Grit

In Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth posits that it is not just talent but grit that matters most in achieving success. And also remember the characteristics common to good-to-great leaders: humility, professional will, ferocious resolve, and the tendency to give credit to others while assigning blame to themselves.

Grit will help us achieve our goals. When the going gets tough—and it will—the ability to endure is one of the best and most important ways to contribute to the greater good. Persevere and know that, at every level, what we’re doing will help us become one of the best service departments in the enterprise.

You can celebrate and reward examples of grit by employees in the organization as they happen and afterward. For example, Jim successfully led a multiyear, multimillion-dollar modernization project. His true grit was highlighted in a weekly update, and he received a monetary bonus. “Jim,” I wrote to him, “given the scope and magnitude of the mission-critical project, there were thousands of opportunities for problems and issues to arise. Your expert planning, day-to-day oversight, and proactive looking ahead resulted in an on-time and on-budget two-year implementation with no negative impacts to the enterprise. Thank you for all that you do.”

Maggie was a world-class project manager. She had loads of experience, and she was smart and tenacious. She never gave up. Whenever I had a project that was going up in flames, I would call on Maggie to extinguish the fire. After she successfully saved multiple flaming projects over the years, I gave her the nickname “Red Adair,” or “Red” for short. At first, she did not know that the Red Adair moniker was a compliment. After she looked him up, of course she was pleased. Red Adair was the greatest and most famous oil well firefighter: “The Adair teams completed more than 1,000 assignments internationally through the use of explosives, drilling mud, and concrete.” In celebration of Maggie saving yet another disastrous project, I rewarded her with a framed poster and a DVD of Hellfighters, the 1968 film starring John Wayne and Katharine Ross based loosely on the life of Red Adair. The poster was prominently displayed in her workspace.

Juan was yet another employee with a can-do spirit whom I entrusted to lead another risky multiyear, mission-critical project. When it was completed, he sent me this message: “I just wanted to say thanks for all your support over the years. You were the one person, through the entire transition project, that supported me and believed in me, and for that, I am truly grateful. I appreciate you giving me a chance, when not many people would.”