Developing Workplace Resilience

Should you try Google’s famous “20% time” experiment to encourage innovation? We tried this at Duolingo years ago. It didn’t work. It wasn’t enough time for people to start meaningful projects, and very few people took advantage of it because the framework was pretty vague. I knew there had to be other ways to drive innovation at the company. So, here are 3 other initiatives we’ve tried, what we’ve learned from each, and what we're going to try next. 💡 Innovation Awards: Annual recognition for those who move the needle with boundary-pushing projects. The upside: These awards make our commitment to innovation clear, and offer a well-deserved incentive to those who have done remarkable work. The downside: It’s given to individuals, but we want to incentivize team work. What’s more, it’s not necessarily a framework for coming up with the next big thing. 💻 Hackathon: This is a good framework, and lots of companies do it. Everyone (not just engineers) can take two days to collaborate on and present anything that excites them, as long as it advances our mission or addresses a key business need. The upside: Some of our biggest features grew out of hackathon projects, from the Duolingo English Test (born at our first hackathon in 2013) to our avatar builder. The downside: Other than the time/resource constraint, projects rarely align with our current priorities. The ones that take off hit the elusive combo of right time + a problem that no other team could tackle. 💥 Special Projects: Knowing that ideal equation, we started a new program for fostering innovation, playfully dubbed DARPA (Duolingo Advanced Research Project Agency). The idea: anyone can pitch an idea at any time. If they get consensus on it and if it’s not in the purview of another team, a cross-functional group is formed to bring the project to fruition. The most creative work tends to happen when a problem is not in the clear purview of a particular team; this program creates a path for bringing these kinds of interdisciplinary ideas to life. Our Duo and Lily mascot suits (featured often on our social accounts) came from this, as did our Duo plushie and the merch store. (And if this photo doesn't show why we needed to innovate for new suits, I don't know what will!) The biggest challenge: figuring out how to transition ownership of a successful project after the strike team’s work is done. 👀 What’s next? We’re working on a program that proactively identifies big picture, unassigned problems that we haven’t figured out yet and then incentivizes people to create proposals for solving them. How that will work is still to be determined, but we know there is a lot of fertile ground for it to take root. How does your company create an environment of creativity that encourages true innovation? I'm interested to hear what's worked for you, so please feel free to share in the comments! #duolingo #innovation #hackathon #creativity #bigideas

Don’t let them kill your vibe ☀️ It's easy to become disheartened and cynical when encountering negativity, betrayal, or cruelty from others. However, allowing bad experiences to harden your heart can lead to bitterness and a loss of compassion. Maintaining your kindness, despite adversity, is essential for your well-being and the positive impact you can have on the world. Why It Matters: Preserve Your Integrity: Staying true to your values and principles, regardless of others' actions, ensures you maintain your integrity and self-respect. Your actions define who you are, not the behavior of others. Set an Example: By consistently being good, you become a role model. Your behavior can inspire others to act with kindness and integrity, creating a ripple effect of positivity. Personal Fulfillment: Acts of kindness and maintaining a positive outlook contribute to personal fulfillment and happiness. They reinforce your sense of purpose and connection to others. Resilience: Choosing goodness builds resilience. It strengthens your ability to cope with negativity and adversity without losing your core values. How to stay kind, in an unkind environment: Practice Empathy: Understand that negative behaviors often stem from others' pain or insecurity. Responding with empathy rather than anger can diffuse conflict and promote understanding. Set Boundaries: Protect yourself from harmful individuals by setting clear boundaries. This allows you to remain good without being taken advantage of. Focus on Positivity: Surround yourself with positive influences. Engage with people and activities that uplift and support your well-being. Reflect and Grow: Use negative experiences as opportunities for personal growth. Reflect on what you can learn and how you can strengthen your character. Engage in Acts of Kindness: Regularly perform acts of kindness, no matter how small. Helping others can reinforce your commitment to goodness and positively impact your community. Seek Support: When dealing with negativity, seek support from friends, family, or professional counselors. They can offer perspective and help you stay grounded in your values. Being kind, even in the face of negativity, you contribute to a more compassionate world. Your actions can inspire others and create a legacy of positivity and resilience

