Tatjana Utz-Erhardt had the honor of interviewing Marc Gassert, a resilience enthusiast who also gave a keynote at H&Z's 25th anniversary celebration.
Part 1: Resilience - What is it anyway?
Tatjana Utz-Erhardt:
Marc, thank you very much for your great keynote that you held here at our 25th anniversary, I am still quite flashed and emotional about everything that came across. You talked about resilience, but before we get into that again, would you please introduce yourself in 3 words that your best friends use to describe you?
Marc Gessert:
My best friends would probably say that I am very disciplined and ambitious. They would also say that I am more the chaotic type, maybe a lovable mess. I have the ability to focus and then I focus on one particular thing and block out everything else and then my keys and wallet get left behind and then I'm kind of messy too. I think that describes it quite well.
Tatjana Utz-Erhardt:
The topic of focus has a lot to do with resilience. Can you explain to us again what resilience is exactly?
Marc Gessert:
Well, resilience, if you take a closer look at the term, is built on several pillars. And one pillar is, for example, the ability to self-reflect, to see how others would talk about me. For example, one ability would be the ability to act, so you have to be clear about what I can do. Not only knowledge, but also applied knowledge is more important than just knowledge.
Then we need the ability to analyze, the analysis competence. How sharp are we in outlining sources of interference that come from outside? That is extremely important and so you can, so to speak, advance over 7 pillars until you come to the realization: This is my psychic inner resistance and we must now expand it to do justice to the topic, by something proactive.
So you can't just be passive and react to the pressure from outside, but we have to approach the source of disturbance, anticipate, take safety precautions and that only works if you can act and analyze.
Part 2: The resilient me
Tatjana Utz-Erhardt:
Are there exercises I can use in my own everyday life to become more resilient?
Marc Gessert:
Well, for one thing, the moment I acquire new knowledge and the moment I learn new things, I already strengthen my resilience, because that's part of it, and the moment I do things that are good for my soul, I strengthen my psychological resilience, and when I bring my body up to tension, so to speak, then I'm doing something physically good.
In other words, a resilient person is in the area of conflict between learning new skills and developing them, and in one word: stress management. So how do I get the balance right? And the resilient manage this well, without breaking down.
Tatjana Utz-Erhardt:
Does that also have to do with the inner attitude and mindset or with the value system? I can imagine that a positive inner attitude is goal-oriented.
Marc Gessert:
But there are also very many pessimists who get extremely far with an optimism of purpose, so for example Schopenhauer was such a person, the most pessimistic thinker of all time, but who created a huge added value. So both are allowed. To me, the former group is closer.
Part 3: Resilience in the world of work
Tatjana Utz-Erhardt:
As a communication scientist, you also explained earlier that you build bridges between the worlds. How can you bring this resilience topic into the working world?
Marc Gessert:
Well, on the one hand we have the human ability, the personality development, which we take into work. In work, of course, we have very complex dynamic system architectures that also have to run resiliently. So supply chain thematics, there you have also exactly the issue.
One is the supply chain has to withstand pressure and the other is we also need the ability to anticipate, preventive maintenance. Building in redundant systems so that the system survives. So that there is no loss of production in the worst case. I believe that both have a similar basic structure, i.e. the physical world and the economic world if you recognize it, you have an advantage.
Part 4: Sustainability and resilience
Tatjana Utz-Erhardt:
Now the topics of sustainability and resilience are two terms that are on the rise, especially in business. What do you think is the reason for that? Do we need it? Do we have a need for that?
Marc Gessert:
Yes, of course we have first built a system that is extremely complex through networking. Global networking has created a system of constant excitement, which is now blowing up in our faces a bit, because exponential curves are always difficult to handle. So if at some point I only focus on efficiency and performance increases, then at some point the system will be in danger of collapsing. And now we are asked to look for sustainable solutions in this system and the common thing is that there is Ofraise Law.
That says that to create solutions in a complex system requires an equally complex solution structure and that is where we will be challenged and that is a sustainability issue, so that is where we have to play for the long term.
Part 5: H&Z as a resilient company
Tatjana Utz-Erhardt:
One more question about H&Z, how do you perceive us as a company?
Marc Gessert:
Incredibly interesting, because there is an insane diversity, not only in the individual skills as an asset, but also in the individual personalities and that makes it extremely exciting, because we have, so to speak, in the DISG color spectrum all the colors there in the truest sense of the word iridescent personalities. And that is a unique DNA, I think that is a huge asset.
Tatjana Utz-Erhardt:
I feel the same way, I really enjoy working here. Thank you very much for your time and this short flash and thank you very much for this great talk. Marc Gessert: It was a pleasure.