BOUNCING FORWARD: REDEFINING RESILIENCE FOR LEADERS

It seems appropriate to revisit resilience as some of the world’s finest athletes gather in Paris for the Olympic Games. There’s no one competing there who has not endured disappointment and pain as well as triumph and joy. There is no easy path to the top in athletics—or in life. I first dove into the resilience in 2008 as part of my work at the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard. Some of what I discovered then is still true while tragic events from the pandemic to mass shootings have helped broaden and deepen our understanding.  

People often define resilience as the ability to bounce back. I reject that as there actually is no “back” to bounce to. Time moves forward.  Experience changes us. The world is constantly evolving around us. It’s better to conceive of resilience as bouncing forward. Resilient individuals, organizations, cities, nations, and species survive, learn, adapt, and grow stronger as a result.

In one of the leadership books I find has enduring wisdom, Geeks and Geezers by Warren Bennis and Bob Thomas, the authors found that the through-line that connected leaders across generations was a significant “crucible” experience—from a life-threatening illness to a significant professional setback—that tested them to their core. They made it through their difficulty—and grew as a result. They bounced forward. That growth was essential in building their capacity to lead.

In my own research on resilience, I discovered three broad areas of scholarship: Psychological, focusing on people; Engineering, centering on materials and the built environment; and ecological,  concentrating on how ecosystems evolve. For organizational leaders, each of these separate disciplines has something to offer and the greatest benefits come when integrating them into your thinking and action: organizations need high-functioning people, durable infrastructure, and adaptive capacity to function amidst turbulence.

For psychological resilience in a crisis, look to give yourself and those around you hope and confidence for the future. Despondency doesn’t foster grit. Acknowledge reality—“This looks bad.” Express your confidence in a positive outcome—“We will get through this.” And emphasize your gratitude and belief in the team—“And there’s no group I’d rather go through this with than this one.” Delivered authentically, this simple message can lighten the darkest days.

With infrastructure, it is about bending without breaking (technically, that’s robustness not resilience, but that distinction isn’t commonly observed). Revert to the minimum viable systems that work and recognize creative efforts to keep things moving. Ingenuity is evidence of resilience in action.

Ecosystems teach us about adaptation—evolving form to preserve function. Make clear what’s not going to change: mission and values, for example, while granting permission for experimentation. This is a time to look for surprising heroes who may come from anywhere in the organization to offer innovative ideas. Adversity can (and should) stimulate creativity.

Resilience is a natural capacity of individuals and systems. Leaders cultivate it by becoming more attuned to themselves—recall Simone Biles courageous decision to withdraw from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo—and the relationships and interdependencies in the complex systems in which we live and work. Individuals and organizations need to respect the cycle of prepare, perform, recover. Leaders who realize that it can’t be all performance, all the time and who emphasize adaptation over rigidity foster resilience.  The world is getting more, not less, turbulent—our resilience is likely to be tested again and again.

Reflect on your experience. When have you made it through difficulty and grown as a result? How can you tap into that experience as a leader?