Why Grit, Why Now
During our strategic planning late last year, our leadership team selected “grit” as our word of the year. Each team member approached the whiteboard and wrote down words that resonated with them and would help define the year ahead. Words like resilience, perseverance, and adaptability all pointed us toward a single theme: grit.
For several years, we’ve used the One Word approach inspired by bestselling author Jon Gordon. The exercise is simple: choose one word that creates clarity and sharpens focus to guide your decisions and actions for the year. It aligns your team around a shared vision and simplifies decision-making. So, when the team chose grit, I wasn’t surprised — the word had been showing up everywhere for me lately.
I first learned about grit from a Mel Robbins podcast featuring Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. That one episode inspired me so much that I shared it with our leadership team, the entire company, and even friends and family members. And when grit became our guiding word for the year, I committed to reading the book over the holidays. That decision sparked a deeper reflection: How have I been gritty? Is grit something I was born with or learned? How can I lead in a way that develops grit in others?
This article series explores those questions: what grit truly is, how it shapes leadership and culture, and how it can fuel personal growth.
As I dug deeper into what grit really means for me, for our team, and for the way we lead, I began to realize that grit isn’t just an inspiring theme — it’s a practical framework for how progress actually happens. Choosing grit as our word of the year pushed me to look beyond the surface of motivation and examine the mechanics of sustained growth. That reflection led me to Angela Duckworth’s research, which offers a clearer understanding of why some people continue to advance while others stall: it comes down to how effort shapes both our skills and our results.
Talent Matters — But Effort Counts Twice
Angela Duckworth offers a simple but powerful framework:
- Skill = Talent × Effort
- Achievement = Skill × Effort
Talent helps you learn faster. Effort helps you learn and turn what you’ve learned into results. In other words, effort develops both skill and achievement. For leaders, this formula reframes the question from “Who’s the most talented?” to “Who will keep showing up, practicing hard things, and getting better? Especially when it’s not easy.”
I’ve never considered myself the smartest person in the room. In fact, when I started ReEmployAbility, I had no idea what I was doing! I think that’s true for most of us who start a business. You never truly realize how much you don’t know until you’re right in the thick of it! But I am a learner. I have a growth mindset, and I’m willing to work hard at the things I especially do not know or understand. I’m awful at math and had to learn how to figure out financial reporting. What was a P&L and what does a Balance Sheet tell me? I had to ask for help, and I was not afraid to admit what I did not know, to seek out mentors, and surround myself with people who are much smarter than me.
That willingness to learn and persist has been the single biggest driver of my success. Not raw talent or intellect, but consistent effort and curiosity. And that’s the real message of grit: the small, deliberate choices you make everyday matter more than any natural ability.
The Real Definition: Passion + Perseverance
In Duckworth’s research, passion isn’t fireworks or intensity. It’s a connection to a meaningful target that keeps you focused over years, not just weeks. Perseverance is the daily discipline for improvement. Every day gets a little better than yesterday. Together, this produces progress that multiplies.
- Passion anchors your “why” when results are slow (and you become impatient!).
- Perseverance is what bridges the gap between what you set out to do and what you achieve (week after week).
My original driving force wasn’t a calling. In all honesty, I saw others starting businesses and thought, “Well, if they can do it, I certainly can.” Although return to work was something that I felt strongly about, and focused on in my early career, I didn’t set out thinking deeply about helping injured workers. And I imagined many injured workers wouldn’t embrace our Transition2Work® program. That it might feel more like a stick than a carrot. But things changed as real stories began to reach me. The positive notes from injured workers, participation rates that started to skyrocket, and genuine gratitude from people whose lives we touched through our Transition2Work program.
The moment my purpose truly crystallized wasn’t from a spreadsheet or even from an injured worker testimonial; it came from within our own walls. One of my employees, a single mom, was struggling to make ends meet. She couldn’t get to work because her car had a bad set of tires. I remember asking myself: How can I help give this young woman a break? How can I lighten the burden of being a single mom trying to balance career and family? In that moment, my purpose was defined. Our work is about building pathways for injured workers, yes, but also for the people who show up every day to make the mission real. That purpose became the fuel that currently sustains my perseverance. Grit isn’t about dramatic passion or extreme pushing. It is about choosing a meaningful direction and committing to steady, sustained progress. When your purpose is clear and you show up day after day, even in the quiet and unglamorous moments, the combination of passion and perseverance begins to compound. This is the point where real momentum and genuine mastery start to appear.
Bringing Grit Into Focus
Grit is not rooted in intensity or dramatic effort. It grows from choosing a meaningful direction and committing to steady, intentional progress. Leadership development unfolds through curiosity, learning, and consistent practice rather than talent alone. When passion aligns with purpose and perseverance shapes daily habits, momentum builds in a way that creates long-lasting growth. Over time, these quiet, repeated choices transform effort into meaningful achievement and set the foundation for how we lead ourselves and others.
As we move forward, the invitation is simple: choose one meaningful step, take it consistently, and trust that each deliberate effort brings you closer to the leader you are becoming.
