Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community Manager

 

I was very interested in Managing Director, Paul Woodward’s comments on resilience in the June 12th edition of UFI news

 

Click to access 123-UI_-L1-1032-L2-1032-14001.pdf

 

Resilience is a trait I have been interested in since I have come to learn that it is not necessarily something we are born with but that we develop. I agree with Paul’s observation that our industry is a great example of resilience at its best.

 

The dictionary defines resilience as “the ability to be able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.” And we all know that in the exhibition industry a difficult situation is an understatement. Throughout its thousand years of history, the exhibition industry has faced everything from war to volcanoes to disease. To us resilience is second nature.

 

When considering the impact of culture, history, community values, and geography, the act of being resilient changes. Yet, the important thing is to understand that resilience is best understood as a process. Diane Coutu, a senior editor at the Harvard Business Review, in her 2002 article, “How Resilience Works,” identifies three characteristics of resilience: See the world as it really is, find meaning, and be ingenious – all three are synonymous with the leaders of our industry.

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said it best in his often quoted line, “That which does not kill me, strengthens me.”