On the Weaponization of Grit
In the thirteen years since Angela Duckworth introduced Grit to the world in her wildly popular TED Talk, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, I’ve heard high-achieving leaders and teams fetishize the concept and weaponize the term at conferences, off-sites, and weekly all-hands meetings.
It's not hard to understand why it caught on so quickly.
Duckworth's explanation of Grit did something clever:
It decoupled intelligence from success, dismantling the assumption that the smartest people in the room are the most likely to succeed
It collapsed two much larger ideas into a single, memorable word that leaders could deploy without much explanation.
It was meant to be accessible and motivating…except it wasn't.
By positioning Grit as something employees needed more and more of, leaders inadvertently built cultures of self-critique and conveniently sidelined the passion half of the equation.
Over time, Grit stopped being an invitation to dig deeper into meaningful work and became a polite way of telling people to grind without complaint.
For high-achievers, already wired for that, it became a harmful justification for overworking and staying in roles that no longer fit.
Terminology Won’t Save Us. This Will.
But rather than looking for a better term than Grit, here is my honest take:
Jargon matters far less than how people feel about their hard work.
How clear, curious, and committed they feel about:
What their hard work’s actually for
What their hard work’s teaching them
What their hard work’s connecting them to
As a social-organizational psychologist, I know that purpose, learning, and belonging are the real building blocks of passion and perseverance, and the surest path to long-term success.
Leaders and teams who experience their purpose and reach of their work don't question why they keep showing up, even when they're exhausted.
Leaders and teams who run honest experiments to find out what works, and what works better, don't get stuck fixating on their own deficits.
Leaders and teams who know their relationships are bridges to a shared vision don't hesitate to ask for the help they truly need.
…and they certainly don't need to be reminded about Grit to increase their chances of long-term success, because they’re creating the conditions for it to emerge naturally.
If you want help focusing on these vital questions - as part of a strategic pivot or a team turnaround - let’s talk!
This deeper work will move you closer to your goal than business jargon ever will!
