Our Top 10 Insights on Building (and Rebuilding) Resilience

If this year taught us any­thing, it’s that resilience is not a per­ma­nent state. It is a fuel tank that you have to man­age actively.

High per­for­mance comes with a cost. As lead­ers, we are con­stant­ly nav­i­gat­ing three dis­tinct modes:

1. Push­ing and Accom­plish­ing: The high-pres­sure sprints where we must dip deep into our reserves to deliv­er results.
2. Recov­ery: The crit­i­cal peri­ods where we must stop, dis­con­nect, and refill the tank.
3. Get­ting Extra Sup­port: The moments when the pres­sure exceeds our capac­i­ty, and we need exter­nal help to get back on track.

The Real­i­ty Check 

The thread that ties our most-read arti­cles togeth­er is simple:

Lead­ers don’t strug­gle because they’re weak. They strug­gle because they’re wired for inten­si­ty — and no one taught them how to man­age the dra­mat­ic changes.

You can­not act like you are invin­ci­ble for­ev­er. If you only with­draw from your resilience account with­out mak­ing deposits, you will even­tu­al­ly go bankrupt.

Real strength isn’t white-knuck­ling it. Strength is know­ing which mode you are in. It is hav­ing the self-aware­ness to know when to push, when to rest, and when to call in a pro to help you nav­i­gate the storm.

For your­self. For your team. And for the future you’re try­ing to build.

Here are our Top 10 insights from this year to build resilience, man­age inten­si­ty, and lead in a sus­tain­able way:

1. How a High­ly Suc­cess­ful CEO Can Spi­ral — Article

The sto­ry of a leader who looked unstop­pable on the out­side but was qui­et­ly falling apart on the inside. This piece res­onat­ed with so many because it showed what’s true for many high per­form­ers: Suc­cess can hide a slow, qui­et inter­nal col­lapse — until it can’t.

2. The Myth of Invin­ci­bil­i­ty: What Lead­ers Can Learn from Gor­don Lownds’ Fall and Rise - CEO Interview

An exten­sion of the arti­cle above, it’s our newest and most vul­ner­a­ble men­tal health con­ver­sa­tion yet.

Gor­don Lownds — co-founder of Sleep Coun­try Cana­da and Lis­ten Up Cana­da — walked us through his mete­oric rise… and his two-year addic­tion spi­ral that near­ly killed him.

Like so many lead­ers, Gor­don was wired for inten­si­ty, fueled by con­fi­dence, and dri­ven by achieve­ment. That wiring helped him win — and also made him vulnerable.

What makes his sto­ry mat­ter is not the fall, but the turn­ing point: the moment he asked for help.

3. A Close Call with Men­tal Health — CEO Interview

One leader’s raw, behind-the-scenes sto­ry of hit­ting the wall — and what it took to come back.
What made this one so pow­er­ful was its hon­esty. He didn’t sug­ar­coat the fear, the shame, or the confusion.

This arti­cle gives lead­ers sim­ple, prac­ti­cal ways to talk about burnout ear­ly, open­ly, and with­out judg­ment. And Michael’s sto­ry proves some­thing every leader needs to remem­ber: no one is immune — this can hap­pen to anyone.

4. Tri­an­gles in a World of Cir­cles — Article

This piece hit home for so many lead­ers because it reframed what we often label as ​“prob­lems” in peo­ple. What looks like dis­trac­tion, inten­si­ty, or uncon­ven­tion­al think­ing is often ADHD wiring — the same wiring that fuels cre­ativ­i­ty, inno­va­tion, and extreme performance.

When you stop try­ing to make every­one fit the same mold and start lever­ag­ing their strengths, not only do peo­ple thrive — your whole orga­ni­za­tion gets stronger.

5. Man­age Your Men­tal Health — Article

The big one.
The frame­work, the Con­tin­u­um, the warn­ing signs, the pre­ven­tion plan.
Men­tal health isn’t a ​“nice-to-have” — it’s a require­ment for lead­ing any­thing sustainable.

6. What Every CEO Needs to Know — Webinar

In May, dur­ing Men­tal Health Month, I host­ed a webi­nar for CEOs and senior exec­u­tives to open­ly dis­cuss men­tal health, burnout, and sus­tain­able resilience. I shared my own burnout expe­ri­ences to rein­force that high per­for­mance doesn’t make us immune, and we walked through the Men­tal Health Con­tin­u­um to help lead­ers spot ear­ly warn­ing signs. The core mes­sage was sim­ple: resilience isn’t innate — it’s built through small dai­ly habits that keep you strong enough to lead with­out los­ing yourself.

7. Cre­ate a Cul­ture that Sup­ports Men­tal Health — Article

Your cul­ture either pro­tects peo­ple or erodes them.
And pro­tect­ing peo­ple doesn’t mean being soft, it means being aware.
This arti­cle out­lined sim­ple, prac­ti­cal shifts lead­ers can make to nor­mal­ize con­ver­sa­tions about stress, resilience, and men­tal well-being.

8. How to Dis­cuss Burnout with Your Team — Article

Burnout is no longer rare — it’s nor­mal.
What’s rare? Lead­ers who talk about it ear­ly, open­ly, and with­out judg­ment.
This arti­cle helps give lead­ers the scripts, ques­tions, and struc­ture to start the con­ver­sa­tion in a healthy, pro­duc­tive way.

9. Check-Up from the Neck Up — Article

A sim­ple, prac­ti­cal reminder to assess your own men­tal state with the same seri­ous­ness you give to rev­enue, per­for­mance, or KPIs.
Lead­ers wait far too long to inter­vene on them­selves — yet they’d nev­er tol­er­ate the same neg­li­gence in their business.

10. Insights on Trau­ma & Stress - Arti­cle

Even the strongest lead­ers get trig­gered by unre­solved expe­ri­ences. This arti­cle breaks down how trau­ma shows up in high achiev­ers — not dra­mat­i­cal­ly, but sub­tly: impa­tience, over­re­ac­tion, avoid­ance, and exhaus­tion. The core reminder: you can’t out­work or out­run your past. You have to under­stand it.

Addi­tion­al Resources:

• Your Oxy­gen Mask First Self Assessment
• Webi­nar — Under­stand­ing Men­tal Health and Resilience Rituals
• Learn More about the 17 Habits in Your Oxy­gen Mask First including:
  • Dou­ble Your Resilience
  • Deal With Your Emo­tion­al Junk
  • Invest in Your Sweet Spots
  • Man­age Your Men­tal Health
• The Men­tal Health Con­tin­u­um to assess how you and oth­ers around you are doing

If you or some­one you know is strug­gling, please reach out. Free, con­fi­den­tial help is avail­able 24⁄7, 365 days a year, no mat­ter where you are. Trained cri­sis respon­ders will lis­ten with­out judg­ment and give you a safe place to talk.

In Cana­da and the U.S.: call 9−8−8 for imme­di­ate men­tal health or sui­­cide-pre­ven­­tion sup­port.
And if you or some­one else is in imme­di­ate dan­ger, go to your near­est emer­gency room — right now. Your safe­ty comes first.