Episode 69: Obstacles and Challenges as Tools to Build Resilience
According to Valerie Gordon, there are plenty of “unlikely” scenarios in our lives. By “unlikely,” she means those things that we really don’t want in our lives, those struggles and obstacles that make our lives more difficult, and we cannot find value in them in the moment.
Stories and Strategies that Help Us Grow
According to Valerie Gordon, there are plenty of “unlikely” scenarios in our lives. By “unlikely,” she means those things that we really don’t want in our lives, those struggles and obstacles that make our lives more difficult, and we cannot find value in them in the moment while we’re experiencing them.
But these “unlikelies” as much as we don’t like them, are often pivotal times in our lives. These are the times that we are so uncomfortable that we either choose to make a major change, or a major change is forced on us.
Though I believe we can learn important, critical lessons in joy as much as we learn from struggle, if we tell our stories of struggle from the perspective of building resilience, those struggles will help us build the confidence we need not just to survive, but to thrive.
Valerie & Maddie
We discussed these “unlikelies” in the context of our stories, and how we build and practice resilience.
During our conversation, we chatted about five of these:
Conflict
Dissatisfaction
Uncertainty
Envy
Regret
Listen in to this conversation, learn more about how your stories can help you build your resilience muscles!
Connect with Valerie on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and sign up for her monthly newsletters on her website.
Valerie Gordon is a 10-time Emmy award-winning television producer, content creator and longtime storyteller whose work has appeared on HBO Sports, CBS News, Weekend TODAY, Lifetime and the Olympic Games.
Two years ago, she turned a bad case of burnout into a pivot and founded career and communications strategy firm Commander-in-She, combining her storytelling background with her passion for advocating for women in the workforce.
Valerie offers keynote presentations and group workshops for conferences, professional organizations and corporations to help high-achieving women with the tools and skills necessary to ascend the leadership ladder.
She’s most fascinated by impact and influence of the stories we tell ourselves and others and believes there is an even better next chapter in each of us.
A graduate of the University of Michigan, Valerie lives in Connecticut and blogs at Commander-in-She.com.
Episode 64: Like Change, Uncertainty Is a Constant Undercurrent in Life
Stories of Risk and Addressing Uncertainty
Marylene Delbourg-Delphis doesn’t see risk the same way most people might define it. To her, it’s all about how prepared you are for whatever step you intend to take, the people you’ve surrounded yourself with and trust to take that step with you, and your ability to address uncertainty at any given moment.
Uncertainty is, like change, a constant undercurrent of life. There’s nothing certain in life, and there definitely isn’t anything certain in business. So how do we find ways to cope with an ever-uncertain world?
As a founding CEO and a turn-around CEO, Marylene has learned to quickly identify the resources she will need to address uncertainty and to make decisions effectively. She also has learned to trust that people truly want to learn, they have the capacity to learn, and they want to do a good job.
We covered a lot of ground in our conversation about how she sees risk, and how she addresses learning and innovation in her employees. One strategy Marylene uses in her presentations is to include music, particularly classical symphonies and opera. Here are a few links we agreed to share for you - our listeners - to get a better understanding of the impact:
Hector Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique
Why listen to what Marylene has to say about building a strong, engaged, trusting workplace? For one thing, she has had great success in this area. For another, she is the one who, when she started her first US tech firm, poached Guy Kawasaki from Apple, and wrote the French forward for his recent book!
The operatic piece she mentioned, featuring Maria Callas:
And the book The Republic, by the philosopher Plato.
Learn more about Marylene by checking out her book, Everybody Wants to Love Their Job, and by connecting with her on LinkedIn.
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