My sister went to a conference last week and shared this Ted talk on the topic of “grit”. She defines grit as the power and passion for long term goals. What is most interesting about the talk is that there is clear evidence that people with “grit” outperform those without it, but there is so little knowledge around what makes a person have it or not.
As a sports player / fan, this theory is clear when you see very talented people throw away their gift because of lack of commitment, hard work or whatever you want to call it. I still remember the story of Nicolas Pereira, the talented tennis player from Venezuela who managed to become #1 seed in the U.S. Open Juniors tournament. After turning pro, Nicolas reduced his training, lost his drive and went on to be a regular tennis player and now ESPN commentator.
On the other side, you can also recognize when someone or a team with intense “grit”, beats or outperforms more talented opponents. Recently, you can compare performances like the ones of Iceland and Russia in the latest world cup to that of Argentina. True grit set one group of teams apart from others (who had better players in their roster).
To close on this point, I think one of the greatest examples of success is “grit” with balance. Roger Federer´s early career was marked with incredible talent but a hot temper that prevented him from elevating his game, even though you can say he had a lot of “grit”. After 21 years, he learned to channel his passion; combined talent, hard work and perseverance for the long term to become the GOAT.
When talking about business and entrepreneurship, I think that having “grit” for long term goals generates enormous benefits. On the down-side, the game is rarely over! Meaning that there is always time to recover and learn from past mistakes. On the upside, the compounding effect of strong returns/learnings can have incredible impact over long periods of time.
Thinking about this topic and how it relates to Reservamos (my company) and myself as an entrepreneur. I believe that what is most interesting to find out is not when a single person has "grit", but rather, when whole teams or organizations manage to work with passion and perseverance for the long term.
Reservamos pivoted two years ago. It was one of the hardest moments, personally and professionally for me, but we managed to get through it (I will write more on pivoting later). I strongly believe the team showed enormous "grit" in the process, but it was not just one person leading the way. If it were not for the entire team´s positive attitude and commitment, starting from my co-founders, Sebastian and Adrian, we would not have been able to make it.
This is why I believe “grit” can actually be contagious and most powerful in groups.
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