Picture a steamship gliding on the ocean. Once you fire up the engines, it’s full speed ahead. This metaphor describes what work was like for adult men in industrialized nations the first half of the 20^th century, as envisioned by the futurist and leader of the Xerox PARC team John Seely Brown, known as JSB.

Born in 1940, JSB characterizes his generation as having careers that were more like sailboats. Through skillful tacking learned on the job, he and others figured out how to get close to where they wanted to go.

But today, employees–and the self-employed too–find themselves being whitewater kayakers, JSB notes. Alone In their small boat, they must analyze and respond to ever-changing rapids. They have to learn to trust themselves so they don’t panic and capsize.

Welcome to the “Whitewater World of Work, ” as JSB calls it.  The pace and type of change we workers face today is definitely more extreme than what our parents and grandparents faced. And to navigate the constant, rapid and unpredictable change and  uncertainty churning within these turbulent waters, workers need a unique set of emotional, social, and cognitive skills. That’s the premise of the 2023 book Tomorrowmind: Thriving at Work with Resilience, Creativity, and Connection—Now and in an Uncertain Future by Gabriella Rosen Kellerman, MD and Martin Seligman, PhD. 

The authors’ point of view is that our mental well-being is under constant threat in today’s workplace due to the combination of technology,  globalization, and downsizing. To counter these threats and better adapt, we need to strengthen specific powers that we possess. Interestingly, our ancestors who were hunters and gatherers honed these powers centuries ago, the authors write. But more recent generations suppressed them during industrialization.

The five specific psychological powers are 1) resilience; 2) meaning and mattering; 3) social connections; 4) prospection, that is foresight for contemplating and then preparing for the future; and 5) innovation. To remember the five skills, you can think of PRISM (prospection, resilience, innovation, social connection, and mattering). However, to apply the skills, resilience serves as the roots. Meaning and mattering and social connections then support resilience with prospection and innovation as valuable yet not essential.

If you’re a fan or follower of book’s co-author Marty Seligman, you may be familiar with his evidence-based framework called PERMA. It stands for 1) positive emotions; 2) engagement in work, love, and play; 3) relationships; 4) meaning and mattering; and 5) accomplishments and achievements.  PERMA is more about well-being, including living life well, which makes sense since Marty is considered the father of positive psychology.

By contrast, PRISM and the book Tomorrowmind focus more on encouraging individuals to take the initiative to protect themselves against the  potential damages related to today’s whitewater conditions. Gabriella also is making an effort to train coaches to upskill our abilities to support our clients. For example, this winter I’m participating in “Coaching for Tomorrowmind: Building Essential Skills for Performance in Uncertainty” a course offered through the Institute of Coaching, one of my professional organizations.

Her messages to us are alarming. Based on her experiences as a medical doctor, researcher, and coach who also serves as the chief product officer at BetterUp, Gabriella has extensive access to continuous up-to-date data to analyze. And her prognosis is grim. Working in uncertain conditions can have an adverse impact on individuals’ mental as well as physical health, she told us. These include burnout, anxiety, fear, stress, poor performance, increased distrust, greater conflict, and a range of medical problems, including a shortened life span.

To develop the cognitive and emotional agility to protect yourself, you first need to build resilience. The research she’s involved in has shown five drivers that are especially valuable for becoming more resilient. They are:

1. cognitive ability, especially to plan and adapt
2. self-regulation of your emotions, including being able to reappraise situations
3. self- compassion, including taking care of yourself and maintaining a healthy perspective
4. optimism, which helps you stay positive about the future, as well as be motivated and open to new ideas – especially if you’re grounded in reality rather than being a cockeyed optimist
5. confidence in yourself, especially a belief in your self-efficacy.

Throughout the course, we’ve been focusing on ourselves and our clients. However, the lessons apply to children too. The whitewater rapids surrounding school-age children are becoming even more turbulent. So the earlier they can prepare to learn how to manage themselves in uncertain, unstable settings, the better equipped they’ll be to flourish rather than flounder.

And if this advice plus prognosis seem dire, keep in mind it’s also offering you a chance to practice resilience, especially emotional self-regulation and reappraisal. You can flip this scenario around and view it as an opportunity to reacquaint yourself and your loved ones with life and work skills that helped our ancestors survive and thrive long ago. So how do you maintain and even build your resilience?