Michelle Kwan on resilience

Every other week in the On Leadership section, we publish a video interview for our series “Micro Management Stories.” The latest is a conversation with Michelle Kwan, the former Olympic figure skater who now works as an adviser at the State Department.

We asked Kwan what we ask each of the prominent figures who sit down for this series — tell us a story from your life that has had a lasting impression on the way you think about leadership and character. The story Kwan shared comes from her teenage years, when she was competing for a spot at the Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. Kwan would later go on to become America’s most decorated figure skater.

Yet she remembers a specific moment of getting off the ice, at a point when she was emotionally and physically exhausted, and bursting into tears. Kwan asked herself right there whether she was going to keep saying “poor me” or change her frame of mind. The answer she found still sticks with her 15 years later.

Watch Kwan’s video.