Building a high-performing team is challenging, but creating a high-performing organization is even more complex. My work involves helping leaders and organizations build cohesive, high-performing cultures that bridge strategy execution with organizational values. In this post, I want to share a concept that has greatly influenced my work and helped many clients build resilience: Antifragility. Popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, antifragility goes beyond resilience. While resilient systems endure stress, antifragile ones grow stronger from it. What is Antifragility? Antifragility describes systems or individuals that thrive on challenges, benefiting from volatility, randomness, and disorder. Unlike fragile entities that break or robust ones that merely withstand stress, antifragile entities improve when exposed to difficulties. Pillars of Antifragility: Redundancy and Overcompensation: Build extra capacity to handle unexpected challenges, ensuring not just survival but growth. Workplace Example: Cross-training employees so that more than one person can perform essential tasks ensures continuity if someone is unavailable. Optionality: Maintain flexibility to adapt and pivot when circumstances change. Workplace Example: Encouraging employees to develop a variety of skills and offering multiple career paths allows the organization to quickly adapt to new market demands. Decentralization: Spread risk and decision-making across the organization to minimize vulnerabilities. Workplace Example: Empowering team leaders to make decisions and manage projects increases agility and speeds up response times. Trial and Error: Embrace small failures as learning opportunities. Workplace Example: Testing new ideas with small pilot projects before a full rollout helps avoid larger mistakes and leads to better solutions. Skin in the Game: Ensure decision-makers are directly impacted by outcomes, promoting thoughtful choices. Workplace Example: Linking managers’ bonuses to team performance makes them more invested in their team’s success. Nonlinear Responses: Recognize that small challenges can lead to significant positive outcomes. Workplace Example: Leveraging customer feedback, even from minor complaints, can lead to substantial product or service improvements. Simplified Relationship to Resilience and Psychological Safety: Resilience helps us bounce back from challenges, but antifragility makes us stronger because of them. Psychological safety is crucial for creating an environment where risks are taken and lessons are learned, enabling both individuals and organizations to thrive. Which pillar of antifragility resonates most with you? 👇 #organizationalgrowth #businessresilience #managementskills

The Perfect Candidate …is rarely the one with the cleanest story. Based on a recent analysis of 20 years of hiring data, McKinsey & Company found something many leaders quietly observe. Candidates with flawless, linear, high achieving resumes are not always the strongest performers. What matters more? 👉 Resilience 👉 Recovery from setbacks 👉 The ability to learn and adapt That insight came alive for me in a recent interview. I asked a simple question: 𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦? There was a pause. Then the story unfolded. Not one mistake. Several. 🔹 Roles where expectations were missed 🔹 Decisions that backfired 🔹 Teams lost before leadership was truly learned He spoke far more about what went wrong than what went right. At first, it felt messy. Human. A little uncomfortable. Then it became obvious why he was strong. Each failure forced something new. ▪️ A reset ▪️ Trust to be rebuilt ▪️ Help to be asked for ▪️ Listening to become a real skill Those turnarounds did more than fix situations. They reshaped how he led. This is where many hiring conversations still miss the point. We reward polished success stories. We scan for smooth upward curves. We shy away from moments of breakdown.   Yet failure is often where the real work happens. Judgment is formed. Humility shows up. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗮𝗻. If you are the candidate. Do not hide the hard chapters 🧩 Own them 🔗 Connect the dots 🌱 Show the growth, not just the outcome The perfect candidate is not the one who never fell. It is the one who fell, stood up differently, and led better because of it. 💬 When was the last time a failure made you better at your job?

