Embracing Personal Resilience in a Dynamic World

3 September 2024

In an era where the only constant is change, resilience has emerged as a cornerstone for navigating the unpredictable tides of the business world. The ability to adapt, recover, and thrive amongst uncertainties is no longer just a valuable trait but an essential skill for personal and professional success. This year, SCC shines a spotlight on resilience, delving into the strategies and practices that empower individuals to remain steadfast in the face of challenges.

We had the opportunity of engaging with three individuals from our great community to ask them how they maintain personal resilience: 

Dr Katarina Gospic, Head of ESG AI automation at Edsvärd

How do you maintain personal resilience in today’s fast-paced business environment?
I spend time in nature with animals. Besides hanging out with my dog, my favourite thing to do is horse riding in the forest. I also enjoy cold plunges - if you can manage the cold everything gets easier from there.

Please, share a story from your career where adaptability led to a surprising positive outcome.
When I was a medical student, I got warned about a patient who was terribly rude at the emergency room. I understood that the patient was in lots of pain. Before entering her room, I took some deep breaths and had a super clear goal - to give her a pain killer shot. She gave me her consent and in about 30 minutes her pain was relieved. The following day, I was informed that the patient had returned with a message for me. I expected the worst, but she had come to apologise with a cake. It turned out she was a very good pastry chef!

John North, Partner and Head of Corporate at RWK Goodman lawyers

How do you maintain personal resilience in today’s fast-paced business environment?
For wellbeing, I think it is important to keep things in perspective. However, despite how difficult things seem at the time, they seldom are as bad as you think, so I try not to dwell on what has gone wrong and focus on finding solutions. I have been practising as a lawyer for over 35 years, and in that time, I have seen my profession and working practices change immensely. The secret to career longevity is flexibility, so it is important to embrace new areas of work and technologies. We must be specialists but not over-specialise to the extent that we risk making ourselves redundant as the world moves on.

Please, share a story from your career where adaptability led to a surprising positive outcome.
Once, I was driven the wrong way down a motorway in China to get to a meeting on time. This memory still sticks in my mind. It was terrifying at the time but laughable now. We made it to our meeting and successfully completed the matter for our client. Signatories going on holiday without notice happens occasionally. It used to be difficult to resolve, but now there are few places where we cannot get someone to sign a document electronically.

Eleonor Duhs, Partner and Head of Data & Privacy at Bates Wells

How do you maintain personal resilience in today’s fast-paced business environment?
The first crucial element is having a sense of purpose.  We spend so much of our lives at work.  Meaningful work makes you feel engaged in a completely different way. You need something to strive for beyond simply remuneration. The second thing that helps is other people. Many issues which arise today are very complex and can’t be resolved by one person alone. Having a great, diverse team around you with different perspectives helps enormously in puzzling through the possible answers.  A good network of peers is also really important. They can act as a support and a sounding board.

Please, share a story from your career where adaptability led to a surprising positive outcome.
An embarrassing experience was dropping my lunch on the Lord Chancellor when I worked in the Ministry of Justice. I’d just bought my food and he jumped into the same lift.  He was dressed in ceremonial robes as he told me he’d been to the swearing in of a Bishop. He explained that the Bishop’s oath comes from the time of Henry VIII.  He then said “You must have it”. It was when he handed it to me that the mishap occurred. I saw him at a drinks party a few weeks later and he said “Oh, I remember you!” I think in those kinds of situations you just have to laugh and not take yourself too seriously!