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Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back
Discover a powerful new lens for viewing the world with fascinating implications for our companies, economies, societies, and planet as a whole.What causes one system to break down and another to rebound? Are we merely subject to the whim of forces beyond our control? Or, in the face of constant disruption, can we build better shock absorbers—for ourselves, our communities, our economies, and for the planet as a whole? Reporting firsthand from the coral reefs of Palau to the back streets of Palestine, Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy relate breakthrough scientific discoveries, pioneering social and ecological innovations, and important new approaches to constructing a more resilient world. Zolli and Healy show how this new concept of resilience is a powerful lens through which we can assess major issues from business planning to social development, from urban planning to national energy security—circumstances that affect us all. Provocative, optimistic, and eye-opening, Resilience sheds light on why some systems, people, and communities fall apart in the face of disruption and, ultimately, how they can learn to bounce back.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2012
126 people are currently reading
1961 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Zolli
5 books19 followersI think and work at the intersection of global innovation, social change and resilience.
I’m the Executive Director and Chief Creative Officer of PopTech.
We bring together a community of innovators from many different fields to share ideas and to work on new approaches to some of the world’s toughest problems. We identify and train some of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet, doing things you cannot believe humanity is up to. We get them to work together on truly world-changing projects, doing stuff nobody has ever tried before, in areas like public health, climate, and violence cessation. And once a year we bring them together at much-beloved gatherings on the coast of Maine. Together, we’re crafting a new, collaborative approach to discovery and social change. It’s a project I’m deeply passionate about.
In addition to this work, I’ve been honored to serve as a Fellow of the National Geographic Society, an organization I have loved since I was a child. I’ve also advised a wide array of leading companies, governmental organization, NGOs, and cultural and civil society groups.
I live in Brooklyn, NY with my family, who, every day, teach me a little more about love.
In my office is this poster, by the talented Joey Roth. I aspire to the third category.
I’m the Executive Director and Chief Creative Officer of PopTech.
We bring together a community of innovators from many different fields to share ideas and to work on new approaches to some of the world’s toughest problems. We identify and train some of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet, doing things you cannot believe humanity is up to. We get them to work together on truly world-changing projects, doing stuff nobody has ever tried before, in areas like public health, climate, and violence cessation. And once a year we bring them together at much-beloved gatherings on the coast of Maine. Together, we’re crafting a new, collaborative approach to discovery and social change. It’s a project I’m deeply passionate about.
In addition to this work, I’ve been honored to serve as a Fellow of the National Geographic Society, an organization I have loved since I was a child. I’ve also advised a wide array of leading companies, governmental organization, NGOs, and cultural and civil society groups.
I live in Brooklyn, NY with my family, who, every day, teach me a little more about love.
In my office is this poster, by the talented Joey Roth. I aspire to the third category.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
August 12, 2012
I was drawn to this book by an NPR review which couldn't stop gushing. Sadly, it certainly didn't live up to the review. Based on writing alone, I'd give this book 2 stars. However, the ideas are interesting and important enough that I boosted it up.
Basically, for a non-fiction book aimed at a popular audience, with a fiction writer credited as co-author to boot, this book is terrible. The ideas are difficult to follow because central concepts are referred to in jargon-y shorthand without adequate explanation. This opacity makes it practically impossible to figure out how to extend the ideas beyond the page. Yes, many real-life anecdotes are included, but these stories read as advertisements for humanitarian projects, only loosely and haphazardly connected to the idea of resilience. As an academic myself, I was also appalled by how often huge block quotes were used. To make matters worse, these quotes were rarely given context or interpretation by the authors. Most condemningly, quotes often stood without clear attribution.
That being said, I think the ideas in this book have had a huge subterranean impact on my thinking. I've noticed that I immediately began thinking about problems more holistically, rather than in isolation. The idea is so powerful that even Zolli and Healy's poor writing could not degrade it.
Basically, for a non-fiction book aimed at a popular audience, with a fiction writer credited as co-author to boot, this book is terrible. The ideas are difficult to follow because central concepts are referred to in jargon-y shorthand without adequate explanation. This opacity makes it practically impossible to figure out how to extend the ideas beyond the page. Yes, many real-life anecdotes are included, but these stories read as advertisements for humanitarian projects, only loosely and haphazardly connected to the idea of resilience. As an academic myself, I was also appalled by how often huge block quotes were used. To make matters worse, these quotes were rarely given context or interpretation by the authors. Most condemningly, quotes often stood without clear attribution.
That being said, I think the ideas in this book have had a huge subterranean impact on my thinking. I've noticed that I immediately began thinking about problems more holistically, rather than in isolation. The idea is so powerful that even Zolli and Healy's poor writing could not degrade it.
