Grit For Turbulent and Uncertain Times
This article is part of our Mentor-Coach Reading List series. Join the mailing list to receive this and more.
“Per ardua ad astra” (through difficulties to the stars.)
Grit - defined as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals" by psychologist Angela Duckworth and colleagues - is one of the factors for sustained success. 'Gritty' people are able to maintain their determination and motivation over long periods despite experiences with failure and adversity. This mentor-coach reading list explores the mindsets and behaviours that turn adversity into advantage.
SETTING THE SCENE
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.”- Bill Gates
“Shaper = Visionary + Practical Thinker + Determined”- Roger Martin
“Executives and leaders at all levels can build their strategies for weathering today’s only certainty: uncertainty”- Graham Winter and Martin Bean CBE
“Grit is what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that - not talent or luck - makes all the difference?”- Angela Duckworth
“What's more important in the wisdom equation is possessing humility, judgement, empathy, compassion, and night vision.”- Manfred kets de Vries
“Focus on what matters. Take time to just be. Let go of the unimportant. Find the joy in what you do. Collaborate as we are stronger together. Use organisational power with restraint. Be kind to yourself. Act with humility, grace and gratitude. Reach out to your network if you need help or to support others when you can.”- Dianne Jacobs
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
Can you turn adversity or turbulence into advantage?
Does it take grit, determination and persistence to succeed, irrespective of good or bad times?
What does it take to lead wisely?
How can you act on your chosen path despite opposing pressure?
Do you have the skills to voice and act on your values, and align your professional path with your principles?
What goes through your head when confronted with challenging and uncertain situations?
Do you know how to navigate extreme change?
Can you consciously and intentionally pick your battles, saving energy for what really matters?
How do you protect your psychological well-being and those of others?
Happy reading and stay curious!
Here is more information about this selection of books.
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. Why resilience and passion are the keys to outstanding achievement and how they can help you to accomplish remarkable things. In this must-read for anyone seeking to succeed, this pioneering psychologist takes us on an eye-opening journey to discover the true qualities that lead to outstanding achievement. Winningly personal, insightful and powerful, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that - not talent or luck - makes all the difference.
Toolkit for Turbulence: The Mindset and Methods That Leaders Need to Turn Adversity to Advantage by Graham Winter and Martin Bean CBE. Executives and leaders at all levels can build their strategies for weathering today’s only certainty: uncertainty. To succeed as a high-performing leader today, you need to know how to navigate extreme change and uncertainty. ‘Toolkit for Turbulence’ unpacks the mindset and methods used by top leaders and teams to assess, adapt, and respond to unforeseen challenges and ambiguity. With this book, you’ll learn how to seize the unexpected as an opportunity to develop your leadership capabilities and build a more adaptive team. From visual models to guided frameworks, it shares easy-to-implement core tools that you can use to construct your own leadership solutions ― for your team, your enterprise, and your community.
Tomorrowmind: Thriving at Work with Resilience, Creativity, and Connection-Now and in an Uncertain Future by Gabriella Kellerman and Martin Seligman. Thrive in your career with this radical, future-proofed approach to work in a world of automation, globalisation and downsizing. In recent years, workplace toxicity, industry volatility, and technology-driven turnover have threatened the psychological well-being of employees. When we can't flourish at work, both personal success and corporate productivity suffer. As we sit on the cusp of some major changes, many of us wonder how we can not only survive but flourish in our careers. ‘Now, Tomorrowmind’ provides plans and actionable advice for facing the uncertain future of work. With in-depth and clear-eyed evidence, it offers key skills on everything from resilience and innovation to social connection and foresight.
High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley. People do escape high conflict. When we are baffled by the insanity of the “other side”—in our politics, at work, or at home—it’s because we aren’t seeing how the conflict itself has taken over. That’s what “high conflict” does. It’s the invisible hand of our time. And it’s different from the useful friction of healthy conflict. That’s good conflict, and it’s a necessary force that pushes us to be better people. High conflict is what happens when discord distills into a good-versus-evil kind of feud, the kind with an us and a them. In this state, the brain behaves differently. We feel increasingly certain of our own superiority, and everything we do to try to end the conflict, usually makes it worse. Eventually, we can start to mimic the behavior of our adversaries, harming what we hold most dear.
