Several years ago I was in Argentina on a mission for my church.  On one particular day I walked down a dirt road in a small town called General Castex, located in the Las Pampas region of Argentina.  I spotted an animal at the end of this street, but could not figure out what it was.  It was walking on 2 legs, but did not appear to be a 2 legged animal.  As I got closer to the animal, I stopped and gazed in disbelief.  It was a dog, but no ordinary dog.  This dog had lost the use of both its hind legs in some kind of accident, but strangely enough, it was not immobile.  It actually had learned to walk on its front 2 legs.  When it walked, it would bring the back-end of its body high in the air and walk on its front legs.  It could go up and down steps and across the not so even terrain of a small Argentine street.

I snapped a picture (which I can’t seem to find) and knew that there were a hundred lessons to be learned from that animal.  But the primary one ……is resilience.  Resilience is the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched.

I have often felt bent, broken, compressed and stretched as a leader.  I am not aware of too many leaders who have not.  Particularly at the level of start-ups and small business, the stress and problems can be too much for some to bear.  I know of hundreds of small business owners that struggle in one form or another.  Their lives are tough, they sleep little, they work a lot, their families suffer, and sometimes they wonder if it is really worth it all.

I have been there many times, and while I would like to say that those things are behind me, I know that my trials are most likely preparing me for something more difficult.  Only time will tell.   

I can’t say I have all the answers, but I’d like to share a few thoughts I have on how to foster resilience in your own life.

1. Cling to Your Spiritual Side – If you are religious, cling to that.  If your “religion” is to get out in nature, do it.  In tough times I think we need to feel the hope that there is something, someone, or some force out there that can assist us.  It helps us to feel peace and to gain perspective.  Sometimes in the whole scheme of things, our trials really are insignificant.  The peace and perspective that is gained from spiritual renewal can help us logically think through problems and bounce back bigger and better.
2. Learn – Reading and learning about others who have struggled, and learning ways that I can improve myself have been one of the most rewarding effects in my life.  It has also helped me find out-of-the-box answers, and better perspectives for many of my problems.  Sometimes I am the problem and I need to learn how to better myself, sometimes it is an operational or communication issue.  If you notice a weakness that you or your organizations has, don’t wait, buy a book, take a class, and start gleaning knowledge from others that will prepare you for life’s “bends”.
3. Ask For Help – Entrepreneurs and leaders tend to have a built in pride gene that is hard to turn off.  I think it is just as important to accept help, as it is to help others.  Asking and accepting help, requires humility.  There are so many professionals out there that are more than willing to share their insight and offer assistance in many ways.  Get out there and ask for help, the worst thing that someone can say is “No”. 
4. Manage Yourself – Manage your time, manage your energy, and manage your communication.  It is easy to get into bad habits when one is going through a hard time.  This could be bad eating habits, bad sleeping habits, bad time management, focusing on things that are not important, and poor or short communication to those who are central to your success.  You probably need every resource you can muster.  Don’t waste it by falling into common stress traps, which will work against you in bouncing back.
5. Focus But Keep Proper Perspective – Stay focused on the problem.  Few problems go away by ignoring them.  It may require a lot of work that you do not enjoy, but things will not get any easier if you can’t bounce back, so you have to focus on the problem and not deviate.  But while you are focusing, keep proper perspective on other important things in your life.  If you work really hard to bounce back or solve a big problem, but in that time you completely ignore your family, or ignored an important part of your business or an important customer, then all you have done is fixed one problem and caused another.  You are not any better off.  Communicate with others about your problems and explain what your plan is.  Focusing does not mean you have to ignore everything else.
6. Persist – I can’t imagine how how many times that dog must have fallen before it was able to balance itself and walk on 2 legs.  If it had just given up after a few falls it would probably have been dead.  Keep getting up!  Sometimes answers come in the final hour of struggle.
7. Know When To Call It Quits – This may seem to counter the post, but we are talking about leadership resilience.  Sometimes you need to know that the effort to fix a problem isn’t worth it.  Maybe it will require too much money or too much time, whatever it is, you need to know when let an initiative die and move onto bigger and better things.   Bouncing back may just mean moving on.

Warren Bennis, a great organizational consultant and author once said “The leaders I met, whatever walk of life they were from, whatever institutions they were presiding over, always referred back to the same failure – something that happened to them that was personally difficult, even traumatic, something that made them feel that desperate sense of hitting bottom–as something they thought was almost a necessity.  It’s as if at that moment the iron entered their soul; that moment created the resilience that leaders need.

I hope that iron can enter all our souls so that we can be more resilient in our lives and leadership capacities and ultimately achieve all the goals we have set for ourselves and our organizations.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, experience, or comments below.