What’s the new, must-have executive skill? According to a recent Harvard Business Review article by Srikumar Rao, this skill is executive resilience. In our culture, business moves fast, creating peaks and valleys, gains and setbacks. How one conceptualizes and responds to these events is paramount to the outcome, and to maintaining resiliency.
Resiliency is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulty. Ideally, we want executives to not only bounce back, but to thrive and grow from their experiences. What does that look like realistically in an environment where high-profile executives are expected to have the endurance of an ultramarathon runner? Truthfully? It isn’t always easy. Resiliency requires vigilance and awareness. It requires the courage to acknowledge that a setback has occurred, the willingness to be vulnerable in reaching out to an expert who can help you build your mental toolkit, and the tenacity to carry on, even when the outcome is uncertain.
When facing a challenge, it’s normal to lose equilibrium. The most important first step is vigilance—noticing and identifying when you are off balance. Once you acquire this awareness, and the skills necessary for self-correction, conscious action can be taken to regain your traction. With patience and practice, this process becomes natural over time. Perspectives shift, and executives can negotiate those peaks and valleys with confidence.
R3’s executive concierge consultants understand the complexities and demands placed on high-profile executives and the intricacies of negotiating the political landscape over the life cycle of a career. These highly-skilled experts have decades of experience collaborating with high-profile executives, helping them maximize their impact and effectiveness and attain their career objectives.
