GRIT

Why is it that a significant percentage of cadets wash out of West Point in the first weeks when others graduate in four years? And why do some local spelling bee champions make it to the National Spelling Bee while others don’t get past the regional level? And what is it that Super Bowl-winning teams have in abundance that others don’t?

The answer to these three questions and countless others is: grit. These winners aren’t necessarily more intelligent or gifted than the ones who don’t cut it, but they do have the passion and perseverance to reach their long-term goals. In her groundbreaking research, University of Pennsylvania professor of psychology Angela Duckworth has shown again and again that when it comes to achievement at the highest levels it’s not the inborn qualities of IQ or aptitude that separate the best from the pack. It’s grit, a quality that can be instilled and cultivated by anyone, anywhere and at any time in life. In her first book, GRIT: Passion, Perseverance and the Science of Success, Angela will draw upon her own and others’ scientific studies, anecdotes from various fields of endeavor, and her personal life experience to show that the concept of hard work winning out is not some vague and puritanical notion, but something that can be measured, proven and applied to make our own lives and our children’s lives vastly more successful and rewarding. Angela Duckworth, PhD is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and a 2013 MacArthur fellow. Her research on grit, self-control, and achievement has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, Psychology Today, Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Forbes, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Today Show, and her primary research has appeared in Psychological Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Developmental Psychology, the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology and Personality Science. Prior to her career in psychology, Angela founded a summer school for low-income children that was profiled as a Harvard Kennedy School case study. She was also a McKinsey management consultant and a math and science teacher in the public schools of New York City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Angela has been a keynote speaker to educational conferences and Fortune 500 companies, and her TED talk on grit has reached more than 5 million viewers. Her work has been the basis of countless articles and books, including Paul Tough’s bestseller How Children Succeed.