| The stock market gyrates with unpredictable and | | | | call upon? How have we nurtured our relationships and |
| heartburning results. Icons of solid companies become | | | | support network? Are we being truly HONEST with |
| straw figures before balance sheets. Children are | | | | ourselves about our own fears? What voices do we |
| abducted from their front yards and networks of | | | | need to listen to-even if we don't want to? |
| terrorists spiral throughout the world. Religious | | | | Heart walk is truth in action. It means we keep our |
| institutions cast shadows of duplicity while El Nino | | | | word. Trust is the password of our time. It is also the |
| brings strange fish to the California coasts and | | | | cornerstone of relationships. Since an inability to get |
| out-of-control fires head toward ancient Sequoias. | | | | along is the single biggest reason for failure, heart walk |
| Tough times. It's enough to cause all of us to stand like | | | | builds relationships through connecting at more than |
| the proverbial "deer in headlights", mutter "the sky is | | | | cerebral levels. |
| falling", or else spring into action. The latter would be | | | | Optimism arises from our anticipation of a positive |
| fine but it's often a knee-jerk response based on what | | | | outcome as well as our ability to help produce that |
| we've done in the past. Trouble is that the present | | | | outcome. Dr. Martin Seligman's decades-long research |
| doesn't look like the immediate past. | | | | indicates that optimism can be learned by listening |
| Whether you're leading a Fortune 100 company, a | | | | carefully to our internal dialogue and challenging |
| small department, or an enterprise of one, now is the | | | | negative beliefs. Learned Optimism is a book that |
| time to hone your resiliency skills. But first, let's update | | | | should be on everyone's reading list. |
| the definition of "resilient". In 1824, Webster defined it as: | | | | Purpose, passion and persistence work like a |
| "the capability of a strained body to recover its size | | | | three-legged stool in holding up a resilient leader. |
| and shape after deformation caused especially by | | | | Purpose implies that you have a reason for being on |
| compressive stress." | | | | this earth and it is not "all about you". Since the odds of |
| That definition works for explaining metal but not for | | | | a human egg being fertilized are 220 trillion to one, you |
| the mettle of the human system. Consider this: The | | | | are NOT a mistake. |
| compressive stress to an organizational body can be | | | | If purpose is the "why" you are here, passion is the |
| the result of bloating mergers. Mergers now meet | | | | "what". It's that activity that gets your juices flowing. |
| mania and layoffs distort the workloads and customer | | | | Somehow, somewhere it must be in your life. Find a |
| care. If this is the case, the resilient organization must | | | | way to put it there and then persist in the doing. Pablo |
| carefully think what size and shape will serve it for the | | | | Casals knew he was put on earth for music. His |
| long haul. Recovering its size and shape might be the | | | | passion was the cello. Even severely crippled with |
| worst thing! | | | | arthritis, his resilient spirit persisted through the pain and |
| At the risk of insulting Webster, I define resiliency as " | | | | he played like an angel. |
| the capacity to cultivate strengths to positively meet | | | | Energy and enjoyment spark up the human engine. In |
| the challenges of living; the ability to bounce back from | | | | complex time, our energy sources need to be |
| adversity while maintaining personal and corporate | | | | renewed and refreshed. Sleep, exercise, solitude, and |
| integrity." | | | | meditation pump the exhausted spirit with the octane |
| Some key resilient strengths are found in using HOPE | | | | of resiliency. Play and laughter are birthrights of the |
| as an acronym: | | | | human spirit. Laughter is the canary of hope. If the |
| - Head talk and Heart walk. | | | | laughter has died, so too has your resiliency. Lighten up. |
| - Optimism. | | | | Find what's zany about life. Watch children at play. |
| - Purpose, passion and persistence. | | | | Don't take life so seriously-you won't get out of it alive. |
| - Energy and Enjoyment. | | | | Philosopher Howard Zinn wrote that to have hope, one |
| Head talk asks that we critically explore our thinking | | | | doesn't need certainty, only possibility. In an upside |
| process. Are we stuck in out-moded patterns of | | | | down world-there are lots of possibilities for positive |
| behaviors that no longer serve us? What assumptions | | | | change and growth. Let H.O.P.E. support YOUR |
| are we making and what actions can we take if the | | | | resilient spirit. |
| assumptions are confirmed? What resources can we | | | | (c) 2002 by Eileen McDargh. All rights reserved. |