Course Description

Why do some innovators and their ventures seem successful while others fail? What is the secret to feeling fulfilled, despite challenges? While likely a combination of attributes and skills, resilience is one of the most often suggested and least researched traits enabling founders and founding teams to flourish (source: Phebe Tucker, MD, What is Resilience).  We posit that resilience can be learned, a skill related to growth mindset.

For this course, we define resilience as the ability to bounce back; explore options; take action and learn from mistakes while experiencing tension. Lack of resilience presents itself in fear; frustration at receiving negative feedback; overwhelming guilt; regret and even depression. The course objective is to provide new awareness of the brain science behind impediments to resilience, present and apply tools to increase your resilience and test various practices to improve your ability to successfully launch yourself, your venture and your ideas.  Together we will learn about and analyze experiments, literature, movies and group activities to understand:

  • The meaning of resilience and how it applies to your situation as an individual, venture team member and/or venture team lead;

  • Neuroscience and cognitive science, at a high level, and how it impacts your actions, feelings and ability to thrive

  • A variety of practical tools (and evaluation relative to your needs) to help you understand what is happening in your brain that impedes your resilience, that work for you and those around you that are proven to increase resilience

  • Alternative perspectives, so that you can choose what works for you to you push forward in your work and your leadership, through challenges and opportunities

As you work through group-, partner- and individual- activities, this class is designed to help you and your current or future team. With your commitment to ongoing survey participation, you will leave a lasting legacy of best practices to build resilience in others going forward.

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Instructor

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Victoria Howell

Victoria Howell is director, Professional Programs and associate instructor for UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. She leads the A. Richard Newton Lecture Series: A Berkeley Changemaker® Course, the Center’s flagship program. Her background is in financial services, strategy and marketing, and she now dedicates herself to delivering opportunities/events connecting exceptional individuals to diverse audiences. Her work encourages learning and empowerment for aspiring innovators, entrepreneurs, career-minded professionals and seasoned executives. She holds a BA from University of Virginia and an MBA, from The Darden School of Business University of Virginia.