Grit: Be the Steadiest Thing in the Room

A team can survive a hard season. It cannot survive a leader who comes apart in one.

A team can survive a hard season. What it cannot survive is a leader who comes apart in the middle of one.

This is the fourth of the six elements of The Plate. If the diagnostic pointed you here, this is your work.

The behavior

Stay in it, and stay steady, through the hard season.

Angela Duckworth’s research defines grit as passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Her shorthand is sticking with your future, day in and day out, even when you fall down, even when progress is slow.

For a leader, grit is not disappearing in the middle of a hard stretch. It is being the steadiest thing in the room when the room is shaking.

Strong and weak

Strong: in the hard quarter, you are the anchor.

Weak: pressure makes you someone the team has to brace for, or you check out.

The team does not need you to feel calm. They need you to be steady. Those are different things, and the second one is a discipline.