Success Secrets and Stories
To share management leadership concepts that actually work.
You are responsible for your development as a leader. Don't expect the boss to invest the training budget in your career. Consider this podcast as an investment of time in your career, with a bit of management humor added at the same time.
Success Secrets and Stories
Mastering Resilience: The Essential Leadership Skill for 2025
Forget every leadership trend you've heard about—2025 demands one skill above all others: Resilience. This captivating discussion between hosts John Wandolowski and Greg Powell delves deep into why resilience has become the cornerstone of effective leadership in today's volatile world.
Drawing from Forbes Council member Gina Martin's powerful insights, we explore how resilience goes beyond merely enduring challenges to actually thriving because of them. Martin's own journey—arriving as an immigrant with just $300, a child in her arms, and limited English skills, then rising to lead teams of 600 people—exemplifies the transformative power of bouncing back stronger after each setback.
We break down six practical strategies for cultivating this essential leadership muscle: practicing authentic optimism, embracing adaptability, building endurance, developing clear vision, mastering stress management, and creating strong support systems. Through personal stories and hard-earned wisdom, we reveal how these approaches can help you navigate uncertainty while maintaining focus on long-term objectives.
As we navigate political turbulence, cultural shifts, and economic volatility in 2025, this conversation offers a roadmap for becoming the resilient leader your organization desperately needs. Remember, as Nelson Mandela wisely noted, success isn't measured by achievements alone, but by "how many times I have fallen and got back up again."
Ready to strengthen your leadership resilience? Visit authorja.com to connect with us directly or explore successgrowthacademy.com to learn more about the Management by Responsibility program that has shaped our leadership approaches. The true measure of your leadership might not be how you handle success, but how effectively you rise after falling.
Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell
Well, hello and welcome to Success Secrets and Stories, our podcast. I am your host, john Winoloski, and I'm here with my host and friend, greg Powell, greg hey everybody, yeah.
Speaker 2:And today our podcast. We're going to talk about an interesting subject called resilience, and I can't think of a more impactful term that would be relevant for today's world than resilience, because if you're not resilient, you're really going to have a challenge in 2025. So when I did some research on our subject for today, I found this wonderful article and it's Resilience the Most Coveted Leadership Skill for 2025 by Gina Martin, and she is a Forbes Council member. This was from the Forbes website. She's an executive coach and organizational consultant. Her roots are as a first generation immigrant and single mother, and I will talk a little bit more about her story, but she's also on the Forbes Coaches Council and this article was written in January 22nd of 2025.
Speaker 2:Her overview is leadership in 2025 demands strength that doesn't merely endure challenges, demands strength that doesn't merely endure challenges, but thrives because of them. That strength is resilience the ability to adapt, to recover and to evolve in adversity. Resilience has become more than just a personal quality. She believes that it is a critical element of a leadership skill that drives organizations to success, team development and personal growth. Leaders must navigate political uncertainty, cultural shifts and economical volatility in the areas to consistent change. Resilience provides the foundation for effective leadership, enabling us to guide our teams and help organizations through distributions and issues in terms of goals and staying focused and looking for the long-term.
Speaker 2:So a little bit about Gina Martin. Resilience, I think, is a cornerstone of her journey, as she states. When she was 18, as an immigrant and only $300 in her pocket and a child in her arms and no real understanding of the English language, she worked at entry-level positions and then worked through the retail supervisor position. Over two decades she rose to a director level, leading teams of over 600 people, balancing the demands of motherhood and tackling the professional challenges. What I thought was interesting on all the things that she talked about was her final quote. As Nelson Mandela would say, do not judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I have fallen and got back up again. This principle was what she says was their guiding light in terms of leadership and it helped change how she actually talked to others and other leaders to help them build that resilience to succeed. Greg, maybe you can kind of set us up a little bit on the resilience side of it.
