I had the pleasure the other day to talk with a newly retired Air Force Colonel who had spent 25 years in the military and had flown missions all around the world.

He was most excited, however, about his transition to civilian life and his new job with a large family owned company where he would be leading the charge to help the company transition from their “family owned mindset” to developing a more “corporate business mindset.”

He told me he went to meet with his new staff the other day and used his upfront and plain speaking approach to management. “This is what I do and this is how I like to work as a team,” he told his new colleagues. He assured them that while this project would be big it was doable and that there would be significant challenges to change the hearts and minds of long time employees.

We talked about this from a resilience point of view and I mentioned about my perspective of the importance of preparation in successfully addressing high stress events and he thought that his enthusiasm and can do attitude would probably make the biggest difference in getting and keeping everyone engaged, focused, and on point.

Excitement is contagious, especially when you have big changes you are facing. Getting ahead of the curve is a rarely recognized and unappreciated part of resilience but it helps insure success throughout your projects.

© Richard Citrin, All rights reserved, 2015