ABOUT
OUR CORE PREMISE
We are all resilient. It is in each of us from day one.
Sometimes we lose touch with our resilience, but it never goes away.
We can engage in attitudes and activities to exercise and strengthen our resilience.
MISSION
To empower all people to access and strengthen their resilience. To encourage people to embrace realistic optimism as their default thinking. To provide people with the tools and inspiration they need to rise to life’s challenges with confidence and grit. To convince everyone, in every interaction, that they have the strength and resilience to do their part to move humanity forward.
VISION
We envision a society where everyone is confident, resilient, and eager to make their contribution. We imagine a vast community transformed one person at a time into one with greater shared purpose, with hope and fulfillment for all. We dream of a world where every person recognizes their value to humanity and respects what all others offer.
Why Bottom of the Box?
Do you wonder what's in our name?
Bottom of the Box is a reference to the Greek creation myth of Pandora. Zeus created Pandora as a punishment for humanity because of the theft of fire by Prometheus. Zeus gave her a box and told her never to open it. But Zeus also purposely made Pandora extremely curious, and predictably, she opened the box.
As soon as Pandora opened the box, all the ills and evils of creation escaped, destroying the Earthly paradise. After Pandora released all the wickedness into the world, she noticed something: a small sprite (spirit creature) in the bottom corner of the box. That leftover creature was Hope. Hope was a gift from the gods as a counter to the evils released into the world.
It turns out that Hope, representing optimism, is a significant component of resilience and of leadership. Those who have resilience in spades also tend to have Hope in abundance. They nurture a realistic optimism that keeps them energized and able to power through challenges and disappointments to achieve their goals. Hope is their rock in the storms of life. Great leaders have great hope while being honest with themselves and others about the challenges they face.
At Bottom of the Box, our programs empower you to find Hope at the bottom of your box. With Hope comes increased resilience and stronger leadership. Hope is the gift that enables humans to get back up after they fall, to climb the steepest mountains, and to carry the most substantial burdens and still keep going.
There are other powerful, resilience enhancing, character traits (some refer to these as soft skills) that linger, unexercised in many boxes. At Bottom of the Box, LLC, we help people of all ages to exercise all their character strengths to become more well-rounded and resilient leaders.