The author, an experienced leader in risk management, here shares his method for turning professional setbacks into opportunities by focusing on six distinct areas, using a system he calls Presilience®. First, readers learn how psychology can be used to understand people’s thoughts and actions in certain situations. Next, Schneider draws from neuroscience to explicate people’s responses to various situations: “In decision-making, the neural seesaw illustrates why we sometimes struggle to blend logical analysis with empathetic understanding. For effective decision-making, especially in leadership or complex scenarios, we need to harness both aspects.” The author then discusses the importance of physical health, using his martial arts and bodyguard experiences as examples, before discussing how interactions with others need to include trust (both in others and oneself) and a strong sense of ethics. He presents specific suggestions (like using a color-coded system for “different risk levels or scenarios” in the workplace) and explains the importance of looking to the past for information about the future. The final section includes a step-by-step guide to making one’s own “personal Presilience plan.” Schneider takes pains to break down potentially complicated ideas (the psychological concepts of “priming” vs. “framing,” for example) into bite-sized informative chunks that never feel overwhelming—even for risk-management novices. There are parts of the text that do become a bit repetitive, though, such as the section discussing the “tribal leadership model” in which the same information is relayed twice using slightly different verbiage. But such moments prove to be the exception—the author largely keeps the book moving in a logical forward trajectory. The prose itself is personable but never emotional, and it avoids the dryness that sometimes plagues business books of this size. There are also plenty of examples, anecdotes, and visuals to break things up. Schneider has created an accessible handbook full of concrete advice for anyone looking to adapt to the ever-changing business landscape.
