EMILIA ELISABET LAHTI
PhD, MSc, MAPP
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.
Being a passionate systems thinker, Elisabet sees that we are all part of a larger collective entity through the social networks we belong to. In creating a culture that enables individuals to strive for their best possible life, it is imperative to create social awareness of the significance each person has on the possible future of society, and of how sensitive the broader dynamic system is to each of our individual actions (both positive and negative). We are all called to act in a way that adds value to the gross sum of human existence.
Elisabet is the founder of the Positive Psychology Association of Finland as well as the creator of a non-profit called Sisu not Silence that aims to promote action and research around nonviolence and active compassion in all domains of human lives. In 2018, she completed a 2400 km run and bicycle journey across the length of New Zealand to collect data for her PhD work on sisu (through direct experience using autoethnography as her method) and to kick off Sisu Not Silence that supports the creation of cultures with zero tolerance to abuse in any shape or form.
For more information on Sisu Not Silence, you can watch a short film made by the Finnish National Broadcasting Company (YLE) or this interview on the New Zealand TV Morning Breakfast Show after completing her expedition.
You can read Elisabet's blog posts on this website and at Medium.