Product Description

Harvard Business Review on Building Personal and Organizational Resilience

Why do some people bounce back from life's hardships while others despair? This collection of articles looks at the nature of individual and organizational resilience, an issue that has gained special urgency in today's unstable world environment. In the business arena, resilience has found its way onto the list of qualities sought in employees. This collection provides readers with the ability to solve problems without the usual or obvious tools and prepares them to improvise rapid responses to crisis.

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series

The series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #229229 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Since 1984, Harvard Business School Press has been dedicated to publishing the most contemporary management thinking, written by authors and practitioners who are leading the way. Whether readers are seeking big-picture strategic thinking or tactical problem solving, advice in managing global corporations or for developing personal careers, HBS Press helps fuel the fire of innovative thought. HBS Press has earned a reputation as the springboard of thought for both established and emerging business leaders.

Customer Reviews

"Champions get up when they can't." (Jack Dempsey)
This is one in a series of several dozen volumes which comprise the "Harvard Business Review Paperback Series." Each offers direct, convenient, and inexpensive access to the best thinking on the given subject in articles originally published by the Harvard Business School Review. I strongly recommend all of the volumes in the series. The individual titles are listed at this Web site: www.hbsp.harvard.edu. The authors of various articles are among the world's most highly regarding experts on the given subject. Each volume has been carefully edited. Supplementary commentaries are also provided in most of the volumes, as is an "About the Contributors" section which usually includes suggestions of other sources which some readers may wish to explore.

In this volume, the reader is provided with eight articles. Given when they first appeared in the HBR, some but remarkably little of the material is dated. Here are brief excerpts from the executive summaries with precede four of them:

How Resilience Works (Diane L. Coutu): She “looks at the nature of individual and organizational resilience, issues that have gained special urgency in light of recent terrorist attacks, war, and recession.” Three fundamental characteristics seem to set resilient people and companies apart from others. “The first is the capacity to accept and face down reality. In looking hard at reality, we prepare ourselves to act in ways that allow us to endure and survive hardships. Second, resilient people and organizations possess an ability to find meaning in some [especially painful] aspects of life. The third building block of resilience is the ability to improvise.” (May, 2002)

Crucibles of Leadership (Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas): Bennis and Thomas believe that there is no simple formula to explain how great leaders come to be but suggest “that its has something to do with the ways people handle adversity. [Their most research for a book published later, Geeks and Geezers] suggests that one of the most reliable indicators and predictors of true leadership is the ability to learn from even the most negative experiences. An extraordinary leader is a kind of phoenix rising from the ashes of adversity stronger and more committed than ever.” They call these shaping experiences “crucibles, after the vessels medieval alchemists used in their attempts to turn base metals into gold” and suggest that great leaders possess four essential skills, “the most critical of which is ‘adaptive capacity’ -- an almost magical ability to transcend adversity and emerge stronger than before.” (September, 2002)

A Survival Guide for Leaders (Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky): “Let’s face it, to lead is to live dangerously.” Heifetz and Linsky offer a number of techniques -- relatively straightforward in concept but difficult to execute -- “for protecting yourself as you lead” change initiatives which threaten, indeed disrupt the status quo. Their article has two main parts. “The first looks outward, offering tactical advice about relating to your organization and the people in it. It is designed to protect you from those who would push you aside before you complete your initiatives. The second looks inward, focusing on your own needs and vulnerabilities. It is designed from keeping you from brining yourself down.” (June, 2002)

The Enemies of Trust (Robert Galford and Anne Seybold Drapeau): “Any act of bad management erodes trust, so the list of potential enemies is endless. Among the most common enemies of trust, though, are inconsistent messages from top management, inconsistent standards [and/or inconsistent application of specified standards], a willingness to tolerate incompetence or bad behavior, dishonest feedback, a failure to trust others to do good work, a tendency to ignore painful or politically charged situations, consistent corporate underperformance, and rumors. Fending off these enemies must be at the top of every chief executive’s agenda.” (February, 2003)

Hopefully these four brief excerpts encourage those with whom I now share them to obtain a copy of this volume and then read all of the eight articles.