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Resilience through Leadership 63

Imposing Meaning on Hardship

Another hallmark characteristic of resilient people is their capacity to see
or create meaning in the face of misfortune, adversity, and suff ering. Th is
propensity enables resilient individuals to envision progress forward from
current hardships toward a better anticipated future. Rather than seeing
themselves as victims of a terrible and mindless fate, resilient people and
groups devise ways to frame their misfortune in a more personally under-
standable way, and this serves to protect them from being overwhelmed by
difficulties in the present (Coutu, 2002). This capacity is apparently bol-

stered by strong value systems or frameworks, which promote an orienta-
tion toward survival and may indirectly suggest strategies for perseverance
(cf. Frankl, 1963).
Similarly, Maddi, and Khoshaba (2005) emphasize the importance of
an orientation toward commitment. In this context, commitment refers
to active involvement. Rather than take false protection in withdrawal or
apathy, resilient individuals involve themselves in life events, including those
that may be very stressful. Such commitment and continuing involvement

promotes an ability to view present sufferings and hardships as just one part
of an individual’s broader life experience.

Walsh (2002) also underscores the importance of finding meaning in
the face of adversity. Her analysis at the family level suggests that shared
ideas or beliefs enable group members to recast a crisis as a challenge that is
both manageable and meaningful. Like Coutu (2002), Walsh also notes that
transcendent or spiritual values oft en play a significant role in the eff ort to

find purpose in suff ering.

Not all investigators agree that meaning-making is an essential compo-
nent of resilience. For example, Siebert (1996, 2002) argues that survivors
(e.g., POWs and Holocaust victims) rely not upon their ability to make mean-
ing of hardship, but rather upon their grim determination to keep going and
to demonstrate that their spirits have remained intact even as their bodies
have suffered. Certainly, it may be difficult or impossible for even the most

resilient person to make meaning of some circumstances. However, it is rea-

sonable to argue that basic survival-oriented defiance is, at its core, very much
about imposing purpose (meaning) upon an otherwise intolerable situation.
Willingness to Improvise
Coutu’s (2002) research suggests that a third critical characteristic of resilient
people is their capacity to improvise solutions to problems even when they
may not have the appropriate resources or proper tools. Resilient individuals
make the most of whatever resources are available to them. Th ey imagine
possibilities and see connections in situations where less resilient individuals

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