Global Recession: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

 

11

GROWTH AFTER TRAUMA

by Richard G. Tedeschi

What good can come of this? In times of stress, crisis, or trauma, people often ask that question. This year we’ve been hit by a pandemic that has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, unprecedented unemployment, and a global economic downturn. In the face of such a tragedy—personal and collective—it might appear that the answer is “Nothing.”

However, at some point we will be able to reflect on the long-term consequences of this terrible time and what it has wrought for each of us as individuals and for our organizations, communities, and nations. Almost certainly those outcomes will include some good along with the bad. Over the past 25 years psychologists like me have been studying this ...