Leading Wisely: Becoming a Reflective Leader in Turbulent Times by Manfred Kets de Vries. Renowned leadership expert, psychoanalyst and executive coach Manfred Kets De Vries delivers an insightful and unique exploration of what it means to lead with wisdom. The book demonstrates that exclusive reliance on knowledge, data, and information yields a superficial leadership style lacking in depth and discernment. What's more important in the wisdom equation is possessing humility, judgement, empathy, compassion, and night vision. It is full of anecdotes and tales from a variety of spiritual and cultural traditions that enrich and lend a deeper significance to the choices we make as leaders and members of organisations. ‘Leading Wisely’ provides readers with: a thorough exploration of dealing with the negative; an emphasis on treating others as we like to be treated; an opportunity to be courageous; to pick our battles, saving energy for what really matters; lessons on how to listen intently and actively, truly hearing what our colleagues, friends, family, and followers are saying before reacting; and finding happiness within ourselves.
Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right by Mary C Gentile. An innovative approach to standing up for your values in the workplace, it explores the tools not just to recognise what is right, but also to ensure that the right things happen. The book is inspired by a program Gentile launched at the Aspen Institute with Yale School of Management, and now housed at Babson College, with pilot programs in over one hundred schools and organisations, including INSEAD and MIT Sloan School of Management. She explains why past attempts at preparing business leaders to act ethically too often failed, arguing that the issue isn’t distinguishing what is right or wrong, but knowing how to act on your values despite opposing pressure. Through research-based advice, practical exercises, and scripts for handling a wide range of ethical dilemmas, Gentile empowers business leaders with the skills to voice and act on their values, and align their professional path with their principles.
OUR RELATED ARTICLES AND READING LISTS
EVERY EXECUTIVE NEEDS A TRUSTED SOUNDING BOARD Most executives understand that the higher they are, the more difficult it is to talk about their real issues or concerns – and to do so free from the weight of company expectations. It is even harder to find effective and neutral listeners. Whether the objective is to be more effective in a role, to assess next-level strategies or contribute to a board, it helps to have trusted guidance.
EXECUTIVE RESILIENCE Lead others through trust and manage self through resilience. Resilience requires adaptiveness. Above all, it requires being kind to yourself while caring for the wellbeing of others.
VISUALISATION TO ACTUALISATION Mentor-Coach Conversation | Whether it is an enterprise-wide strategy, a transformation plan or a key piece of work, moving from visualisation to actualisation takes a specific execution skill set, an investment in mission-critical talent, the right resource allocation, hyper focus and discipline. Certain operating styles create differentiation and impact.
MENTORING FOR A NEW DIRECTION Will the coming year be different from the last? How are you navigating towards the next level? What are the risks you need to counter? What should an executive do to be better prepared? How can you use mentoring to guide you towards a new direction?
FOR THE CROSSROADS While performance counts and the right performance counts even more, technical and functional expertise is not enough when facing the career crossroads.
Lost Leaders When life and work don’t go as planned, sometimes under challenging and confronting circumstances, there can be a painful sense of being unable to find the way. Rather than staying lost or being stuck in ‘not knowing’ or making mental mistakes about the future, look for that breakthrough.
CALMING DOUBT AND SELF-CRITICISM For many, certain questions of doubt keep recurring. Will they be good enough? Will they be found out? Will the next role or assignment be the one that brings them undone? Here are some solutions.
EMPATHY: THE HUMAN SIDE OF LEADING Coaching Conversation: loss is often deeply felt during careers. Empathetic managerial leaders understand the impact of disruption on an individual during decisions relating to advancement, transition and change initiatives.
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