Each year starts with hopes, ample resolutions and huge goals. We move from the past towards the new. Then reality hits. Life happens. We miss a day at the gym. We eat too much chocolate cake. We don’t get the promotion.
What to do?
Pause, reflect and bounce back.
All of us have a preferred ‘resilience lever’ to pull, in order to view setbacks as learning; challenges as problems to solve; crisis as opportunity. Resilience helps us cope with difficult situations, to simply get up and dust off.
Our brains can be developed for resilience, and in 2020, we need to train our brains for fortitude.
Many of my Asian-based retail clients welcomed 2020 anew, as 2019 saw online shopping visibly overtake the in-store experience. Sensor driven packaging, the Internet of things, augmented and virtual reality all allow customers to assess products before purchase, all new shopping experiences. The Hong Kong protests changed shopping, with stores shuttered, a substantial revenue decline which has been devastating.
Working with a team of global brand executives, I observed fortitude in action. The ability to stay focused on their goals while also making tough decisions which impacted the livelihood of their teams. After painstakingly reviewing all options, one MD sat down with each employee to discuss the way forward. When retail slid and the way forward was unclear, these leaders remained committed to a deeper team engagement. They embraced the [difficult] reality of the situation and yet stayed the course – when everyone doubted the outcome – a demonstration of managerial fortitude.
