Head: (4.5 of 5)
Heart: (3.5 of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (4.5 of 5)

The three authors of this book combined have more than half a century of practical leadership experience in the field of education-their work is drawn directly from the trenches of teaching and school administration.  From all the various roles they have held-teacher, principal, curriculum director, assistant superintendent, superintendent, professor, consultant-they have been able to witness firsthand what makes for resiliency.  More importantly, they have been able to step back and analyze what they have seen to create a theoretical and practical model of resiliency that leaders and coaches in any field can use.

The model starts with an assessment of the level of functioning in normal times, and then describes what can happen when adversity strikes.  All leaders and organizations will experience some level of deterioration after a stressful negative event.  Leaders or organizations that have not built up their resiliency skills can rapidly become dysfunctional. Those who are moderately resilient will arrest the initial deterioration by adapting in a way that allows for survival.  Those with relatively more resilience will move beyond adaptation to recovery, ending up at the same level of functioning as they were before the negative event. 

But there is a higher goal to reach for.  Those who have the most resilience will move past the adaption and recovery phases and into growth and development, propelling them to a higher level of performance than they were before disaster struck.  It is this last group who will gain the most resiliency skills along the way, creating a positive cycle that will leave them even more prepared for the next disaster. "At this level, resilient leaders demonstrate the ability to recover, learn from, and developmentally mature when confronted by chronic or crisis adversity," the authors say.

Thus, resilience is at the heart of successful leadership.  Some leaders and organizations seem to be naturally more resilient than others, but no matter what your level of resiliency, you can develop some concrete skills to boost it. The authors have broken these skills down into three broad sets: "thinking skills," "capacity skills," and "action skills."

By the authors' definition, thinking skills are akin to an interpretation filter (coaches will recognize this as a "frame").  Leaders don't have much of a say about the nature or intensity of adversity, but they do have a choice in how they think about it.  First, leaders need to understand, as accurately as possible, the reality of the situation-news both good and bad.  To do this, they must put together a comprehensive picture from diverse and dissident voices as well as their own observations and analysis.  Once they understand the present reality, they must examine how they are interpreting future possibilities, and ensure that they develop a positive, optimistic outlook without denying the restraints.

Capacity skills are skills that build your capacity for resilience.  The authors use the metaphor of a fuel tank: the fuel is what supplies the necessary energy to produce resilient actions.  The amount of fuel in the tank determines how well leaders will respond to adversity.  This amount is, fortunately, elastic, and can increase as leaders successfully confront adversity.  Four different fuel sources come together in this tank: personal values, personal efficacy, personal well- being (physical, emotional and spiritual), and support.  The more fuel you can add to the tank during good times, the more quickly it will refill after bad.

Action skills have to do with how quickly a leader can recover, learn from, and developmentally mature in the face of adversity.  A leader can be replete with skills from the first two sets, but if he or she does not act in alignment with those skills-"on the courage of convictions," as the authors put it-especially during difficult times, then "everything else is just talk." Leaders with strong resiliency action skills show perseverance in staying true to the course, adaptability in seeking flexible and creative approaches, courage in taking principled action in the face of ambiguity or confusion, and the ability to assume personal responsibility for mistakes and corrective action.   

The book is dense with information, examples, and descriptions of and specific practices for each skill within the three sets.  If you're feeling overwhelmed or you do not have the time to read everything, take assessment offered at the end of the first chapter to zero in on which skills you would like to work on. The authors designed this rigorous, 73-question survey based on their own field research as well as an exhaustive review of the resiliency literature.  If you are a coach, or a leader assessing or coaching his or her team, this assessment is a great place to start the coaching process. Buy It