Ideas worth spreading

Should we cry at work?

1,250,489 views |

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.

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.

About the speakers

Susan David

Psychologist, researcher, author

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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

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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