Having worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs, I’ve seen how deeply the leader’s personal habits shape a company’s day-to-day environment. While some owners unintentionally undermine morale by being erratic or micromanaging, others foster a sense of trust, empowerment, and collaboration. The difference often comes down to purposeful culture-building. For example, one client of mine ran a family-owned manufacturing firm. She was highly respected for her technical know-how, but her erratic communication style created anxiety among her employees.

My company, Jotform, was not an overnight success. I didn't wake up one day to find myself the darling of TechCrunch or attract massive funding rounds from VCs ravenous to get in on the form-building action. I probably don't have to tell you that a form-builder is not the world's sexiest basis for a startup. But that doesn't bother me one bit. Jotform became successful not because it's flashy, but because our products work.

More than ever, adversity is a hot topic right now. In our current economic, political, and social landscape, adversity is being felt to degrees we really haven’t witnessed before. And while the majority of people might see that as a negative, I see it as a launching pad to developing a missing ingredient in today’s leadership culture—resilience. Not only do leaders need to possess resilience for themselves, but they need to demonstrate it for their teams.

Leaders will remember the 2020s as distinct for many reasons, most of all for the unprecedented number of changes. Consultants and journalists rushed to their keyboards to make it all make sense. What should learning leaders do with this information? This article will help you cut through the noise — providing best practices for developing leaders who can navigate the current landscape of change and futureproof their organization when more changes come their way.

In 1968, Charles Portis’ book True Grit was released. The book and two subsequent movies told the story of a young woman’s pursuit of justice in the American West circa the 1870s. But that plot was more window dressing for a far more interesting story of an aging, curmudgeonly U.S. marshal who went by the moniker Rooster Cogburn. Cogburn was the agent through whom Mattie Ross would seek justice for her father's death.

If you want to perform at a high level, you’ll need to be resilient. The way to build this mental skill is by overcoming unexpected challenges that come your way. While we all experience roadblocks, you don’t have to wait for one to happen. “Being mentally resilient is the ability to endure pain for long periods of time,” she says. “The highest performers use mental frameworks that fundamentally change the way they see the world.”

In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, defined by unprecedented technological advancements, shifting climates, geopolitical changes, and evolving work models, there’s one quality that stands out as a make-or-break asset: psychological resilience. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a newcomer to the workforce, resilience—the ability to bounce back from setbacks, adapt to change, and transform adversity into opportunity—is crucial for thriving in our complex and unpredictable job market.

Your brain is a prediction machine, meaning that when things don't go as planned, there can be significant consequences. You’ll have experienced this many times. That tight feeling in your chest when receiving adverse news. That sinking feeling when a decision you made starts to look like a costly mistake. That anxiety when your schedule changes at the last minute. We're all human.

Since the pandemic began, there’s been a call for managers to be understanding and lenient with employees as they navigate the stressors the global crisis has brought on. Now that restrictions are lifting in many parts of the world, some managers are wondering how to continue to balance compassion for the people on their team and accountability for getting work done.

We are often asked into organizations to present workshops on “building resilience” — giving managers the tools to help their employees manage anxiety and improve their ability to respond to change and recover from challenges. Perhaps, as a learning and development (L&D) professional, you have been tasked with developing a similar program for your organization or clients.