When you encounter inevitable obstacles as you're striving for success in business, don't panic. Instead, realize problems come with the territory and find a way to be resilient and rise above them.
Lori Rosenkopf, professor and vice dean of entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has seen people who are starting businesses continuously battle adversity.
Resilience is "absolutely central" to entrepreneurial success, says Rosenkopf, who wrote "Unstoppable Entrepreneurs."
"It's rarely the most brilliant idea or even the best-funded venture that wins," she said. "It's the one that persists."
How To Be Unstoppable
Each entrepreneur she profiled in "Unstoppable Entrepreneurs" faced adversity in situations where the easy choice would have been to walk away.
"But they didn't," she said. "They navigated failure, doubt, pivots and no shortage of skeptics, and they kept going." Resilience, Rosenkopf says, is key to lasting success.
"It's the capacity to take hits, recalibrate and keep showing up," Rosenkopf said. "That mindset turns hard lessons into future advantage."
Be Resilient By Knowing Adversity Is Coming
Resilience is vital in all walks of life, says Doug Holladay, professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and Washington, D.C.-based founder of PathNorth, which helps leaders broaden their definition of success.
"It's the central organizing principle of life," said Holladay, who previously held senior positions at the White House, state department and Goldman Sachs.
Get past that by accepting mistakes will be made. Create resilience by knowing adversity is inevitable.
"If you understand trouble is a reality instead of pretending it doesn't exist, you just embrace it as part of the deal," Holladay said.
Boost Awareness Of Yourself
Self-awareness helps people build resiliency.
"They acknowledge their fears, they make space for vulnerability and they surround themselves with people who challenge and support them," Rosenkopf said.
In her book, Rosenkopf profiles Jesse Pujji, who started digital marketing firm Ampush with two partners. The company's first ad campaign fell flat. Money was running out. But he and his cofounders dug into the data, studied how competitors were succeeding and made changes. The firm eventually managed $1 billion in digital media spending and sold for mid-eight-figures.
"That kind of persistence under pressure is what resilience looks like in practice," Rosenkopf said.
Own Up To Mistakes
Admitting mistakes is the key to learning from them.
"The people I respect the most are the ones who say, 'I screwed up,'" Holladay said. "Truth and authenticity make you resilient."
Leaders at any level can build that type of culture. Middle-managers can gather their team weekly and ask them to share what they're proud of and what they messed up.
"That will make that group more transparent and able to support each other," he said.
Be Resilent By Rewarding Determination
Get others to be resilient by telling stories that celebrate resilience. "The stories we tell are the culture we shape," he said.
Holladay says he advised former Cognizant Chief Executive Frank D'Souza, "The most important thing you can do is be the chief storyteller. Tell the stories you think show the culture. Then people feel safe to experiment and try things."
They can't only be about success. People are more inspired by people overcoming obstacles than taking a smooth path to success, Rosenkopf says.
Spread resilience across your group by communicating your key values. Katlyn Grasso, founder of women's empowerment network GenHERation, built a company that has helped more than 700,000 young women. But when Covid struck in 2020 it disrupted her in-person events. Rosenkopf shifted to online events but also focused on the reason for her work and the relationships within her group,
"As a result, her team didn't freeze in the face of uncertainty – they moved forward with clarity and purpose," Rosenkopf said. "That's what resilient leadership looks like."
