#360 The Power of Resilience: Why Emotional Regulation Matters in the Age of AI

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (0:00)
Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation. Before we dive in, I wanted to personally thank you for listening. Many of the ideas we discuss on this show inspired my new book, AI Augmented Teams. If you're looking for practical ways to combine human expertise and AI to achieve better outcomes, I think you'll find it valuable. Learn more at paidar.ai.a.i. That is paidar.ai.a.i.
Now, let's get started with the show.

**Anne Grady** (0:30)
But people almost feel like if I don't have the right answer, I'm afraid AI is going to take my job because AI will have the right answer. So I might as well not speak up. And not only are we contributing to the anxiety that we're trying to diminish, we're not giving people the tools to be able to manage it.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (0:51)
Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation, where we explore how people process policy and technology drive effective change. This is Dr. Darren, chief enterprise architect, educator, author, and most importantly, your host. On this episode, The Power of Resilience, mastering emotional regulation as a leader, with adaptability and resilience expert, Anne Grady.
Anne, welcome to the show.

**Anne Grady** (1:23)
Thank you so much for having me, Darren. It's great to be here.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (1:27)
It's been a while since we talked, and it's been a crazy four or five weeks for me. Since we talked last, I've only been home like three or four days in the last four or five weeks, traveling and speaking. And so it's been great.
But enough about me, you're on the show and everyone that listens to my show knows, and that I only have superheroes on the show, and every superhero has a background story. So what's your background story, Anne?

**Anne Grady** (1:56)
Well, I left my cape in the other room, so I don't have my cape with me. But my story starts, I was very goal-oriented. My goal was go to college, get a master's, get married, have my first baby at 28, my second baby at 32 And I had everything kind of charted out and knew what I wanted my life to look like. And I did, I got married at 26, and I had my son, Evan, two days after my 28th birthday. And I was really on track, I thought. And then my whole world fell apart. My son, Evan, was born with some severe special needs, but we didn't have a diagnosis, and doctors couldn't tell me what was wrong. And basically, we were in our first pediatric psych hospitalization by the age of seven. He was on his first anti-psychotic at the age of four. And in the middle of it all, I'm building this speaking career where I'm getting to work with these incredible organizations, Lockheed Martin, Google, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, these really big name companies. But internally and at home, I was really struggling.
His father left, so I became a single mom. And I was really struggling with how to not only build the skills to navigate life every day, but to do it in a way to try to still enjoy my life in the process. And what I've learned through this journey and in the middle of all of it, Darren getting sick and having a tumor in my face that resulted in facial paralysis and a whole lot of health challenges.
And I've studied human behavior for 25 years. I was really passionate about trying to figure out how to navigate my own situation. But once I did, I figured out all of these kind of, for lack of a better term, life hacks that helped me navigate it. And rather than having people have to recreate the wheel, I thought, well, if I can share some of these tools that I've learned, not everything will work for everybody, but perhaps there's something in all of this mess that I can use to give clarity, to give pain a purpose, and help other people not have to start from scratch.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (3:58)
Well, I mean, so you do have a superpower. A lot of times we don't talk about our guest superpower, but you got a superpower, that's that optimism.
And trying to learn something from what you were dealt with, because you were dealt a raw hand right there. I mean, there's no other way to put it, right? Lots of bad things happen, but you decide to share, which is awesome. I mean, that's a superpower all by itself, which I think is pretty incredible. So thanks for being a superhero on my show.

**Anne Grady** (4:34)
Well, nobody thinks-

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (4:35)
That's the show. We got it, guys. No, there you go.