Dr. Sven Hansen, The Resilience Institute Global Founder, Speaks to The Silicon Review: ‘We Pioneered Resilience Assessments and Have Done the Hard Work of Researching our Impact, Checking our Psychometrics, and Innovating through our Digital Platform which is Available on all Devices’

“Our approach helps leaders understand how strategic the development of resilience is for their organizations’ success.”

The Resilience Institute Global provides science-based, face-to-face digital resilience training to organisations around the world.

It was founded in 2002 and is now headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Interview Excerpt: Dr. Sven Hansen

Q. What inspired you to start The Resilience Institute? Was there any prior experience that led to the establishment of the company?

My early experience in Special Forces and sports medicine showed the dramatic growth in human potential possible with deliberate, evidence-based practice. The question to pursue was how to take this to more people. Medicine to treat sickness is good, but medicine to enhance our experience of life is great work.

Q. Brief us about the journey so far.

Building resilience—a learned ability to bounce, grow, connect and flow—is hard work. It has been a slow journey. Our early results with pioneer organisations showed that we could reduce distress/mental illness and improve wellbeing/productivity. As awareness has increased and our proof of impact increased, we have been sought out globally to help organisations measure, learn, and achieve resilience. Our digital platform is expanding our reach dramatically.

Q. Let’s talk about roadblocks. Were there any that you had to overcome during the initial years?

By far, the biggest challenge is a fixed mindset. Many believe resilience is genetic and cannot be learned. The second challenge is that it is not a quick fix. Knowledge, practice, and repetition are essential. Many would prefer a pill or an entertaining keynote.

Q. As rising employee stress, anxiety, and depression further impact engagement, productivity, turnover, employers need to boost employee resilience in response to this crisis. How uniquely do you address your customers’ pain points per this?

We are the only global solution for an evidence-based, integral, and practical solution that can be delivered face to face, digitally, and in multiple languages with experts on the five continents. We can show how our interventions reduce 30 risk factors and grow 30 strength (or skill) factors. We also provide a collective view on team’s resilience; our programs are customized to best support high-performance teams.

Delineate a short over of the services your company offer.

• Confidential resilience diagnostic with an immediate support package for individuals and teams.
• On-line training in how to bounce, grow, connect, and discover flow.
• Workshops and webinars to help leaders and employees improve resilience and sustain high performance.
• Research-based solutions supported with goal tracking, AI, and organisation-wide reporting.

Q. Where do you stand as a company in the current market landscape? And what are you doing to stay ahead of the curve?

Currently, we would be in the top five options for an organisation seeking a meaningful solution. Our current focus is on the user experience, collective reporting, and scaling our marketing and sales. Our offering aims to accelerate the needed transformation within the organizations by transforming leaders and their teams. Considering major societal challenges in today’s world, we believe that organisations have a great opportunity to play an active role in shaping the solutions for the world and the next generations. When resilience competencies are valued and cultivated, leaders and teams tend to make more conscious choices and act responsibly.

Q. What are the key factors that determine your company’s success? Share an overview.

We have been working with clients to build resilience for nearly 20 years. Our solutions deliver measurable results—both for individuals and organisations. We top Google searches for resilience training. We pioneered resilience assessments and have done the hard work of researching our impact, checking our psychometrics, and innovating through our digital platform, which is available on all devices. Our approach helps leaders understand how strategic the development of resilience is for their organizations’ success.

Q. Briefly walk us through your plans. Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

While it is a very competitive market with a number of well-funded players, the market opportunity is in rapid growth. Proven solutions are important to purchasers. While we continue our digital growth, we want to keep providing our clients with impactful blended solutions that include selected live sessions (online or face-to-face) and self-guided learning. Attracting and developing the best talents is one of our key priorities. Technology helps us be closer to our clients but developing trustful and personalized human relations with our clients will remain our priority.

For more information:

www.resiliencei.com

benoit.greindl@resiliencei.com

The Leader at the Source of The Resilience Institute Global

Dr. Sven Hansen is the Founder of The Resilience Institute. From a medical family, Sven had two years in Special Forces before completing medicine. His passion for sport and flow took him into sports medicine, where he discovered the power of deliberate, scientific training to secure both individual and team success.

After an MBA in 1993, he asked how one could translate and take these ideas to a wider population. Business was the ideal partner. Not only could one reach large numbers of people through one buying centre, but we could also help businesses reduce risks and improve business performance. This set the scene to build an evidence-based, integral, and practical solution to sustainable business and life performance.

Sven has worked extensively with professional firms, banks, corporates, government, entrepreneurs, universities, schools, and sport. He leads the development of The Resilience Institute’s methodology, research, and training. He is actively involved in supporting leadership teams around the world to build personal and organisational resilience.

“We are the only global solution for an evidence-based, integral, and practical solution that can be delivered face to face, digitally, and in multiple languages with experts on the five continents.”