August 19, 2012
If the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell's runaway hit, said anything about the general public's reading habits, it's that social science can sell. Maybe it's just marketing buzz, but "Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back" has been compared to Gladwell's momentus novel, and I think it strikes a similar chord; albeit a very different topic.
The opening is really great. I like how Zolli describes systems adapting; how resilence can create fragility in other areas. Or the cycle of adapting. Or how feedback loops can regulate or augment the changes.
Another part I really liked is the examples chosen. Quite a few are going to be sceanrios in the public eye - for instance the BP oil spill, the 2008 crash, the Mumbai hotel terrorist catastrophe or the Ceasefire campaign to stop shootings in inner city Chicago.
The personal stories about resilence are impressive too, and he talks about the Richard Davidson studies on meditation or the Haiti crisis SMS emergency line, and it champions the idea that resilence is maybe overlooked because of how ordinary it is, or just how much we can take it for granted.
All and all, an enjoyable, fun read. The only drawback is that this topic is so broad, and I would have enjoyed more detailed case studies, instead of this broad swept of ideas. But this book knows what it is, and like a firecracker, it's got a lot of flares and given the right conditions could easily light a fire for you.
The opening is really great. I like how Zolli describes systems adapting; how resilence can create fragility in other areas. Or the cycle of adapting. Or how feedback loops can regulate or augment the changes.
Another part I really liked is the examples chosen. Quite a few are going to be sceanrios in the public eye - for instance the BP oil spill, the 2008 crash, the Mumbai hotel terrorist catastrophe or the Ceasefire campaign to stop shootings in inner city Chicago.
The personal stories about resilence are impressive too, and he talks about the Richard Davidson studies on meditation or the Haiti crisis SMS emergency line, and it champions the idea that resilence is maybe overlooked because of how ordinary it is, or just how much we can take it for granted.
All and all, an enjoyable, fun read. The only drawback is that this topic is so broad, and I would have enjoyed more detailed case studies, instead of this broad swept of ideas. But this book knows what it is, and like a firecracker, it's got a lot of flares and given the right conditions could easily light a fire for you.
December 25, 2013
Such a disappointing read. Random examples were just thrown in in hope of trying to tie them together with a common theme, but to no avail. Nevertheless, the first pages explaining the concept were still somewhat useful, but that benefit is probably negligible.
May 7, 2013
I gave up on this one. I had high hopes for simple explanations & foundations for the idea of resiliency. This was too intense, academic, and grounded in economics/environmental stuff for me to find the info about relationships & community that I was seeking. Maybe I threw in the towel too soon, but this one didn't hook me.
December 10, 2017
Author is on NYT and NPR
Resilience is defined as the ability of a system to maintain its core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances. It can be achieved either by improving the ability resist being pushed past thresholds and my expanding the range of situations the system can adapt to if pushed past certain thresholds. Core tools of resilience systems include feedback loops, dynamic reorganization, inbuilt counter mechanisms, decoupling, diversity, modularity, simplicity, swarming and clustering. Systems need to mitigate, adapt or transform but first you need to understand where fragilities in systems come from.
1\ resilient yet fragile systems are resilient to expected change but fragile when facing tail risk
Such systems usually have a tradeoff between being fragile and efficient vs. robust but inefficient
Paradoxically often the system to keep it in balance, or its purpose or method get hijacked and are turned into the source of fragility
Small variances get magnified by hijacking the
- beneficial aspects e.g. fin system deepening is considered a good thing but increased complexity meant risk was viewed with tunnel vision and hence magnified in aggregate
- compensatory mechanism e.g. to make sure the internet stayed up always, the distributed nature of servers meant the system would be resilient should hackers take over a few servers -- the auto distribution of pathways made it resilient but not if it was flooded with info i.e. DDoS
One solution is to have sleeper mechanism activated when a system is in trouble which requires constant monitoring and feedback
2\ Sensing, scaling swarming
Swarming example of terrorists in small clusters attack simultaneously
Scaling example is TB -- it goes dormant, it scales down in the host and insidious because it only kills some times and constantly searches for feedback in the host and strikes when the host is already impaired
Feedback is important and old structures can inhibit it e.g. power grids have old infra and IT systems and there's poor flow of info
You need better design which is
- Real time feedback
- Anticipatory
