The new constant: Change and the need for resilience

If there’s one truth that has become impossible to ignore, it’s this: the modern world of work is moving faster than any of us could have imagined. We’re navigating economic shifts, evolving customer expectations and rapid technological advancements. Change is no longer a periodic event for which we brace ourselves - it’s a constant undercurrent in our daily work. This environment demands more than just diligence and ability. It demands resilience. It’s not something often discussed, but I believe resilience is now fundamental to personal and organisational success.

But what do we mean by resilience? It’s not about being impervious to stress or somehow pretending that challenges don’t affect us. Resilience is the capacity to navigate adversity, learn from setbacks, bounce back from challenges and adapt to change without losing our core sense of purpose and wellbeing. It's the psychological muscle that helps us stay competitive, be able to constantly innovate and maintain performance under pressure. It helps us see disruption not as a threat, but as an opportunity.

Think of it like an elite athlete. They don't win by avoiding strain - they win by training their bodies and minds to handle it. They build strength, develop recovery routines and cultivate a mindset that allows them to perform at their peak. In our professional lives at RELX, building this mental and emotional fitness is just as critical. Unlike athletes who train to peak for specific events, the workplace is one long marathon, at times interspersed with sprints. We all need to learn how to build our strength to manage ourselves and our teams.

Maintaining performance during periods of pressure is a challenge we all face at times. That is not unique to RELX by any means. It’s easy to slip into a reactive mode, working longer hours and not turning off in an attempt to keep up. While admirable, this approach is not sustainable. Personal resilience involves working smarter, not just harder. It means knowing when to push and when to pause and setting boundaries, having the self-awareness to recognise the signs of burnout before it takes hold. It’s being able to have the right conversations with your manager and team about how to best get the work done. It’s about understanding that your wellbeing is not a luxury, but a fundamental prerequisite for high performance.

The AI revolution: A partner, not a replacement

One of the biggest drivers of change right now is, without a doubt, artificial intelligence. The conversation around AI often swings between utopian euphoria and dystopian dread. Will it solve all our problems, or will it make our jobs obsolete? The reality, as is so often the case, lies somewhere in between.

From my perspective AI is not, for the most part, going to replace human talent but to augment it. It’s a powerful tool that can automate repetitive tasks, analyse vast amounts of data and free us up to focus on what we, as humans, do best - strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, empathy and complex collaboration. AI is becoming a new kind of colleague - one that can manage the administrative load, allowing us to dedicate our energy to higher-value work. And it’s this higher-value work that fuels innovation.

However, this partnership with AI requires us to adapt. The skills that were valuable a decade ago may not be the ones that define success today. The future belongs to those who can work alongside intelligent systems, using that power to amplify their own capabilities.

Staying relevant: The imperative of lifelong learning

This brings me to my second key point - the critical importance of building new skills. If AI is managing more of the ‘what’ across our business, our value increasingly comes from the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. To stay relevant and continue to grow, we must shift our mindset from one of ‘having learned’ to one of ‘always learning’.

The skills that are becoming most valuable in this new landscape are uniquely human. They include:

·         Critical thinking and complex problem-solving: The ability to analyse a situation, question assumptions and devise creative solutions is a skill AI can support but not replicate. As AI provides the data, our role is to interpret it, find the narrative and make the strategic calls

·         Emotional intelligence and collaboration: Understanding and managing our own emotions and recognising and influencing the emotions of others, is the bedrock of effective teamwork, leadership and client relationships. In a world of hybrid work across cultures, the ability to build trust and connect with our colleagues on a human level has never been more important

·         Adaptability and learning agility: This is perhaps the most crucial skill of all. It’s the ability and willingness to learn new things quickly, to unlearn old habits that no longer serve us and to remain flexible. A learning mindset sees new challenges not as obstacles, but as chances to acquire new competencies

·         Digital and AI literacy: Understanding the basic principles of AI and other digital tools is becoming non-negotiable. Knowing what these technologies can and cannot do will enable us to find opportunities to use them effectively in our jobs

At RELX, we are committed to providing our people with the resources and platforms to build these skills. We are investing in new programmes like Manager CORE to help people-managers succeed and our partnership with OwnLife which is helping colleagues better understand how they can build their own resilience and sustainable performance. We offer all employees access to AI tools and learning. We want everyone to embrace it, play with it and enhance our jobs by using it. However, regardless of what we offer, ultimately, the drive to learn must come from each of us.

Integrating resilience: Skills for a sustainable career

Resilience and skill-building are not separate pursuits - they are two sides of the same coin. The process of learning something new, of mastering a difficult challenge, is itself a powerful act of resilience-building. It proves to us that we can adapt and grow. Conversely, a resilient mindset gives us the psychological safety to take risks, try new things and embrace the learning process, even if it involves failure along the way. It is this balance that we must all look for in the modern world of work.

Prioritising our wellbeing is the foundation that makes all of this possible. A sustainable career is one where ambition and wellbeing coexist. It’s about finding a rhythm that allows for both intense, focused work and genuine, restorative rest

As we look ahead, the future of work is not something that happens to us - it is something we will create together. It will be shaped by our ability to adapt, our curiosity to learn and our strength to keep going. By investing in our resilience and our skills, we are not just preparing for the future, we are building it.