Grit to great - Linda Kaplan Thaler

It is not native intelligence or natural talent that makes people excel, it's old-fashioned hard work, sweat equity,and determination.

In Grit to Great, Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval tackle a topic that is close to their hearts, one that they feel is the real secret totheir own success in their careers--and in the careers of so many people they know and have met. And that is the incredible power ofgrit, perseverance, perspiration, determination, and sheer stick-to-it-tiveness.

We are all dazzled by the notion that there are somepeople who get ahead, who reach the corner office because they are simply gifted, or well-connected, or both. But research shows thatwe far overvalue talent and intellectual ability in our culture. The fact is, so many people get ahead--even the gifted ones--because theyworked incredibly hard, put in the thousands of hours of practice and extra sweat equity, and made their own luck. And Linda and Robinshould know--they are two girls from the Bronx who had no special advantages or privileges and rose up through their own hard workand relentless drive to succeed to the top of their highly competitive profession.

In a book illustrated with a cornucopia of stories and the latest research on success, the authors reveal the strategies that helpedthem, and countless others, succeed at the highest levels in their careers and professions, and in their personal lives. They talk about theguts--the courage--necessary to take on tough challenges and not give up at the first sign of difficulty. They discuss the essentialquality of resiliency. Everyone suffers setbacks in their careers and in life. The key, however, is to pick yourself up and bounce back.

Drawing on the latest research in positive psychology, they discuss why optimists do better in school, work, and on the playingfield--and how to reset that optimistic set point. They talk about industriousness, the notion that Malcolm Gladwell popularized with the10,000-hour rule in his book Outliers. Creativity theorist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi believes it takes a minimum of 10 years for one's truecreative potential to be realized. And the authors explore the concept of tenacity--the quality that allows us to remain focused and avoiddistraction in order to get the job done--an increasingly difficult task in today's fragmented, cluttered, high-tech, connected world.

Written in the same short, concise format as The Power of Nice and leavened with the natural humor that characterizes Linda's andRobin's lives--and books--Grit to Great is destined to be the book everyone in business needs.