“You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering.”

Henri Frederic Amiel (September 27, 1821 – May 11, 1881), Swiss philosopher, poet and critic.

What do you say when your best effort doesn’t work out? Do you embrace the experience of falling short, or do you try to sweep it under the rug?

There’s evidence to suggest you might want to highlight your “failures” right next to your best and brightest moments. Resilience is in high demand these days.

Daniel Pink, author of “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” recently interviewed George Anders, a veteran journalist who’s new book, “The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else” tries to answer the question “how do you find extraordinary talent?” Perhaps most interesting is this exchange in which Dan gets at the heart of Anders’ search:

Dan Pink: ”You looked at talent both widely and deeply. What’s the big insight you had after completing this book that you didn’t have when you began it?”

George Anders: ”Everybody should be searching for resilience, and hardly anyone does. Being able to bounce back from adversity is crucial in just about every field I examined. You need resilience to be a great CEO, a great teacher, soldier, investor, etc., etc. But when we hire, we’re taught to regard setbacks — regardless of what came next — as flaws in a candidate. So when we prepare our own resumes, we hide our stumbles. That’s wrong! We should cherish people who have extricated themselves from trouble in the past.”

(Source: Dan Pink’s blog)

Demonstrate your resilience at every turn. Tell the story of the good times right next to the not-so-good. After all, I know you’re all incredibly resilient… you’ve survived one of the toughest market in decades!