Fortitude: The Myth of Resilience, and the Secrets of Inner Strength: A Sunday Times Bestseller

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If we look for those who stumble to get up and win, then surely it places demand and responsibility on victims of adversity? I think that, for me, it comes from the fact that I think the US -- my partner's American, I'm not criticising the US; the US is very fixated on individualistic cures, "What can I prescribe for this person that will solve their problem?" And the solution broadly, resilience is a collectivist solution, it's about feeling connected to other people. And sometimes that's an inconvenient answer for people to hear.

Fortitude - Penguin Books UK

So, not remotely thinking about any of the people we've talked about before, but you can definitely see an example is Marion Jones, who was probably one of the most accomplished American sportspeople, has won 100 metres, 200 metres, I think long jump as well, and she was caught taking drugs. She'd suffered parental abandonment, she'd suffered her mum's new partner died, she'd suffered all series of traumas, and I think people who've looked at it have said, actually this huge hole was excavated inside of her, this void, this sense that she felt -- the way that kids interpret things, they think, "This happened because of me. If it wasn't for me, this wouldn't have happened". So actually, the most important part of this work is understanding it, because my ACE score, for example, it's so fascinating; for me, my ACE score is 4. So I immediately start going, "Gosh, right, okay. Well firstly, that would have a deleterious effect on my health, and secondly would explain my relentless need to try and succeed and do more". This was interesting on the critical view and perspective of resilient literature or rather the myth we are fed about resilience these days. It was a lot of data but then I missed an alternative to resilience. There was a bit at the end but in comparison not that applicable and short to actually get a proper guidance out of it. Resilience is the buzzword of the moment. We're told that if we have it, our lives will be happy and successful ones. If we don't, we need to acquire it. But what if the version of resilience we've been peddled is a myth?

So, if you're going to make one thing change, then you might say, "If I'm feeling no autonomy at work, is there something I could do to reduce the amount of time I'm spending in meetings? Is there something I could do to set some time aside to do something separate?" The illusion of modern work is we all feel like we've got infinite time, and we'll just answer this, then I'll answer this, and if I just need to work later, I'll work later; and we never make decisions of scarcity. But I guess one of the critical things you'd say is, if people are feeling an absence of control, if people are feeling no resilience, then thinking about how you can gift them some space, and there's a solution to it as well. There's a lot to this book. Having heard all the hype about 'grit' over the past few years, it was refreshing to read something that offered a different view about resilence.

Bruce Daisley tells Chris Evans his new book Fortitude ‘is Bruce Daisley tells Chris Evans his new book Fortitude ‘is

The inference is that resilience is something individual, that some of us are blessed with and that others need to be schooled in. I got sent on my company’s resilience training and I don’t feel any better,’ one worker at a major technology company told me. You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side.Bruce Daisley: Okay! Well, normally when any of us think about the most meaningful moments that we've experienced, or the most meaningful accomplishments in a job, they're generally not, "I did this on my own". It's normally, they've got a degree of simcha to them. So, it might be the celebration of something big you did, or the recognition you got for something big you did, rather than the mere act of accomplishing it. As soon as you recognise that you go, "Oh, okay, I really recognise that". So, it helps me understand, when people have said to me, "Burnout doesn't apply to me, I can work as long as I want", it sounds like at least in the short term, that explains it. When we feel like we've got the autonomy to make that decision, it seems to help. I think sometimes we have the freedom, hopefully, to be able to do that, because we're a small company, but I do think there are levels of that. And even in really big companies, you have that ability as a manager to make a real difference in that area of choice and control. What you discover is that UK Sport did this remarkable piece of work, and this is what I couldn't get out of my head, that studied 16 British super-elite athletes, and they say all of them household names. All of them, of the ones they studied, all of them had a significant moment of childhood trauma. To just emphasise that that's not universal, the ones that they compared them to, who were the silver medallists, the bronze medallists, the people who did well but not quite win gold, only one in four of them had a moment of significant trauma. In this light an expectation of resilience is no longer the spellbinding final act of a story, it is something akin to victim blaming.

Fortitude by Bruce Daisley - Penguin Books Australia

Instead, news outlets from the BBC to the New York Times reminded their audiences of a different narrative, ‘ The Lebanese are famed for their resilience’ was the BBC’s take.

What you get then, you get into stories of, okay, right, so here's an interesting profile, that all of these people who won gold medals, and I'm not pointing this specifically at British athletes, but people who won gold medals were trying to resurrect a shattered sense of self. And we also know that people who've had a shattered sense of self might consider that they will restore their sense of self-belief at all costs. Bruce Daisley interviews psychologists, neuroscientists and workplace experts to understand how we can improve our jobs. The series has a focus on science and experts, over gurus and opinions. Increasingly a boss might get on the phone to commission resilience training, but the weary workforce sees corporate gaslighting.

Fortitude - Apple Podcasts - Apple Rory Sutherland explores Fortitude - Apple Podcasts - Apple

Bruce Daisley: There's a wonderful guy who passed away a couple of years ago, called Enrico Quarantelli, and Enrico Quarantelli was obsessed with natural disasters and when things went wrong. It's almost like, if you've got an earthquake or people flying out of somewhere, he was the lone car driving in the other direction. He was obsessed with going to see when things went wrong.

Sarah Ellis: So, just thinking a little bit about identity, and we've mentioned it already, but one of the things that we've talked about before on the podcast is this idea of enmeshment, which is essentially when your identity isn't distinct from your job, so the work you do becomes who you are. And, there's some real dangers to that, because with our blurred boundaries, and when we are all probably working longer than before, there's certainly no evidence that people are working shorter that I've seen, this feels like it continues to be a risk.