Being Resilient - Both At Work And At Home

Thoughts and Observations about Resilience:

“A good half of the art of living is resilience.”  Alain de Botton - Swiss-born/U.K. author, books on various subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life.

“The most important characteristics you need to succeed in business are resilience, determination and persistence.” Karren Brady – U.K. business executive, television personality. 

“Successful people demonstrate their resilience through their dedication to making progress every day, even if that progress is marginal.” Jonathan Mills – U.S. business consultant, writer, author of How to Be Successful in Business and in Life.

“Everyone has the ability to increase resilience to stress. It requires hard work and dedication, but over time, you can equip yourself to handle whatever life throws your way without adverse effects to your health. Training your brain to manage stress won't just affect the quality of your life, but perhaps even the length of it.”  Amy Morin – U.S. psychotherapist.

“Organizations exhibiting healthy, resilient behaviors were better able to withstand major disruption in 2020–21… McKinsey’s early research on the relationship between companies’ organizational health and their financial performance during the COVID-19 pandemic: it shows that those businesses exhibiting healthy, resilient behaviors—such as knowledge sharing, performance reviews, and bottom-up innovation—were less likely than “unhealthy” organizations to go bankrupt over the following two years.  … Repeatedly rebounding from disruption is tough, but some companies have a recipe for success: a systems mindset emphasizing agility, psychological safety, adaptable leadership, and cohesive culture. Resilient organizations don’t just bounce back from misfortune or change; they bounce forward. They absorb the shocks and turn them into opportunities to capture sustainable, inclusive growth. When challenges emerge, leaders and teams in resilient organizations quickly assess the situation, reorient themselves, double down on what’s working, and walk away from what’s not. Cultivating such organizational resilience is difficult, however—especially these days, when business leaders, frontline workers, and business units are being buffeted by multiple disruptions at once. (Think of the war in Ukraine, the decline in markets, the global pandemic and resulting Great Attrition in talent, and increased evidence of climate change.) … there is no shelf life on change and no expiration date on organizational resilience. There will always be more uncertainty, more change, and a constant push for teams to realize outcomes more quickly. The companies that cultivate organizational resilience—driven not only by crisis but also by opportunity—can gain an important, lasting advantage over competitors.” From Raising The Resilience Of Your Organization,  published by McKinsey & Company on October 12, 2022, by Dana Maor – Israeli business consultant, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, global cohead and European leader of McKinsey's People & Organizational Performance Practice, member of the McKinsey Knowledge Council, author of The Journey Of Leadership, Michael Park – Singaporean business consultant, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, global co-leader of McKinsey’s Technology (TMT) Practice.  and Brooke Weddle – U.S. business consultant, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company.

“Creating organizational change, including implementing evidence based practices, requires agencies to have supportive learning cultures. … According to Organizational Theory, organizations are governed by their culture and climate. If agencies seek to advance evidence-based practices, creating a learning culture is one way to form a supportive context for this work. … Findings suggest workers who report high levels of reflective supervision and those who participated in group supervision, reported experiencing a higher level of learning culture. Findings offer implications for ways organizations can adapt supervisory procedures to create a culture that is theoretically consistent with best practices.”  From an abstract on Research Gate by Francie J. Julien-Chinn – U.S. academic - Associate Professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa - Honolulu, HI and Cynthia Lietz – U.S. academic, dean of the ASU Watts College of Public Service & Community Solutions , vice provost of the Downtown Phoenix Campus, and President's Professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University .

“With resilience you are learning to be flexible and take feedback on how people are experiencing what you are building, you're listening to what your customers are saying, you're building these relationships, and making better decisions over time. That all really starts with that resilience and that willingness not to be perfect.”  Alexis Maybank – U.S. business executive, co-founder of Gilt Groupe.

“When we are no longer able to change the situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”  Viktor Frankl - Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force.

"Resilience is not a commodity you are born with, waiting silently on tap. It is self-manufactured painstakingly over time by working through your problems."  Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg – U.S. pediatrician.

“The more obstacles you face and overcome, the more times you falter and get back on track, the more difficulties you struggle with and conquer, the more resiliency you will naturally develop. There is nothing that can hold you back, if you are resilient.”  Jim Rohn – U.S. entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker.

