Angela Duckworth on Grit: The Hidden Power of Passion and Perseverance

By Hemanta Sundaray

PostedJune 21, 2025

We are a society obsessed with talent. We celebrate the "natural," the prodigy, the overnight success. From the boardroom to the classroom, we search for that spark of innate genius, believing it to be the ultimate predictor of high achievement. But what if our obsession has us looking in the wrong direction? What if the secret to outstanding success isn't something you’re born with, but something you build?

This is the revolutionary idea at the heart of the work of Dr. Angela Duckworth, a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research on a single, powerful trait has reshaped our understanding of what it takes to succeed. That trait is grit.

Based on a fascinating talk she gave at Google, we're going to take a deep dive into what grit truly is, why it trumps talent, and—most importantly—how you can cultivate it in your own life and in the lives of those you lead. Forget the myth of the effortless genius; it's time to understand the real story of success.

What is Grit? Redefining the Path to Achievement

So, what is grit according to Angela Duckworth? It’s not just a buzzword for being tough. In her decades of research, from the unforgiving halls of West Point to the finals of the National Spelling Bee, Duckworth arrived at a precise definition.

Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance applied to long-term goals.

It’s not a fleeting burst of intensity. It’s stamina. It’s sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. It's living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

This immediately puts grit in direct contrast with our cultural focus on talent. In her Google talk, Duckworth addressed this head-on, acknowledging our collective fascination with raw ability. "I wish I were more talented," she admitted. "If you could give me five more IQ points, I'd take them." But her research reveals a crucial distinction.

She offers a brilliant, functional definition of talent:

Some people are simply quicker studies. They pick things up faster. And that’s great. But as Duckworth’s data consistently shows, talent is no guarantee of achievement. Why? Because as the famous writer and director Woody Allen once quipped, "80% of success in life is just showing up." Talented individuals don't always keep showing up. They don't always finish what they begin.

Grit is the quality that ensures you show up, especially when it’s hard. It’s the daily discipline of trying to get better, of embracing the Japanese principle of kaizen—continuous improvement. It’s the willingness to put in the hours of unglamorous, behind-the-scenes work that excellence demands.

The Engine of Improvement: Understanding Deliberate Practice

If grit is about continuous improvement, a critical question arises: how do we actually improve? Many of us work hard for years without getting any better at what we do. We put in the hours but see no progress. Duckworth experienced this herself.

The answer lies in the profound difference between mindlessly "putting in the hours" and engaging in what psychologist Anders Ericsson, the world’s foremost expert on experts, calls deliberate practice. Those thousands of hours Duckworth spent running were what runners call "junk miles"—they didn't contribute to her improvement because they weren't structured for growth.

Deliberate practice is different. It's methodical, and it's built on four essential pillars:

• A specific, intentional goal. You aren't just "trying to get better." You are isolating a very specific, often microscopic, element of your performance to improve. It's not "I want to be a better public speaker," but "I want to make the first 15 seconds of my presentation sharper." Often, this means focusing on a weakness, not a strength.

• 100% undivided focus. When you are engaged in deliberate practice, you are fully present. Duckworth's mistake while running? "I listen to NPR... because I'm trying to distract myself." People who are improving their running, she learned, are concentrating intensely on their strides, their breathing, their form.

• Immediate, information-rich feedback. You must know how you're doing. Are you tracking your times? Is a coach observing your form and giving you pointers? Failure is a powerful form of feedback, providing crucial information on what to fix. Without feedback, you’re flying blind.

• Reflection and refinement. This is the crucial loop-closing step. After receiving feedback, you reflect on it and try again, making a specific change. You repeat this cycle, over and over, refining your performance with each repetition.

This four-step process is the engine of skill development. It’s not easy, which is why only world-class experts tend to do it consistently. But the principle is accessible to everyone. It's the "how" behind the perseverance component of grit.

Nurturing Grit in Others: The Role of Parents, Managers, and Mentors

Grit is not a solitary pursuit. It is often cultivated through our relationships with others—our parents, teachers, coaches, and managers. Duckworth uses a powerful metaphor to describe the role of a great leader: parenting.

"If you look at the etymology of the word 'parent,' the word 'parent' really means 'to bring forth,'" she explains. After we leave our biological parents, we enter into other relationships—with mentors and leaders—who, in a very real sense, "parent" us by helping to bring forth our best.

So what does this "wise parenting" look like in a professional setting? According to Duckworth, it’s a potent combination of two seemingly contradictory elements:

• High demands: A great leader is challenging. They set an incredibly high standard. They push you with feedback like, "It's not good enough," "I need you to do this differently," "Bring it back to me again." They don't let you settle for mediocrity.