- In case of failure, breaks into modules to prevent cascade
And in case of organizations it means
- Feedback
- Better incentives
- Free flow of info
- Modular
- Distributed intelligence
3\ Clustering
Systems scale up sigmoidally i.e. bigger they get, more energy is required for each additional unit of growth
That's natural because consider animals, bigger they are, slower their heart rate
The implication is that there is a certain size a system can grow to before it becomes unsustainable, else you would have dinosaur size animals everywhere
So you either innovate or move to a new state e.g. of innovation is internet
How do you go to a new state? Clusters of diversity and density
The system needs to be adaptable and You need to expand the stakeholders for a holistic approach
The book then moves to various scales of systems viz the individual, group, society and also how leaders can amplify resilience
4\ Resilience is the character of belief systems that allow one to cognitively reappraise situations and regulate emotions
A hardy belief system is one that had following tenets:
- Belief that one can find a meaningful purpose in life
- That one can influence one's surrounding and environment and
- The belief that positive and negative experiences will lead to growth
Mindful meditation comes in here, kinds are
- Detachment and let go of emotion
- Focus receded and you're aware of senses or
- Loving kindness meditation which he focuses on, as t activates the empathy center
NB: refers to the fact that stress can affect telomere length which hampers their ability to replicate, hurting our longevity i.e. stress takes time off your life
5\ trust and cooperation
The GFC was because trust was eroded in counterparties causing markets to freeze and price discovery to fail
Oxytocin is interesting in that it increases the risk a person is willing to bear when dealing with strangers
Cooperation manifests in the prisoners dilemma where tit for tat wins
The issue that men are irrational and deviations occur
For instance, inequity aversion means you'll turn down free money if it's unequally benefiting the two parties or falling for wishful thinking being reality
One solution is to enlarge the tribe ref: Abraham Project of ME peace by focusing on the common Abrahamic thread running through all 3 intersecting religions
Have strong teams defined as a small diverse team of tight collaborators AND wherein each one has a diverse wide albeit weakly tied network
NB: in a fluid collaborative context especially knowledge based industries, what is also key is credit, and rewards
6\ cognitive diversity
RYF systems , especially societies have a tendency that with time, the mechanism to preserve it in stability erodes with time. For instance with seat belts becoming mandatory, riskiness increased i.e. the mechanism to make cars safer led to an externality and was hijacked
In companies there's a risk of homeostasis and rigid thinking . What you then need is clusters of red teams i.e. in war games both sides have their adversarial objective regardless of value judgement. So you need teams that can pick apart ideas because it's hard to critique your own work and with time herd mentality comes in.
7\ communities that bounce back
Function of their ability to sense and intervene and it cant be imposed from above, has to come from within
Also the change is a change in norms and practices (which can be achieved via positive reinforcement, social proof) and the system needs to contain the contagion before it spreads
8\ The translational leader
9\ Conclusion
The general framework toward greater resilience begins with continuous, inclusive and honest efforts to seek out fragilities, thresholds and feedback looks of a system. This requires greater mindfulness and an assessment without judgement of the world as it truly is.
Fragilities can emerge when a corporate culture migrates to an inappropriate level of risk tolerance, when governance wanes of there's a loss of cognitive diversity leading to group think
There is a mode of organization that can deal with disruption -- adhocracy ref Toffler with informal team roles, limited focus on standard operating procedures, deep improvisation, rapid cycles, selective decentralization and empowerment of specialist teams and an intolerance of bureaucracy. This mode is modular and plug and play
Adhocracies thrive on data and often employ red team mentality
Ultimately, resilience must continuously be refreshed and recommitted to, every effort at resilience buys us not certainty, but another day and another chance. Every day is Day One
What I really enjoyed about the book was the disparate examples from multiple fields which were then abstracted to form the core arguments
Resilience is defined as the ability of a system to maintain its core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances. It can be achieved either by improving the ability resist being pushed past thresholds and my expanding the range of situations the system can adapt to if pushed past certain thresholds. Core tools of resilience systems include feedback loops, dynamic reorganization, inbuilt counter mechanisms, decoupling, diversity, modularity, simplicity, swarming and clustering. Systems need to mitigate, adapt or transform but first you need to understand where fragilities in systems come from.
