How to use challenging times to develop career super-powers
Published on the 15 May 2020
Resilience is a vital skill for overcoming career challenges, a skill you build by adapting to disruptive events like the current COVID-19 situation.
¹úÃñ²ÊƱ Business School alumna  has seen her career benefit from adapting to challenging situations. The director of Multiforte Financial Services, an advisory business, says students who develop resilience will be better equipped to tackle uncertainty throughout their career.
Kate has diversified and strengthened her advisory career with value-led strategic responses to business challenges. The passionate advocate for women's financial literacy has adapted her career to include publishing , a personal finance book for Australian women; and chairing  and Inspire, which connects women in financial advisory roles.
One life-changing disruption was a conflict between her family values and business goals, as her family moved to a coastal region and Kate had to re-think how she operated Multiforte with its Sydney base. As Kate's business success depends on nurturing deep relationships with clients and with extensive industry networks – how could she still do this while working remotely?
"I had to stop and ask myself – what is my agenda here? What are my goals, my outcomes? What's the best outcome for my business? That way, you're forced to make very conscious decisions," the  graduate says.
Although it scared her at first, Kate strategically decided to cap her client base and incorporate new technologies for video-calling clients, such as Zoom. She also harnessed social media to help build and maintain valuable professional networks.
"I've built connections on Twitter with people who otherwise I'd never have the opportunity to meet. And I keep in touch with people that I used to work with via LinkedIn. I can go to somebody who is very senior in an organisation and say, ‘I need help, who do I talk to?'. My networks are super important."
In fact, effective relationships with your networks – that is, classmates and teachers – can be one of the most potent sources of developing resilience and adaptability, according to research released by ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ School of Management Professor Peter Heslin and his colleagues.
The research on  describes resilience as the capacity to bounce back from disruptions. In terms of study, this means the capacity to keep moving toward your study goals using resources and strategies that you already know.
However, if you don't already have effective resources when a disr