The sweetness of adversity - Business First of Columbus:

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After a number of yearsz with a national medicalmanagement company, Korn felt the inne r winds of change blowing, guidinyg her toward somewhere where she believed her work would make a She wanted out and faced many questions from friends and familyu about the logic behind abdicating her cushy marketing job, where she was a senior vice "It was so scary and terrifying," she says. "When I left I was making a good income, but nobodg understood it. There were so many people who weren'g in my corner, but I realized I had to take anotherd job." That she did, and two months the health-care facility that hired her as head of marketingfiree her.
Armed with severance pay from the facilitt andunemployment compensation, Korn spent the next five monthsz looking for work, and starting to learn how touggh she could be. "I alwayz knew I was resilient, but I neverr knew I could be tested as much as Ihave been," says the 51-year-oldx Korn, who is now owner of , a Columbus-bases company that provides work experience and permanent job placemenr to people with physical challenges.
Little did she know that the study ofresiliench - defined by Webster'ws dictionary as "the ability to recover spirits, good humor quickly; buoyancy" - is a growinhg research field and something in which more people are taking a keen Al Siebert, director of the Ore.-based , said of the speaking engagement he has scheduled for this year, 10 involvew senior managers of U.S. governmentg agencies whose budgets and staffing levelds are so strainedthat they're looking for ways to help those left becomes more resilient in delivering An author who has researched and spoken on the subjecty for nearly two decades, Siebertg says there are common traits people have that make them more resilientr than others.
"One of the key elements of resiliency isproblekm solving," he says, "and dealing with it in an outwarrd way." The comment is echoed by Sharonb Alvarez, who says resiliency and problem solvinfg aren't qualities relegated to entrepreneurs solely. "It'sx particular to all people whoare successful," she "We view CEOs very positively; we view athletex very well ... but if you don'f train, you're not going to win a medap atthe Olympics," says the assistant professor of managementt and human resources and entrepreneurship at Ohio State University'xs Center for Entrepreneurship.
Following her terminatio n fromthe health-care Korn spent five months lookinhg for work. She had but wanted to stay in Columbus where her daughterxs were enrolledin school. A career coac recommended she schedule informational interviews to look for her next She interviewed with the in an efforrt to figure out how to use her sales andmarketing skills. Two months later, she got a call from the associatiohn and was asked to helprais money. "I couldn't live on what they paid me, but I was able to hire a persoj to work from home to dothe work," she says, and Pearkl Interactive was born.
The , a state agencyu that provides services to help people with disabilities find found out what Korn was They let her know about an availableOhio grant, which required her to hire 10 Later, she did just that, and today the company has severalp ongoing contracts with companies to do outbound calliny - such as political surveys, lead generation and All her employees work from home. "I hire the people who are the least she says, "and it's not been an easy road." 51, found success and satisfaction in her business, but that did not prevenf more obstacles from popping up, forcing her to re-examinew her choice.
She once hired an independent contractor who was going through a very difficulfpersonal situation, and eventually Korn stoppe d using her. Korn says she never expected the womanb to call the and claim Korn had wrongly classified her as a contractotr when she should have beenan employee.