“Resilience is our ability to bounce back from life’s challenges and unforeseen difficulties, providing mental protection from emotional and mental disorders.”  Michael Rutter – U.K. child psychiatrist.

“Strong lives are those that are marked by a sense of purpose, connectedness, resilience, and fulfillment.”  Jenifer Fox – U.S. educator.

“Resilience is not what happens to you. It’s how you react to, respond to, and recover from what happens to you.” Jeffrey Gitomer – U.S. business executive, author, lectures on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development.

“Everyone faces defeats, setbacks, reversals of fortune. But just like water wearing away rock, persistence triumphs. Resilience is one of the most important qualities I would look at in trying to predict who is going to be ultimately successful.”  Jeffrey Pfeffer – U.S.  business theorist, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business .

“Resilience is a precious skill. People who have it tend to also have three underlying advantages: a believe that they can influence life events; a tendency to find meaningful purpose in life’s turmoil; and a conviction that they can learn from both positive and negative experiences.”  Amanda Ripley - U.S. journalist, contributes to The Atlantic, author of the book The Smartest Kids in the World.

“Business requires an unbelievable level of resilience inside you, the chokehold on the growth of your business is always the leader, it's always your psychology and your skills - 80% psychology, 20% skills. If you don't have the marketing skills, if you don't have the financial-intelligence skills, if you don't have the recruiting skills, it's really hard for you to lead somebody else if you don't have fundamentally those skills. And so my life is about teaching those skills and helping people change the psychology so that they live out of what's possible, instead of out of their fear.”  Marc Benioff – U.S. entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman and CEO of the software company Salesforce.

“The best antidote to stress is resilience... having the ability to respond to change or adversity proactively and resourcefully.”  Lauren Mackler – U.S. business consultant, motivational speaker.

“Clearly drive, IQ, and hard work are incredibly important. But ultimately what matters most is resilience--the ability to quickly rebound from failures, indeed to see failure as a stepping stone to success.”  Arianna Huffington – Greek/U.S. writer, co-founder of the Huff Post, CEO of Thrive Global.

“McKinsey’s body of research and work over decades with organizations seeking to be more resilient points to the need to bolster capabilities at four levels. They can build an agile organization; a shift toward faster, federated, data-informed decision making and “good enough” outcomes can make it easier for leaders and teams to test, learn, and adjust in the wake of complex business challenges. They can build self-sufficient teams that, when held accountable and given ownership of outcomes, feel empowered to carry out strategic plans and stay close to customers, and which, through premortems, postmortems, and other feedback loops and mechanisms, have the information they need to continually change course or innovate. They can find and promote adaptable leaders who don’t just react when faced with, say, a natural disaster, a competitor’s moves, or a change in team dynamics. They take the time to coach team members through the change. They catalyze new behaviors, and they develop capabilities that can help set the conditions for both a short-term response and long-term resiliency. And they can invest in talent and culture—now and for the future. The companies that focus on building resilient operations, teams, and leaders may gain a two-way talent advantage: such adaptable environments are more likely to attract top talent who will have a greater chance of success and, in turn, be more likely to perpetuate a cycle of resilience. … Previous McKinsey research shows that, during the last economic downturn, about 10 percent of publicly traded companies in the research base fared materially better than the rest. A closer look at these “resilients” shows that by the time the downturn had reached its trough in 2009, their earnings as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) had risen 10 percent, while industry peers had lost nearly 15 percent in EBITDA.  … To cultivate organizational resilience and to ensure adaptability, companies will need to think differently about how teams are structured and managed, as well as how they’re connected across the organization. What’s more, companies will need to provide support systems that allow employees to engage in creative collisions and debates, give and share feedback honestly, and continually incorporate that feedback into their routines so they will be better able to adapt to any future challenges.”  From McKinsey Research posted October 12, 2022, by Dana Maor – Israeli business consultant, senior partner at McKinsey & Company , global cohead and European leader of McKinsey's People & Organizational Performance Practice, member of the McKinsey Knowledge Council, author of The Journey Of Leadership, Michael Park – Singaporean business consultant, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, global co-leader of McKinsey’s Technology (TMT) Practice,  and Brooke Weddle – U.S. business consultant, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company.