1\ resilient yet fragile systems are resilient to expected change but fragile when facing tail risk
Such systems usually have a tradeoff between being fragile and efficient vs. robust but inefficient
Paradoxically often the system to keep it in balance, or its purpose or method get hijacked and are turned into the source of fragility
Small variances get magnified by hijacking the
- beneficial aspects e.g. fin system deepening is considered a good thing but increased complexity meant risk was viewed with tunnel vision and hence magnified in aggregate
- compensatory mechanism e.g. to make sure the internet stayed up always, the distributed nature of servers meant the system would be resilient should hackers take over a few servers -- the auto distribution of pathways made it resilient but not if it was flooded with info i.e. DDoS
One solution is to have sleeper mechanism activated when a system is in trouble which requires constant monitoring and feedback
2\ Sensing, scaling swarming
Swarming example of terrorists in small clusters attack simultaneously
Scaling example is TB -- it goes dormant, it scales down in the host and insidious because it only kills some times and constantly searches for feedback in the host and strikes when the host is already impaired
Feedback is important and old structures can inhibit it e.g. power grids have old infra and IT systems and there's poor flow of info
You need better design which is
- Real time feedback
- Anticipatory
- In case of failure, breaks into modules to prevent cascade
And in case of organizations it means
- Feedback
- Better incentives
- Free flow of info
- Modular
- Distributed intelligence
3\ Clustering
Systems scale up sigmoidally i.e. bigger they get, more energy is required for each additional unit of growth
That's natural because consider animals, bigger they are, slower their heart rate
The implication is that there is a certain size a system can grow to before it becomes unsustainable, else you would have dinosaur size animals everywhere
So you either innovate or move to a new state e.g. of innovation is internet
How do you go to a new state? Clusters of diversity and density
The system needs to be adaptable and You need to expand the stakeholders for a holistic approach
The book then moves to various scales of systems viz the individual, group, society and also how leaders can amplify resilience
4\ Resilience is the character of belief systems that allow one to cognitively reappraise situations and regulate emotions
A hardy belief system is one that had following tenets:
- Belief that one can find a meaningful purpose in life
- That one can influence one's surrounding and environment and
- The belief that positive and negative experiences will lead to growth
Mindful meditation comes in here, kinds are
- Detachment and let go of emotion
- Focus receded and you're aware of senses or
- Loving kindness meditation which he focuses on, as t activates the empathy center
NB: refers to the fact that stress can affect telomere length which hampers their ability to replicate, hurting our longevity i.e. stress takes time off your life
5\ trust and cooperation
The GFC was because trust was eroded in counterparties causing markets to freeze and price discovery to fail
Oxytocin is interesting in that it increases the risk a person is willing to bear when dealing with strangers
Cooperation manifests in the prisoners dilemma where tit for tat wins
The issue that men are irrational and deviations occur
For instance, inequity aversion means you'll turn down free money if it's unequally benefiting the two parties or falling for wishful thinking being reality
One solution is to enlarge the tribe ref: Abraham Project of ME peace by focusing on the common Abrahamic thread running through all 3 intersecting religions
Have strong teams defined as a small diverse team of tight collaborators AND wherein each one has a diverse wide albeit weakly tied network
NB: in a fluid collaborative context especially knowledge based industries, what is also key is credit, and rewards
6\ cognitive diversity
RYF systems , especially societies have a tendency that with time, the mechanism to preserve it in stability erodes with time. For instance with seat belts becoming mandatory, riskiness increased i.e. the mechanism to make cars safer led to an externality and was hijacked
In companies there's a risk of homeostasis and rigid thinking . What you then need is clusters of red teams i.e. in war games both sides have their adversarial objective regardless of value judgement. So you need teams that can pick apart ideas because it's hard to critique your own work and with time herd mentality comes in.
7\ communities that bounce back
Function of their ability to sense and intervene and it cant be imposed from above, has to come from within
Also the change is a change in norms and practices (which can be achieved via positive reinforcement, social proof) and the system needs to contain the contagion before it spreads
8\ The translational leader
9\ Conclusion
The general framework toward greater resilience begins with continuous, inclusive and honest efforts to seek out fragilities, thresholds and feedback looks of a system. This requires greater mindfulness and an assessment without judgement of the world as it truly is.
Fragilities can emerge when a corporate culture migrates to an inappropriate level of risk tolerance, when governance wanes of there's a loss of cognitive diversity leading to group think
There is a mode of organization that can deal with disruption -- adhocracy ref Toffler with informal team roles, limited focus on standard operating procedures, deep improvisation, rapid cycles, selective decentralization and empowerment of specialist teams and an intolerance of bureaucracy. This mode is modular and plug and play
Adhocracies thrive on data and often employ red team mentality
Ultimately, resilience must continuously be refreshed and recommitted to, every effort at resilience buys us not certainty, but another day and another chance. Every day is Day One
What I really enjoyed about the book was the disparate examples from multiple fields which were then abstracted to form the core arguments
October 5, 2017
One of the most important books that I've read this year. I found myself taking notes and rethinking my approach to sustainable development - perhaps it is more useful to use a resilience framework to understand sustainability than the sustainable development model itself. I can see how a system, if it has the patterns of resilience, would be able to mitigate and adapt to the risks of climate change for instance.
The storytelling is compelling, as the authors take us through dramatic cases such as the inability of Wall Street head honchos to cooperate, or the remarkable success of Palauan marine conservation, or the sad case of mass arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh because of polluted groundwater and the ineffective measures taken by the government and foreign aid agencies. The chapter on trust and cooperation is intriguing. The part on resilient minds also got me thinking a lot about how to build one.
