The Resilience Blueprint: Leading Through Uncertainty and Adversity

Many of us are navigating profoundly complex times—marked by more questions than answers, more uncertainty than clarity, and more fear than faith. The challenge isn’t just how we rise to lead but how we stay anchored in authenticity and confidence when circumstances feel unfavorable. How do we keep showing up with resolve when the road ahead is unclear? How do we drive growth, change and meaningful transformation despite the unknown?

Recently, we reflected on the words of clinical psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Becky Kennedy, who reminds us that while resilience is often celebrated as a virtue, living it is rarely glamorous. “It feels so messy,” she explains. “The space between not knowing something and knowing something is really painful.” This is the essence of leadership and high performance—the ability to stand firm in the discomfort of the unknown while pressing forward and leaning into learning with greater conviction.

Resilience isn’t just a concept—it’s a lived experience, a commitment to handling hard better, controlling what we can, and finding strength in uncertainty.

In this week's Saturday Blueprint, we delve into resilience and grit—not just as words, but as mindsets, inspiration, and strategies for pressing forward, one step at a time.

Leadership—and life—will test us at the deepest levels. But while we can’t always control the obstacles, we can control our response and the opportunity. The journey won’t necessarily get easier—that’s life. But we can meet it with a better attitude, a deeper commitment, and a more open heart and mind.

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You were rejected from the Air Force initially. How did you overcome what must’ve been major disappointment?

I put everything I had into going to the Air Force Academy. My senior year of high school, I got a rejection letter. It essentially said, “You’re not good enough. You can apply again next year.” It hurt. It was devastating. I was at a low point. 

Thankfully, I had teachers, coaches, mentors, parents who believed in me and said, “If this is what you want, don’t quit.” That rejection really served as motivation. I decided from that point on, I wasn’t going to just survive at the Air Force Academy. I was going to excel. I wanted to prove I belonged there. I ended up graduating at the top of my class.

You will face rejection. You will hear the word “no.” You will face challenges. There are things in your life that are not going to go as planned. What do you do in that moment? It’s about dusting yourself off and getting back in the fight, knowing that yes, you faced this hard thing, but you can move beyond that if you have the dedication, the drive, the motivation, the grit to get up again.

― Kim Campbell, Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel

You've been in many scenarios in your career where you haven’t had complete information. How does a leader take action without knowing all of the facts?

In my current job, the healthcare landscape is changing so fast. Running this organization is ambiguous and you're just trying to move forward, but I think there's a few things. The first is to make sure your intent is good. As you're looking for “What am I trying to achieve?”, make sure it's something that in the light of day, you could stand up in front of everybody and say, “This is what I was trying to do,” and people would embrace that. 

The second is you just put one foot in front of the other. In all of these situations that are complicated, the biggest risk is staying tied to the dock. You've got to throw the rope off and start to go. 

The last is, regardless of the outcome — obviously we all hope for good ones — but good, bad, indifferent, you just try again with the next issue. You don't let a single failure derail your ability to do other things.  And I think all three of those are relevant to basketball, relevant to surgery, relevant to running a big Blue Cross Blue Shield organization.

― Dr. Mark Mugiishi, Hawaii Medical Service Association CEO

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You led the Arizona Wildcats women's basketball program to the National Championship game in 2021, but your early seasons as head coach came with challenges. How did you navigate those tough initial years, and did you ever struggle with self-doubt along the way?

It crept in from the fact that I’d never lost so much. I was like, “Gosh, we suck. How long is it going to take to build this program?” But that (second) year, we had (three young players) down the bench. I knew we’d be better the next year. It was kind of like just get the players better, celebrate the small victories, not the wins because we’re not going to win.

I had to learn to eat some humble pie and just go back to the drawing board and figure out ways to get better and try to steal two quarters here or there. Maybe you don’t win four, but you win two. I think it made me a better coach.

That was also the year I brought my father to Arizona, put him in a home and lost my father, and had a miscarriage. That was a year with a lot of adversity. I look back on it like wow, that was pretty phenomenal that I even sustained everything and recruited and did all of that. It was hard. I’ve learned to just do it.

― Adia Barnes, Arizona Women's Basketball Coach

You use the metaphor of a ladder a lot when you're speaking and you say you can’t get to the top in one step, but you can definitely get to the bottom. Where'd that come from?

I used to work for my dad in the summertime in a construction-type operation. One time, I had to carry some equipment up a ladder to get to the roof of one of his projects. I had overloaded myself trying to carry twice as much stuff to take half as many trips. I made a mistake on a rung and fell off. When I took that spill, at first, my dad thought I was hurt, but when he found out I wasn’t, he was mad and got on me about concentrating.

You can’t get to the top of that ladder in one step, but you can get to the bottom. What rung on that ladder is the most important? The one that you’re on! It was a good metaphor. No matter what you’re doing, thinking about how you got there or what negative actions got you there, that’s where you are. Deal with where you are and take the next step.

― Jay Bilas, ESPN College Basketball Analyst

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