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On Grit and Hardiness, to Resilience |
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High Achievement = talent + grit?
Brian said:
"Probably one of my favourite Ted Talks, but just relooked at
it, and am wondering if “grit” as she defines it is not just
another aspect of “talent” or inbornness. Can you REALLY
develop “grit” (sustained passion + perseverance) or do you
just got it, or not? --youtube.com/watch?v=qaeFnxSfSC4"
It's crystal clear that anyone can demonstrated a "grit" event
and there are a million reasons why.
It's also clear, that at some points in time, we are able to
demonstrate a "level" of grit, in large part due to the
combinatorial effects of personality, developmental, system
and network dynamics... I see this a lot when i look around at
examples of high performing teams, coherent and cohesive
groups, and people of varying persuasions following a "grit
leader".
HOWEVER, when we start talking about repeatable, summonable,
indominable "grit"...
It's genetic, and called hardy personality...IMHO
As I lived my life, and I look back at what I lived, the one
"distinguishing feature, or attribute" of my own life has been
nothing short of this inborn trait.
In 1987, I was determined to find out what created
leaders... It took me about a decade to realize that leaders
were created from all kinds of emergent properties... But the
kind of people who demonstrated this grit, this hardiness,
couldn't be made...and they couldn't learn it... And if they
did, they couldn't keep it up...
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Helpful Hint: Under demanding
standards in athletics, in the USMC, in my travels around the
world and what i see in emerging markets, there is no question
that this particular characteristic is inborn, and at least
pre-disposed, even high vengeance is not able to keep pace
with this "level" trait, albeit high vengeance, or
vindictiveness might be involved...as a generator, but i
suspect it is something that she is trying to describe, that
others have been trying to describe, as "heart"...in many
circles, this grit, or hardiness that continues to motivate
people to be relentless in their pursuit, of pursuit, the
game, the journey, the whatever it is, that kicks people into
a mode that they literal filter out reality that is juxtaposed
to their motivation to find a way...
That's my take on this stuff...
As to perserverance, this is clearly part of resilience
-recovery
-resourcefulness
-persistance
-generativity
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Action Step: Will say this though, that high achievement is not always the
most positive benefit, and a lot of bad gets done with this
trait, so its a double-edged sword. One needs to be careful
with grit...hardiness, and spending a lot of time trying to
teach what is a largely a tacit protocol, has few benefits
long-term (outside of being able to recognize when someone has
it and the potential risks, and benefits.)... It's like trying
to teach people to behave a particular way, when the largest
part of the reasoning to behave in that way is inborn as
empathy, social awarenss, nurturing... I don't see anyone
suggesting we teach people to nurture, and yet, it's clearly a
contributor to high achievement in certain cases.
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