{"id":1016,"date":"2013-08-28T17:13:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T22:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanfordrose.wpengine.com\/demo3\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2013-08-28T17:13:11","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T22:13:11","slug":"the-treasure-of-true-grit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfordrose.com\/cartergroup\/the-treasure-of-true-grit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Treasure of True Grit"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Tell me about a time when you failed, and what you learned from that experience.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Think of the most successful employees you\u2019ve ever worked with, or the individuals you\u2019ve mentored who excelled the most, or the leaders you\u2019ve studied who seem to achieve every goal they set for themselves.\u00a0 Undoubtedly, a common thread between all will be that those individuals have the strength to learn why they failed, what to do in the future to succeed, and the willpower to get back on the horse and try again.<\/p>\n

But exactly what is it that leads one person to try again when others just give up?<\/p>\n

Industrial and organizational psychologists have spent decades researching this very subject. Angela Duckworth, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and her research focuses on a personality trait she calls “grit.” She defines grit as “sticking with things over the very long term until you master them.”<\/em> She writes that,“the gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Success and Talent
\n<\/strong>What causes an individual to experience significant success? The obvious answer: success is about talent. Successful people can do \u00a0something<\/em> \u2013 hit a golf ball, dance, trade stocks, write a blog \u2013 better than most anyone else. This answer begets another question: What is talent? How did that person get so good at hitting a golf ball or trading stocks? Although talent can appear to be based on inheritance, \u00a0it turns out that the intrinsic nature of talent may be overrated.<\/p>\n

The problem is that a major contradiction exists between how we measure<\/em> talent and the causes<\/em> of talent. In general, we measure talent using tests of maximum performance. Imagine tryouts for most any sports team; players perform in short bursts under conditions of high intensity and motivation. The purpose of the drills is to see what players are capable of and determine their potential. The problem with these drills is that the real world is not set up for short bursts of work ethic under conditions of high motivation. Instead, professional success requires sustained performance, spending hours upon hours perfecting your craft, deliberately and methodically staying the course during times of frustration or exhaustion.<\/p>\n

In his book, Self-Made in America<\/span><\/em>, John McCormack references a trait studied by Kathy Kolbe: conation. \u00a0Conation is \u201cthe will to succeed, the quest for success, the attitude that \u2018to stop me you\u2019ll have to kill me,\u2019 that elusive \u2018fire in the belly\u2019 that manifests itself in drive, enthusiasm, excitement, and single-mindedness in pursuit of a goal \u2013 any goal. All consistently successful people have it. Many well-educated, intelligent, enduring, and presentable people don\u2019t have it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Interviewing for Grit
\n<\/strong>A segment of the workforce is made up of smart people who aren’t high achievers, and others who achieve a lot without having the highest test scores. In one study, Duckworth found that smarter students actually had less grit than their peers who scored lower on an intelligence test. This finding suggests that people who are not as bright as their peers “compensate by working harder and with more determination.”<\/em> And their effort pays off: The grittiest students, not the smartest ones, had the highest GPAs.<\/p>\n

So how can we start to understand an applicant\u2019s or an employee\u2019s grit? Try some or all of these questions to identify the trait:<\/p>\n