Why Some Leaders Stick and Other Leaders Quit
Grit isn’t the reason people endure.
Grit is disappointing because it develops as-you-go, not before you go.
Context:
Grit is irrelevant when you already feel strong, capable, and confident. Difficulty, distress, weakness, and inadequacy make grit relevant.
Gritty leaders press forward in spite of feelings, not because grit makes everything easy.
If you’re looking for easy, get out of leadership.
Motivation:
If grit isn’t developed until you need it, what energizes endurance in the first place?
Attitude – not strength and competence – is the secret of endurance.
Grit isn’t the source of endurance, joy is.
A leader with joy keeps going when she’s exhausted or uncertain. Joy isn’t exception. And grit doesn’t make everything easy.
Joy:
#1. Responsibility to unfinished work enables leadership joy.
“A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears … to an unfinished work will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the why for his existence and will be able to bear almost any how.” Victor Frankl
The defiant joy of leadership is readiness to make things better for others.
#2. Purpose fuels leadership joy.
Service to others expresses purpose and clarifies meaning.
Purpose is discovered in usefulness.
Purpose is found in connection with something outside yourself.
- How is your work useful to others?
- How might you best serve?
- What pressing need do you most frequently notices? How might you meet that pressing need?
- How is organizational purpose focused on serving others?
Self-serving purpose creates fear. Other-serving purpose fuels energy.
A leader without purpose sacrifices usefulness on the altar of near-term enjoyment. Why sacrifice for the future if there’s no purpose?
Tip: Meaning comes from feeling useful. When you help people see the usefulness of their work you help them find meaning in work.
What fuels endurance?
How might leaders develop grit in themselves and others?
Added material:
Grit (Duckworth)
7 Ways Top Leaders Develop Grit on Their Team (Inc)
Organizational Grit (HBR)
Thanks Dan for another great post! I especially resonated with “Attitude – not strength and competence – is the secret of endurance.” I used to read the book The Little Engine That Could to my children to get across this important truth. I think this message is important for if we think we Can’t then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Thanks again Dan!
What fuels endurance? A strong, unwavering belief and commitment to your vision, cause, mission, product, process, etc.
How might leaders develop grit in themselves and others? Think about and discuss your core beliefs and commitments on a regular basis. To stay energized, we all need to feel the joy of accomplishment and see the benefits of a better future.
I’ll add to what I said—For me, endurance endurance is a strong, unwavering commitment to myself and others!
Without purpose, without reason for, without the why, you have no purpose. You have to have something to get you through the bad days. Grit/heart will get you want you want but if you are not where you want to b e then drive, heart and grit wont keep you there. You have to want what is being offered.
What fuels endurance? Relevance and Passion
How might leaders develop grit in themselves and others? Encourage and expect that you for one and others you influence have relevance in what they do and that they have passion for their work. Set an example yourself for others to see in action in terms of relevance and most certainly passion in what you do.
Thank you for this post. I took the “gritty” test and scored abysmally low. The sentence “[g]rit is irrelevant when you already feel strong, capable, and confident” spoke to me, as well as the insight on joy and attitude. Thank you for this different perspective!
All great responses!
I think we all have “Grit” at different levels, when we are pushed to our max and still reach out to come up with the extra that is needed, either physically or mentally you are “continually building Grit”!
Seems like we are all expanding our Horizons how deep is your tank?
Do we ever reach the end?
Only our inner selves know!
Good evening,
Leadership is a state-of-mind. A true leader will show respect to everyone within an organization. The security guard will be respected, the janitorial staff will be respected. The administrative support team will be respected. Any and all contract employees will be respected. Top down and bottom up, will be respected and seen as part of the organization. I have worked under leaders who inspired me to challenge my limitations. I have worked under other leaders who were a_ _ holes. A true leader is to be taken seriously and people will listen to that type of person. An authentic leader will display exemplary characteristics. Otherwise, they will not be seen as credulous and trustworthy.
Although leaders are in a formal role/position, they must define what that leadership role/position actually means to them. There is more to leadership than a title and position. That title and position carries a great deal of responsibility. As far as “grit” or “joy” is concerned, those are leadership attributes that must be developed within an individual.
I will gladly look up to any leader who has “heart.”