“It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks.” Bob Richards – U.S. athlete, minister, and politician.

"Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems."  Gever Tulley – U.S. educator, entrepreneur, computer scientist, founder of the Brightworks School , Tinkering School , the non-profit Institute for Applied Tinkering, and educational kit maker Tinkering Labs.

“Curiosity has ... proven to be a great ingredient in resilience, a trait particularly valuable in an extended economic downturn. Resilient people aren't made of steel; they just provide themselves with more options, and those options come from a curious mind.”  Chip Conley - U.S. entrepreneur, founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, founder and excutive chairman of Modern Elder Academy .

“Resilient organizations have started to build the structures and capabilities to address current talent-management challenges—and those to come. They have, for instance, invested in analytics to hire, develop, and retain talent more effectively. They are changing their hiring processes to look beyond traditional talent sources, build more diverse slates of candidates, simplify application processes, and speed up decision making. Some are even extending the onboarding experience to cover the weeks just before candidates formally start (to ensure they aren’t tempted by other offers at the last minute). And they are proactively trying to identify and leverage the skills of high-potential employees within the organization, focusing on experience more so than on academic degrees. In some cases, executives are realizing a certificate of specialization or an apprenticeship can suffice as requirements for certain roles. At a micro level, they demonstrate better shareholder returns and are better than their peers at integrating new technologies, supporting customers, building partnerships, and attracting and retaining employees. At a macro level, they fuel investment in new business, strengthen GDP, enhance productivity, and enable the rapid movement and growth of talent and skills. These companies prioritize leadership development and thus are driven by adaptable leaders who can facilitate the kinds of behavioral adjustments and mindset shifts required to be resilient in the face of change.”  From McKinsey Research posted October 12, 2022, by Dana Maor – Israeli business consultant, senior partner at McKinsey & Company , global cohead and European leader of McKinsey's People & Organizational Performance Practice, member of the McKinsey Knowledge Council, author of The Journey Of Leadership, Michael Park – Singaporean business consultant, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, global co-leader of McKinsey’s Technology (TMT) Practice,  and Brooke Weddle – U.S. business consultant, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company.

“I'm not sure if resilience is ever achieved alone. Experience allows us to learn from example. But if we have someone who loves us-I don't mean who indulges us, but who loves us enough to be on our side-then it's easier to grow resilience, to grow belief in self, to grow self-esteem. And it's self-esteem that allows a person to stand up.” Maya Angelou – U.S. poet, civil rights activist.

“Positive self-esteem operates as, in effect, the immune system of the consciousness, providing resistance, strength, and a capacity for regeneration. When self-esteem is low, our resilience in the face of life's adversities is diminished. We crumble before vicissitudes that a healthier sense of self could vanquish. We tend to be more influenced by the desire to avoid pain than to experience joy. Negatives have more power over us than positives.”  Nathaniel Branden – Canadia/U.S. psychotherapist, known for his work in the psychology of self-esteem. 

“Stress is not bad but a necessary part of facing life's challenges. Whilst the dreamers maintain the delusion that 'all accidents are preventable' the rest of us know that the bumps and challenges of life are necessary for learning, resilience and maturation. There can be no resilience without stress, and no learning without risk.”  Rob Long – U.S. writer, television producer, was screenwriter and executive producer for Cheers.

“When you choose to connect with others under stress, you can create resilience.”  Kelly McGonigal – U.S. health psychologist, lecturer at Stanford University , known for her work in the field of "science help" which focuses on translating insights from psychology and neuroscience into practical strategies that support health and well-being

“I still believe in the resilience of the human heart and the essential validity of love;I still believe that connections between people can be made and that the spirits which inhabit us sometimes touch. I still believe that the cost of these connections is horribly, outrageously high... and I still believe that the value received far outweighs the price which must be paid.” Stephen King – U.S. author.