Speaker 1:Thanks, john. So why is resilience essential to leadership? Modern leaders face complex challenges today. Right, there's political issues, cultural, economic forces that are making folks crazy and creating some instability. A lot of pressure that impacts organizations and people on their teams. But even with this environment, resilient leaders are equipped to do several things. First, they can navigate uncertainty. Resilient leaders remain calm and focused during change, providing stability for their teams. They also drive organizational goals. They persist through setbacks, maintaining a commitment to long-term objectives. We used to call it laser-like focus. Those leaders have that Inspire and empower teams. The leader's stability fosters trust and confidence in all their people. Adapt and innovate. These leaders embrace change. They learn from making mistakes, identify the opportunities within challenges. So resilience is not an inherent trait, but a skill that can be cultivated intentionally. Building resilience requires developing the mindset and habits to thrive under pressure.
Speaker 2:John. So in her article she broke it down to six strategies and, as I was explaining to Greg, every time I went through the six points, which were so on the point that my mind started to think of different examples. So we're going to actually have some fun with this a little bit and talk about the subjects that she brought up. Her first one is practice optimism. As she puts it, a growth-oriented mindset enables leaders to see opportunities and challenges. Optimism doesn't mean ignoring difficulties, but believing in the possibility and solutions and committing to finding them.
Speaker 2:To foster optimism, things are like reframing challenges as opportunities We've all heard that. Or focusing on what you can do, that you can control, rather than dwelling on the things that you cannot. Or celebrating the small victories as that momentum and confidence builds. But when I thought about it, as a leader, you have the ability to set the tone as a team. Navigating the things that undermine progress.
Speaker 2:Positivity and focus helps achieve some of those and inspire success. You have to understand how your audience is actually receiving it. That takes the engagement and being in the now, as the challenges arise, and looking for the alternatives. You're doing things like fostering the what-if statement scenarios. Your optimism is going to be what that team needs, especially if your optimism and what you're looking at is trying to improve or reinforce your organization. They're going to be looking at things like your body language, your expressions, your tone of voice. All those things are powerful tools to help people, to motivate people to understand the optimistic approach that you're trying to basically project. Optimism is how you are being received, because, as a leader, you have to give that example. Greg, I think you have a couple ideas about optimism too.
Speaker 1:Yes, thanks, John. To me, optimism starts out with being authentically optimistic. No BS here.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I look at the glass being half full and water in the glass is clear, not murky. Wait, what do you mean? Clear, it is crystal clear. Sky's the limit. Okay, okay. And as a leader, you have to model that optimism. If you don't really believe it, your staff will know it. They'll see right through you. You need to stand tall and flash an image of confidence and optimism. So let's move over to embrace adaptability. Flexibility and openness to change are critical in today's dynamic environment. John and I could have told you it was dynamic 40 years ago. Nothing like that today. It is so fast moving, so ever changing. So resilient leaders stay curious. They pivot right, they shift when needed and continuously evolve to meet shifting demands. To enhance adaptability, do a few things here. I've got three of them Seek and act on feedback. I like to say feedback is a gift. This is when you're going to use it. Stay informed about trends and changes in your industry. Right, you need to be the subject matter expert on your discipline and encourage creative problem solving with your team.
Speaker 2:John, it's that mindset of being in the now, like we talked about with Dr Durst, staying informed and engaged and having a pulse of what's going on in your industry and not depending upon history, because that's the ever famous. We've already done that. We can't do that ever again. If they did it eight years ago, you're supposed to really kind of challenge. Maybe you did it wrong eight years ago. It doesn't mean that conceptually it's a bad idea. It's trying to give people the ability to think out of the box, to be creative, to have some fun with the subject for what it's worth and to pivot whenever you have enough information, like if you're dealing with a market environment and you have people that are talking about electric cars and what I find interesting.
Speaker 2:Right now, the industry is moving towards hybrid cars. Why? Well, because people understand the concept of trying to do better with fuel, but they don't want to deal with all the things that are really the challenge of an electric car. A hybrid is a wonderful mix and they can't make enough of the hybrids. That kind of being adaptable is really the key. Greg, you have a couple of those.