I once hired someone who cried in an interview. And I almost didn’t. I was building a new team in a high-pressure role, and I needed a right hand—someone who could keep the trains running, connect the dots across my creative team, and handle all the details I’m, well… not great at. Enter the candidate: Sharp. Experienced. A long tenure in two key roles. But during the interview—with two of my trusted colleagues, a VP and a member of the C-suite—she was asked a question that caught her off guard: “When was the last time you were honored?” And she cried. When they told me afterward, I’m a little ashamed to admit—my first reaction wasn’t compassion. It was judgment. I wondered if she was trying to manipulate the conversation. If she’d be “too emotional” for the demands of the role. If I was being too soft. What I didn’t see in that moment was her strength. I didn’t see the single mom going through a brutal divorce, worried about supporting three children, and feeling unsure of her place in a corporate world that often expects toughness over truth. Thankfully, I didn’t let that moment define her. I looked deeper. What I found wasn’t fragility—it was strength. What she lacked wasn’t skill—it was confidence. And that became our focus. When given responsibility, she owned it. She connected teams. Solved problems. Brought calm to chaos.  She didn’t rise because I carried her.
She soared because someone didn’t penalize her for being real. So no—I’m not saying hire every person who cries in an interview.
But I am saying this: Leaders—do better.
We say we want authenticity, but flinch when it shows up in ways that make us uncomfortable.
We say we want resilience, then miss it when it looks like quiet courage instead of loud confidence. Vulnerability is not a liability.
It’s a signal of someone who feels—and people who feel deeply often lead, serve, and show up in ways that transform teams. Don’t miss someone extraordinary because they let you see who they really are.
 Sometimes, the bravest thing a person can do… is be human in front of you. And your job?
Is to recognize that kind of strength—and hire it.

Leaders need to have reserves of resilience to deal with crises as they arise. If as a leader you are depleted and running on empty when a crisis occurs, it's very hard to operate at your best. The world got a lesson in the value of supply chains and the consequences of what happens when they break down during the pandemic. But for supply chains to be always on, the people who run them can’t be. And that goes for all of us, even if we don't work in supply chains!   Here is some advice I shared with supply chain leaders at the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM)'s Connect 2024 conference. ➡️  Most important: You have to put on your own oxygen mask first. Too many leaders still buy into the misguided notion that urgent or chaotic times require them to be in constant motion and always on, or that they somehow have to match the frenetic pace of the moment. In fact, the opposite is true. Because it is judgment that we need from leaders in moments of crisis, not just stamina. So it starts with prioritizing well-being for yourself, and being a role model for well-being to give others the permission to do the same. ➡️ Technology is a double-edged sword: Technology accelerates burnout when we try to be always on. What's funny is how much better care we take of our technology than ourselves. But unlike machines, humans have to unplug to recharge. In the human operating system, downtime is a feature, not a bug. ➡️ The qualities that define a successful leader: Empathy, being able to listen, being open to new voices. Not just being a broadcaster all the time, but being a receiver as well. It first requires not constantly being in fight-or-flight mode. We can’t be open to others and their creativity and innovation when we’re marinating in stress hormones and just trying to get through the day or through the next hour. ➡️ To create a Thriving Culture: Communication is key! One of our core values at Thrive is Compassionate Directness, which empowers team members to surface feedback or any problems and challenges they’re having in real time. That allows not only team members to course-correct and grow, but the company as well. In any company, and certainly in supply chains, there are obstacles to growing the bottom line. There are challenges with engagement and innovation. Wouldn’t you want to know those sooner rather than later? Knowing them — and getting to work in solving them — in real time as they arise has huge benefits to all the metrics that go into the bottom line. ➡️ And finally: Well-being needs to be embedded into the fabric of company culture and into the workflow. A company is only as resilient as its people so an investment in the healthy future of your employees is an investment in the future of your company. To build resilience into your industry, you have to build it into your people.

You might think you have an attention problem. But I suspect you really have an environment problem. We’re living in the most distracted moment in history. Phones. Tabs. Notifications. Your environment is rigged against you. So trying harder usually doesn’t work. Here are four ways to get your attention back: First, measure before you fix. How fragmented is your attention? Try this test: Pick up a book. Start a timer. How long can you go before you check your phone? That number is your baseline. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Second, remove the leeches. Your environment is not neutral. It’s competing for your attention. So stop relying on willpower. Put your phone in another room. Turn off notifications. Close the extra tabs. Your attention isn’t broken. It’s being drained. Third, build a starting ritual. Focus doesn’t begin with effort. It begins with a cue. Writers light a candle. Coders play the same music. Others sit in the same chair. The ritual itself doesn’t matter. Consistency does. It tells your brain: now we begin. Fourth, stop the endless grinding. Your brain isn’t built for nonstop work. After about 90 minutes, performance drops. Push through, and you don’t become more productive. You become less effective. Breaks aren’t a distraction from the work. They’re part of the work. Most people try to fix attention by trying harder. That’s the wrong lever. The better approach is simpler: Change the environment. Build the cue. Respect the limits. Because attention isn’t something you find. It’s something you design. If you want the full breakdown, I go deeper here: https://lnkd.in/gE7CYJMm

