Reset for Resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic made evident the need to build resilience at various levels of the society (nations, businesses, individuals). Therefore, the book anticipates a post COVID period marked by intense change when many of the current paradigms will be challenged as society develops, debates and agrees on new societal contracts.


The book refers to this upcoming environment as the “never normal world”, when organizations will navigate through a reset turbulence period, which is expected to last two decades or so. Then, the book defends the idea that organizations need to “reset for resilience” to face the upcoming changes (survive), and to seize the opportunities (thrive) arising from these changes.


The book recommends organizations to proactively become Resilient Enterprises by applying the Agile People-Centric Framework discussed in the book. Such an approach is holistic, people-oriented and it helps organizations to achieve a state of resilience across three domains of a Resilient Enterprise, as follows:


• Resilient Business Model (Business Model Domain)

• Resilient Operating Model (Operating Model Domain)

• Resilient Culture, Leadership, Governance and Financial Resilience (Foundation Domain)


The book presents in detail the attributes of a resilient enterprise in each of the mentioned domains. Also, the book offers principles that leadership teams can review and debate, as they consider embarking on their journeys to become Resilient Enterprises.


The book conveys the idea that the pursuit of resilience is a journey and resilience itself is not a binary proposition. There are many states of resilience in the “resilience continuum.” In alignment with the industry, strategic groups and geographies where the organization competes, as well as its strategy, the level of adoption of the principles espoused in the book are within the control or influence of the management team. As such, management can define a target state of resilience that is appropriate under the strategic scenarios the organization has adopted and to adjust such a target as circumstances change. For that purpose, the book introduces some tools, including the Enterprise Resilience Index (ERI).


The book also discusses the imperative to develop resilient employees and leaders, customers, communities, the planet and other stakeholders. The authors formulate a call to action to business leaders and articulate a variety of areas they can work on to develop resilience, both at the organization itself but also in the environment where the organization serves and operates in.


The authors sincerely hope that – as a society and with all its actors – we will not waste this crisis. The book expresses the confidence that the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects have created and will continue to expand enough momentum for reflection, insights…and very importantly, action.