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Emmanuel Dalavai

Emmanuel Dalavai

Dr. Emmanuel V. Dalavai is an executive and leadership development coach (State Farm), adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, and president of EVD Enterprises, specializing in emotional intelligence and servant leadership.

Sep 14, 2026

5:11
Where did you get the initial concept from?
5:13
Yeah, so I thought to myself, hey, what has really affected you over the years, and really specifically this year? And I go back to, again, our experience in Dubai, where we were holed up there for almost two weeks, dodging missile and drone strikes across the Strait of Hormuz.
5:33
That's a buzzword these days.
5:35
And because of that experience, I had a lot of downtime.
5:38
And I had a time to reflect and think about, Why did this happen to us specifically? And then I thought about the unique circumstances, the very exciting, intriguing circumstances that allowed us to escape down to Oman, get a flight to Frankfurt and then back home eventually.
5:56
But then there was a buzz after we got back home.
5:58
I did all these interviews and newspaper articles and podcasts even like about the experience.
8:45
I was not expecting to be so inspired.
6:52
I smiled at you and naturally you just lit up as well.
6:56
It's contagious.
6:57
I mean, you have a nice smile.
6:58
So that also helps too.
7:01
So, yeah.
7:02
And I mean, I think the research bears out that principle too is that I think when we are more positive, when we are optimistic, I like to tell some of my clients, again, ones who struggle sometimes with being positive and trying to maintain a positive mental attitude, that your altitudinal position in life is really dependent on your attitudinal disposition.
7:33
So dependent on what type of attitude you have, right? It can determine the extent to which you are succeeding in life or not succeeding.
10:07
For someone that really struggles with knowing who they are and finding the true self, what would be the first step for them?

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