Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deepen conceptual understanding of the spiritual components of resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual paper drawing on research the authors have been conducting on resilience within the police community for a combined period of over half-a-century.
Findings
A more holistic conceptualisation of resilience and particularly a more detailed and accurate picture of the spiritual aspects to resilience which is applicable to a wide variety of public and private sector leadership situations, not just those within the police.
Practical implications
The paper provides an increased appreciation of resilience which the authors hope will lead to more practical research in this area, with the longer term goal being to impact positively on practical workplace issues of major current concern in a wide variety of workplaces across the world.
Originality/value
The paper's contribution is to promote the importance of resilience, provide a greater theoretical understanding of holistic perspectives of resilience and further develop the spiritual component of resilience. This contribution is important because many leaders currently have a limited appreciation of all the aspects of resilience.