'The difference between winners and a losers how they handle
losing.
That's a key finding from my ongoing research on great
companies and effective leaders: no one can completely avoid troubles and
potential pitfalls are everywhere, so the real skill is the resilience to climb
out of the hole and bounce back.
Volatile times bring disruptions, interruptions, and setbacks, even for the most successful among us.
Companies at the top of the
heap still have times when they are blindsided by a competing product and must
play catch-up. Sports teams that win regularly are often behind during the
game. Writers can face dozens of rejections before finding a publisher that
puts them on the map. Some successful politicians get caught with their pants
down (so to speak) and still go on to lead, although such self-inflicted wounds
are harder to heal.
Resilience is the ability to recover from fumbles or
outright mistakes and bounce back. But flexibility alone is not enough. You
have to learning from your errors. Those with resilience build on the
cornerstones of confidence — accountability (taking responsibility and showing
remorse), collaboration (supporting others in reaching a common goal), and
initiative (focusing on positive steps and improvements). As outlined in my
book Confidence, these factors underpin the resilience of people, teams, and
organizations that can stumble but resume winning.
For anyone who wants to get beyond adversity or start over
rather than give up, America is the Land of Second Chances. According to Jon
Huntsman, former US Ambassador to China, getting back on our feet is an
American strength widely admired in China. And everywhere, rapid recovery from
natural disasters is increasingly a key to a robust economy. Entrepreneurs and
innovators must be willing to fail and try again. The point isn't to learn to fail;
it is to learn to bounce back.
Some stumbles are due to circumstances outside of most
people's control, including weather events and geopolitical shocks. But while
people might not control the larger problem, they control their reactions to it
— whether to give up or find a new path. Recession in Europe is an example. I
have spoken recently to European audiences at public conferences and within
companies about cultivating resilience in their businesses even when markets
are shrinking, so that they hold their own as recession continues and are
well-positioned for recovery. A German machinery company showed resilience by
growing its service contracts when demand for machines slowed, and it mobilized
employees to find new service possibilities. An Italian cosmetics firm grabbed
talent from job-shedding multinationals and increased its international
marketing tied to both health and fashion; new sales followed. In both
companies, like others described in my book SuperCorp, such initiatives were
made possible by a strong sense of purpose that drew members together and
motivated them to take responsibility to help the companies survive and thrive.
Employees were resilient because they cared, and that made the companies
resilient.
Complacency, arrogance, and greed crowd out resilience.
Humility and a noble purpose fuel it. Those with an authentic desire to serve,
not just narcissism about wanting to be at the top, are willing to settle for
less as an investment in better things later. Raymond Barre, former Premier of France,
after being defeated for re-election at the national level, ran for a lesser
office as Mayor of Lyon and became a hero of his region. That's the strategy
Eliot Spitzer is taking by running for a lesser city office after having been
governor of a state. He showed remorse quickly when scandal surfaced and then re-entered
the public conversation talking about the issues, increasing his comeback
prospects.
Some observers say it is harder for women to stage
comebacks. Still, consider Martha Stewart. She served prison time for insider
trading rather graciously, showing remorse, and that graciousness restored much
of her fan base afterward. In a more positive vein, Hillary Clinton was not a
sore loser to President Obama in 2008 (though some of her followers were) and
accepted his offer to become his Secretary of State. She's now perhaps even
better-positioned for a 2016 Presidential run. In the long term, graciousness
beats sour grapes.
Resilience draws from strength of character, from a core set
of values that motivate efforts to overcome the setback and resume walking the
path to success. It involves self-control and willingness to acknowledge one’s
own role in defeat. Resilience also thrives on a sense of community — the
desire to pick oneself up because of an obligation to others and because of
support from others who want the same thing. Resilience is manifested in
actions — a new contribution, a small win, a goal that takes attention off of
the past and creates excitement about the future.
Potential troubles lurk around every corner, whether they
stem from unexpected environmental jolts or individual flaws and mistakes.
Whatever the source, what matters is how we deal with them. When surprises are
the new normal, resilience is the new skill.'
