I tend to get a little twitchy when the topic of resilience in leadership comes up. That’s only because I think we need to be very mindful of what we mean by “resilience”.
When people hear, “you need to be more resilient,” it can easily translate into something akin to “suck it up, buttercup.” It can be interpreted as not letting setbacks emotionally impact you, just swallowing whatever you’re feeling and moving on. Equanimity at its most masterful degree.
While equanimity in all things is certainly an ideal we can strive for, it’s also not realistic.
Crappy things happen. And because we’re our complex human selves, we’re going to have feelings about those crappy things. And that’s ok.
Resilience is NOT about not having feelings.
It’s about how we bounce back and how we process our feelings and choose a path forward.
One of the people in my circle from whom I most love to hear about resilience is my friend and collaborator, Jill Hauwiller, MA. I encourage you to check out her article, Finding Balance and Simplifying Resilience for Leaders, where she simplifies the concept of resilience for leaders. She also had a great post recently on LinkedIn.com, sharing characteristics of resilience. Give her a follow–you’ll be glad you did.
Let’s chat! Contact me and follow me on LinkedIn!
#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #resilience
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