the power of grit
I describe myself as a leader with grit. Like a dog with a bone I an passionate and persistent. No matter what.
In a world of luck, opportunity, great preparation, grit is what I have credited with any success i have had.
I read with great interest Angela Lee Duckworth the author of , “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.”
“I define grit as the tendency to pursue long-term goals with passion and persistence,” she explains, echoing her book’s subtitle. A close cousin of what personality psychologists call conscientiousness, grit deserves its own entry in the social-science lexicon, Ms. Duckworth insists: “Conscientiousness also includes self-control, orderliness, punctuality, responsibility."
So for me this all rings true - except for orderliness...but no ones perfect.
Ms. Duckworth has her own 10-question test called the Grit Scale. She asked West Point cadets to take the test; those who scored higher were likelier to make it through the notoriously grueling “Beast Barracks” training. She also tested salespeople at a time-share company, Chicago public-school students and National Spelling Bee competitors, among others. High grit scores had the same predictive power for all of them. Persistence driven by passionate interest, she concluded after testing the various likely alternatives, predicts achievement in ways that neither conscientiousness nor IQ nor talent does.
Ms. Duckworth has several thoughts about why parents and educators in particular have seized on grit as an answer to some of life’s—and the schools’—problems. “It’s just speculation, but there may be a reaction to the focus on standardized tests, on ability and tests of ability and aptitude,” she says. Grit offers parents a different way of thinking about their children’s futures: “It’s not just about your talent and ability, it’s also about how much heart you put into it. Also, privileged parents worry their kids don’t have enough grit—the path has been smoothed for them.”
Ms. Duckworth’s work on grit. Its mission is to “advance the science and the practice of character development.” Her team, she says, relies on an “inclusive definition of character from Aristotle: everything that allows a person to live a good life. Not just grit but gratitude; not just gratitude but curiosity, imagination, social and emotional intelligence, empathy, kindness, delayed gratification, self-control, growth mindset. The list is long.”
Heres to leading a life of character! Now that is noble.