Real-life resilience - Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall passed away this week and the world lost not just a scientist, but a seeker. She was the young woman who walked into the forests of Tanzania with nothing but a notebook, binoculars, and a wild sense that meaning lived somewhere in the details.

She showed us that there was value in investing time and energy to look a bit deeper, to not just skim the surface, but to explore with curiosity and compassion. And that is how she was able to create new pathways for humanity.

In 1960, the 26-year-old Goodall arrived in Tanzania. She had no formal scientific training, but she had something that perhaps mattered more: a fierce curiosity and a willingness to be completely vulnerable to the wild. The forests of Africa became her new home, gradually winning over the local wildlife. Over months, she watched and waited, and then on one particular day, Jane witnessed something that opened up a new path for science.

She saw a chimpanzee (who she had named David Greybeard) strip leaves from a twig, insert it into a termite mound, then draw it out coated in termites and eat them. This behaviour, now known as termite “fishing,” revealed something fascinating to Goodall and eventually the world: a non-human species was using a tool. Up until that very moment, using tools was thought to be uniquely human.

In time, her detailed observations expanded to include perspectives on hierarchy, compassion, conflict, and grief among the chimpanzees. All of these made possible by her commitment to immerse herself into the mystery of life and to try and understand the primates. And those new ideas challenged the rigid boundary between humans and animals. She was able to prove that chimpanzees have personalities, relationships, even emotions.

What began as a study of chimpanzees became a quiet lesson in what it means to be fully human.

Most people stop when things get uncomfortable. Not Jane. She found a way through the isolation, disease, academic dismissal, and decades of slow, painstaking observation. It’s a rare resilience that not many of us have. Henry Dunant had it when he founded the Red Cross, and so did Jane. It’s the kind of resilience that endures quietly and faithfully, until the truth reveals itself.

“If you don’t hope that your actions can make a difference, then you sink into apathy.” - Jane Goodall.

Jane’s resilience was one that was built on hope, but also intense curiosity and compassion.

She refused to treat her subjects as data points or numbers on a clipboard. Instead, she gave them names (David Greybeard, Goliath etc) because she saw them as individuals with stories of their own.

She also refused to flatten emotion into science. Jane noticed the chimps grieving, comforting one another, adopting orphans, reconciling after fights. Others dismissed her for being too sentimental, but she stood her ground. Denying that animals could feel, she argued, was the real denial of reality.

And when she saw that forests were being cleared and habitats started disappearing, she evolved. She built the Jane Goodall Institute and later Roots & Shoots, turning that quiet observation into global action. She went from scientist to advocate without ever losing her centre.

It feels fitting to be recognizing Jane at this time in life. Right now we’re operating in a stark world of surface-level insights, flitting attention spans, and too much quitting when the slightest challenges arise.

There is much to admire about someone who is curious, seeks new pathways and is called to change the situation.

Bringing Jane’s depth into modern work.

Here are some practices inspired by her courage to go deeper:

1. Take time to observe others. Imagine slowing down for just a moment to really take in what others are doing, or how systems are operating. Who do we admire that works well? What can we learn from them? Any time spent getting curious about team members, clients, customers is a valid investment. We can watch for patterns of interaction, listen for what’s unspoken, notice those micro-shifts.

2. Evolve to the moment. If we can’t change a situation, we are forced to change ourselves. Jane was a great advocate to do whatever it takes to avoid succumbing to apathy. She couldn’t change our understanding of primates from afar, so she got out of her comfort zone and went into the wild. How often do we do complain about our world, but we don’t take the leap required? We need to be realistic about the challenges, but relentlessly focused on our freedom to choose our path forward.

3. Remember names. People are people, not roles or numbers. In organizations, we often talk of “headcount,” “resources,” “outputs.” What if we regularly named the individuals instead? The shift helps us act from compassion, not cold efficiency. And how much better does it feel when people remember our name? It’s actually rooted in science: studies have shown that when people hear their own name, it activates several regions of the brain, and oxytocin is released which helps increase trust and cooperation. This is a great simple tool for strengthening relationships and building stronger community!

4. Longer-term curiosity. In her early months in Africa, Jane spent long stretches without clear results. But she stayed with the uncertainty. In work, we can create zones of exploration which are small projects or experiments where we give ourselves the freedom to be wrong, to learn, to refine. Failure is just data, but we have to be prepared to hold the line with curiosity.

We might want the results to come naturally and easily, but sometimes it requires a bit of loneliness and some wading through the wild. The courage to go deep is rarely glamorous, and often slow and full of uncertainty. But it’s precisely that courage that builds new pathways.

Because when we do build those pathways, we may just light that path for others who never thought it was possible.

Until next time friends, stay resilient.

Carré @ Resilient Minds

PS - did you miss this past newsletter on Radical Gratitude? Check it out here.