FTMBA 2021_I Workshop Resilience in Disruptive Times

The fundamental objective of this workshop on Executive Resilience is to strengthen your capability as a leader to effectively deal with your inner world when faced with critical situations. Many executives rather try to be tough than resilient. Research shows that this is not a successful strategy in the long run. In simple terms, resilience is a combination of high degrees of self-awareness combined with good self-management. Both disciplines can be learned.

Concretely, in this workshop we will focus on the following key areas:

• How does resilience work?
• What influences your level of resilience?
• Which strategy can you apply to improve your level of resilience?
• How can resilience concepts inform your leadership behaviour?

In this workshop you will learn essential models in these domains and how to apply them in your daily life. Case work, reflection and peer consultation will play an important role to help you to reflect upon your own resilience setup and how to refine it further.

The basic assumption for this class is that a leader who can consciously choose between various coping strategies when faced which adversity, setbacks and uncertainty is more resourceful and hence effective than a leader who has no strategies at hand.

Leaders Talk

After the afternoon coffee break, there will be a “Leaders Talk” interview with a seasoned manager who will share with us some of the successes of his career but more importantly also some of the hardships and setbacks and how he dealt with them. There will also be ample opportunity to ask questions.

Schedule

09:00 – 15:00 Workshop in class

15:15 – 17:00 Leaders Talk

Most of the learning will occur while we are in the classroom together, so it is essential that you come prepared, attend the workshop and actively engage in discussions and group work. Your own business and life experience will matter as much as the input which is provided, so please feel invited to share your own experience.

Please use your electronic devices such as laptops, phones, and tablets for personal matters only during breaks, but not during class time.

To gain a deeper understanding of the materials we cover in class, you are invited to read the text book “The Rules of Success” in which I elaborate on the points covered in class.

Preparatory Work

Pre-workshop activity:

• Listen to the following podcast (accessible via all major podcast channels):
  Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders
  Jennifer Tejada “Resilience is Everything”
  https://ecorner.stanford.edu/videos/resilience-is-everything/
• What are some lessons that you can take away from Jennifer Tejada talk?

(Optional) Post-workshop reading:

• Drath, Karsten; The Rules of Success: How Managers Can Overcome Setbacks and Grow; Routledge; London; UK; 2018.