Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

New York Times
,
September 14, 2009, 
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/harvarddean
.

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Fitzsimmons, interview.
Kaisa Snellman, Jennifer M. Silva, Carl B. Frederick, and Robert D. Putnam, “The Engagement Gap: Social
Mobility and Extracurricular Participation Among American Youth,” 
The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science
657 (2015): 194–207.
:
For more information on Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children’s Zone, visit 
www.hcz.org
.
:
Geoffrey Canada, founder and president of the Harlem Children’s Zone, in conversation with the author, May
14, 2012.
:
Geoffrey Canada, “Our Failing Schools. Enough Is Enough!” TED Talks Education video, filmed May 2013,
https://www.ted.com/talks/geoffrey_canada_our_failing_schools_enough_is_enough?language=en
.
:
For a summary of his research, see Robert Eisenberger, “Learned Industriousness,” 
Psychological Review
99
(1992): 248–67 and Eisenberger’s book 
Blue Monday: The Loss of the Work Ethic in America
(New York: Paragon House, 1989).
Even for those of us who are beyond our high school and college years, there are many activities we can sign
up for that offer challenge and support. For example, I’ve learned a lot about grit from Joe De Sena, founder of the Spartan Race.
Here’s a story from our interview: “We live in Vermont. It gets very icy. My son is on the ski team. One day, he comes in an hour
before lunch. He tells me he came in early because he was cold.” It turns out that the rest of the team was still out practicing.
“Okay,” Joe said to his son, “I understand you’re cold. But you’re on the team, and the team is skiing, so now you’re on my team, and
my team doesn’t take the chairlift.” Father and son then proceed outside and hike up the mountain on foot, the son upset and
complaining the whole way. And then they skied down. Lesson over. “Sounds like torture,” I said, half-joking. “The point was not to
torture him,” Joe replied. “The point was to show him it could be a lot worse. We never had that issue again because now he had a
frame of reference that said, ‘Okay, this is uncomfortable, but it could be a lot worse.’ ” Then Joe paused. “You know, I’ve quit a race
before. I learned there’s a lot worse than dealing with the pain in front of me. That’s a lesson you need help learning. You’re not born
knowing that.”
CHAPTER 12: A CULTURE OF GRIT
NFL AM
, posted by the Seattle Seahawks, “Pete Carroll: ‘We’re
Looking for Grit,’ ” February 3, 2014, 
http://www.seahawks.com/video/2014/02/03/pete-carroll-were-looking-grit
.
Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, in a phone call with the author, May 13, 2013.
:
Chambliss, interview.
Lee Ross and Richard E. Nisbett, 
The Person and the Situation: Perspectives of Social Psychology
(London: McGraw-Hill, 1991). This book sums up all this research beautifully.
James G. March, “How Decisions Happen in Organizations,” 
Human-Computer Interaction
6 (1991): 95–117.
Tom Deierlein, cofounder and CEO of ThunderCat Technology, in an email with the author, October 29, 2011.
Deierlein, in an email to the author, September 17, 2015.
Time
, “Northern Theatre: Sisu,” January 8, 1940.
:
Hudson Strode, “Sisu: A Word That Explains Finland,” 
New York Times
, January 14, 1940.
:
Emilia Lahti, “Above and Beyond Perseverance: An Exploration of Sisu” (Masters Capstone, University of
Pennsylvania, 2013).
Betty Liu, 
Work Smarts: What CEOs Say You Need to Know to Get Ahead
(Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons,
2014), 7.
:
Thomas II, Amazon review of “Last Man Standing: The Ascent of Jamie Dimon and JP Morgan
Chase,” October 8, 2009, 
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Man-Standing-Ascent-JPMorgan/dp/B003STCKN0
.
Ben Smith, “Master Howard Dean,”