Speaker 1:I sure do, john, when I think about some of my experience in the past. You, as a leader, have to demonstrate you can think out of the box, and brainstorming activities with your team are really good things to do, meaning nothing's off the table. Let's throw that idea up. Let's work it. We may find out it's not the best idea, but we might find the second best idea right behind it. So don't be distracted. Show laser-like focus on the primary issues that you're working on, but exhibit leadership, presence Again, adaptability. If you don't do it, your people aren't going to do it, john.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then we're talking. The next point she brings up is, I think, another great example Building endurance. Leaders require stamina, both mentally and physically. Resilience in terms of leadership is the ability to sustain energy, to focus, to commit over time and to thrive. Energy to focus, to commit over time and to thrive. To cultivate endurance.
Speaker 2:Prioritizing your physical health in terms of exercise, nutrition and rest, developing mental toughness and a mindfulness and the elements of using stress relief management techniques to try to minimize that stress effect. Stay committed to your goals even when the progress is slow. Endurance, doing the long-term. And again, when I hear some of these key points that she's talking about, I remember working 12-hour, 14-hour days and for some reason, I thought that I was doing clearly more work and more volume. And I had one of the supervisors tell me well, I wouldn't brag about your incompetence because I can do a similar job and I only spend eight hours a day doing it.
Speaker 2:Now, I didn't want to bring up the point that the results are different, but he did make an extremely important point. Are different, but he did make an extremely important point. You can spend all your life working and you're going to lose your family in the process. Have a work balance. I thought it was another way to make sure that you had the endurance. You had that next piece of being able to handle the pressure. Greg, I think you had another insight along the same lines.
Speaker 1:I do, john. Some of building endurance comes from just plain working smart, not just hard. Right, hard work is there, but work smart. I remember a former senior leader looked at a group of us and said you know what, guys? We don't have to do dumb. And he said what he goes. Let me repeat myself we don't have to do dumb, we can be smart. We can change our course of direction right, and he was absolutely right. Just because we were on a path, it may not have been the right path.
Speaker 1:As a leader, you have to remember that oftentimes the work project is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to be realistic with how much your team can handle, how much business time can be matched to your team's efforts. So building endurance will help you in the long haul. Let's talk a little bit about developing vision.
Speaker 1:A clear sense of purpose and direction fuels resilience. Resilient leaders connect their actions to their values and goals, motivating themselves and their teams through adversity. So, to refine your vision, regularly revisit your goals and ensure alignment with your values Vision, mission values you probably heard those words Real, important. Communicate your vision to your team. You don't just put it on a three by five card, in a notebook or in your pocket of your jacket. Communicate that to your team, connecting their work to the larger purpose, because that's part of your job. You're connecting them to the big vision, right, and you have to help them see that and use your vision to maintain focus during challenging times, because it can really get out of hand. And, as a leader, if you say, okay, what are we trying to do here? Again, what's our prime directive? Keep repeating that. Share that with your team, right, and that'll keep you on the straight and narrow.
Speaker 2:John. For me, I think the thing that was probably the most specific was when I was asked to do a five-year plan, and it was one of those five-year plans they call a master plan. In an industrial application, it's also a five-year plan for your family and a five-year plan for your career. I was doing all three of those because the subject of planning forward was something that I learned from a course called Management by Responsibility by Dr Durst, and it really did focus the impact of planning and going to the point where it was personal and professional.
Speaker 2:I think that was one of the best things that I ever did. It actually focused my ambitions in terms of my career. It actually focused my ambitions in terms of my career, but it made me a very effective leader in terms of getting the goals and finishing projects ahead of time and getting the results that they were looking for. Those were all the kind of bells and whistles that were going off when I was talking about this subject. When it said vision, you're responsible for developing that vision. It isn't something that comes from above and then you implement it. You're supposed to be involved in that process.
Speaker 1:Greg, yeah, john. So when I think about my background, whether it was in sales or first-line supervisory management, one of the first things that really got my attention was a formal training session. It's a two-week course on strategic planning. Because my planning was get through the day, get through the week for myself and my team. Right I'm just being honest right, hit the gold numbers and that was it. And I didn't think beyond day-to-day, hour-by-hour project planning and that took me to the big picture. But what I learned about vision was periodically refine the vision, see if maybe the vision should change and finally communicate that vision. Communicate it up down, laterally, essentially to anybody that would listen on a regular basis. Communicate that vision so they know it as well as you do and they expect that from you.
