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HOW DO I RESPOND TO DISPOSABILITY AND CHANGE? (GROWTH, LEARNING, AND RESILIENCE)


        Social Resilience

        A few years ago, one of Dave’s books was reviewed on
        Amazon. Here is the verbatim review:


           Stupid title. Stupid theory. Stupid book., September 15,
           2003
           Reviewer: PT Kearns from UK
           We all need to worry when “top” academics are telling us that the
           bottom line isn’t. At last, the vacuity of Dave Ulrich’s work is plain for
           all to see. Any book which states that the “big, new idea is connect-
           ing leadership to market value” (p.259) has to win the award for the
           most fatuous statement of the blindingly obvious.
             I was going to give this 0 stars, but the system does not allow it.


          Ouch. When Dave read this review, he was mortified,
        angry, and hurt. His first reaction was to cover the computer
        screen with his hand so no one would see it. But of course
        the review was already in the public domain, hanging out
        there for all to see. So instead of pretending to hide the
        review, he started to share it. He learned that most people
        did not agree with this reviewer (thank goodness), and he got
        social support to cope with the negative comments.
          Another time, Dave received a prestigious award. A later
        write-up of the ceremony began, “Dave Ulrich, a large and
        homely man . . .” Again, he shared the unflattering descrip-
        tion with his wife and friends, who jokingly said that he
        might someday change one of these two factors (large),
        but he was stuck with the other (homely). Sharing difficult
        situations lets close friends laugh with us and give us per-
        spective—or perhaps help us change. When Dave decided to
        become “less large,” he publicly shared his commitment to




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