“Resilience” ... a vital priority for leaders!

 

 

I had the real pleasure to recently attend a conference convened by a VC firm that I have been working with over the past year.  Across my 40-year career (I know… that’s quite a few conferences!!) I have attended or spoken at innumerable events… but few more challenging, thought provoking or compelling that this event held in Chicago last month.  The host organization identified four major global trends/dynamics that are facing companies, countries and communities broadly, and brought in world level experts in their fields to talk candidly about where the world stood on these topics and what issues were to be faced in the years ahead… nothing candy coated…with voices across the political spectrum to reduce partisan bias… and while each topic was exceedingly challenging, the confluence of the four literally took my breath away!  

Four Major Global trends

·      Climate Change: Assume global warming continues its upward trend

·      AI: the explosion of AI across industries/roles and the increased energy demand associated to its expansion

·      Geo-Political Realignment: the ascendency of China and the “re-alignment” of global alliances vs post WW II models

·      Decline of the U.S. Dollar as “sole/primary” global reserve currency and the impact of a widening U.S. deficit

I am not going to try to summarize each point, of to explore some of the side discussions that centered around areas where the four trends interacted/collided… instead I want to share how I “FELT” as I headed to the airport to fly home.  Intellectually energized, and professionally challenged are beyond understatements… but I kept thinking how we need to work on ( build, enhance, help, guide, teach,” you name the appropriate verb) our companies, our communities, our teams, our families to be stronger, more durable and ultimately more “resilient” to face the incredible challenges ( and opportunities) that lie ahead!  My core takeaway from the Chicago conference was our need to be “resilient-centered” leaders, teachers, and parents!

Dictionary

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

re·sil·ience

/rəˈzilēəns/

noun

1. 1. 

the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

"the remarkable resilience of so many institutions"

2. 2. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity."nylon is excellent in wearability and resilience"

 

I began digging into the idea that it was naïve, and actually dangerous to try to “wish away” or ignore the challenges coming our way.  Our focus should be on how to “avoid” the problems ahead… but how to “recover” or “bounce back” from what will certainly be tough years (maybe decades) ahead.  This orientation around resilience in leaders is one that I haven’t thought about deeply before and certainly not one that I have tried to coach/teach or recruit for… but now is center to my focus.  Too many times, we have recruited/promoted young leaders because of their achievements and successes (seems logical) NOT because of the biggest challenges/problems/issues they have faced.  Our focus in on the “good-stuff,” not how big of an issue/challenge/problem have they “sprung back” from across their career.  This “resilience orientation” was top of mind for me coming out of the professional conference in Chicago, but it made me think about how to build a “resilient” leadership culture in a company or in a culture.

Its hard to visualize but imagine scrolling through “Linked In” on a random day, and rather than seeing post after post of exciting new roles/achievements/accomplishments/etc., one would see highlights of leaders/teams facing significant challenges, and recovering/bouncing back in great fashion… learning lessons on how to recover and be “resilient” in the face of challenge/dilemma.  A different landscape than today… a “resilience centered” landscape that we need to work towards regardless of industry, company or culture. 

You might wonder at this point of the essay what the picture above has to do with the theme of “resilience.” The picture is from a recent family vacation and has our kids Bryson and Marie (along with their “significant others” Meg and James) at the beach and in the surf with yours truly sitting under an umbrella on the sand. That morning the surf kept growing… the waves getting larger... and the “kids” handled the changing landscape brilliantly!   They first jumped over the coming waves, at times they “body surfed” them into shore, and at times they dove below the breaking waves to come out the other side…the waves were coming and getting larger…there was no stopping that… but how they handled them kept changing and expanding… their “resilience” kept growing as conditions changed.

Coming our of that conference, I am “chewing on” this idea of “resilience” and I know I will be processing it for some time…I am looking for ways to build my personal “leadership resilience” and I hope that you can find ways to build your “resilience” ( and the “resilience” of your teams) to face the challenges that most certainly lie ahead!