Agility & Resilience: Thriving in a Fragile World

This summary pulls takeaways from Resiliency into Results: Closing Interaction (Chatham House), Leading the World’s Most Valuable Sports Brand: A Fireside Chat (Chatham House), and Polarities at Play: Leading Through Complexity.

The Big Picture
Across the Annual Conference, leaders stressed that disruption is not episodic: it is permanent. Geopolitical uncertainty, cyberattacks, social polarization and rapid AI adoption, communicators are navigating a world of permacrisis. Resilience is no longer about bouncing back; it’s about building systems, cultures and mindsets that can absorb shocks while staying agile to pivot quickly.

Impactful  Quote

“Hopelessness is finite; hope is infinite.” — Jim Olson

Discussion Highlights

• Resilience is built before the storm. Values-driven leadership, realistic crisis drills and trust reserves form the foundation. In one case, quarterly enterprise-wide simulations and comms-only “gauntlets”, prepared executives to respond decisively when tragedy struck.
• Agility is the difference-maker. Organizations that stayed fast and decisive described weathering storms better than larger, more rigid peers.
• Civil discourse as a brand asset. Higher education leaders framed campus conflicts as society in microcosm, showing how civil discourse, even when uncomfortable, defines organizational reputation.
• Don’t forget about the oxygen mask. In crisis, stabilize first (“aviate”), then navigate, then communicate. Leaders who model calm, set personal guardrails and visibly protect their teams’ energy create conditions for endurance.
  

Why It Matters Agility without resilience risks burnout. Resilience without agility risks irrelevance. CCOs showed how they were adept at building organizational muscle to respond while guiding stakeholders and fellow leaders through constant turbulence

To Take Back to Your Teams

1. Drill realistically. Tabletop scenarios aren’t enough; run full-spectrum simulations that test leaders, messages and systems under pressure.
2. Protect your people. Build burnout guardrails, capacity checks, true PTO, rotation of opportunities and enforce them visibly.
3. Anchor in values. Values-based actions in the first 24 hours of crisis create reservoirs of trust that no playbook alone can deliver.
4. Be civil-discourse ready. Treat internal debate as a leadership opportunity, not a liability. Make space for dialogue that is safe, fact-based and human.
   

What members are saying

From Q&A Discussions

Q: “What are some of the tactics that you use to craft the right statement when you've got such heavy issues coming your way? How do you kind of blend the positive with the negative?

A: “Yeah, that's a really great question. I don't know, but I'm working on figuring it out every day. It's actually—you know, I talk, obviously, to our digital media, social media team a lot, and I find that really enlightening, because they're always talking about what does our audience need to see, and what are they looking for? … We don’t need to be adding to the doom scroll. People are doing enough doom scrolling on their own. We don’t have to be a part of that. Of course, we have to enlighten them on what’s going on… and separate fact from fiction for folks. That is a real service we can provide because we know there’s a ton of noise out there.”

Q: “What are your best practices for protecting your teams from burnout?”

A: “Our leaders talk about this a lot. It’s understanding the reality you’re living in. We’re in a 24/7 world, and our business leaders expect us to be plugged in 24/7. So if I’m leading a team, how can I structure it to get the right people in place so that we’re on and responding 24/7—but it’s not only me? I’ve got 8 to 12 people who can handle anything that comes in. That’s how you build the metabolism for the work.”

Q: “Before we close, I just want to ask the room—what gives you optimism right now?”

A: “When we’re together, we feel connected. We can’t control the turbulence, but we can control how we show up for one another. Hope is the number-one thing people want from leaders.”

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Go Deeper 

• Video Replay | Running Into the Storm: Leadership, Resilience and the Future of Communication

• Resilience and Transformation in a Time of Change