The Power to Rise When the Ground Breaks
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
- J. K. Rowling
Everyone loves to talk about resilience—until they actually have to live it. It sounds good in a meeting, looks inspiring on a poster, but in practice, resilience is ugly. It’s scraped knees, sleepless nights, and the quiet grind of showing up again after failure just knocked the wind out of you.
Resilience isn’t optimism. Optimism says, “It’ll be fine.” Resilience says, “Even if it’s not fine, I’ll find a way through.” Optimism looks for a silver lining. Resilience forges one out of fire. It doesn’t deny pain. It doesn’t escape struggle. It uses both as fuel to keep moving when everything else says stop.
In Management: Setbacks Aren’t an Excuse
I’ve seen leaders crumble at the first sign of trouble. A deal falls through, a project tanks, numbers dip, and suddenly they’re blaming the market, the team, or circumstances beyond their control. That’s not resilience. That’s deflection.
Resilient leaders don’t waste energy on blame. They ask, “What do we own? What can we learn? How do we rise?” They steady their people when everyone else is panicking. They take the hits in public, then rally their teams to attack the next challenge. They know that setbacks are part of the game, not the end of it.
I worked with an executive who lived this. His division missed their targets for the first time in years. Instead of hiding behind excuses, he stood in front of his team and owned it: “We fell short. Here’s what I missed. Here’s what we’re going to change. And here’s how we’ll climb out together.” That honesty built trust. And because his people saw his resilience, they found their own. Within a year, the team had not only recovered—they were outperforming every other division.
Remember
Excuses keep you stuck. Ownership gets you moving.
Resilient leaders don’t flinch at setbacks—they frame them.
Teams don’t rise because of the market. They rise because their leader won’t let them stay down.
In Coaching: Losing is a Test of Spine
Sports are the perfect lab for resilience. Every team talks about “bouncing back.” Few actually do it. Why? Because losing exposes more than skill—it exposes belief.
I remember going 6-7. In our first year at USC. Every one outside of the program doubted our plan of attack. Everyone doubted the hiring of the coaching staff and questioned every aspect of the program. That season could have buried us. But resilience demanded we treat every day like a step forward, even when the record mocked us. We kept training. We stayed on the standard. We corrected the same mistakes until they stuck. And we refused to let failure write the last line.
Later, when championships came, people celebrated the wins. What they didn’t see was the resilience forged in the losing season. Players learned that setbacks weren’t permission to quit; they were preparation to improve. That’s why resilience matters more than talent. Talent wins games when things go right. Resilience wins them when everything goes wrong.
Remember
Talent shows up when conditions are ideal. Resilience shows up when nothing is.
Teams that crumble in adversity never learned to suffer in practice.
The scoreboard doesn’t measure resilience—but history does.
In Personal Life: When the Weight Hits Home
Life has a way of leveling everyone. Illness. Loss. Betrayal. Broken plans. None of us escapes it. And no résumé, no record, no trophy shields you from it. The question isn’t if you’ll be knocked down. The question is how you’ll rise when you are.
I’ve lived this. I’ve faced challenges that had nothing to do with football or business—things that tested my soul more than my body. When I was diagnosed with cancer, there were times when it would have been easier to collapse, to give in, to let circumstances dictate the story. Resilience in those moments wasn’t glamorous. It was ugly. It was waking up after a round of chemo. It was showing up in the darkness and getting home in the darkness. It was refusing to let pain have the last word.
And that’s the truth about resilience at home: it’s not for show. It’s not a motivational quote. It’s what keeps families together in grief. It’s what keeps people moving in sickness. It’s what allows you to look at your kids, your spouse, your people, and say, “This won’t break us.”
Remember
Resilience isn’t avoiding pain. It’s refusing to be defined by it.
Setbacks are inevitable. Staying down is optional.
The people closest to you don’t need you perfect. They need you steady.
The Work: Training Resilience
Resilience isn’t luck. It’s built in habits that prepare you before the storm hits.
1) Expect Resistance.
Don’t be shocked when things go wrong. Anticipate it. Train for it. Build margin into your life so failure doesn’t feel fatal.
2) Frame the Setback.
Ask: “What’s the lesson here? What’s the opportunity?” Change the story from defeat to development.
3) Stay in Motion.
Resilience grows in action. When you’re knocked down, take one step—no matter how small. Forward motion builds momentum.
4) Build a Circle.
Resilient people don’t fight alone. They lean on trusted voices who remind them of who they are when they forget.
5) Remember the Why.
Pain feels heavier when it’s pointless. Tie your struggle to purpose, and it becomes bearable and even productive.
Why It Wins Everywhere
Resilience is the one quality every leader, every team, every family needs. Because storms are coming. Setbacks are certain. The question isn’t if—they will. The question is whether you’ll crumble or climb.
In business, resilience keeps companies from folding when markets dip. In sports, it keeps teams fighting when the score is against them. In life, it keeps people standing when the weight of the world says fall.
The leaders people remember aren’t the ones who never fell. They’re the ones who refused to stay down.
