Now, after the shock of 2020, ‘resilience’ is on the minds of many CEOs. Many leaders have announced a focus on resilience, but not many know how to start. MBA curricula don’t focus on resilience, instead, they equip their graduates with a mindset of ruthless financial performance.
As a result, ‘developing resilience’ is easy to say, but hard to do. So what must companies do to become more resilient?
WHAT IS RESILIENCE ANYWAY?
The consultants at McKinsey define resilience as, “the ability of a business to withstand, adapt, and thrive in the face of shocks that are internal and external, as well as known and unanticipated.”
The concept of resilience is closely tied with that of VUCA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It describes a world of constant, unpredictable change that is fast becoming the norm. This is fuelled by forces such as technological change, globalization, changing demographics, and an increasingly unsustainable way of living.
There is no better example of a VUCA world than the COVID-19 pandemic. As humans encroach on nature, the risk of cross-species infections rises. Coupled with dense urban populations and fast international travel, all the ingredients were in place for a devastating global pandemic. SARS, H1N1, and MERS were heralds of this risk, but their relative non-spread compared to COVID-19 meant that the pandemic risk was downplayed for years.
This story is from the Issue 30, 2021 edition of SME Magazine Singapore.
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This story is from the Issue 30, 2021 edition of SME Magazine Singapore.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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