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Audacious resilience in action …

What society calls trauma, science calls leadership training. Drawing from her own remarkable journey of transformation, Harvard-educated business leader, public speaker, and acclaimed author Corinne Cavanaugh, helps people unleash their inner audacity by turning life’s transitions into catalysts for extraordinary achievement. In her content on resilience she reveals how the challenges people face are a professional advantage.

Have you ever wondered where all the exceptionally responsible people have gone?

Why are people on your team making excuses, missing deadlines without missing sleep, and being generally laissez-faire about the responsibilities you entrusted them with? They may be lacking resilience and you may be hiring the wrong people.

Up until recently, for my entire 20+ year career, I’ve been hiding myself. It’s not that I wasn’t dedicating myself to my work or goals, it’s that I was hiding my past. I didn’t want my employees, colleagues, or clients to know about my childhood trauma because I didn’t want to be seen as damaged goods. I was afraid of people finding out what I had been through, and then … something switched. A game-changing question entered my mind: what if all that I endured made me stronger? It certainly felt that way. I felt wired differently, so I started researching correlations between resilience and business leadership. What I discovered was that developing resilience is powerful, and overcoming trauma is like leadership training on steroids.

“Trauma integration enables leaders to develop heightened empathy and emotional intelligence as they better understand their pain and struggle.” (Entrepreneur, 2023) 

How to spot trauma

The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event… Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical.” Anyone who has had something life-altering in their childhood or adulthood likely experienced trauma. There are many things we think of like domestic violence or childhood neglect, but divorce or having a loved one die can also be traumas. Often memory loss is involved as your body tries to forget or ignore the incident as a defense mechanism. That’s what happened to me for several events in my childhood. Only 20 years later, when I was completely safe, did I really start to dig around and unpack traumatic events from my past to get to the heart of what makes me me.

How can business leaders apply this knowledge?

Although it may seem counterintuitive, managers should seek out people who have had trauma in their lives to be on their team because they have developed resilience, specifically: superior social awareness and emotional intelligence. There’s this assumption that if someone has gone through something terrible, they may be more trouble then they are worth, but the opposite is true. People who have had trauma in their lives make the best leaders, not the worst. They are experts at emotionally regulating and being resilient when when the chips are down or something goes wrong. They bounce back stronger because they have experience bouncing back stronger – likely from much more emotionally difficult things.

 
“Emotional regulation: Research indicates that teams with strong emotional regulation skills are more resilient in the face of adversity.” (Gleeson, 2024 | Forbes, 2024)

How can you spot these leaders? “they grew up early”

Now that you are considering the benefits of having these people on your team, you might be wondering how you can best spot them without a complete invasion of privacy or HR violation.

My mom went into a mental institution when I was nine and my safe routine was utterly uprooted. At that young age, I realized that I was entirely responsible for my well-being. I was an island of one. My primary adult could not be depended on to be there every day. I “grew up early,” one of several tell-tale phrases of hyper responsibility – phrases I have been told again and again my whole life, and easily identify with. Other phrases to look out for are, “wise beyond their years,” or “an old soul.” The leadership quality gained out of that kind of independence is that of an exceptionally responsible leader. They are a person who knows to their core that they are fully responsible for everything. People who have experienced a trauma and have come out the other side emotionally regulated and exceptionally responsible make very good hires. This is someone who doesn’t blame others, someone who takes responsibility for the mistakes their team makes, and takes personal responsibility for making their team successful. The buck stops with them. 

The next time you interview a cadidate I want to encourage you to ask about what drives them in life. When you listen to the answer give more consideration to someone you who you suspect has had a difficult past, because they just might be the resilient leader you need.

To see more data on resilience and leadership, as well as tactics to transition trauma into resilience, download Corinne’s Audacious Resilience Framework whitepaper.