I happened on a very well written article by Joseph C. Napoli, MD of Resiliency LLC that is well worth reading and absorbing. Dr. Napoli article is entitled "Resiliency, Resilience, Resilient: A Paradigm Shift?" and can be found on their website at Resiliency, Resilience, Resilient: A Paradigm Shift?.
Dr. Napoli's approaches resiliency from the medical and psychiatry fields. His historical and background references on resiliency are insightful and enlightening and makes a strong case for the rise of the resiliency paradigm. He also does a brilliant job of defining resiliency and the various forms of the term.
I particularly like the point he makes at the end of the article
" I think a new meaning is evolving for resiliency and resilience. In some contexts the words are being used to mean the strength to resist being impacted by an adverse event rather than either the “capacity to rebound” or “act of rebounding” from adversity. Therefore, resiliency and resilience appear to be assuming the meaning of fortitude, that is, “the strength or firmness of mind that enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage or to bear pain or adversity without despondency” as defined in the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. If so, we are coming full circle with science accepting a religious moral virtue – fortitude – as written in the Bible’s Book of Wisdom"
Although the focus of Dr. Napoli's article is on the individual, there is a lot of wisdom that can be applied to the organization and to understanding it's level of resiliency.
Darryl Moody
Resilient Corporation
Community resilience was an important part of discussion of the years National Rural Health Conference in Australia as much of the country entered a third year of drought and towns became unsure of their water supply.
Posted by: Owen Allen | 08 September 2007 at 08:19 AM