Turning Today’s Adversities into Tomorrow’s Successes

Posted on | June 10, 2009 |

Who doesn’t know a story of someone who came back from terrible adversity to build remarkable success? In America especially a mythos has grown up around such stories—the penniless immigrant makes millions within a few years, the orphan in the street goes on to become a captain of industry. Of course, most people who experience adversity can’t boast such dramatic outcomes, but after decades in business, we’ve encountered plenty of people who credited their experience in overcoming adversity as the very foundation of their success. How is it that some people are able to turn today’s adversities into tomorrow’s successes?

To find out, we studied over 200 top business leaders who built their success upon “the adversity paradox,” and we interviewed those with the most compelling stories. The results, which inspired and enlightened us, are found in The Adversity Paradox: An Unconventional Guide to Achieving Uncommon Business Success. In a nutshell, The Adversity Paradox illustrates how those who’ve built their success upon adversity addressed whatever obstacles they faced, figured out how to overcome them, and then used what they learned to create success. The book provides in-depth analysis of real stories from business leaders such as Peter Dawkins, Doris Christopher, John Pappajohn, Bill Doré, Lee Liu, Clay Jones, and others, and shows readers how they can benefit from the lessons our subjects learned, even if they haven’t experienced such extreme adversity themselves. So whether one is dealing with adversity right now or just wants to learn from those who have, we provide the answers of how everyone can leverage the adversity paradox to create success.

Because there’s no single type of adversity, we studied people with a wide array of experiences—the oft-heard story of the immigrant who arrives to America with nothing more than the shirt on his back, the people who grew up with humble beginnings, those who went through serious health challenges, those who faced the adversity of starting a business on very little capital and with limited business experience. Incredibly, we found that everyone who had successfully overcome adversity tended to enhance their individual human capital in the same five core ways: 1) they learned how to conduct honest and regular introspection 2) they came away with (or reinforced) a superior value system 3) they gained a robust work character 4) they found a passion-fueled purpose, and 5) they developed a lifelong thirst for knowledge. This is where even the rare readers who have yet to experience serious difficulties can learn from those who have and boost their human capital so as to positively impact their own success trajectories.

We do a lot of public speaking in connection with The Adversity Paradox, and we get a lot of great questions. We’d like to share some of the most popular ones here. As you can imagine, many of the questions center around the adversity that is affecting everyone in the world right now—the global economic recession.

1. What’s the relationship between adversity and the youngest generation in the workforce, the Millennials, who’ve been called “soft” by many employers?

Up until the recession hit, Millennials had been largely shielded from the hardships that previous generations experienced. They came of age in prosperous times. By and large Millennials enjoyed bigger houses, more cars, myriad technological advances, and increased access to education and travel. Certainly these are terrific advantages, but a distinct disadvantage of this lifestyle is that it hasn’t exposed Millennials to the kind of difficult circumstances that can build the character that facilitates success. The work environment is not nearly as forgiving as the home environment many Millennials enjoyed, and as the economic crisis has made abundantly apparent, there are no built-in safety nets. Millennials are now facing a tough road ahead, perhaps one their predecessors were better prepared for, as they deal with layoffs, difficulty finding jobs, or working for much less than they anticipated.

The news isn’t all bad for Millennials, however. On the contrary, we believe the economic crisis might be their making! If adversity truly provides a learning environment, and we’re convinced that it does, then the recession is a big positive. Adversity, if faced head on, has a way of bringing out extraordinary qualities and abilities in people they didn’t even know they had. And with this generation’s technological savvy, creativity, excellent education, and ease with the forces of globalization, Millennials possess an enormous amount of untapped potential. We hope that their banding together and getting through this crisis will be the very thing that unleashes that potential.

2. As a parent, should I create adversity for my children so they can learn how to get through difficult situations? Another way of asking this question is, “Is adversity required for success?”

Let us address these separately. First, we want to make it clear that we do not advocate the creation of adversity for kids. No one is faulting parents for conferring advantages on their children—it’s human nature to provide the best for one’s family. But although the environment many Millennials grew up in has changed for the better, the working world has not. It remains as full of competition, land mines, and tough breaks as it always has. As such, if we have any parenting advice to give, it’s to prepare your kids for the sometimes inhospitable work environment they’ll inevitably land in. Some day, your kids will have a problem with a co-worker, boss, or customer, and they’ll need to know how to deal with it on their own. The key for parents is finding the right balance of involvement. Say your kid has a conflict with a teacher or a coach. Don’t ignore the problem, as this is a great opportunity for instruction, but don’t swoop in and solve it, either. Teach your children how to take accountability, face a difficulty with optimism, and most importantly, start creating the habit of “and then some” that will be so valuable to them in the working world.

What’s “and then some”? It’s simply giving every task before you everything that’s expected “and then some.” It’s routinely meeting expectations and then going above and beyond. We found that those who overcame adversity learned very quickly to implement “and then some” to get through tough situations, and it became a lifelong habit that never left them.

As for whether adversity is required to be successful, the answer is no. Experiencing adversity is not a prerequisite for success. Our point rather is twofold: undergoing adversity has a way of forcing you to draw upon inner resources that would’ve otherwise lain dormant, and the experience of overcoming adversity provides a unique and extremely valuable opportunity to build your human capital. The fact is, everyone is going to experience adversity at some point in their lives. In that case, the best approach is to “befriend” adversity by not succumbing to negative consequences and instead gleaning every positive benefit you can from it. Faced with the right attitude, overcoming adversity provides an invaluable crucible of learning that can catapult you to levels of success you never dreamed of.

3. As a manager, how do I deal with employees who are struggling with today’s tough economic environment?

Again, there’s a silver lining to be found. There may never be a better time to do some really meaningful coaching and mentoring than right now. We found three critical ways successful people dealt with adversity. First, they displayed an incredible level of self-accountability. In coaching, you can help an employee reflect on a setback and take responsibility for any part they may have played in it, help them get past anything they were not responsible for, and help them identify what they will change going forward. The second is optimism, or having a positive attitude. Studies show that people who have a positive outlook are healthier, they do better academically, and they fare better on sports teams and in the work environment. Some studies even indicate they have healthier, more fulfilling relationships. As a manager, your job is to prevent your employees from entering the ugly world of self-pity, which is an absolute waste of time and energy, and helping them find optimism. The third is the aforementioned habit of “and then some.” Managers can coach employees on how to apply the power of “and then some” to individual tasks and eventually to the entire process of self-improvement. Successful people routinely go above and beyond, and employees who cultivate this simple but powerful principle are all but guaranteed to be successful.

J. Barry Griswell is retired CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Principal Financial Group®. Bob Jennings is President of Lean Management Inc., a consulting company focused on senior management methods and execution. You can read an excerpt from their book, The Adversity Paradox: An Unconventional Guide to Achieving Uncommon Business Success, at their web site.

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