Interestingly, the authors of Stronger: Develop the Resilience You Need to Succeed bring together three diverse backgrounds. George Everly Jr., Ph.D., is a founding father of modern stress management and a pioneer in the field of human resilience; Douglas Strouse, Ph.D., is the Managing Partner of an international management consulting firm and a recognized expert on business resilience; and Dennis McCormack, Ph.D., is one of the original Navy SEALS and pioneered SEAL combat doctrine and tactics in Vietnam.
Immediately after receiving the book I read the Forward by George Worthington, a retired Rear Admiral and Navy SEAL, and my interest was piqued when he noted the author’s definition of resilience. The succinct definition, the ability to adapt to or rebound from adversity, works well for me. Moreover, they identify five core factors to achieving personal resilience, which they refer to as psychological body armor: active optimism, decisive action, moral compass, relentless tenacity and interpersonal support. Good stuff.
As might be expected, the book’s first five chapters correspond to the aforementioned core factors. The book’s sixth, and final, chapter discusses lessons learned about human resiliency.
A nice feature of the book are the self-assessments and homework assignments spread throughout the book. Instead of just reading about becoming stronger and building resiliency, the authors provide mechanisms for readers to be more engaged in the process.
While the tendency might to associate resilience as only being a requirement for high stress professions such as police officers, emergency medical personnel, athletes or military personnel, investors can benefit from understanding and developing the five core factors.
Will believing in yourself and your purpose – securing your family’s financial future – serve you well? Absolutely. Will there be times when decisive action (e.g. immediately buying a stock, selling a mutual fund) is required? No doubt. Why are you investing and how are you going about it? If you lack guiding principles as you build wealth, it will be easy to get lost along the way. Will you fail at times and will some decisions lead to losses? Of that you can be certain. Being tenacious, perhaps even more so after a failure, is absolutely necessary. And finally, can you do it alone? Nope. As I have discussed previously, building family wealth requires communication, teamwork and mutual support. I highly recommend this book as the information and lessons contained within will benefit readers in their pursuit of any endeavor, financial or otherwise.
I will be giving away a complimentary hardcover copy of the book to a reader. The winner will be randomly selected from those who leave a comment. For those readers not fortunate enough to receive the complimentary copy, Stronger: Develop the Resilience You Need to Succeed is available at Amazon in Kindle, Audible and Hardcover formats.
The Giveaway will end, and the winner selected, at 12:00 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, August 30th.