We can’t keep calling them “tough conversations” because if that’s how we see them, we’ll keep avoiding them. Few leaders enjoy conversations where something needs to be said, but saying it might cause discomfort. BUT every great leader has learned how to have them. 👉 Avoiding them leads to confusion and resentment. 👉 Handling them badly leads to conflict and defensiveness. 👉 Handling them well leads to trust, clarity, and respect. Tough conversations aren’t about being tough on people- they’re about being clear with people. When something isn’t working- a behaviour, a performance issue, a broken agreement- silence doesn’t protect relationships. It slowly damages them. People can feel when you’re frustrated but not saying it. They fill in the blanks themselves, often imagining the worst. Tough conversations are not about winning or losing. They’re about understanding and alignment. When your goal is to be right, the other person becomes defensive. When your goal is to learn and clarify, the other person becomes open. 💡Top Tips Approach each conversation with three intentions: 1️⃣ Clarity...What’s really going on here? 2️⃣ Care...How can I express this in a way that respects both of us? 3️⃣ Curiosity... What might I be missing? When clarity, care, and curiosity work together, conversations shift from confrontation to collaboration. Honest conversation, even when uncomfortable, is an act of respect. It says, “You matter enough for me to be honest with you.” That’s why great leaders don’t avoid conversations. They approach them with preparation, care, and clarity. Because a tough conversation, done well, can strengthen a relationship- not damage it. You can’t build accountability without honesty. You can’t build trust without transparency. When you speak the truth with genuine care, you’re not making life difficult, you’re being a leader.

Beyond our ability to weather storms, developing conflict resilience is about redefining how we navigate through them. Over my career, I’ve seen how clinging to outdated models of conflict management stifles organizational growth. While scenario planning remains a professional cornerstone, true resilience demands agility: The courage to pivot frameworks when they no longer serve our people or purpose. Senior leaders are responsible for anchoring their teams, shielding them from distractions that dilute momentum while driving human-centric strategies that pre-empt volatility. This means refusing to overpromise, resolving tensions with urgency, and embedding radical transparency into every dialogue. Equally critical is consistently communicating what’s next. Clarifying how the organization plans to refocus, reallocate, or reinvent goes a long way in building team trust. The goal isn’t to avoid conflict. It’s to build teams that don’t fear it. Teams don’t need perfection. They need clarity, consistency, and the confidence that their leaders see conflict not as a disruption, but as a catalyst for evolution. #Leadership #ConflictResilience #HumanCentric #PeopleFirst #TeamBuilding

Every leader eventually faces a moment when external forces test their systems, their culture, and their resolve. When you find yourself in these moments, your team watches you closely. They’re looking for confidence. Clarity. And proof that the mission still matters. Over the years, I’ve learned that how you communicate in those moments of adversity determines whether your team feels anxious or aligned. Here are five practices that have helped me motivate with both empathy and authority: 1. Mix up your delivery channels. Different messages need different mediums. Sometimes a quick memo or short video is enough. Other times, a personal note or live conversation builds more trust. What matters most is that your tone stays clear, honest, and human. 2. Invite questions, and answer them transparently. We use a simple “Ask Me Anything” format that lets employees submit and upvote questions anonymously. Everyone can see what’s on each other’s minds, and they see that no question is off limits. 3. Tell stories that connect the past to the present. Stories remind people they’re part of something enduring. When you revisit moments of resilience from your company’s history, it reminds the team what you’ve already overcome and what you’re capable of again. 4. Use symbols intentionally. Every season has its own rallying symbol: a gesture, a phrase, or even an inside joke that reminds your team of what really matters. When you repeat it, it becomes shorthand for courage and unity. 5. Recommunicate the vision. Your team needs to know that the destination hasn’t changed, even if the path looks different. When you restate the “why” behind the work, you create stability and restore forward momentum. As a leader, you won’t always have all the answers. But it is your job to communicate with enough clarity and empathy to steer your team in the right direction, no matter what the world throws your way. Patti Sanchez #leadingwithempathy #executivecommunication #communicatingchange