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Nudge · 2-minute read

Resilience Is Not a Personal Skill

Burnout comes from job demands outrunning resources. Teaching individuals to cope better doesn’t fix a structural imbalance.

By Tareef Jafferi · 18 Jul 2026

The Job Demands-Resources model explains strain as an imbalance: too much demand, not enough control, support or recovery. Resilience training addresses the individual’s response to that imbalance, not the imbalance itself.

Workshops aren’t useless, but they aren’t a substitute for changing the work.

The research: Bakker & Demerouti (2007), Journal of Managerial Psychology — the Job Demands-Resources model.

Adapted from Nudges at Work by Tareef Jafferi, shared in partnership with Happily.ai.

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