Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership: Ep 353: Resilience Isn't Optional

In this episode, Russell Harvey explains why resilience is a leadership capability (not a personality trait) and how leaders can strengthen it without adding more overwhelm.

Russell introduces the VUCA framework (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) alongside the leadership responses that help teams navigate it (Vision, Understanding, Clarity, Agility). He also shares his Resilience Wheel — seven connected elements leaders can develop personally and organisationally, including purpose, adaptability, support networks, meaning, and energy.

Throughout, Russell emphasises reflective practice as a practical discipline: pausing regularly to identify what's working, what isn't, and what to do next — so leaders and teams can "spring forward with learning" rather than simply trying to bounce back.

Russell Harvey is a leadership coach and facilitator based in Leeds, England, and the founder of The Resilience Coach. He works with senior leaders, teams, and organisations across sectors helping them lead themselves and others well in a world shaped by constant change.