My doctor looked at my MRI, looked at me, and said, "Wow, you must have a high pain tolerance."
He meant it as a compliment. And I received it as one. Because yes, I am disciplined. I push through. I don't crumble.
But I've been sitting with something ever since that appointment. I also spent several months quietly ignoring the slow deterioration of my cervical spine until it required actual medical intervention. That part stings a little to admit.
Compliment received. Lesson also received.
I want to be clear: I wasn't in denial. I wasn't avoiding care. It genuinely felt like my neck went from mildly annoying to debilitating overnight. Except it didn't. My body had been sending signals for months. I was just too busy being resilient to notice them.
And the more I sat with that, the more my heart went out to the leaders and teams I work with every day. Because I've seen this same story play out in organizations over and over again.
Resilience Is a Trait. Until It Becomes a Coping Mechanism.
At StringCan, resilience isn't just a buzzword. It's something we genuinely believe in and hire for. The Effortless Experience puts it beautifully: CQ companies, the ones that truly retain and delight their customers, are built on resilient people who can handle complexity without falling apart.
We look for it in every candidate. We celebrate it on our team. And I still believe in it wholeheartedly.
But here is what I've come to understand over the years. The most resilient people are often the last ones to raise their hand. They're so good at absorbing pressure that by the time something is visibly wrong, it's been quietly wrong for a long, long time.
Does that land for you the way it landed for me?
The Warning Signs Look Like Strengths
This is the part that quietly breaks my heart as a leader.
Your team has been over capacity for weeks, but nobody's complaining. That looks like a resilient team pushing through. Nobody's taking their PTO. That looks like dedication. People seem a little flat lately, a little less energized, but they're still hitting their numbers. They must just be busy.
Except none of those things are what they look like.
Those are the organizational equivalent of neck pain you keep meaning to get checked out. The signals are there. They're just easy to explain away when everyone involved is proud of how much they can handle. And they should be proud. That's what makes this so hard.
The cruel irony of high resilience is that it can quietly mask the very problems it's supposed to help you survive.
I Wasn't Listening. Are You?
My doctor never said my high pain tolerance was a bad thing. It has genuinely served me. I was in horrible physical shape and still climbed Mt. Snowdon one day. I still get a little emotional thinking about that. I couldn't believe I did it. And I am so, so proud of what I was able to accomplish that day. That is resilience doing exactly what it was built to do.
But that same resilience also helped me normalize something I shouldn't have, for longer than I should have. Until the solution got a lot more involved than it ever needed to be.
"Sustainable resilience isn't about lowering the bar. It's about making sure the people clearing it aren't doing so on a deteriorating spine. Check in on your strongest people. Not because they're fragile. Because they're really, really good at convincing you they're fine."
That's the tension I carry as a leader, and I imagine you carry it too. Resilience is what lets teams achieve the impossible. It's what pushes people past the point where logic says stop. Think about how many times you've been genuinely moved by what your team accomplished when everyone thought it was out of reach. That is resilience. And it matters deeply.
The goal was never to remove that pressure. It's to make sure pressure doesn't become the only setting they know.
That's the part nobody talks about when we celebrate grit. Sustainable resilience isn't about lowering the bar. It's about caring enough to make sure the people clearing it aren't quietly running on empty.
Check in on your strongest people. Not because they're fragile. Because they're really, really good at convincing you they're fine. And because they deserve someone who sees past that.
Let's Build Something That Actually Lasts
If this story resonated with you, I'd love to keep the conversation going. At StringCan Interactive, we care deeply about helping mission-driven organizations build teams and customer experiences that are strong and sustainable. Not just for a season, but for the long haul.
Your people are your greatest asset. Let's make sure you're taking care of them the way they deserve.
Reach out to StringCan Interactive today. We'd be honored to partner with you.
