The Resilience Mindset

Resilience can help cope with a volatile and uncertain world. It is not designed to provide solutions to the causes of the shocks and stresses, but rather to establish a baseline from which we can operate, recover, and move forward. In simple terms, it is about surviving and thriving.

Yet, resilience, whether professional or personal, requires an appropriate mindset or set of beliefs if it is to be effective. That mindset is shaped by values, attitudes, culture, responsibilities, and experiences which, in turn, mould the way we incorporate new knowledge and how we make sense of the world and ourselves. It influences how we think, feel, and respond in any given situation.

This book looks at the resilience mindset by taking a philosophical journey. As we live in a world of constant change, both self-imposed and inflicted, philosophy can help us understand how to cope positively and rise to the inevitable challenges. It is why philosophy down the ages has attracted students who want a deeper appreciation of resilience. Ultimately, it is the resilience of the human spirit that gives hope to human endeavours.

Here is a deep dive into the human aspects that lie behind our resilience. It examines topics such as being stoical, facing our fears, realizing our virtues, finding our values, seeking truth and trust, and coping with change. A review of the significant contributions made by philosophers past and present gives insights into the thinking and mindsets of people who have delved into the subject of resilience over the centuries. It all provides valuable lessons for dealing with today’s crises and challenges.

Robert Hall is a consultant, speaker and author. He specialises in the subject of resilience and risk.
After serving as an officer in the British Army for 17 years, he left to work in business as a risk and security specialist in large multi-national corporates such as Barclays, Marsh and G4S. His last appointment was as Executive Director (and co-founder) of Resilience First Ltd.
His first book, based on his work in the UK’s Ministry of Defence and a Defence Fellowship, was Soviet Military Art in a Time of Change: Command and Control of the Future Battlefield (Brassey’s, 1991, ISBN 0080413218).

Since leaving the corporate world, he has authored five books: Building Resilient Futures (Austin Macauley, 2023, ISBN 9781035812622), The Triptych (Austin Macauley, 2024, ISBN: 9781035830169), Frozen in Time (Amazon, 2025, ISBN: 9798281985635), The Resilience Mindset: A Philosophical Journey (Austin Macauley, 2025, INature's Resilience (Austin Macauley, 2025, ISBN: )

This is the second book in a series on resilience. A third book, Nature's Resilience, is due out shortly.

He has also written two novels with resilience themes, The Triptych (a semi-biographical, historical novel) and Frozen in Time (a crime mystery set in Greenland). Both books are currently available.

Robert lives in Essex. He is married, with a daughter living in London.

Customer Reviews

5.0

2 reviews

Richard Barnes

In glorious arrogance, each generation imagines that they are experiencing issues for the first time in history: resilience is no exception. From the IRA bombings in the City of London and the “Ring of Steel” to 9/11, 7/7, Madrid, Bali, and REVIEW COPY Istanbul, the concept of resilience has changed from random terrorist bomb atrocities to the recognition that fire, water, economic catastrophe and nature all present challenges to resilience in its many guises. Robert blows away the myth that resilience is a modern phenomenon and examines the concept from the ancients to today. Intellectually stimulating and challenging, The Resilience Mindset lends stimulation to an ongoing debate on an issue that affects and impacts upon us all culturally, socially, politically and economically. Wars have been fought because of it; regimes changed. The Resilience Mindset represents a major contribution to what it is!
Bruce Mann

Skilled, competent and confident people are the foundation of effective risk and emergency management. And yet too much of what is published on resilience practice is about machinery and process, too little on people. Unlike in other fields, the body of wisdom on the inherent virtues, values and aptitudes which should be demonstrated by those in whom we place our trust to look after us in a crisis is too limited. This book is an important contribution to closing that gap, and a valuable primer and stimulus to those who want to think deeply about the competences we should expect in our resilience leaders, and how those should be reflected in their selection, training and assessment.