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The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes with Dr. Sunita Sah

Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins

Release Date: 07/24/2025

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is an award-winning professor at Cornell University and an expert in organizational psychology. She leads groundbreaking research on influence, authority, compliance, and defiance. A trained physician, she practiced medicine in the United Kingdom and worked as a management consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. She currently teaches executives, leaders, and students in healthcare and business. Dr. Sah is a sought-after international speaker and consultant, advisor to government agencies, and former Commissioner of the National Commission on Forensic Science. Her multidisciplinary...

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Dr. Sunita Sah is an award-winning professor at Cornell University and an expert in organizational psychology. She leads groundbreaking research on influence, authority, compliance, and defiance. A trained physician, she practiced medicine in the United Kingdom and worked as a management consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. She currently teaches executives, leaders, and students in healthcare and business. Dr. Sah is a sought-after international speaker and consultant, advisor to government agencies, and former Commissioner of the National Commission on Forensic Science. Her multidisciplinary research and analyses have been widely published in leading academic journals and media entities including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review, and Scientific American. She lives with her husband and son in New York.

DEFY: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes

How many times have you wanted to object, disagree, or opt out of something—but ended up swallowing your words, shaking your head, and just going along? In her groundbreaking new book, DEFY, a former physician and award-winning organizational psychologist Dr. Sunita Sah delves deep into why the pressure to comply is a corrosive and often invisible force in our society.

With her own revelatory research, she radically transforms our idea of defiance from a misunderstood negative trait into a crucial, positive force for personal and societal change. Taking us through her five stages of defiance, Dr. Sah equips readers with the tools to unleash the power of a “True No.” At the core of DEFY is a profound analysis of why we often say yes when we shouldn’t, and how to say no when it matters most.

Drawing on her story as a woman scientist of color, as well as her original research and insights from multiple disciplines including psychology, ethics, law, medicine, organizational behavior, sociology, and philosophy, Dr. Sah reveals the critical need to rediscover our core values. She explores how we are neurologically, psychologically, and socially pressured to comply, and what we can do to train ourselves for conscientious resistance and reclaim our agency.

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Music credits for this episode: 

Orion-Instrumental by Mindseye, Free Music Archive (CC BY)