• Unwavering support: At the same time, this demandingness is paired with genuine care, respect, and support. The message is, "I am challenging you because I genuinely care about you, I believe in your potential, and I want you to be successful."

It's this combination of being both demanding and supportive that fosters growth and grit. One without the other is ineffective. All support and no challenge leads to comfortable stagnation. All challenge and no support leads to burnout and resentment.

Duckworth models this herself. She famously shares her own academic rejections with her lab students—including the harsh, 13-page, single-spaced reviewer comments detailing "exactly how you suck." She does this to demystify excellence. She wants them to see the raw, unpolished truth: that success is built on a mountain of failure, feedback, and refinement. It strips away the myth of talent and shows them that struggle is part of the process for everyone, even their successful mentor.

Finding Your "What": How to Discover What to Be Gritty About

This all sounds great, but it begs a fundamental question: how do you find something to be passionate and persevering about? In the Q&A portion of her talk, a young Googler asked this very question, noting that after college, he and his friends struggled to figure out what to be "pointy" in.

Duckworth acknowledges this is a paralyzing challenge.

So how do you find your direction? She suggests it’s not about waiting for a sudden epiphany. It’s an active process of discovery guided by two key questions:

1. What are my real interests? Duckworth advises looking back to your early adolescence, around age 12 or 13. What were the things you were spontaneously drawn to? What topics held your attention without anyone forcing you? This isn’t a foolproof method, but it’s a powerful clue, a thread to follow.

2. What is my purpose? Passion is also fueled by purpose—the sense that your work serves a greater mission that is important to you. What are your core values? Do you want to help people? Protect the environment? Create beauty? Connecting your work to a deeply held, other-centered value provides an enduring source of motivation.

The story of Julia Child is a perfect illustration. She had zero interest in cooking until her late 30s. Her passion didn’t arrive in a flash of insight. It was a slow, meandering journey that began with a single memorable meal in France. That meal sparked a curiosity, which led her to explore markets, which led her to buy cookbooks, which led her to take cooking classes. It was a long movie, not a snapshot. And interestingly, her early adolescent interest was writing—a skill that became just as crucial to her career as a cookbook author as her culinary skills.

The Power of Identity: From "Working at Google" to "Being a Googler"

A fascinating aspect of Duckworth's talk was her observation on culture and identity. She noted that employees at Google don't just say they work at Google; they call themselves Googlers.

This isn't trivial. It's a linguistic clue to a powerful psychological phenomenon.

This shift from a verb (what you do) to a noun (who you are) is profound. When you identify as part of a culture, you internalize its norms, its language, and its values. If that culture values grit, you are more likely to be gritty.

She points to the entire country of Finland and their concept of sisu—a word that roughly translates to grit. For the Finnish, having sisu is part of their national identity. When things get hard, you reach down and use your sisu. It's what Finns do. Being part of an organization that has a strong, gritty culture—whether it’s West Point, the Seattle Seahawks, or a company like Google—can provide a powerful tailwind for your own passion and perseverance. It becomes part of who you are.

A Word of Caution: Measuring Grit and Its Misapplication

Given its predictive power, the next logical question is, can we measure grit? Duckworth developed the Grit Scale, a short questionnaire to do just that. However, she offers a stark and vital warning about its use.

Unlike an IQ test, the Grit Scale is completely fakable. A question like "I am a hard worker" is not hard to game if you want a high score. Furthermore, it’s subject to what’s called a "frame of reference bias." Your answer depends on who you compare yourself to. A dedicated employee at Google might rate themselves lower on "hard worker" than a less dedicated employee elsewhere, simply because their standard of comparison is so much higher.

For these reasons, Duckworth is adamant:

So what's the alternative? She suggests looking for the residue of grit in a person's life story. Look at their resume. Is there evidence of follow-through? Did they stick with the tennis team for four years and improve? Did they get promoted at their pizza delivery job? Or is their resume a dilettante's tour of scattered, short-lived interests? Look for progression and continuity. That is the true evidence of grit.

Your Long Movie

The myth of talent is seductive because it’s simple. It tells us that great performers are just different; they are naturals. But Angela Duckworth’s work pulls back the curtain on this myth to reveal a more complex, more hopeful, and far more actionable truth.

Excellence is never a snapshot. It is always a long movie, filled with mundane scenes of practice, frustrating moments of failure, and the quiet, daily resolve to get up and try again. Grit is not something you either have or you don't. It is a set of habits and a mindset that can be cultivated. It begins with the discovery of an interest, which, when combined with a sense of purpose, blossoms into a passion. That passion is then sustained by the perseverance of deliberate practice—the focused, feedback-driven effort to constantly improve.

The path to achievement is not paved with innate genius. It is paved, brick by brick, with passion and perseverance. It’s your story to write, one gritty day at a time.