Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Hardcover – May 3, 2016

To: All parents, teachers, coaches, athletes, students, and caregivers:Re: the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Dr. Angela DuckworthBuy it. Read it slowly and deliberately. If you listen to it on Audible, set the speed at 50%.After many years of writing book reviews primarily for friends and executives at YPO, I have have finally found a recommendation to give to this esteemed group. It is fitting Dr. Duckworth’s inaugural book debuted the week of the Kentucky Derby as I am fortunate enough to live around and know several jockeys whom I would ascribe the greatest exemplars of grit the world has ever known-what professor Duckworth refers to as grit paragons.What Lean In did to encourage less timidity for women in the workplace, Grit will inculcate and elevate passion and perseverance for long term goals should you choose to accept the practical applications of years of related and transportable research.By this time, you have undoubtedly heard of “grit” the construct coined, developed, and researched by Dr. Duckworth with contributions from notable colleagues along the way including the late Dr. Chris Peterson of “other people matter” fame. After validating the grit scale, she has gone on and tested tons of interesting groups from West Pointers and national spelling bee participants to teachers and athletes. The concept appears to be fairly intuitive until you get the very deep dive into the details of what passion and perseverance over the long term really mean. Is grit nature or nurture? Can you develop it? Can you have too much of it? Dr. Duckworth’s fresh writing is able to distill very difficult psychological concepts and present them in a way that anybody can explain them on the back of a napkin which is a tribute to her as both a teacher and writer.The short TED video by the author from 2013 provides a great introduction and motivation to read the book. The polished TED presentation though is a result from one of the many transformative topics in her book-the confluence of painful effort, feedback, and immense pleasure through deliberate practice (search youtube for rehearsals pre-TED talk).The beauty of this book is that it is really a “book of books”. It interweaves numerous related research activities and concepts, contributions of luminaries in psychology, and solid parenting guidelines (in particular the “hard thing rule”). Here is a short list of the concepts and legends that you will meet: flow, hope, resiliency, fixed vs. growth mindset, learned optimism, Sisu, talent (overrated), cognitive bias’ including “naturalness", goal setting, positive self-talk, passion, purpose, job, career, calling, William James, Nietzsche, Aristotle, Adam Grant, Martin Seligman,Anders Ericsson, Mihaly Csiksgentmihalyi, David Yeager, Amy Wrzesniewski, Justin Berg,Jane Dutton, Aaron Beck, Emilia Lahti, Carolyn Dweck, and even Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. . As a former student of hers in the MAPP Program at University of Pennsylvania, I felt like I had I had just done a refresher course. (side note: physical therapy mentioned two different times in the book, would automatically would get a 5 star rating from me!).My biggest personal takeaway is the influence of culture in the environment and workplace and how this alone can foster and make one “gritty”. To that end, I am proud of our healthcare company’s strategic intent: "Our Success is through meaningful work that impacts lives” and perhaps even more so one of our ten commitments that we formed in October of 2014:I commit to Sisu – I will face challenges head-on. “In my life and work, I refuse to be derailed by people or circumstances and will face them with valor. I acknowledge ‘stuff’ can and will happen but choose to ‘power on’ even when it appears that I have reached the limits of my mental and physical capabilities.”Thank you Dr. Duckworth for being a terrific writer, teacher, and example of this profound concept and having an impact far in excess of what I believe you ever imagined. Undoubtedly, those who read it will be driven to further a life of passion, meaning, and prosocial concerns for the long term.

This is a wonderful journey at the cutting edge of the psychology of achievement. The author, Angela Duckworth, is the lead researcher of a 14-year long (and counting) intensive and focused effort to reverse engineer top performers. In this book she shares with readers the characteristic that distinguishes the excellent from the merely good, and how to foster it.It turns out that people who excel in their profession, whether athletes or salespeople, teachers or students, Special Forces officers or Spelling Bee finalists, all share one common trait: grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long term goals. Grit is the ability to keep going despite setbacks and to work hard at something for a very long period of time.The author clearly distinguishes between the psychology of achievement (i.e., the traits shared by high-achievers) and success (which involves many other factors, such as opportunity and sometimes just plain luck). Duckworth also acknowledges the role of talent, which she includes in her formula for achievement (yes, there is such a thing in the book!) — she just thinks that talent without effort does not take you very far; and she has data to show that less talented but more gritty people in the long run outperform talented but non-gritty people.The book is structured in three parts: the first part explains what grit is and why it matters; the second part explains how to grow grit from the inside out (this would be the self-help part; more specifically, you will learn how to develop grit by going through the following stages: developing interests that later can grow into passions; practicing consistently to get better; finding a pro-social purpose for your efforts; and cultivating optimism); the third part suggests how to grow grit from the outside in (so it is aimed at parents, coaches, teachers and organizational leaders; with chapters such as “parenting for grit” and “a culture of grit”).The book shines in accurately presenting research findings while making them interesting and relevant to readers through many personal stories, examples, and literally dozens of interviews to psychologists, sport coaches, athletes, and top performers (from chefs and pottery makers to activists and CEOs) — so much so that the book feels like a team effort that gives flesh and blood to the science.In an age when bestsellers are based on two or three studies, it is refreshing to see someone work so grittily for more than a decade piling up study after study (see: [...]) on the same topic before writing a book; and whereas many experts struggle to explain their insights to laypeople, Angela Duckworth succeeds brilliantly with this well-written and engaging book.In conclusion, if you are looking for a self-help quick fix or a “life hack” you will be disappointed: this book is about the daily grind in the long-term pursuit of excellence. But if you are looking for science-based ways to help you thrive and make something out of your life; or if you are a leader, a coach or an educator who wants to foster a culture of excellence where human potential is nurtured and developed — then this book is for you.