Page 20 - The Resilient Organization

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In the past, a call for resilience was an implied invitation, however
persuasive, for crisis-free transformation. In contrast, today, as we are tod-
dlering out of the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s’ Depression,
resilience has taken on an altogether new urgency, and the term must also
gain new meaning. In this new world, resilience will again come to mean
the capacity to survive the long term—not only its hardships but, more
importantly perhaps, also the temptations to act for short-term benefit.
Many an opportunity still looms. The question is how to pursue these
opportunities, this time with resilience. We cannot and should not forgive
ourselves for missing an opportunity for resilience reform—a rethink of
what constitutes something worth building and something worth defending,
fighting for—whether it is for our children and grandchildren or for our
sense of life purpose and our consciousness. A reformation of the kind that
took place in medieval Germany is needed: a rethink, not so much of what
makes a good person (as per Martin Luther’s theses) but what makes a good,
resilient organization. Resilience principles need to replace the fallen eagles.
The past half-century, a period of extraordinary economic growth has
exposed the frailties of our biological environment as never before, in a
globally interconnected way. By 2020, or perhaps sooner, it will be impos-
sible to reverse the devastating effects of global warming. The past decades
of population and economic growth have simply been too taxing for our
planet’s powers of resilience. The very word resilience originates in part
from ecological studies that measure it by assessing the disturbance that a
system (in this case a particular natural environment) can absorb before it
undergoes a major transformation [Hollnagel & Woods, 2006 (in
Hollnagel, Woods, & Leveson, 2006)].
Iraq, the ancient Mesopotamia located between the rivers of Euphrates
and Tigris, in addition to its difficulty in gaining peace, is suffering severe
sandstorms due to draught and erosion of fertile land (Los Angeles Times,

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