“Resilience is not a process that simply applies to individual development.  Instead, the ability to use strengths to overcome risk and maintain functioning was also shown in this study to be an important experience for families … The construct of resilience refers to situations in which people are able to avoid the negative consequences typically associated with high risk. … Through the qualitative analysis, it became clear that the families identified different stages of reactions to their difficulties, and these are incorporated in the model. These five stages are: (1) Survival, a time at which these families took one day at a time just trying to figure out how to keep their family going; (2) Adaptation, which included the changes that the families made in order to incorporate their new situation into their lives; (3) Acceptance, which was a time at which they recall coming to adopt their new family situation as a new way of life; (4) Growing stronger, which included moments at which they recognized that they were growing stronger as a result of the difficulties that they faced, and (5) Helping others, which was described as a need to give back and help others, specifically others facing similar difficulties. Although these stages were described by experiences that these families shared at different points of time, it is important to note that not all families experienced these stages sequentially. In other words, these stages were not described in a way that was linear in which people must progress through one stage at a time in order to reach the final stage. Instead, in this study, families progressed up and down through the stages depending on the particular situation.” From Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services - Alliance for Children and Families Cultivating Resilience in Families Who Foster: Understanding How Families Cope and Adapt Over Time, first published August 3, 2016, by Cynthia Lietz – U.S. academic, dean of the ASU Watts College of Public Service & Community Solutions , vice provost of the Downtown Phoenix Campus, and President's Professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University , Francie J. Julien-Chinn – U.S. academic - Associate Professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa - Honolulu, HI, Jennifer M. Geiger – U.S. academic, associate professor at The Jane Adams School of Social Work at the University of Illinois Chicago and Megan Hayes – U.S. academic, assistant professor at Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan).

“The family strengths discussed as important parts of achieving acceptance included insight, humor, communication, and morality/spirituality.”  From Uncovering Stories of Family Resilience: A Mixed Methods Study of Resilient Families by Cynthia Lietz – U.S. academic, dean of the ASU Watts College of Public Service & Community Solutions , vice provost of the Downtown Phoenix Campus, and President's Professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University .

“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” Steve Maraboli – U.S. author, specializing in Behavioral Science and Business Methodologies.

“Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But, you keep going.” Yasmin Mogahed – U.S. educator, motivational speaker, specializing in spirituality, psychology, and personal development.

“Those who are passionate about what they do have an advantage that is nearly impossible to overcome. In passion there is energy, creativity, resilience and persistence. Passion will get it done.”  Ralph Marston – U.S. football player, business executive.

“Mastering the art of resilience does much more than restore you to who you once thought you were. Rather, you emerge from the experience transformed into a truer expression of who you were really meant to be.”  Carol Orsborn, PhD. – U.S. writer, specializing in spirituality, psychology and conscious aging.

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life."  J.K. Rowling – U.K. writer, author of the Harry Potter books.

“Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.”  Elizabeth Edwards – U.S. attorney, health care activist.

“When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience.” Jaeda Dewalt – U.S. writer, photographer.

“We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.” Stephen Covey – U.S. writer, author of  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

“I think that life is difficult. People have challenges. Family members get sick, people get older, you don't always get the job or the promotion that you want. You have conflicts in your life. And really, life is about your resilience and your ability to go through your life and all of the ups and downs with a positive attitude.” Jennifer Hyman – U.S. entrepreneur, CEO and co-founder of Rent the Runway.

“I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance. Never settle for the path of least.” Lee Ann Womack – U.S. singer, songwriter.

“In a culture fueled by burnout, a culture that has run itself down, our national resilience becomes compromised. And when our collective immune system is weakened, we become more susceptible to viruses that are part of every culture because they're part of human nature - fearmongering, scapegoating, conspiracy theories, and demagoguery.” Arianna Huffington – Greek/U.S. writer, co-founder of the Huff Post, CEO of Thrive Global.

“Our reliance in this country is on the inquiring, individual human mind. Our strength is founded there; our resilience, our ability to face an ever-changing future and to master it. We are not frozen into the backward-facing impotence of those societies, fixed in the rigidness of an official dogma, to which the future is the mirror of the past. We are free to make the future for ourselves.”   Archibald MacLeish – U.S. writer, poet.

“True will is quiet humility, resilience, and flexibility; the other kind of will is weakness disguised by bluster and ambition.”  Ryan Holiday – U.S. writer, marketer.

“Someone said adversity builds character, but someone else said adversity reveals character. I'm pleasantly surprised with my resilience. I persevere, and not just blindly. I take the best, get rid of the rest, and move on, realizing that you can make a choice to take the good.” Brooke Shields – U.S. actress.