I’m on a journey to become a more resilient leader. This journey is an important one because I work for an organization that is in the midst of a massive transformation. As it turns out, my generation might not be a very resilient one, which Inc’s Suzanne Lucas addresses in her article about how Millennials like me have been raised to think we’re perfect and aren’t very good at failing, handling criticism or struggling through stuff that we’re not very good at. To begin solving this problem on behalf of my generation, I went on an overnight hiking trip with six friends last weekend. Here’s a short story about how hiking cultivates resilience.
Garibaldi Lake
Getting outside enhances your mood and boosts productivity, too. This past Sunday morning I sipped coffee while drinking in the landscape of one of the most beautiful places on Earth, Garibaldi Lake. By noon our hiking group had ascended through forests and alpine meadows to the base of Black Tusk, a volcanic peak that requires one to scramble up scree in order to conquer it. From its peak and overlooking layers of mountain ranges my friend Mike and I reflected how the experience put many things in perspective, such as how insignificant we are in glacial/volcanic time and we let too many little things get to us. As we trundled down the mountain to our campsite, my friend Mike and I reflected on how much experiencing the greatness was enhancing our wellbeing.
Friendship!
Speaking of friends like Mike, I cultivated resilience through friendship on the trip, too. We were all in the experience together and we shared in awesome things like food and really hard things like the last two grueling kilometres when we began to contemplate mortality a little more seriously. People who are resilient in the face of change are curious and positive, which allows them to see more choices (or solutions) than others. I’m blessed to have awesome friends and I’m genuinely curious about their lives, which is why I left the weekend feeling energized by my new-found knowledge about NSERC Discovery Grants, how Japanese hot springs are made, midnight-snoring-inspired-conflict-resolution, losing loved ones to horrible diseases, and fatherhood. Strong relationships are essential for being resilient and I’m lucky to have them.
Black Tusk
Resilience is more likely to come from ourselves than from relationships or the work we do for an organization. According to Harvard Business Review’s Andrea Ovans, leaders who are resilient can accept their reality for what it is and also believe that their work and life have meaning. Oh, and Ovans has found that resilient leaders have the uncanny ability to improvise! I went into my hiking weekend reeling from some professional failures and feeling like my energy supply was lower than usual. Inspired by Mother Nature and the wisdom (not to mention some childish antics) of my buddies, I headed into this week with more focus and feeling more mindful than I have in a long time.
We can always bounce back from a bad day and we can always be resilient when things change if we aren’t concerned with looking good, being comfortable, being safe, or having the right answer all the time. Through a pretty darn simple hiking trip I built resilience by dressing in ridiculous clothes that protected me from the Sun, went way out of my comfort zone by pushing my physical limits, and leaned on my friends to help me find some answers that I didn’t have. Hopefully cultivating resilience is always this fun!