Agility in the face of unexpected adversity has helped make the Royal Marines one of the world's most successful fighting forces and it's a skill that business leaders would do well to emulate.
Jordan twice won championships in the face of unexpected adversity: once, a case of the flu, and, the second time, a back injury to his teammate Scottie Pippen, and he seemed to thrive on these obstacles, in a way Karl Malone never could.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from unexpected adversity, change or loss.
Because they learn key lessons in life: specifically, how to be a team player, how to work towards a common goal with teammates, how to cope with both winning and losing, how to deal with unexpected adversity, how to be coached by someone other than one's parent and, of course, the overall benefit of being physically fit.
6 We hypothesised that this unexpected adversity results in a form of disappointment, thus increasing the risk of disease through behavioural change and the systemic consequences of stress.
However, in earlier studies we demonstrated that unexpected financial adversity is disproportionately damaging to health, 5 7 where adult economic disadvantage was experienced among those with pre-existing markers of better health and economic potential signalled by markers of childhood advantage.
8 Unexpected economic adversity even among those with greater personal resources may be particularly damaging at older ages, 9 making obtaining another job at an equivalent level more difficult.
They lose touch by pushing harder, telling people what to do (being prescriptive with their leadership) instead of embracing the people (and their diversity of thought) who touch the business every day to see new and unexpected opportunities in adversity.
Inspiration whispers between the strands of your hair, as you watch a perfect sunset, witness academic or athletic excellence, or observe unexpected triumphs over adversity.
"Paradoxically, these adversities yielded unexpected gifts". Sometimes these unexpected gifts come in the form of a new career path or life direction.
The Gift of Adversity: The Unexpected Benefits of Life's Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfections, New York: Tarcher, 2013.
