5 Things Successful Women Taught Me About Grit

#112:

“Grit is passion and sustained persistence applied toward long-term achievement, with no particular concern for rewards or recognition along the way.”

• Angela Duckworth

 

I had the honor of interviewing 14 highly successful women – most of whom had built careers in male dominated businesses – for the Design Your Future Podcast Series.

 

Here are 5 things they taught me about grit:

 

1. Resiliency is invaluable when playing the long game.

 

Spending a 20, 30, 40-year career in male dominated businesses can feel like a lifetime of swimming upstream…of playing a perpetual away game. It’s exhausting. Learning the skills behind building resiliency is essential for long term, sustainable success.

 

2. Know when to put down the armor.

 

Not every context of life is a battlefield. The things that make you awesome at the board room table can also make you shitty as a husband, dad or dating partner.

 

3. Grit, and only grit, can be reckless.

 

Without a conscious recovery strategy or work life harmony strategy, burnout is right around the corner.

 

4. We are stronger together.

 

The proliferation and growing success of women’s business groups have made progress in areas where there have been long ignored inequities. While there is much more work to be done…these groups have proven that we are stronger together than on our own.

 

5. We can do a better job rewarding and recognizing.

 

Duckworth’s definition of grit includes this qualifier “with no particular concern for rewards or recognition along the way.” In my 14 interviews, I found that many of these women had no concept of how inspiring and empowering they were to other women. Maybe if we recognized these amazing women more often, they’d know.

 

For a deeper dive into each of these categories, this episode has got you covered.

-DQ