I highly recommend this book. One of the key takeaways, out of many - is that regular failures are important for resilience, so that the system is able to release and reorganise resources to adapt - a long period of stability may actually be a point of fragility as the system becomes more and more stagnant and brittle, snapping when crises happen. Perfection is therefore an illusion.
The storytelling is compelling, as the authors take us through dramatic cases such as the inability of Wall Street head honchos to cooperate, or the remarkable success of Palauan marine conservation, or the sad case of mass arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh because of polluted groundwater and the ineffective measures taken by the government and foreign aid agencies. The chapter on trust and cooperation is intriguing. The part on resilient minds also got me thinking a lot about how to build one.
I highly recommend this book. One of the key takeaways, out of many - is that regular failures are important for resilience, so that the system is able to release and reorganise resources to adapt - a long period of stability may actually be a point of fragility as the system becomes more and more stagnant and brittle, snapping when crises happen. Perfection is therefore an illusion.
"A seemingly perfect system is often the most fragile, while a dynamic system, subject to occasional failure, can be the most robust. Resilience is, like life itself, messy, imperfect, and inefficient. But it survives."
February 26, 2017
An unassuming gem of a read. Was put off by some negative reviews but glad I persisted.
Found it filled with interesting ideas but also very readable.
Having said that, the concept of imbuing a system, community, environment with greater resilience seems an improvisational affair, filled with ad hoc arrangements, idiosyncratic individual leaders, transient opportunities and meetings of like minded people. To what extent is the book creating accounts of resilience that are simply summations of what turns out to be obvious in hindsight?
Some nuggets of knowledge, for my own notes.
- Orangutans are doomed - An insatiable global appetite for monocultural palm oil will swallow everything before it
- Foreign aid/assistance needs to go beyond engineering/logistics issues and engage with cultural norms (Bangladeshi arsenic poisoning), and wider ecological objectives can be achieved by sharing incentives across community, government, locals and tourists (Palau coral reefs)
- Networks of autonomous distributed intelligence, rather than centralised authority, are super for mapping a humanitarian crisis (Haiti), dealing with urban gun crime (Chicago) or carrying out acts of terrorism (Mumbai and others).
Found it filled with interesting ideas but also very readable.
Having said that, the concept of imbuing a system, community, environment with greater resilience seems an improvisational affair, filled with ad hoc arrangements, idiosyncratic individual leaders, transient opportunities and meetings of like minded people. To what extent is the book creating accounts of resilience that are simply summations of what turns out to be obvious in hindsight?
Some nuggets of knowledge, for my own notes.
- Orangutans are doomed - An insatiable global appetite for monocultural palm oil will swallow everything before it
- Foreign aid/assistance needs to go beyond engineering/logistics issues and engage with cultural norms (Bangladeshi arsenic poisoning), and wider ecological objectives can be achieved by sharing incentives across community, government, locals and tourists (Palau coral reefs)
- Networks of autonomous distributed intelligence, rather than centralised authority, are super for mapping a humanitarian crisis (Haiti), dealing with urban gun crime (Chicago) or carrying out acts of terrorism (Mumbai and others).
November 19, 2013
The book should be renamed "Resilience—Why Capitalism Bounces Back."
In the concluding chapter Zolli mentions the concept of "adhocracy" which he takes from futurists Toffler and Mintzberg. The main theme here is "decentralisation" (sic) ie liberal small government mentality. Toffler and Mintzberg's concept was applied to the global capitalist market, with the thought that the financial systems should be self-regulating and not governed by government or external authorities. It is recognised today that this reluctance to have any form of regulation in the capitalist market was one of the things that lead straight to the GFC.
In short, the book was written to plead the case that the GFC should not be used as a reason for external/government regulation of the capitalist system because the financial markets should be maintained as a self-regulatory system ("ecosystem") devoid of external meddling ("regulation"). In reality, the concept that the financial system could be made self-regulatory in such a way as to render it crash proof was the very thing that engendered the GFC. However, in "Resilience," capitalism proves resilient in arguing that the GFC is actually a reason to reduce external financial market regulation. Meddling with (ie regulating) the financial ecosystem is supposedly "unnatural" and a danger to the self-regulatory Natural Order. Hug a tree, hug a capitalist.
All of the ecology analogies, the crapping on about Buddhist meditation, reduction of gun-related violence without recourse to government gun-laws/regulations are a way of trying to make capitalism look like a cool New Age/liberal concept. This is nothing new. After all the Nazis called themselves National "Socialists" and adopted a Hindu-Buddhist symbol in the form of the Swastika and called themselves "revolutionaries".
