The Importance of Resilience When You’re a Woman in Business

By Laleh Alemzadeh Hancock, Chief Possibilities Officer, Business Wellness Guru, Management and Professional Services Consultant, Executive Coach, Facilitator, Entrepreneur

Resilience is part our biological and historical make-up as women. It’s well-documented that not only do we tend to live longer than our male counterparts, we are also the ones who, at times of war and upheaval, have kept commerce and communities going.  

So how does this resilience play out in the world of business, and why is it so important?

Resilient women are those with the ability to see the bigger picture, a vision for a greater future, and who are willing to take the actions required today to bring that future to fruition. In essence, resilient women are leaders for the future.

As a leader for the future, you recognize that your choice is the creative element for what happens now and in the future. To have more choices available, you must challenge the limits and thresholds you’ve consciously or unconsciously placed on yourself. 

Bust your limits, build your resilience as a leader, and take your business into a greater future by embodying these 6 elements:

CURIOSITY

Without curiosity, inspiration, innovation, and creativity run dry. The key to curiosity is asking quality questions that open doors to multiple possibilities – it is not about finding answers, specific outcomes, or that “ultimate” solution to make everything work. It’s far greater. Use these questions to keep you powerfully creative in business:

• What else is possible I have not yet considered?
• What can I be or do different today to create greater now and in the future?
• What else am I capable of that I have never acknowledged? 

CHOICE

There is no movement or momentum in business without action and choice. The choice you make today creates the future you have tomorrow and years from now. What would you like to create 5, 10, 20, 50 years from now? What choices would you have to make today so that it can come to fruition? Choice isn’t about right or wrong, or good or bad. Even the choices that don’t work out give you more information and awareness. Have you noticed it’s often your failures that give you the best information about how to succeed in the future? Choice is your key to changing or creating anything. If you make a choice that doesn’t work, choose again. If you make a choice that does, great! And, what will you choose next?

CONTINUOUS EDUCATION

To have longevity and be sustainable in business, you’ve got to be on the creative edge. Are there areas you know that if you had more information, awareness or advice in, would contribute to your business? You don’t have to know everything about everything. Just be willing to continually increase your awareness of your industry, finances, trends, and what matters to the people you wish to engage with. It will give you a lot more to play and work with and inspire many new ideas along the way.

NURTURING

You have a best friend in your business and upon whom your resilience heavily depends – your body. Do you treat it as a friend? Do you listen to your body and heed what it tells you? What you give to your body, it will return to you tenfold. Have you noticed those times when you’ve chosen something joyful or nurturing for your body that your happiness, relaxation and level of inspiration increases? Contribute to your body, and it will contribute to you and your business.

TRUST

To have and follow a vision for the future, you must trust in you. Most other people won’t share or even be able to see the possibilities that you do, but that doesn’t mean you are mistaken, it just means you have unique vision. Trust your instincts and don’t wait for anyone else to validate you before you will go. Resilience is about knowing you can create a greater future and then choosing it, whether anyone else gets it or not. 

NEVER GIVE UP

There will always be challenges that come along, and times where you may even feel completely thwarted or like you’ve truly messed it up. My favorite questions for those times are:

• What’s right about this I am not getting?
• What’s right about me I am not getting?

Every “disaster” can be a huge blessing, if you choose it to be so. Asking what’s right about it will allow you to always see the possibility in everything – good, bad and ugly. Maintaining a possibility mindset is resilience in motion and makes you unstoppable.

Curiosity, choice, awareness, trust, nurturing and a commitment to creating more regardless, are the cornerstones of a resilient leader that we all can embody. In today’s climate, where hope for a greater future is needed more than ever, now is the time to claim your capacities and create the change you know is possible. What will you choose?

Laleh Alemzadeh-Hancock is a leadership and entrepreneurial coach, professional services consultant, personal wellness mentor, and founder and CEO of global professional services company, Belapemo. Laleh boasts 30 years’ experience in operational excellence, change management and business consulting, and has inspired and empowered thousands of individuals including Fortune 500 executives, government agencies, non-profit organizations, athletes and veterans. A highly respected executive and leadership coach, Laleh has a particular interest in supporting and encouraging the leadership capabilities of women – in business, in the workplace, at home and in the wider community. She is featured alongside luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey, Melinda Gates, and Ginni Rometty in the 2019 publication, America’s Leading Ladies: Stories of courage, challenge and triumph. Follow Laleh.