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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
From setback to system change: How leaders can learn from transformational resilience
A new framework shows how to move from surviving setbacks to reshaping systems, illustrated by Martine Roy’s journey from forced military discharge to sustained institutional reform.
Rapid read:
- Resilience is often misunderstood as simply recovering from setbacks, but some leaders use adversity to create lasting impact.
- Martine Roy, expelled from the Canadian Armed Forces in 1989 over her sexual orientation, transformed that injustice into decades of advocacy and institutional change.
- The Transformational Resilience Matrix maps four responses to adversity: Survivors, Builders, Changemakers, and System Shapers.
- Each stage moves from a reactive focus on personal recovery toward a proactive drive to create value for others and reshape systems.
- Leaders can use the matrix as a diagnostic tool, asking whether they are merely stabilizing after setbacks or using them to build, help others, and improve the systems around them.
Resilience has become one of the most celebrated leadership qualities of our time. Executives are encouraged to build it. Organizations seek it in their leaders. Business books praise it as the antidote to uncertainty, disruption, and change. Yet resilience is often misunderstood.
Many discussions about resilience focus on how individuals can recover from adversity. Far less attention is paid to what happens next: why some people simply return to where they were before a setback, while others use adversity as a catalyst to create something larger than themselves that delivers system-wide effects.
Martine Roy belongs firmly in the second category.
In 1989, Roy was expelled from the Canadian Armed Forces because of her sexual orientation. Like thousands of others affected by Canadaâs LGBT Purge, she found herself excluded from an institution she deeply valued. The experience was painful, deeply personal, and profoundly unfair. For years she fought to reverse the decision and carried the frustration that comes when a system refuses to acknowledge its mistakes. Although the discriminatory policy was eventually abolished in 1992, those who had been affected received neither an apology nor formal recognition of the harm they had endured. Eventually, however, she reached an important realization. Continuing to focus exclusively on the injustice itself would not create the future she wanted. Instead, she made a conscious decision to redirect that energy into building something positive. That decision changed the trajectory of her life.
Roy helped establish Pride at Work Canada, became a leading advocate for workplace inclusion, and co-led a historic class action against the Canadian government.
A continuing role
After she was discharged from the military, she found steady work at IBM and a place to live, and was supported by her family. Over the following decades, Roy helped establish Pride at Work Canada, became a leading advocate for workplace inclusion, and co-led a historic class action against the Canadian government. Her goal was not simply to seek compensation, but to pursue justice, accountability, and recognition for the thousands of people whose lives and careers had been affected by the Purge. The class action ultimately led to a formal apology and compensation for those impacted. In 2018, the Canadian Armed Forces became a member of Pride at Work Canada.
Roy has since returned to the military as an Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel, touring regiments to share her story and help ensure the exclusion she experienced is not repeated. Her current advocacy extends beyond the Purge: she describes ongoing inequality for women in the military as a fight that continues âmore than ever,â alongside the work for Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (2SLGBTQ+) rights. 2S Â refers to âTwo-Spiritâ, a distinct identity recognized within some Indigenous communities, predating colonial contact.
Her story raises a question that extends far beyond her own experience: what separates those who are defined by setbacks from those who transform them into opportunities for impact?
The shift from reacting to adversity to acting upon it, is where transformational resilience begins.
Beyond resilience
Many leadership models treat resilience as the ability to withstand pressure and recover from difficult circumstances. This is undoubtedly important. Every leader will encounter failure, rejection, disappointment, or adversity at some point in their career.
But recovery alone is not transformation.
A leader who recovers from a setback may regain confidence, rebuild a career, or restore performance. A leader who transforms adversity does something different. They convert their experience into action that benefits others and, in some cases, changes institutions.
This distinction became increasingly clear to me during a conversation with Roy. One moment, in particular, stood out. Reflecting on the years following her dismissal, she described reaching a point at which continuing to focus on the injustice itself was no longer productive. Instead, she consciously chose to channel her energy toward building something positive.
That shift, from reacting to adversity to acting upon it, is where transformational resilience begins.
Over time, I began noticing that people respond to adversity in remarkably different ways. Some focus primarily on recovery. Others use adversity as a catalyst for action. Fewer people channel their experiences into helping others, while a rare few push on to reshape the very systems that created the challenge in the first place.
I have captured these dimensions in the âTransformational Resilience Matrixâ.
In observing leaders who successfully navigate major setbacks, I have found it useful to think about resilience through two dimensions.
