Resilience That Works: Eight Practices for Leadership and Life

"A practical guide for gaining and maintaining strength through the trials and tribulations of leading and living."

Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

"Fortunately, there is more than one road to resilience. This clearly-written guide maps out how any worker at any level can be happier and healthier in the office and beyond."

Meg Jay, author of Supernormal: The Secret World of the Family Hero

"Resilience That Works quashes the belief that working harder is the best way to address the challenges of the day. Instead, it presents eight effective practices you can implement immediately."

Elaine Biech, CPTD Fellow and author of Skills for Career Success

"If you want to learn what resilience is, this book is a must read. If you want to learn practices to be more resilient, this book is a must-do."

Clemson G. Turregano, Leadership Professor of Practice, The Citadel

"Ruderman, Clerkin, and Fernandez reinforced previous leadership lessons, gave language to things I intuitively felt, and gave me additional practices to activate and integrate into how I lead for impact."

Karen McNeil-Miller, President and CEO, The Colorado Health Foundation

As a leader, it's easy to push yourself to the brink of exhaustion. Responding to challenges with brute force may be effective for a brief time, but this approach eventually wears you down and compromises your ability to function. Drawing on scientific research and practical experience at the Center for Creative Leadership, Resilience That Works: Eight Practices for Leadership and Life offers an alternative-a portfolio of eight resilience practices to keep you healthy, focused, and functioning effectively long before crisis arises. Filled with concrete and actionable advice, Resilience That Works guides you through personalized strategies for developing lasting resilience.

Marian N. Ruderman is an organizational psychologist and expert in leadership and learning. Currently an Honorary Senior Fellow of the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), Marian worked at CCL for over 35 years in a variety of research and leadership roles. She has published numerous articles on leadership development in the top journals in the field, edited two books, and authored Standing at the Crossroads: Next Steps for High-Achieving Women. A Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and the American Psychological Association (APA), Marian has a doctorate in psychology from the University of Michigan.

Cathleen Clerkin is a scientific researcher with a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan (UM), Ann Arbor. She is passionate about conducting, translating, and leveraging research to turn ideas and data into action and impact. Her research interests include resilience; equity, diversity, and inclusion; creativity and innovation; and leadership development. Her research has been published broadly in both academic and popular press venues and she has won multiple awards and honors for her work. Cathleen is currently the senior director of research at Candid. Before joining Candid in 2020, she managed the research group at the Center for Creative Leadership.

Katya Fernandez is a scientific researcher with a Ph.D. in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. She is interested in the application of diverse methods to obtain novel, impactful insights in a variety of contexts. She is passionate about topics such as emotions and emotion regulation processes. Currently, Katya is a UX Researcher at Meta. Before joining Meta, she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Scientist at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) from 2017 to 2021, where she explored (a) the role of emotion regulation in the relations between cognitive distortions and important workplace outcomes in leaders and (b) how to effectively cultivate resilience in the context of leadership.