NEW YORK CITY—In his most recent post, Ethan Penner examines the role of resiliency in daily life, and asks whether or not the trait is as virtuous as usually conceived.

As Penner sees it, one of the most positive aspects of having a resilience is keeping upright in the face of extreme challenges. This "allows us to maintain hope" even if there's "no apparent cause for optimism," Penner says. But as a human quality, Penner has noticed the negative side to perserverance as well. Starting with the phrase "grin and bear it," the quality seems to suggest maintaining a set of tactics or situations that, in practice, might be better either rethought or jettisoned.

Penner looks further at the business and personal angles of this negative side to resilience, and tries to balance this more stubborn aspect with the general toughness that is usually alluded to with the quality.