Speaker 2:Sure. Her next subject is mastering stress management. Next subject is mastering stress management. As she puts it, unmanaged stress can erode resilience. No-transcript To manage stress. She identifies things like creating a strategy to identify the stressors and address them directly. Practice center techniques such as deep breathing, meditation or filling out a journal. Establishing boundaries and prioritize self-care to maintain balance. Establishing boundaries and prioritize self-care to maintain balance.
Speaker 2:For me, I think, when I think about stress management, I had so much stress at one time in my career that I was dealing with hypertension. I would get them on the weekends when I had time off, and I found out later from asking for help that that's when the body relaxes and the real pressure starts to take hold and that's when the headaches will come in. That's the amount of pressure I was under and I was dealing with come in. That's the amount of pressure I was under and I was dealing with. If you don't know how to manage the stress, like for me, I was listening to music without words, so that I wouldn't hear any words. That would let my mind relax. I learned how to do stress relief exercise. I spend more time with my family. You understand this pattern that I'm discussing. It's managing stress. Don't be a victim of it.
Speaker 2:The bottom line is I quit the job that was stressing me out and I moved on, and that was the other part of managing stress. If you know that it's a lose-lose, don't quit Actively. Look for the next place and move on. You're in charge of your career. That's a little bit about that. You know having the vision and having a five-year plan. When you see that it's off the rails, do something about it. Make it the change. Don't wait for the change to happen to you. You don't want to be fired and look for a job because you're so frustrated. You've quit on the job. Greg, maybe you can talk about stress management from your perspective.
Speaker 1:Thanks, john, absolutely. And I think of something that I heard early in my career that I didn't like, and that is stress is a great motivator. And I thought why would I want to motivate people to stress? That's just crazy. But my dad had an interesting perspective After he retired. He'd been in the military, worked for the government, he'd been in a couple of world wars and he said, son, stress will kill you and I thought it was something people say. But he was very serious and he ended up having some heart issues because he hadn't managed all the stress. But he wanted his boys to be smarter with that. So for me, music meditation helped me manage my stress In extreme situations.
Speaker 1:Walking around the work complex, john, I've talked about that before getting some fresh air, clear your head a little bit. The right kind of music, like John, works to soothe me as well. Slow that heart rate down a bit. But stress management is still a huge issue and it is not going away. So find a way for you and your team to manage it. So building support systems is number six. No leader builds resilience alone. A strong support system is essential for navigating the ups and downs of leadership. So surround yourself with several things here. One trusted mentors or executive coaches. Two peer groups of fellow leaders who understand your challenges. They can relate to you and you can relate to them. Three family, friends or colleagues who offer encouragement and perspective, not just people telling you what you want to hear. Right, and then make sure resilient leaders extend their support to their teams as well. So not just for you, but make sure that folks on your team have access as well. John.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when these subjects just fired off all kinds of things in my head that people don't spend time in organizations any longer, like I have a professional team that I get together with as part of ASHI, the American Society of Healthcare Engineers, and they did a lot in terms of keeping me grounded, giving me resources that I could deal with as a professional side of it, but they were also my connection. They were, they were my support group. Um, I would have people that would call up and I would ask for their help and their input. Greg, you, you were, you were more than one occasion that I had called you and asked for your support and your input and your guidance and you build those relationships. And I'll say something else Guys do a lousy job at this.
Speaker 2:Women do a very good job of developing a network and a group in terms of building that internal support system. We have to spend more time as men doing that. The real point is build your team. It isn't going to happen and you have to put the effort in it and it's going to take away a little bit of your time, but if you're doing it, like for me, by working with professional engineers and working within that kind of group that helped me not only with progressing on with my career but gave me opportunities for connections and opportunities to actually work for other companies that they worked for. So spending the time to make those contexts is really critical and is kind of like a lost art, greg.
