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Jan 2025
1h 56m

Sunita Sah (on defiance)

Armchair Umbrella
About this episode

Sunita Sah (Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes) is an author, award-winning, tenured professor at Cornell University, and expert in organizational psychology. Sunita joins the Armchair Expert to discuss living up to the Sanskrit meaning of her name, why Milgram’s electric shock experiment pushed her to pursue psychology, and how some of the wildest and offtrack people she knows are doctors. Sunita and Dax talk about how speaking up when you see something happening to someone else is a communal act, how Dax goes straight from tension to defiance, and whether defiance is evolutionarily maladaptive. Sunita explains the five elements that define a true yes, how we can reduce stress by clarifying and acting in alignment to our values, and tells the story of her mother’s defiance that surprised her and taught her hope. 

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