Fortitude: The Myth of Resilience, and the Secrets of Inner Strength: A Sunday Times Bestseller

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We sort of recognise this, you can feel part of your family or you can feel part of a friendship group, or you might have friends from university, where you've stayed together. And if you feel like the relationship's been respected, if you feel like, "Actually, I feel like this relationship still exists and I'm participating in it", it doesn't necessarily matter how often you see people, but more the sense that everyone's servicing the relationships. I think we've lost sight of that, to some extent.

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Helen Tupper: So, foundations of fortitude then, in the book you talk about the importance of control, identity and community as being the three things that I think you would say count the most towards fortitude. Could we explore each of them in turn, starting with control, which again when I was reading that, I consider one of my primary values to be freedom, and I was like, "Well, is it freedom, Helen; or is it actually a need for control, based on what you talk about in the chapter about it?" Can you talk to us a little bit more about why control is so important in the context of fortitude? Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial? If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.One of the UK's leading "workfluencers" [offers] up ahead-of-the-curve takes on the future of workplace cultures . . . Fortitude is an easy to read and well-research book that will appeal to anyone . . . Daisley challenges some of the empowerment narratives that have become unquestioned staples of organisational life . . . [and] offers "fortitude" as an alternative. Financial Times

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But such is the easy appeal of resilience, it has become our hopeful expectation for victims of misfortune. So actually, the most important part of this work is understanding it, because my ACE score, for example, it's so fascinating; for me, my ACE score is 4. So I immediately start going, "Gosh, right, okay. Well firstly, that would have a deleterious effect on my health, and secondly would explain my relentless need to try and succeed and do more". We're endlessly being told that if we want to be successful in life we have to be tough and stubborn. If we struggle, it's because we're weak and uncertain. Bruce Daisley thinks this is simply untrue, and in his new book the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Joy of Work takes the notion of resilience apart, explains how it really works, and puts forward a new programme for building self-confidence and tenacity. He calls it Fortitude.What you discover is that UK Sport did this remarkable piece of work, and this is what I couldn't get out of my head, that studied 16 British super-elite athletes, and they say all of them household names. All of them, of the ones they studied, all of them had a significant moment of childhood trauma. To just emphasise that that's not universal, the ones that they compared them to, who were the silver medallists, the bronze medallists, the people who did well but not quite win gold, only one in four of them had a moment of significant trauma.

Bruce Daisley tells Chris Evans his new book Fortitude ‘is Bruce Daisley tells Chris Evans his new book Fortitude ‘is

So, if someone is listening and feeling like, "Maybe I don't, maybe I just feel like I'm here for my family and I'm here for my work", you know when you feel like you're split in loads of different directions? I hear that from lots of people, that they don't really feel like they have any time for them, and I think this goes way beyond self-care, the sense of self. So, interested in your reflections about what you found out; but also, if someone isn't feeling that connection to sense of self, what might you do and where might you go? I think sometimes we have the freedom, hopefully, to be able to do that, because we're a small company, but I do think there are levels of that. And even in really big companies, you have that ability as a manager to make a real difference in that area of choice and control. A book that confirms what I've always believed, that we can't be resilient on our own. In fact resilience is about all of us being stronger than any of us. Gary LinekerNaomi Osaka, tennis player, has said she's asked herself, "What am I if I'm not a tennis player?" Through that, you can really see the dangers of enmeshment, because we see ourselves thinking, "I'm a provider for my family [or] I'm someone who's going to work hard and make my mum proud of what I accomplish at work [or] I'm going to be able to get the money for a deposit on a flat because I'm striving so hard". We see all of these things as a way to paint this redemptive image of ourselves. He continued: “Jurgen Klopp seems to know that resilience is the strength that we draw from each other. It’s the strength that other people embolden in us, and so, he was like, ‘We need to arrange more team events.’ The first thing he did when he became Liverpool’s manager, is he learnt everyone’s name at their training ground. A hundred people. The kit man, the dinner lady, he learnt all their names, brought them all into the press conference room, all the players were sitting in the press seats, and he introduced them one-by-one by name. He said, ‘From now on, this is Beryl. From now on, this is Glenn.’" In his business career Bruce Daisley was awarded ‘ Greatest Individual Contribution to New Media’ by New Media Age.