RT Vol XIII Ch. 4: Workplace Resilience Relevance for the Entrepreneur

From the Book: The Refractive Thinker®: Vol XIII: Entrepreneurship: Growing the Future of Business

Summary

Resilience research in the workplace may not be undiscovered territory, but certainly is a less frequent area of study. Historically, research on the topic of resilience included two particular areas of prevalence: (a) the experience of children who overcome hardship and (b) the recovery process for adults following a traumatic event. A broader application for the concept of resilience explores relevance in the workplace – specifically of note for the entrepreneur.

When resilience at work is most notable, the employee’s career spans many decades of success; despite, or possibly because of, their experience with challenge. Valuable lessons for the entrepreneur exist as they look to experience success within their career ventures, individually or as an employer. The path towards resilience in the workplace is particularly important in entrepreneurship as a foundation to the business world is the existence of change. The entrepreneur, either expanding on an existing business model, taking a workplace on a new path or, venturing into a revolutionary start-up, will likely experience change as both a constant and a challenge. A focused look at both the employing organization and the individual employee creates an opportunity for the examination of workplace resilience that will be useful to the entrepreneur looking to grow and succeed in their business venture in an ever-changing world.