I have just been reading The Resilience Dynamic by the clear-sighted, relentlessly focused and uplifting Jenny Campbell, and what a useful and grounding experience this has been! I almost hesitate to describe it as a book – although of course it is a book – because reading it is much more of an engaging, connected-up, cyclical process than a linear one. These past few days have been particularly testing of my personal resilience, as a whole host of events and circumstances have landed – wham, wham, wham! – in my lap, one after another … as my resilience threatened to pack its bags and depart, I turned to The Resilience Dynamic, which has been on my ‘to-read’ list for a number of weeks. I am so glad I did: opening its pages, I felt enveloped in knowledgeable, professional arms who I knew understood and would help me through.
Drawing on 10 years of research into the field of resilience, including tried and tested methods of developing resilience, captured in a carefully explained model across the various chapters, this book invites the reader to benefit from everything that the author and her team have ever learned about resilience, and although there is a focus on the benefit to organisations, the real usefulness lies in its impact on individuals (without whom, of course, no organisation would function anyway). Part 1 busts the myths of resilience, challenging the reader to rethink what resilience actually is; Part 2 provides eminently practical insights from research, including how resilience relates to stress. Resilience, as clearly understood throughout the book, is the capacity for change; the ‘Resilient Way’ is the path to follow. Case studies bring the model to life, and the signposting within the book – deliberately engineered, I would imagine, to provide greater security – is calmly and cleverly achieved.
Part 3 then looks at how people can support and develop their own resilience, drawing together all the learnings and exercises throughout the book; one of the commendable features of the book is that it constantly reinforces the ideas it explores and places them within manageable, actionable frameworks – I cannot imagine that it is possible to get to the end and not know what you need to do now. On a different day, were the reader to present with a different level of resilience, the book would offer alternative, equally effective, next steps (and I know, because I looked); there is a wealth of practical advice here on how to make resilience a true practice, not an achievement. My favourite learning was the notion of ‘adaptive capacity’ as the ‘fuel in the resilience tank, including seeking perspective, refreshing yourself, and pacing yourself, and the observation that “Those with the highest resilience invest … 35% of their time in their Adaptive Capacity” (p.63).
I appreciated the author’s permission, freely given, to read this work ‘lightly’ if in need, and to return to it later … this was the right book, and the right time, and it is now top of my ‘to read again’ list. For now, I am enjoying practising moving from ‘Bounceback’ to ‘Whoosh’ … and if that sounds cryptic, then you will just have to read it for yourself!
