Review of Grit: the Power of Passion and Perserverance by Angela Duckworth
Using her own real life experiences, Angela Duckworth analyses how much grit is a determining factor when it comes to making it successfully in life.
A high achiever in her adult life, it may have appeared to her father when she was growing up that his daughter would not end up that way.
She said: “Growing up, I heard the word 'genius' a lot.
“It was always my dad who brought it up. He liked to say, apropos of nothing at all, “You know, you’re no genius.”
This pronouncement might come in the middle of dinner, during a commercial break for Love Boat, or after he flopped down on the couch with the Wall Street Journal.”
But Ms Duckworth is someone who went on to work for one of the most renowned global consulting firms in the world. She has also been given a prestigious award, which is in fact, only given to geniuses.
An expert in non-IQ competencies, Ms Duckworth has advised the White House, the World Bank, National Basketball Association and National Football League teams, and Fortune 500 chief executives.
Prior to her career in research, she taught children maths and science and was the founder of a summer school for low-income children.
In this book she explores the meaning of talent and grit and why the former is no guarantee for success.
Is a talented person who puts little effort into life likely to go further than someone who is not an A* student and has to put in an Herculean effort, or is the reverse true?
One might ask how much of this book is backed by tangible data, but the theories are based on real life studies of different groups, such as the military, sports and in the classroom as well as referencing statistics.
If you like self-help books this might be one that piques your interest, but it would have been good to see more groups featured and the analysis expanded beyond modern American society.
Published by Scribner Book Company. Ima Jackson-Obot is a features writer for Financial Adviser and FTAdviser.com