Gentle Power and the Finnish Art of Sisu With Elisabet Lahti

Elisabet Lahti wants you to learn how to harness your power differently with embodied fortitude, gentleness, and determination. Sisu is a Finnish concept that refers to a unique blend of courage and tenacity, especially in the face of adversity. It’s an inner strength that helps you keep going under extreme pressure. In this episode, Elisabet shares her journey of Sisu, her 1500-mile run across New Zealand, and strategies you can use to build more Gentle Power in your life.

Listen and Learn:

What is sisu?
Examples of sisu
The difference between sisu and grit
Self-leadership
The benefits of Gentle Power
The yin and yang of Gentle Power
Overcoming fear of gentleness
How to increase your life force

About Elisabet Lahti

Emilia Elisabet Lahti, who goes by her second name Elisabet, is an international presenter on topics related to the applied psychology of inner strength, conscious leadership, and high performance. In her PhD for the Finland-based Aalto University, she laid a foundation for 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 (you can download the research paper on embodied fortitude here and find its press release here).

She holds a master’s degree in social psychology from the University of Tampere in Finland and a master’s in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Elisabet is also the co-founder of the Positive Psychology Association of Finland.

In 2018, she completed a 1500-mile run and bicycle ultra endurance feat across the length of New Zealand for her research on sisu. Elisabet’s work has been featured at The New Yorker, CNBC, Business Insider, Scientific American, BBC, and Forbes, among others. She’s given talks at Fortune 500 companies, universities, and conferences internationally. She lives in Finland and spends her time seeking to live out sisu in everyday life, as well as writing, teaching, and being a disciple of life herself.