, undo injustice at work or unlock the next big innovation. Every Monday, host Modupe Akinola of Columbia Business School presents the most powerful and surprising ideas that illuminate the business world. After the talk, you'll get a mini-lesson from Modupe on how to apply the ideas in your own life — because business evolves every day, and our ideas about it should, too. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.