Things are really wonderful – and getting even better.
Things are really bad – and getting even worse (or, at least, getting ever-more challenging).
Take your pick between these two. There are strong arguments of reach.
Things are wonderful, and getting better:
I am looking forward to a new book by Peter Diamandis (author of Abundance) , and Steven Kotler, about how the future is going to be even better than we ever dreamed: Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World. (coming in February).
Things are bad, getting even worse:
I’ve just read the sample pages of The Resilience Dividend : Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong by Judith Rodin. Judith Rodin is the President of The Rockefeller Foundation, and they know some things about difficulties.
I heard about this book on NPR (I think). I remember how much I liked, and agreed with, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough. He wrote quite a bit about resilience in that book. But that was about building resilience into a person — one person at a time.
This book is about the need for resilience throughout groups; societies.
So what is resilience? From the book:
Resilience is the capacity of any entity – an individual, a community, an organization, or a natural system – to prepare for disruptions, to recover from shocks and stresses, and to adapt and grow from a disruptive experience.
As you build resilience, therefore, you become more able to prevent or mitigate stresses and shocks you can identify and able to respond to those you can’t predict or avoid. You also develop greater capacity to bounce back from a crisis, learn from it, and achieve revitilization.
We live in a world that is defined by disruption…
I like this book. It seems right; honest; sober and realistic. Yet, it provides insight into how to build the character trait of resilience to prepare for such onslaughts.
She identifies five characteristics of resilience:
Aware;
Diverse;
Integrated;
Self-regulating;
Adaptive
And three phases of resilience building:
Readiness;
Responsiveness;
and
Revitalization
Here’s what I think. 2015 will be wonderful. And/or 2015 will be terribly challenging.
Enjoy the good; and get more ready than you’ve ever been for the difficult.
If you do – if you are ready for the challenges before the challenges come — then you will benefit from your “resilience dividend.”
The challenges will come, won’t they? Getting ready before rthey arrive semes like a pretty smart idea to me.
(Yes, I am now reading this book more fully).
First Friday Book Synopsis 