The psychology That goes for any living organism.
The inner
strength you find comes from around you. It seeps
in from your surroundings. That’s the epigenetic
of resilience theory in biology – our traits can be shaped to a
degree by our environment.
And it’s true for psychology: a living body
grows by becoming more complex through
French psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor and author a process of imprinting. It begins very early,
boris cyrulnik examines how periods of agony can from what forms you. DNA is made up of only
lead to new strength. Brunswick’s olivier jay reports four bases but they can express themselves in
thousands of different ways according to their
W
hen boris cyrulnik was a child surroundings. It’s sort of a rudimentary alphabet
in German-occupied France during which would let you write thousands of different
World War II, Nazis murdered his novels with only four letters.
parents. A foster family took him in to
protect him. In 1943, he was captured Does this psychology apply to companies?
along with others during a Nazi-led operation in “A company is A company is a type of living entity. It never stops
Bordeaux. He escaped by hiding in a synagogue
and later eluded Nazi searches by disguising
a type of living interacting between what’s in itself and what’s
around it. It’s constantly in development. That’s
himself as a farm boy, under an assumed name – entity. It never why we can talk about resilience in relation to
where he stayed until the end of the war.
That survival story motivated what has
stops interacting companies. Those constant interactions carry on
throughout a company’s life.
become a star career in psychiatry. Cyrulnik is between what’s When a company suffers a mishap – which
now 79, a French doctor, ethologist, neurologist
and psychiatrist best known for developing
in itself and happens a lot – it has to be able to recover, to have
a new development, just like any living organism.
and popularizing the concept of psychological what’s around it” If there is a serious issue – if a company has been
resilience for a wide audience.
He published several books, including the
popular titles Talking of Love: How to Overcome
Trauma and Remake Your Life Story, and Resilience:
How Your Inner Strength Can Set You Free From the
Past, both published by Penguin.
In 2002, as member of a public commission for
national reforms under then-President Nicolas
Sarkozy, he worked with Emmanuel Macron, who
was elected President himself this year. “I was
fascinated by him,” Cyrulnik says of Macron. “He
wants to triumph at anything. We saw him as a
future leader.”
But it is his work on resilience – the quality
of being able to recover successfully from injury
or disaster – that is perhaps Cyrulnik’s greatest
insight. Like people, companies can endure a
crisis and emerge stronger, he says – but not
unscathed. This kind of growth requires sustained
ILLUSTRATION: ROLAND SÁRKÁNY
commitment: a willingness to change and
maintain solidarity with your team members.
How do people find the strength of resilience?
Resilience can be defined in an astonishingly
simple way. It’s starting on a new development
after a shock, or what’s known as a mental agony.
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INTERVIEW BORIS CYRULNIK
ruined by a mistake, by a bankruptcy or by any Companies who have the least solidarity are the
business issue – this development must be truly routine ones, often public services. You can see
new, not something the company has done before; it through signs of uneasiness: burnout, feeling
that’s the definition of resilience. exhausted and so on.
Dynamic companies experience fewer cases
How can a company clear a path to resilience? of depression, while routine ones have a lot
A company has to implement factors that more. So, in general, the real concern isn’t being
allow it to start on a new development. Firstly, overworked, but rather how useful the employees
biological factors: companies that have numerous, think they are.
diversified roots before a traumatic event can start In the medical world and in hospitals, the
on a new development more easily. They are its highest rates of depression aren’t found in the
protection for when a serious mishap happens.
In the event of a serious tragedy, a company can
“Companies hardest jobs, but in the most everyday, routine
ones: in services for frail dependents, for example,
invest in other roots and start on a positive new that aren’t where there isn’t as much excitement or as much
development. Companies that aren’t resilient are
the ones that only had one root originally. When
resilient are the demand for creativity.
a traumatic event cuts off that root, the company ones that only Friedrich Nietzsche is credited with the popular
saying: “That which does not kill us, makes us
is lost. Indeed, you also need support, whether
financial, humanitarian or collective.
had one root stronger.” Does the severity of an issue relate to
originally. When the opportunity for a company?
Are there things companies can do to move
past a crisis, to create stronger potential for a
a traumatic Nietzsche was wrong: when we have been hurt,
it leaves marks. We stay sensitive to what has
new development? event cuts off happened for the rest of our lives.
No living entity goes through life without being
tested or having a mishap. But in the case of
that root, the Sometimes, after a serious illness, some people
will go too far. They will want to “go for broke”
tragedy, the meaning we give to things transforms company is lost” with an almost hopeless idea. But I have noticed
the way in which we feel them. If we don’t that injured people develop a greater sense of
understand what has happened, we get confused. solidarity with others. Studies show that we are
And so we don’t develop any resilient processes, likely to become more compassionate, more
which is an interaction between what we are and altruistic after an injury.
what’s around us. Between the injuries that happen in personal
Employees need the tools to make sense of what and professional life, there is really no difference:
has happened. Otherwise they get confused and a worker is a person. I have the same reasoning,
cannot start on a new development. They need to the same approach for both: what are the
be supported by the group’s solidarity – solidarity habits we acquire to protect ourselves before a
between employers and employees, between serious mishap? If an executive employee was
employees themselves – the feeling of being part secure during their childhood, they can cope
of a team. If we don’t feel like we are part of a better. And they will be even more resilient if,
team, it reduces resilience. Solidarity is a keyword. after a serious mishap, they try to understand
Companies also need to work on their story what happened.
– constantly – and strengthen the things that BORIS CYRULNIK We can all see brilliant professional trajectories,
can protect them from a crisis. That way when people who overinvest in their companies;
A renowned
something serious happens, they can start on a neuropsychiatrist and sometimes they are only happy when they
new development. psychoanalyst, Boris are working as a way of coping with neurotic
Cyrulnik is Director of
tendencies. But when those people break down,
Teaching at the Faculty of
Have companies been paying enough attention Arts and Social Sciences they go to pieces completely.
to solidarity over the last few years? at the Université du Sud, Overall, it’s better to develop a sense of
Toulon-Var, France. He is
That depends on the company. Some companies a Holocaust survivor and
solidarity within the company and to help people
pay very little attention to it and then develop the author of many books, to find pleasure in their work.
little capacity for resilience after a serious issue. including the best-selling
Resilience: How Your olivier jay is a Brunswick Partner in Paris and a former
In contrast, others have put a lot of emphasis on Inner Strength Can Set Editor-in-Chief of Le Journal du Dimanche. He advises on
solidarity and meaning. You Free From the Past. corporate matters with a focus on social and labor issues.
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