In the concluding chapter Zolli mentions the concept of "adhocracy" which he takes from futurists Toffler and Mintzberg. The main theme here is "decentralisation" (sic) ie liberal small government mentality. Toffler and Mintzberg's concept was applied to the global capitalist market, with the thought that the financial systems should be self-regulating and not governed by government or external authorities. It is recognised today that this reluctance to have any form of regulation in the capitalist market was one of the things that lead straight to the GFC.
In short, the book was written to plead the case that the GFC should not be used as a reason for external/government regulation of the capitalist system because the financial markets should be maintained as a self-regulatory system ("ecosystem") devoid of external meddling ("regulation"). In reality, the concept that the financial system could be made self-regulatory in such a way as to render it crash proof was the very thing that engendered the GFC. However, in "Resilience," capitalism proves resilient in arguing that the GFC is actually a reason to reduce external financial market regulation. Meddling with (ie regulating) the financial ecosystem is supposedly "unnatural" and a danger to the self-regulatory Natural Order. Hug a tree, hug a capitalist.
All of the ecology analogies, the crapping on about Buddhist meditation, reduction of gun-related violence without recourse to government gun-laws/regulations are a way of trying to make capitalism look like a cool New Age/liberal concept. This is nothing new. After all the Nazis called themselves National "Socialists" and adopted a Hindu-Buddhist symbol in the form of the Swastika and called themselves "revolutionaries".
May 10, 2013
This book's fundamental question is: What makes some individuals, groups, organizations, or governments resilient to the ever-changing and frequently disruptive environment we live in on this planet?
The follow-up question: Are there common characteristics of resiliency that we can identify and apply to help us better adapt to the inevitable, persistent changes? The answers seem to be there are common characteristics, but adopting a form or pattern using these characteristics is nearly impossible because every situation is so unique. One thing we can do is not use destructive practices ourselves.
Most of the common characteristic of resiliency are the opposite of beloved tenets held by business schools, large business organizations, and especially governments. As unpleasant as disruptions, setbacks, and failures are, they play an indispensable role in developing resilience. How else do we learn to deal with them? Modest, even regular, disruptions shape our attitudes and mindset toward more resilient ways of living. Bureaucracies, on the other hand, strive to eliminate disruptions and maintain the status quo.
Positive resilience attributes include decentralization, imagination, improvisation, cooperation among unaffiliated groups, a diversity of contributors, no formal standard operating procedures, informal teams, specialist teams—allowed to do what they do best, limited bureaucratic structuring, and open sharing of information. In environments where adaptation is essential, leadership is based on trust, influence, and coordination among contributors rather than on command and control.
The follow-up question: Are there common characteristics of resiliency that we can identify and apply to help us better adapt to the inevitable, persistent changes? The answers seem to be there are common characteristics, but adopting a form or pattern using these characteristics is nearly impossible because every situation is so unique. One thing we can do is not use destructive practices ourselves.
Most of the common characteristic of resiliency are the opposite of beloved tenets held by business schools, large business organizations, and especially governments. As unpleasant as disruptions, setbacks, and failures are, they play an indispensable role in developing resilience. How else do we learn to deal with them? Modest, even regular, disruptions shape our attitudes and mindset toward more resilient ways of living. Bureaucracies, on the other hand, strive to eliminate disruptions and maintain the status quo.
Positive resilience attributes include decentralization, imagination, improvisation, cooperation among unaffiliated groups, a diversity of contributors, no formal standard operating procedures, informal teams, specialist teams—allowed to do what they do best, limited bureaucratic structuring, and open sharing of information. In environments where adaptation is essential, leadership is based on trust, influence, and coordination among contributors rather than on command and control.
February 15, 2016
As I read this, I put it in the context of my own field of interest: protecting and restoring water resources. I won’t try to summarize the pile of ideas I collected and need to work on applying and discussing with others. I’ll just offer one of the overarching -- and uncomfortable-- concepts: resilience is a dynamic state. It is not a state we can study, define, build, and then manage. It integrates both central and dispersed control, so it requires being comfortable with a permanently shifting environment and shifting control. Contrast this to the approach of “sustainability” which aims to support and build a robust and integrated stasis.
One issue the authors barely address is how to define the system that should be made more resilient. They point out the importance of simultaneously working in multiple domains and at multiple scales, but it is not clear to me where to begin framing the issues. The examples they offer are built around networks (the internet, ISIS), or around clearly defined problems (managing fish populations near an island community, reducing gun violence in a Chicago neighborhood, providing safe (arsenic-free) water across Bangladesh, effective emergency response to the Haitian earthquake).
What does that suggest for framing water resource issues? Start with a problem that is widely grasped. Then define the fragilities, thresholds, and feedback loops that are the leverage points we can address.
I highly recommend this book for providing significant ideas. I really need to discuss it with colleagues to make use of it.
