Mental Resilience Is Not Enough

It's quite incredible how the word "resilience" suddenly got so trendy at the beginning of the pandemic. Terms like mental health and wellbeing were also getting tons more coverage than before. Suddenly we were concerned about how people felt - about our emotions. Which is really interesting because the next phase of this transition we're going through will really put that to the test - and no technology will be able to help us because the whole point is to push beyond our current human capacities. And we have to do that consciously this time. We're not being pushed to this new level so we can get through any crisis in a better way. We're being pushed to this new level to make our lives better. But since we don't understand that we keep resisting this transition, and trying to hold onto the past. This new pledge is a good example.

Arianna's Mental Health Pledge

Thrive founder, Arianna Huffington, and SHRM's President and CEO, Johnny C. Taylor, have teamed up to create a Mental Health Pledge. I went to the page hoping to get a glimpse of something new being contributed that could actually be useful - but all I got was: "Because it’s in times like these that organizations most need to nurture their collective resilience." They're worried about losing all the "progress" achieved in mental health and wellbeing throughout the pandemic, but there isn't one word about how to tackle the future in a better way.

I'm not familiar with the SHRM group at all, but I've been writing on Arianna's platforms for the last decade, and have a great deal of respect for her. This is how she was quoted in the page they took out in the New York Times: "It's in challenging times that we most need to double down on our mental resilience," she said. "We deliberately included both Fortune 50 companies and high-growth startups, as hiring freezes and other cost-cutting measures are already happening across the board."

Focus on Human Development - Not Survival

So to my understanding, this huge pledge is really only about one thing - how to hold onto what we have. Not one word about how to carve out a better future for ourselves as a collective. Let's hang onto the lessons we got over the last two years, and that will get us through this crisis. Let's just survive. This is the wrong approach, because it doesn't take into account that we're headed into a new phase of this process, and the conditions will be different.

There are general forces operating on our world that we don't understand yet - that's what we have to learn about to not only become resilient - but to be able to have a positive impact on those forces.

What are the signs of the new phase? They're really big this time and are work related: Justin Bieber revealed he is suffering from a rare neurological disorder on Friday, which is why he's had to cancel his shows. Our poor star is asking for prayers because it's getting harder to eat. I've known people with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome - it can take years to get better. I know millions of people will be praying for him, so I hope and pray it will be over quickly. We all know what it feels like to be in a situation where you're thinking - why have I been singled out for this suffering? Why me? And yes, on the one hand it is for us to go through a personal lesson like Justin Bieber already understands. But there are general forces operating on our world that we don't understand yet - that's what we have to learn about to not only become resilient - but to be able to have a positive impact on those forces.

What's another type of work-related mental health issue? Being treated like a thing for someone else's pleasure rather than a human being. Even if you're not the actual person doing it, not stopping those predators is just as bad. We've seen this in so many situations over the last few years - everything from coaches, priests, politicians, and famous Hollywood figures taking advantage of their position for years, and no one stopping them. So we're all thrilled to see the Larry Nassar Survivors Filing Lawsuits Seeking $1 Billion From FBI for not doing their job to serve and protect.

And shame on us for not understanding yet how prevalent this is everywhere in our society.

Choose Collaboration

This morning I woke up to Daniel Roth's newsletter, where he mentioned how Terry Crews had tweeted about being groped by a Hollywood executive right in front of his wife, and felt powerless to do anything about it. Now if a huge '240 lbs. Black Man' as he calls himself is vulnerable to the whims of powerful people, try to imagine how many people are still going to be preyed upon at work no matter how "resilient" we become.

Resilience won't fix human nature. We're going to have to unpack that together without getting into the details of all our personal stories and traits. We're going to need to discuss these things in general, and get to the bottom of why they happened, and why they'll keep happening. And especially in the workplace where there are really powerful people who truly believe they're above other humans.

We're going to need to discuss these things in general, and get to the bottom of why they happened, and why they'll keep happening. And especially in the workplace where there are really powerful people who truly believe they're above other humans.

Competition is Killing Us

Another thing that is killing us in the workplace is the competition - whether consciously or not, we've been conditioned to be #1. All these awards handed out everywhere are not helping. That's why this is my favorite part of the Terry Crews interview where he's talking about competition in sports - and how the opposite is the key to success in business:

"“People think that the NFL players are coming together as a team, but a lot of times the competition is fierce with each other. It's really about beating the person that's next to you. .... When I look at this level of competition, I choose collaboration. We have to work together. And any business that works together and where people are actually supporting each other and supporting everyone's success, to me, that's the essence of what a real successful company is all about.” Terry Crews

Here is Daniel Roth's interview with Terry Crews -