The word ‘GRIT’ and ‘GRITS>’ has been around for many years. Perhaps you first heard of it as a food of Native American origin, most commonly served in the Southern United States. Then ‘grit’ went Hollywood long ago in 1968. Then the book, True Grit, was made into an academy award winning movie starring John Wayne … a film that was re-made a dozen years ago in 2010. So, we know that ‘grit’ is something we can eat and watch. Yet is there more? Evidently so because now GRIT is studied and acknowledged as a very meaningful personality trait badly needed today.
What makes it meaningful these days is the work that many businesses are having to do to re-emerge. Working tirelessly to move on from COVID, it is grit that is being referred to and called upon. It is grit that can really make a defining difference in business, differentiating the successful and achievers from those who are less so. Actually, it’s exciting. Whereas IQ has often been considered a good measurement for how well one might do in a given field … or in life, grit seems to be giving that concept a run for its money.
A researcher, psychologist and educator Angela Lee Duckworth, identified six characteristics of GRIT several years ago.
- having true passion and perseverance to drive to the long-term goal.
- having the stamina to stay the course.
- sticking with your future, not for the day, week or month. For a very long time.
- working very hard to make the future happen.
- viewing life … not as a sprint … rather a marathon.
- is not IQ. In fact, it is seen as being inversely related to talent or capabilities.
Without question, businesses and those working as its employees or employers, have struggled for the recent 2-3 years in attempts to survive something with which they had no experience … COVID. And, it is possible that the individuals who have been most responsible for the survival of the organization at all levels possess the characteristics attributed to ones having grit! It appears that the individuals who have made the greatest contribution to survival are those who would be labeled as possessing the grit gene. It’s a gene that is available to leaders and employees alike
We have had the opportunity to witness leaders and employees as they navigate the rough waters of recent times. And do you know what? In most every case that we’ve witnessed or read about, each person possessed many of the six personality components above. Whereas those considered the brightest in terms of IQ offer a clear value to an organization, when push comes to shove it’s not the IQ about the industry or the product that saved the day. It’s about the survival of the ‘grittiest’.
To what extent do you have it and is it evident in your organization? Are you using it to your advantage and that of your company? Can you see ways to up your ‘gritty-ness’? Seems like a good topic to think about. Yet is there more? Evidently so because today GRIT is back at the forefront once again being researched, studied and acknowledged as a very meaningful personality trait. It’s a trait that is seen once again as one that can really make a defining difference in business. It has the ability to differentiate the successful and achievers from those who are less so.
Actually, it’s exciting. Whereas IQ has often been considered a good measurement for how well one might do in a given field today, once again and because of the challenges of these past few years, grit seems to be giving that concept a run for its money. If you’re curious to measure your own personal degree of GRIT, you might get a kick out of taking a short quiz here. To what extent do you have it and is it evident in your organization? Are you using it to your advantage and that of your company? Can you see ways to up your ‘gritty-ness’? Seems like a good topic to think about. Perhaps a good thing to be curious about?
Mike Dorman
Mike – that piece was sensational. But for us old guys, grit has more substance and vigor than Ms. Duckworth attributed to it. It speaks of courage to press on when multiple difficulties stand in ones way, and it says tenacity.
It is the opposite end of the spectrum of folks who used to be characterized as shrinking violets (fragile flowers,) or folks who used to avoid difficult and challenging situations. Possessors of grit sometimes, were the folks who you wrote a book about, the ones who risked being thrown under the bus.
I once worked for an incredibly tough task master, but he was absolutely brilliant and committed to doing what was right. He was a financial guy who had taught linear programming at NYU. I was assigned a project while working for him that identified savings of millions of dollars annually in 1967. It was a massive project but the analysis very clearly revealed the savings that he anticipated. The project involved a very old product line in a company that was challenged by change, and my boss knew that the work I was doing was very risky, but the CFO’s job is to find every intelligent way to enhance profits. When I submitted the work he called me into his office and he told me that my work was excellent, but this project, though extremely valuable, was risky. Three days later he got onto the President calendar and presented to project. About two hours later he called me down to his office. When I went in he was putting some of his things in a box, preparing to leave. He told me to keep my head down, and wished me well as he walked out the door. That was a display of real Grit, by a man who the company could ill afford to lose.