Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2023 - 31

5 MINUTES WITH... / VITALS
Overcoming headwinds
A former fighter pilot shares her best advice for facing adversity.
R
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keynote speakers like
Nicole Malachowski at
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August.
etired Col. Nicole Malachowski is a combat
veteran, the first woman pilot on the
Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron,
a White House Fellow and an inductee into
both the National Women's Hall of Fame and
the Women in Aviation International Pioneer
Hall of Fame. Malachowski's 21-year Air Force
career came to an end when an illness left her
struggling to speak or walk for almost nine
months. Drawing on stories from her life,
Malachowski spoke at CHA's Transforming
Quality Conference on how to successfully
navigate change, adversity and the unknown
to lead through times of crisis.
Read a longer version
of this interview at
childrenshospitals.org/
malachowski
What is your best advice for navigating
change and adversity?
Fully accept that change and adversity are
part of the human condition. None of us are
immune to failure, mistakes, challenges or the
unexpected. Our ability to successfully move
through challenging moments is dependent
upon our willingness to self reflect, learn and
transform. I also often remind myself: " The
runway behind you is always unusable; all you
have is the runway in front of you. "
What is the greatest lesson you learned experiencing
'headwinds' with your squadron?
I'll start by answering this with a question:
Why do we often wait for headwinds, or a
crisis, to innovate or bring out the very best
and hidden talents of others? You successfully
navigate headwinds by being prepared,
by having practiced contingency plans, and
through tailored leadership. When people
know you're authentically invested in them,
they'll reward the team with their best skills,
trust and loyalty. And those three things are
the magic needed to navigate hardships.
How is 'resurgence' different than
'resilience' and why is it important?
I believe both traits are important to navigating
life's challenges, but the differences
lay in the context of the adversity. To me,
Nicole Malachowski is a combat veteran and
inductee in the National Women's Hall of Fame.
curveballs that we could never have prepared
for. These are what I call crucible experiences,
moments in time that fundamentally
change who we are. Navigating this kind
of adversity requires you to grow in ways
you could not have predicted. You come out
of these crucible experiences forged into a
completely new person: stronger, wiser, oftentimes
humbler. In these cases, there is no
bouncing back to your old self (resilience),
because your old self is gone. Resurgence
is about embracing the newer, better you.
Resurgence gives us a new starting point to
move forward from.
resilience is the ability to endure hardship
and to " bounce back " to your prior self. An
example could be failing a test, learning
from your mistake, studying harder, then
passing the test a second time. Resilience allows
us to be forward-looking and helps us
not ruminate on the past. To me, resurgence
is a completely different level of comeback.
Resurgence is about reinvention, and it's
about personal
transformation. Life will
sometimes throw us completely unexpected
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Summer 2023
31
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Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2023

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