One issue the authors barely address is how to define the system that should be made more resilient. They point out the importance of simultaneously working in multiple domains and at multiple scales, but it is not clear to me where to begin framing the issues. The examples they offer are built around networks (the internet, ISIS), or around clearly defined problems (managing fish populations near an island community, reducing gun violence in a Chicago neighborhood, providing safe (arsenic-free) water across Bangladesh, effective emergency response to the Haitian earthquake).
What does that suggest for framing water resource issues? Start with a problem that is widely grasped. Then define the fragilities, thresholds, and feedback loops that are the leverage points we can address.
I highly recommend this book for providing significant ideas. I really need to discuss it with colleagues to make use of it.
August 21, 2012
At the heart of this book is a simple message: it's possible for us as individuals, organisations and communities to become more resilient.
Resiliency is defined as: "the capacity of a system, enterprise, or a person to maintain its core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances."
It's highly readable, and will teach you many new terms as it draws examples from a range of fields, from the reasons for the Global Financial Crisis to fishing on the Mirconesian Island of Palau.
I recommend it as required reading for anyone in leadership.
Resiliency is defined as: "the capacity of a system, enterprise, or a person to maintain its core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances."
It's highly readable, and will teach you many new terms as it draws examples from a range of fields, from the reasons for the Global Financial Crisis to fishing on the Mirconesian Island of Palau.
I recommend it as required reading for anyone in leadership.
February 25, 2015
The first half of this is excellent and fascinating. In the second half, he seems to lose the thread a bit and goes off on some very long tangents that only seem a little related to resilience. He manages to tie it all together pretty well at the end, but it still seems like it could have been more focused. Still, the first part and the overall message are good enough for 4 stars. Definitely worth reading.
May 30, 2015
I liked Zolli's research, and appreciated the wide-ranging assessment of resilience. In effect, however, the book ranges so wide that it misses a focused realization of resilience. At the end of the book, I'm thinking, "So resilience is...everything — from South Pacific guppies to G7 summits." The mile-wide interpretation and alleged manifestations of resilience make it seem almost farcical. With a bit more focus and some stylistic polish, the book could have scored with greater effect.
October 15, 2012
Disappointing read. Anecdotes and popular knowledge woven together in search of an overarching theory, but mostly degenerating into tired truisms.
May 9, 2013
This is a must read for everyone. Very comprehensive and well written. I couldn't put it down.
January 19, 2016
The author tried so hard to give varying examples from nature, from the business world, and in particular human lives that it became fairly difficult to define resilience in meaningful terms.
January 13, 2026
Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back offers a compelling and deeply hopeful framework for understanding how systems natural, social, economic, and human survive disruption and adapt to change. Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy move beyond the simplistic idea of “strength” and instead show that resilience is about flexibility, feedback, and the capacity to recover and transform.
What makes this book especially powerful is its blend of rigorous research and vivid storytelling. From coral reefs to conflict zones, the authors ground abstract concepts in real-world examples that illuminate why some systems collapse while others rebound. These case studies make resilience feel tangible and urgently relevant, rather than theoretical.
The book challenges readers to rethink how we plan, govern, and respond to uncertainty. Whether applied to business strategy, urban design, environmental stewardship, or personal decision-making, the lens of resilience encourages long term thinking and humility in the face of complexity.
Provocative without being alarmist and optimistic without being naïve, Resilience is an eye-opening read for anyone interested in how we can build societies and systems better equipped for an unpredictable future. It’s a book that changes how you see the world and how you imagine its possibilities.
Stephanie Meyer
stephmeyerwrites@gmail.com
What makes this book especially powerful is its blend of rigorous research and vivid storytelling. From coral reefs to conflict zones, the authors ground abstract concepts in real-world examples that illuminate why some systems collapse while others rebound. These case studies make resilience feel tangible and urgently relevant, rather than theoretical.
The book challenges readers to rethink how we plan, govern, and respond to uncertainty. Whether applied to business strategy, urban design, environmental stewardship, or personal decision-making, the lens of resilience encourages long term thinking and humility in the face of complexity.
Provocative without being alarmist and optimistic without being naïve, Resilience is an eye-opening read for anyone interested in how we can build societies and systems better equipped for an unpredictable future. It’s a book that changes how you see the world and how you imagine its possibilities.
Stephanie Meyer
stephmeyerwrites@gmail.com
July 12, 2019
Fascinating insights on the confluence of factors, such as leadership style, acquiring the right resources at the right time, for a limited time, relationship building, resource protection, amongst others, that result in a system that is not simply robust, but resilient. The author makes the distinction early on between robustness and resilience, i.e. how we often only fortify systems against known threats (robust-yet-fragile), versus real-life examples of people going a few steps further to systematically reduce the fragility of an otherwise robust system. There are examples in national conservation, disaster relief and crisis management. It is a real eye-opener because the concepts do not only apply to the examples in the book, but stimulates one to consider one's own life and work, and make changes to ensure that the next unexpected negative occurrence is not catastrophic.