The transformational resilience matrix
In observing leaders who successfully navigate major setbacks, I have found it useful to think about resilience through two dimensions.
The first is how individuals respond to adversity: do they remain reactive, focusing primarily on what happened to them, or do they become proactive, focusing on what they can do next?
The second is the scope of their response: are they focused primarily on their own recovery, or do they seek to create impact that extends beyond themselves and benefits others?
Together, these dimensions create four distinct responses to adversity.
At the most basic level sit the Survivors. They recover from adversity and regain stability. This is an important achievement and often requires significant courage. They rebuild confidence, restore performance, and move forward. Yet the primary focus remains personal recovery. The objective is to return to the baseline. Survivors are not weak. In fact, surviving often requires extraordinary courage. The challenge is that many people stop here.
When facing a setback, do you find yourself asking:
- How do I get back to where I was?
- How do I recover my confidence or credibility?
- How do I minimize the damage?
- When can I move on from this experience?
Survivors focus on recovery. Their objective is stability.
Builders represent the next stage. Rather than merely recovering, they begin creating. They redirect energy into constructive action, developing solutions, initiatives, opportunities, or new directions that emerge from difficult experiences. A setback becomes a source of learning and momentum rather than a permanent obstacle. Builders recognize that adversity can become a source of learning, innovation, and growth.
When facing adversity, do you tend to ask:
- What can I learn from this?
- What new opportunity has emerged?
- What can I create because of this experience?
- How can I turn this setback into a stepping stone?
Builders focus on action and creation.
Changemakers extend their impact further. They use their experience to improve outcomes for others, building communities, coalitions, networks, or movements that create value beyond themselves. Their focus shifts from âHow do I recover?â to âHow can others benefit from what I have learned?â Changemakers begin shifting their focus from personal recovery to collective benefit.
When reflecting on difficult experiences, do you ask:
- How can others benefit from what I learned?
- Who else is facing the same challenge?
- How can I help people avoid this experience?
- What community or coalition could address this issue?
Changemakers focus on improving outcomes for others.
Finally, System Shapers use adversity as a catalyst for institutional or systemic change. Their impact extends beyond individuals and into the systems, policies, cultures, or structures that shape future outcomes. Rather than simply adapting to the system, they help improve it. System Shapers ask a different question altogether: how can the system itself improve?
When confronting systemic challenges, do you ask:
- Why did this happen in the first place?
- What assumptions, policies, or systems created this outcome?
- How can we prevent this from happening again?
- What needs to change beyond my own situation?
System Shapers focus on changing systems rather than simply succeeding within them.
The value of the matrix is not in categorizing people. Rather, it helps leaders understand that resilience is not a destination but a progression. Most resilience conversations stop at survival. Yet the greatest leadership impact often occurs when individuals move beyond recovery and begin creating value for others and improving the systems around them.
The matrix should not be interpreted as a hierarchy of worth. Every stage is valid, and different situations may require different responses. Someone facing a personal crisis may need to focus entirely on survival. The purpose of the framework is not to judge where people are, but to help them recognize that resilience can evolve over time. The question is not where you start, but whether you choose to move forward.
Royâs story is compelling precisely because it illustrates every stage of the framework. She first survived the personal and professional consequences of exclusion. She then rebuilt her career and redirected her energy toward constructive action. Through Pride at Work Canada and her advocacy work, she helped create opportunities for others facing similar barriers. Finally, by joining the LGBT Purge class action to pursue justice, accountability, and recognition for those affected â and through her subsequent engagement with the Canadian Armed Forces â she helped influence institutional change. Her journey demonstrates that resilience is not a fixed state, but a series of choices that can ultimately reshape the very systems that once caused the adversity.
Her story reminds us that while adversity is often beyond our control, what we choose to do with it rarely is.
The question is not whether adversity will arrive. It will.
What leaders can do differently
Every leader will face setbacks. A failed project. A missed promotion. A business crisis. A restructuring. A personal disappointment.
The question is not whether adversity will arrive. It will.
The more important question is how far we choose to go. Do we stop at survival? Do we build something new? Do we create value for others? Or do we leave the system better than we found it?
Leaders can use the Transformational Resilience Matrix as a simple diagnostic tool. When facing adversity, ask yourself:
- Am I reacting or acting?
- Am I focused only on my own recovery?
- How can this experience create value for others?
- What opportunity exists to improve the system itself?
Resilience helps us endure adversity. Transformational resilience helps us create positive change because of it.
Authors
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