Resilience in the Perfect Storm

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Resilience in the Perfect Storm

• Tommy Darwin
• The University of Texas at Austin

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and then Resilience
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Thrownness

• Beginnings and endings are rare, middles are
  common. People are always in the middle of
  something, which means re-design, interruption,
  resumption, continuity, and recontextualizing
  --Karl Weick

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Imagination

• Being in two places at the same time
• in your own experience and the
• experience of an other AND
• in the present and in the future.

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Resilience

• Staunch acceptance of reality
• Strong belief that life is meaningful
• Uncanny ability to improvise

How Resilience Works, Diane Coutu, Harvard
Business Review
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Accepting Reality
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Reality is Abundant

• It supports multiple perspectives and is
  completed by our understanding
• It only fully emerges through diverse
  perspectives and commitments

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Meaning and Purpose
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Focus on what is Essential

• Look past the data to see the deeper
  constellations of meaning.
• Keep values and commitments at the
  forefront--they ultimately drive action.

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Uncanny Improvisation
From Jeff Conklin, Wicked Problems
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Improv and Innovation

• Prototype, Prototype, Prototype
• Yes-and
• Be receptive to what the situation offers
• Look for hidden innovators
• Build on a human scale

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Solving for Pattern
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A Perfect Mindstorm

• If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life
  depended on the answer, I would spend the first
  55 minutes determining the proper question to
  ask, for once I know the proper question I could
  solve the problem in five minutes.
• -- Albert Einstein

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Mindstorm

• How would you approach the issue if you had all
  the resources, information, and influence you
  needed?
• How would you approach the issue if it wasnt
  yours?
• Who else could benefit from what youve learned?
  What key lessons would you offer them?