Grit Characters

Dan Chambliss is an award-winning sociologist. While he primarily studies higher education, he also researched competitive swimming for many years, and Duckworth cites this work to explain how athletic success depends on grit.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an award-winning American writer and recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Grant.” Duckworth concludes Grit by citing Coates’s comment that learning to fail effectively is the key to successful writing.

Bill Damon is an influential Stanford psychologist who studies how people develop a sense of purpose in their lives.

Lucy is Angela Duckworth’s daughter. Duckworth uses episodes from Lucy’s childhood to illustrate key principles about how young people develop grit.

Carol Dweck is a pioneering psychologist who is widely known for her research on implicit theories of intelligence—and specifically the difference between fixed and growth mindsets. Based on Dweck’s research, Duckworth argues that adopting a growth mindset is one of the best ways to develop grit.

Robert Eisenberger is an organizational psychologist who has found that children (and rats) can learn to value hard work if they’re presented with appropriate challenges. Duckworth cites Eisenberger’s research to argue that children can build grit by joining interesting but challenging extracurricular activities.

Bill Fitzsimmons is Harvard University’s long-serving admissions dean. He tells Duckworth that grit and achievement in extracurricular activities play an important role in admissions decisions because these qualities predict students’ long-term success.

Rowdy Gaines is a three-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer. Duckworth cites his experimentation with different sports to illustrate how people discover their passion and his rigorous training routine to illustrate the importance of deliberate practice.

John Irving is a bestselling novelist who has succeeded despite his severe dyslexia. Duckworth uses Irving as an example of how grit is more important for success than talent.

Hester Lacey is a British journalist who has interviewed hundreds of highly successful people for her column in the Financial Times. Duckworth frequently cites Lacey’s insights from these interviews in order to corroborate her own research findings about grit and success.

Katie Ledecky is the most successful female swimmer in world history. Duckworth cites examples from Ledecky’s career to illustrate the concepts of flow and deliberate practice.

Warren MacKenzie was an internationally recognized American potter. Duckworth uses MacKenzie’s art to demonstrate why “effort counts twice”—meaning that grit is the key to both building and applying skills.

Bob Mankoff is a cartoonist who served as The New Yorker’s longtime cartoon editor. Duckworth cites Mankoff’s stubborn, years-long effort to get his first cartoon published as an example of why the perseverance involved in grit is crucial to long-term success.

Francesca Martinez is a British comedian who has built a highly successful career despite suffering from cerebral palsy. Duckworth cites Martinez’s loving parents—and compares them to Steve Young’s—in order to illustrate why supportive, demanding parents help their children develop grit.

Friedrich Nietzsche was an influential 19th-century German philosopher. Duckworth cites Nietzsche’s writings on expertise and genius to support her thesis that success depends more on grit than talent.

Chia-Jung Tsay is a business professor, organizational psychologist, and accomplished classical pianist who studies “naturalness bias”—or the common preference for attributing success to natural talent (genius) over hard work (grit). Duckworth also cites Tsay’s life to illustrate how grit leads to success.

Warren Willingham was a psychologist who worked for the standardized test company Educational Testing Service. He conducted a massive study to see which personality traits best determined high school students’ success in college. He found that follow-through—which Duckworth compares to grit—was the greatest predictor of academic and career success.

Amy Wrzesniewski is an organizational psychologist who studies how people find a sense of meaning and purpose in their work. She argues that whether people feel that their work is a job, a career, or a calling depends primarily on their individual values and perspectives.