This Hits Different
Last week, I heard Tasha Eurich speak about her resilience research at the Global Leadership Summit. We’re often told resilience is the difference-maker - the key to success in your career - but it’s not. Eurich’s research shows that resilience helps you survive but it doesn’t guarantee you will thrive.
Work culture lies to us. We’re told resilience is a muscle that we can keep exercising – but what happens when that muscle gets injured? We’re told what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger - but what happens when added stress leaves us weak and listless? We’re told resilience means pushing through - but what happens when we meet the metaphorical brick wall?
It is physically impossible to “power through” everything. We all have our limits. When bad things happen to us, we have three options: 1) we can break, 2) we can bounce back, 3) we can get better. The people who live in option three do not have a higher resilient quotient, they simply work a little harder to understand themselves and the circumstances.
When we get stuck, we need to replace the well-worn stories we tell ourselves with new mantras. Now I’m not usually one for daily affirmations or personal mantras, but she used a line that really stuck with me: She said, “This season needs a new strategy.” For me this approach is permission giving. It is generative. It enables reinvention.
Nearly 18 months ago, I quit my full-time tenured position at a major Canadian university to do my own thing. This move did not surprise those who know me; in fact, the most common response was “what took you so long?”
But I (significantly) underestimated the emotional toll running my own business would take. I know how to do the work (and I enjoy it). I know my strengths (and I like living into them). I grew up with entrepreneurial parents (so I’ve seen the highs and lows).
Despite all these truths, what worked for me in academia does not work for me as a small business. My current work is similar to the work I facilitated inside the university and yet it feels entirely different. Sure, I’m exercising resilience strategies, but they fall short at times.
I’m on team Tasha: This season needs a new strategy.
Inspiration
Inspiration: Tasha Eurich. “How to thrive when resilience alone is not enough.” Global Leadership Summit 2025