Speaker 1:Thanks, john. Yeah, no question, building a support system is required to help you maintain your sanity and the sanity of others that need your assistance, and I do echo John's sentiments regarding this podcast, for instance, as we've been connected for 40 years and I consider John part of my personal support group as well. It's interesting in human resources. There's lots of opportunities, as like with engineers and lawyers and finance people.
Speaker 1:We had a group called HARMAC Human Resource Management Association of Chicago, so different levels of HR leadership and individual contributors would get together for monthly meetings. There would be topics that people would present, discuss, and it was a great community of safe harbor for issues that you had some questions about and you wanted to get some assistance for. Also, you think about the conferences and some people say I don't need to go to that conference, they're just going to take my money, I'm going to have a lousy lunch. No, you network, you meet people and you talk to them about where are they getting information and share. It's an exchange. So get out there and network and help build that support system out there and network and help build that support system Right.
Speaker 2:So a little bit of her next point is resilient as a leadership muscle, which is kind of an interesting concept. Resilience is like a muscle that needs to grow stronger. With consistent practice, intentional efforts to help build those skills, that mindset, the habits needed to lead confidently and gracefully, resilience will be our greatest ally when navigating organizational change, personal change and ambitious goals. Resilience has been the foundation for the author's journey, especially coming to the United States with $300, dealing with leading teams, transitioning careers, building a business and the challenges in her life in terms of battling cancer. All those things were part of what she did in terms of developing that muscle, that resilience.
Speaker 2:I can't think of a better exercise than doing things like what Greg and I are doing with a podcast. I'm exercising my mind, I'm trying to do something with a friend and it's been just one of those opportunities and a platform to have some fun and know that I'm helping others. It's a wonderful exchange and it gives me a chance to try to exercise the muscle and how to deal with the daily challenges of life. This has been a great exercise doing the podcast, greg.
Speaker 1:So how does that song go? I get knocked down, but I get up again. You're never going to keep me down. I get knocked down but I get up again.
Speaker 1:You're never going to keep me down. I get knocked down, but I get up again. You're never going to keep me down. That's a resilient attitude, right? This person has been punching the gut before got right back up. We've talked before about the famous Mike Tyson saying everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Right, yeah, so yeah, resilience means I can come back from a bad plan, and I would argue that management resilience should work like muscle memory. It should repeat it all the time. It should be very comfortable to just roll off the tongue, so to speak.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about building resilience in 2025 and beyond. So I believe resilience will be the defining skill of effective leadership. Leaders who can cultivate resilience will guide their organizations through uncertainty, inspire their teams and achieve lasting success. Resilience isn't just about surviving not at all. It's about thriving right In chaos. Remember that book Thriving in Chaos. By practicing optimism, embracing adaptability, building endurance, developing vision, managing stress and leaning on a strong support system, you can become the resilient leader your team and organization actually need. The measure of success is not how many times you fall, but how many times you rise. So let resilience be the hallmark of your leadership journey in 2025 and beyond.
Speaker 2:John. So, in summary, what's kind of interesting is that in 2025, we're going to be tested in terms of trade tariffs, production restrictions, involved politics and international business. Just can you make more of a resilient challenge than what we're living in right now? These are the kind of skill sets that you need, and I think it's a wonderful opportunity for this article to talk about how we need to practice resilience, greg.
Speaker 1:final comment yeah, John, just a simple one. I like to say that the true measure of an individual is how they handle adversity right. So for leaders at all levels, resilience will be tested because of the adverse circumstances we find the world to be in today, John.
Speaker 2:So resilience was, I think, a pretty good subject and Greg and I wanted to talk about how to break down these different points and hopefully that text added something to your understanding of the subjects, if you like what you've heard, yeah, my book's available on Amazon and Barnes. Noble, you're listening to our podcast, thank you. And Noble, you're listening to our podcast, thank you. We also have really utilized Dr Durst's MBR program in this podcast and you can find his information on successgrowthacademycom. If you want to contact us, we have a website. It's authorjawcom. Send us a line and the music has been brought to you by my grandson. So hopefully this resilient conversation was helpful. We want to hear from you. If you have any input or any suggestions, let us know. So thanks, greg.
Speaker 1:Thanks, John, as always next time. Yeah.