February 23, 2017
What a fantastic book. System resilience is a relatively new field of study. From reading this book, it is clear that it's both a real science and of great importance to us. I found the arguments made by the author to be quite compelling. In an interesting way, the book's findings make great sense within the context of prior work on the complex system on everyone's mind today: the stock market. The Black Swan theory by Nassim Taleb and George Soros' Market Reflexibity concept describe how the market will fail despite all attempts to make it robust. Thanks to this book, I now know that this is because systems that are made robust become brittle. The internet and large metropolitan areas follow similar patterns. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in complex systems.
December 22, 2022
Salah satu buku favoritku dari Andrew Zolli & Ann Marie Healy, yang kalo dipikir-pikir cukup relate untuk kondisi saat ini (atau mungkin seterusnya).
Kondisi di mana diperlukan kapasitas "adaptif" dan pola pikir yang "tangguh" untuk "bertahan". Mampu menyesuaikan diri atau beradaptasi secara cepat dengan segala perubahan yang "mendadak" dan tak terduga adalah kunci.
Memiliki pola pikir tangguh berarti berani mengambil "resiko". Hal ini akan menjadikan kita pribadi yang lebih kuat, dan lebih siap menghapi masa depan yang tidak pasti.
Tidak ada garis finish untuk perubahan, dan tidak ada "resep tunggal" untuk setiap keadaan. Jadi ... bersiap untuk menghadapi setiap kejutan yang akan terjadi di depan adalah keharusan.
Nice book to read, gaez!
Kondisi di mana diperlukan kapasitas "adaptif" dan pola pikir yang "tangguh" untuk "bertahan". Mampu menyesuaikan diri atau beradaptasi secara cepat dengan segala perubahan yang "mendadak" dan tak terduga adalah kunci.
Memiliki pola pikir tangguh berarti berani mengambil "resiko". Hal ini akan menjadikan kita pribadi yang lebih kuat, dan lebih siap menghapi masa depan yang tidak pasti.
Tidak ada garis finish untuk perubahan, dan tidak ada "resep tunggal" untuk setiap keadaan. Jadi ... bersiap untuk menghadapi setiap kejutan yang akan terjadi di depan adalah keharusan.
Nice book to read, gaez!
April 4, 2018
This is the sort of book that I would have loved to have when I first started learning about various ideas around resilience and systems thinking and complex adaptive systems and mindfulness and communities and leadership. As the length of that list implies, this book was a broad and shallow introduction to a wide variety of topics that can all be categorized under resilience. This breadth was useful in showing connections between different topics. It was challenging because it felt like the topic changed just as the previous topic really started to get interesting. People who are newer to these topics and just want an overview will likely enjoy it.
January 24, 2019
I enjoyed the first half of the book, though I started to get reader fatigue from the endless examples and case studies... some of them more interesting than others, too much detail, for instance, about the 2008 financial crisis that we all are more or less familiar with -- would have liked more analysis and discussion and how to apply these principles rather than stringing case studies together... I'll admit to skimming the last third, but overall, I feel prepped to do some more reading on this topic.
October 12, 2020
The authors did a wonderful job drawing together wide and varied examples to produce important lessons for understanding resilience. At times the examples were perhaps too long before they made their point, but this probably reflects my own biases and interests. Don't read this book if you are looking for a roadmap or a checklist for resilience; read this book if you want to understand the factors that contribute to resilience in different contexts.
November 29, 2020
This book wanted to be a Gladwell-style stroll through examples of resilience but it lacks the finish and anecdotal stories that make those types of books memorable. The authors can go down some rabbit holes with detail that lost my interest. I still found a plenty to take note of but there’s still room for improvement. With a topic like resilience, updated examples could make this a worthy series.
August 24, 2019
I mostly focused on the chapter related to resilience at the individual level. Otherwise, this book provided insights and useful tips on resilience of individuals, communities, within the context of ecology as well as within corporate settings.
September 16, 2022
This is a must read for anybody who is alive on the planet. It covers a lot of ground and can be rather dense, so I would suggest reading it slowly and possibly taking notes. It feels like a one hope to survive.
January 14, 2018
A well-researched look at why systems, nations, businesses and people bounce back from the unexpected - or not. Very thought-provoking.
October 28, 2018
Great book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2019
I enjoyed the approach to resilience in the book. It is applied to nature, social systems, economics, and even terrorism. Many take aways related to building systems.
September 23, 2019
This had some moderately interesting content.
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