“Life is like a game where you seek to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving your goals. You get better at this game through practice. The game consists of a series of choices that have consequences. You can’t stop the problems and choices from coming at you, so it’s better to learn how to deal with them.” —Ray Dalio
Communities must rise to the occasion during disasters and catastrophes. They must be resilient to overcome the challenges arising from nature, external distractions, and disturbances. In this regard, we will discuss building resilient communities globally to bounce back and bounce forward aggressively.
Resilience is the ability of individuals, organizations, and communities to bounce back, survive, and succeed when the shocks and stresses are stacked against them. There are several definitions of resilience in different contexts. Elizabeth Edwards defines “Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you've lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that's good.” Resilience is a top priority for global organizations that serve humanitarian action and development.
A Blueprint to Build Resilient Communities Globally
The rapid growth in technology, the growing global economy, and urbanization have aggravated the risk for communities and nations globally. The communities must learn how to cope with shocks and stresses arising from artificial intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution. They must be equipped with innovative tools and techniques to enable them to persist, recover, or even thrive amid disruption. Here is a blueprint to build resilient communities globally:
Accept the fact that disasters cannot be averted. Hence, have the right attitude and develop a positive mindset to be prepared for disasters.
Admit that risk is an integral part of life. So, be prepared for it.
Be transparent to build trust because trusting relationships between members of a community increase resilience.
Involve the community members and stakeholders actively. They must set their differences aside in the interest of the common good.
Harness the power of networks for shared discovery and collaboration.
Identify community assets and keep them ready mentally.
Make decisions with your head, heart, and gut, keeping the larger interests of your community. Remember, it is more important to save lives than assets during disasters.
Keep people before the profit.
Value relationships. Next to God is your neighbor. Treat your community as a family. Come forward to protect if any one of them is in trouble to build strong community leadership.
Leverage technology that has created several opportunities for humankind. It is a fact that technology has become a powerful tool to build social resilience.
The resilient systems must be a blend of both micro and macro structures to embrace change and adapt aggressively. In a nutshell, to build resilient communities globally, you must be agile and active; analyze and understand the risk; connect and communicate with your community; inspire and engage them; be proactive and synergize them; take action to keep the larger interests of your community; take feedback, and learn lessons to be prepared better for such disasters in future.
Build Resilient Communities
The disasters may arise due to climate change, global warming, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, increasing water salinity, tsunami-like situations, or cyberattacks by black hats. Given the current complexities and technological inventions, it is essential to prepare every global citizen to be resilient to overcome the eventualities. Remember, if the communities are resilient, the risk decreases.
In this era of a disruptive world, it is essential to focus on what matters most; shed what is irrelevant and useless, and communicate with stakeholders effectively to build a resilient world. To summarize, communities must adapt to changing circumstances. Resilient communities see and seize the opportunities in the eye of the storm. A more resilient world is possible and feasible if we work together toward it. To conclude, building resilient communities requires coordinated efforts from all stakeholders and shared responsibilities at local, national, and global levels; and from local communities, government, nonprofits, intellectuals, thought leaders, and global leaders.
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“Things You Don’t Know about Professor M. S. Rao” http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2015/10/things-you-dont-know-about-professor-m.html
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Note: I had a brain hemorrhage. I was in bed for five months. My right hand has been numb and paralyzed. I am recovering. Thanks for empathizing with me. With gratitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFJrSRLHPUk&ab_channel=ProfessorM.S.Rao
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Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India
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