What is Resilience and Why It’s the Key to Thriving in Life and Leadership
Stephen Vaughan is a leadership development expert with over 20 years of experience. He specialises in designing & delivering bespoke programmes & coaching sessions & is due to complete his PhD, Resilience in Leaders, in 2025.
Resilience. A word often used in life is the ability to bounce back, to carry on, to emerge stronger than before. But what exactly does resilience mean?
In 2009, Liz Hoggard wrote in the London Evening Standard:
“Resilience, the capacity to cope with stress and catastrophe, is a critical skill. In a fast-changing, stressful world, it can even help inoculate against mental illness while boosting achievement and productivity.”
By 2014, researchers Mustafa Sarkar and David Fletcher noted that discussions like Hoggard’s reflected resilience’s growing popularity as a topic of study. However, resilience research has existed for over 50 years, with deep historical roots.
Initially, resilience studies focused on individuals with schizophrenia before expanding to children at high risk due to a parent with schizophrenia. Over time, researchers examined childhood resilience in adverse conditions such as poverty and war. This focus later extended to adolescents and adults, leading to further discoveries about how people adapt to challenges.
As resilience research evolved, specialized areas emerged, including resilience in mental health, genetics, aging, and psychology. Today, resilience studies encompass a vast range of fields, from exposure to terrorism and natural disasters to workplace stress, talent development in sports, and leadership. Even disciplines such as neurobiology, psychiatry, and anthropology have explored resilience in depth.
One of the key findings across resilience research is that everyone encounters difficulties in life, whether daily stresses or life-altering events. Studies suggest that most individuals will experience at least one potentially traumatic event in their lifetime, sometimes leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, research also indicates that daily stressors contribute more significantly to negative psychological states than major life events.
The growing importance of resilience in business
Industries facing constant uncertainty and pressure, particularly global commercial businesses, must prioritize resilience. Globalization, digitalization, and increasing competition create an ever-changing corporate landscape. Business leaders, in particular, face immense stress, with research suggesting that these pressures can lead to psychological disorders. As roles become more flexible and complex, leaders must navigate turbulence and rising expectations, all while safeguarding their well-being.
In 2020, Dr. Bryan Robinson declared resilience the “word of the year” for 2021 in Forbes. That same year, Professor Ganesh Sitaraman wrote in Foreign Affairs that resilience should be a grand strategy for the entire U.S. government. Namibia’s President Hage Geingob even named 2021 “The Year of Resilience.”
The increasing focus on resilience is unsurprising, given the global impact of COVID-19. Entire industries have fought for survival, and businesses worldwide continue to face lasting economic challenges. The World Economic Forum estimates that 44% of workers' core skills will be disrupted by 2027, and a 2023 Gallup study found that 41% of global workers experience high levels of daily stress.
My research on leadership and resilience
As early as 2018, studies indicated that resilience had become a topic of widespread public interest. However, despite its recognition as a critical skill, research on resilience in leadership remains limited.
For the past five years, I have been investigating resilience in leaders, and my findings reveal a significant gap. There is no direct research defining resilience specifically within the context of leadership. While existing studies acknowledge its importance and occasionally touch upon leadership, none explore what resilience truly means for leaders or how they develop and apply it in high-stress environments.
My research aims to bridge this gap by examining resilience across gender, diversity, experience, and industry. I seek to define leaders’ resilience, understand its impact on performance, and determine whether the mechanisms leaders use to stay resilient can be replicated by others.
I look forward to sharing my findings with you in 2025.
Read more from Stephen Vaughan
Stephen Vaughan, Leadership Development Expert
Stephen Vaughan is a world-class facilitator, executive coach, and MD of Fabric Learning. With a background in Professional Sports & Academics with now over 20 years of experience in Learning & Development, he specialises in designing & delivering bespoke development programmes for organisations ranging from small not-for-profits to large multi-national organisations all over the world. The majority of his work centres around Leadership, whether that be Executive Boards, High Potentials, or First Time Leaders, empowering individuals to achieve increased performances & results, deliberately encouraging a sense of fun, which makes effective learning a far more enjoyable experience. He describes himself as a Pracademic.
