There are moments that quietly define a generation of leaders. For many of us, that moment came in the early days of the pandemic. The sleepless nights. The constant recalibration. The mask-wearing days of COVID, when there was no roadmap and no clear sense of how long any of it would last. Just decision after decision, each one carrying weight, each one made with incomplete information. Pacing yourself was hard and sustaining others at the same time was harder.

During that period, a CEO friend of mine half-jokingly remarked that organizations needed a Chief Resilience Officer. At the time, it drew a laugh because it captured something many leaders were feeling but had not yet fully articulated, the concept that resilience had quietly become one of the most essential leadership responsibilities in the organization.

I remember somewhere in April or May of 2020, a member of my team asked me how I was staying so calm, and how I was staying healthy in all the turmoil and uncertainty. The answer came from a place of lived experience. I had been through major disruption before. A farm crisis in my formative years. Multiple market cycles. A front-row seat for the Sept.11 attacks. The Great Recession. And those were only the professional side of life. Over time, those experiences had shaped how I responded, not with certainty but with a kind of steadiness that apparently others could feel.

That steadiness is what many people now associate with resilience, and it has taken on new meaning in today’s environment. In my April Business Record column, I described what I called “adaptive resilience” and the way leadership success and emotional strain often rise together. Leaders may feel a strong sense of purpose and engagement while also carrying higher levels of stress, loneliness and pressure in their daily experience. The role stretches people in ways that are both meaningful and demanding, often at the same time.

What has changed in recent years is the scale and the pace of change. The environment leaders are operating in now is one of continuous disruption. However, despite the fact that this new reality has become “business as usual,” research from McKinsey & Company revealed that 84% of leaders report they feel underprepared for future disruptions. That sense of underpreparedness persists even as organizations have already navigated unprecedented challenges. It reflects how much more dynamic and unpredictable the landscape has become.

Within that same research is a clear call for how leadership must evolve. Senior executives are uniquely positioned to act as what is effectively a Chief Resilience Officer for their organizations, shaping how resilience is understood and embedded across strategy, operations and culture. They are expected to “set the tone for everyone in the organization” and to connect resilience directly to growth and long-term performance. The work shows up in how decisions are made, how risk is approached and how teams are guided through uncertainty.

It also shows up in how leaders relate to their people. Research highlighted in a recent Society for Human Resource Management article reinforces that resilience grows stronger in environments where leadership is inclusive and human-centered. The article notes that inclusive leaders create environments where teams are equipped to innovate, collaborate and excel regardless of external dynamics or uncertainty. These environments create the conditions for adaptability, allowing teams to respond to pressure with creativity and shared ownership rather than hesitation.

There is a practical dimension to this as well. Employees who demonstrate high resilience and adaptability are significantly more likely to be engaged and to contribute innovative ideas. Those outcomes are not accidental. They are shaped by leaders who invite input, create space for different perspectives, and build trust through consistent, visible behaviors. The ability to navigate disruption becomes distributed, rather than concentrated in a single individual.

Seen through that lens, the idea of a Chief Resilience Officer begins to feel less like a hypothetical role and more like an organizing principle for leadership today. It reflects a shift in expectations. Leaders are not only responsible for results; they are responsible for how their organizations endure, adapt and move forward in the face of constant change.

That shift connects directly back to the leaders shaped in moments like 2020. While leaders throughout history have always managed constant change, a generation of executives, managers and emerging leaders has now lived through a period that demanded resilience in ways few could have anticipated. They learned to make decisions without full information, to communicate with clarity in uncertain conditions and to support others while managing their own capacity.

The opportunity now is to carry that forward with intention. Being the Chief Resilience Officer is not a separate role; it is now part of every leader’s responsibility. When leaders consistently model resilience, it becomes credible and visible within the organization. Over time, it becomes embedded in the culture, shaping how people respond, adapt and move forward together.

For those wondering whether their organization needs a Chief Resilience Officer, the answer is already unfolding. The role is being played, every day, by leaders who understand that resilience is both personal and collective, both learned and practiced.

And for this generation of leaders, shaped by disruption that has now become standard operating procedure, and defined by how they chose to respond to it, that may be one of the most enduring legacies they carry forward.

Suzanna de Baca is a columnist for Business Record, CEO of Story Board Advisors and former CEO of BPC. Story Board Advisors provides strategic guidance and coaching for CEOs, boards of directors and family businesses. You can reach Suzanna at sdebaca@storyboardadvisors.com and follow her writing on leadership at: https://suzannadebacacoach.substack.com.