How To Build Resilience In the Young

We canvass the opinions of three thought leaders on how to build resilience in young people.

Prince Robert of Luxembourg

My advice would be ‘come to know yourself’. In order to do this, it is helpful to challenge oneself in areas that are outside our comfort zones. Surviving these, and even potentially surpassing one’s own expectations, builds confidence and character.

Through these experiences our self-awareness will reveal talents that we never knew we had.

So many talents only come to light with time and through experience. So very many we take for granted. You shouldn’t! Not everyone has that empathy that you might have, not everyone can sing that well in the shower, not everyone has your attention to detail, recollection, ease with numbers, ability to taste, cheery disposition, creativity… whatever your super power might be. Discover your talents. Cultivate and celebrate them; this is not selfish, as others will ultimately come to benefit from them also.

Resilience, unfortunately, is also often earned by experiencing hardships, many of which are not sought out but rather imposed upon us by life. As the saying goes, ‘whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’.

In order to get the most out of life, take time and pleasure in uncovering and celebrating your true self.

Prince Robert is the chairman of Domaine Clarence Dillon, a wine company that owns estates including Château Haut-Brion. 

Francesca Muzio

Children and young people need places where they feel safe, be it with the family, at school or playing sports. In these situations, they should be able to make mistakes without being judged, in order to take ownership of themselves. They should also be able to experience a variety of complex relationships that will guarantee them elasticity in the future.

As human beings need to live in the real world, touching objects with their hands, feeling the space around them, experiencing things on their own skins, it’s essential to teach young people the value of technology but also the use of analogue to give them the power of decision. It is only with the knowledge of both worlds that choice becomes a possibility.

Another key aspect that can build resilience among young people is the contact with nature. Today we are increasingly escaping from it, stuck and muffled in a world that doesn’t follow natural rhythms. Reclaiming the cycles of nature puts human beings in a position to understand the mutability of events and thus develop resilience.

Francesca Muzio is an architect and interior designer who works on luxury residences and superyachts.

Carlo Cracco

Working in the kitchen sector is not at all easy. It is a constant sacrifice based on a fundamental concept: resilience. It is the ability to persist in pursuing challenging goals, effectively coping with difficulties and other negative events. Explaining and teaching this concept is only possible through passion and experience, which are the means by which I try to encourage my kids to always do new things, to test themselves and always make themselves useful.

Italian cuisine is a cuisine of the heart, the expression of a passion that manifests itself with gestures of love, based on great respect for food and constant research that cannot be separated from the desire to always arouse new emotions. I believe that the future of Italian cuisine is in the hands of future generations of chefs, and is based on a culture of ambassadors aware of places and people, who promote a personal style and belonging to a community, based on what generational precedents have left.

My project with the Maestro Martino Association at Villa Terzaghi was conceived from this awareness. It is a restaurant with production workshops where students participate in a training course, dedicating themselves to catering: a concrete way to train a new generation of professionals and to support the entire supply chain.

Carlo Cracco is a television chef, philanthropist and entrepreneur. In June 2022, Satopia Travel will be inviting a small group of guests to join Carlo Cracco on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria to learn from the master of modern Italian cuisine. Visit www.satopiatravel.com to find out available dates.

This article appeared in Billionaire's Learning Issue, Winter 2021-22. To subscribe click here.