Business Book Review: Grit by Angela Duckworth
What if your genius has less to do with your natural-born gifts and has everything to do with your grit?
My Rating: ★★★★
Length: 464 pages
Publisher: VERMILION - MASS MARKET
Released: 2017
Key Takeaways for Personal Branding
Grit shares Angela Duckworth's theory that the real guarantor of success may not be inborn talent, but a special blend of resilience and single-mindedness.
Duckworth uses her personal experience to prove her point with engaging storytelling to complement the science. She tells the story of growing up being repeatedly told by her father that she was no genius. Yet, Duckworth proved she had grit. Her hard work resulted in world-class achievements and accolades, some of which are reserved for those of ‘genius’ status. Before committing to her career as a psychologist, she focused on proving the theory that grit can be learned; she personally proved it could be.
Self and Others-oriented Motivations
Duckworth highlights the work of her colleague Adam Grant in addressing the misconceptions regarding self-oriented versus others-oriented motivations. Most believe they are opposite ends of a continuum. Yet, Grant has consistently found that they are independent. You can have either or you can have both:
“You can want to be the top dog and, at the same time, be driven to help others.”
Grant’s research demonstrates that both leaders and employees who keep personal and pro-social interests in mind are more successful in the long run than those who are 100% selfishly motivated.
Deliberate Practice
Anders Ericsson’s research popularised the 10,000 hours rule after studying those with world-class skills, including chess masters, athletes, pianists, ballerinas and more. But the grit displayed by these top performers isn’t just about the quantity of time dedicated to perfecting their craft, but also the quality of time. The crucial takeaway from Ericsson’s research isn’t simply that experts log more hours than others, but rather:
“Experts practice differently. Unlike most of us, experts are logging thousands upon thousands of hours of what Ericsson calls deliberate practice."
“Experts do it all over again, and again, and again. Until they have finally mastered what they set out to do. Until what was a struggle before is now fluent and flawless. Until conscious incompetence becomes unconscious competence.”
Job Crafting
Grit also highlights a concept by psychologist Amy Wrzesniewski, who recommends thinking about how, in small, yet meaningful, ways you can change your current work to enhance its connection to your core values - what she calls “job crafting”. Studying the intervention alongside her colleagues, Grit describes it as:
“The notion that whatever your occupation, you can manoeuvre within your job description—adding, delegating, and customizing what you do to match your interests and values.”
Favourite Quote
“If we overemphasize talent, we underemphasize everything else."
Grit by Angela Duckworth: Available on Amazon.
