Building resilience in times of uncertainty

Wayne Hoyle, a former UK Special Forces officer and member of The Extreme Leaders, discusses how to cope with difficult situations.

“It is not the strongest that survive, but those that most readily adapt to change.” Right now, needless to say, we are going through a period of significant change across the world.

I am very aware of my own personal vulnerability. When you are young, you have a feeling of invincibility, but it wears off somewhat when you experience the battlefield. I have been in teams that have experienced some tricky situations, but whether I was skiing across frozen oceans to the North Pole or executing a hostage rescue operation in Afghanistan, I never feared for my life and I never panicked. I had the confidence in my own ability and total trust in the ability of those around me, which – combined – dispels all fear. All of the battles I have been involved in, literally or metaphorically, were won long before I went onto the battlefield.  Everything is in the preparation; physical, technical or mental. The key is to arm yourself and your colleagues with as much knowledge as you possibly can and give them and yourself the best tools that you can. It comes down to understanding the risks and having the ability to mitigate them.