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David Feldman and Lee Kravetz  

Best-Selling Authors of Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link Between Suffering and Success

David B. Feldman is considered to be among the top experts on hope in the field of Psychology. A tenured professor of Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University, he has given hundreds of lectures for audiences in sectors including medicine, education, business and technology. Feldman has lectured in places as diverse as Buenos Aires, Montreal and Oxford University, as well as across the United States. He has spoken at Google, Facebook, Kaiser Permanente and the Department of Veterans Affairs, among many others. Feldman has authored three books, including Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link Between Suffering and Success (HarperCollins), Public Speaking for Psychologists: A Lighthearted Guide to Research Presentations, Job Talks, and Other Opportunities to Embarrass Yourself (American Psychological Association Books), and The End-of-Life Handbook: A Compassionate Guide to Connecting with and Caring for a Dying Loved One (New Harbinger). In addition, his research has been published in some of the best journals in the field of Psychology, as well as in popular publications and books. He has appeared in such magazines as SELF, People, U.S. News & World Report, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider and Fast Company, has had his work featured on WebMD and About.com, has been interviewed for national television and radio, and has written for Psychology Today and The Huffington Post. He resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

LEE KRAVETZ

Lee Daniel Kravetz has a master’s in psychology and is a graduate of the University of Missouri–Columbia School of Journalism. He has written for print and television, including The New York Times, Psychology Today, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Huffington Post, as well as for PBS’s FRONTLINE, NOVA and Sesame Street. At the age of 29, he survived a battle with cancer. Like many survivors of trauma, the experience called into relief his personal values and choices, and he changed the course of his life to study counseling with a focus on positive psychology. Today, his writing focuses on survivorship, hope and stories of resilience. The author of Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link Between Suffering and Success, he has held psychology research positions at Stanford University Hospital, the Palo Alto VA and the National Center for PTSD. Kravetz has been interviewed for such publications as Business Insider and Fast Company and has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, People magazine and TIME, as well as on national television and radio. He is a resident at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto and is on the founding board of the Lit Camp Writers Conference. He resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Speech Topics

Teaching Toughness

One of the central principles that allows people to “bounce forward” after adversity and setbacks is something we call “Grounded Hope,” a forward-looking outlook rooted in a tough, realistic and bravely honest understanding of one’s life situation. Such toughness of spirit allows people to ask and productively answer the question, “How am I going to build a better life starting from where I am?” Dozens of studies—including work done in David’s own lab—demonstrate that this form of hope is one of the most robust predictors of college GPA and graduations rates. And, not only that, such hope can be taught, even in people who are naturally low in it. David has been instrumental in developing Hope Therapy, a set of tools shown to increase hopeful thinking, goal achievement, personal calling, and even sense of life meaning. In this presentation, David and Lee present methods that educators and students can use to nurture this outlook on life and increase achievement.

Leading for Resilience

This presentation explores the paradoxical relationship between suffering and success in the context of organizational leadership. David and Lee focus on how leaders and managers can build organizations that benefit from suffering through personal example and through nurturing cultural shifts in how people conceptualize adversity. They discover how setbacks and even failure can ultimately lead to achievement; how giving up can be good, opening up new and innovative possibilities; and why success never can nor should be measured by money and status alone. The talk makes use of insights drawn from extensive interviews of supersurvivors, as well as a wide array of research, including David’s own work on meaning and calling in work.

Bouncing Forward: How to Change Your Life (and the World at Large) After Adversity

A supersurvivor is someone who has dramatically altered his or her life after facing a trauma. While there’s nothing inherently positive about atrocities, disasters or illness, and a lot of people suffer mightily from these events, it’s also true that dramatic resilience can occur for ordinary people. In this presentation, David and Lee explore personal strength through the stories of extraordinary people and outline the principles that researchers and clinicians have identified as keys to remarkable resilience. Whether it’s a leukemia sufferer who goes on to win an Olympic gold medal, a young man who permanently loses his sight and ends up being the first blind person to row a boat across the Atlantic, or a woman who survives genocide in Rwanda to eventually become an Obama appointee, these people show what’s possible in the wake of tragedy. Their stories often coincide with what research shows are ways to prepare ourselves not only to bounce back after adversity, but to actually “bounce forward.” There is a lot that all of us can learn from their journeys, no matter who we are or what we have endured.

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