Disaster Recovery Journal Summer 2024

How a Book on Piracy Inspired My Life in Resilience By MARK HOFFMAN A couple of years ago, a friend of mine from the UK recommended a book called “Be More Pirate (Or How to Take on the World and Win)” by Sam Conniff. My friend called the book “insightful, inspira tional and funny.” Not sure if I would like book throughout this article (courtesy of the author), I think you’ll see why I not only had to own this book, but why I also needed to be more pirate when it comes to my life in the world of resilience. The premise of the book is that “300

single way, the rules of the day favored an elite few.” (Trust me, we’re coming back to these points). Conniff goes on to say, “Rather than simply voice their complaints, they chose instead to do something about the situa tion. They decided to break the rules and then remake the rules.” Concerned some may be put off by the term “pirate,” the book makes it clear that our inspiration comes from a “very spe cific type of pirate, from a very specific period in history.” No one is recommend ing that you turn into a Somali pirate, nor are we suggesting we get our inspiration from someone who “reveled in theft, torture, rape and murder.” What we’re talking about is the so-called “Golden Age of Piracy.” A period around 1690 to 1725 when men like Henry Morgan, Blackbeard, and Sam Bellamy were “infamous the world over for standing

years ago, a small group of frustrated and underappreciated, mostly young profes sionals finally had enough of living in a society run badly by a self-interested and self-serving establishment.” The book goes on to say that “the odds were stacked high against them and in every

it; I went to the library to check it out. After reading a few pages, I put the book back on the shelf and walked out. This was not a book I was going to borrow. I had to own it. I had to make it mine. As I reference specific quotes from the

A version of this post first appeared on the Resilience Think Tank blog.

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