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Women at Work wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the HBR Ideacast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Kurt Nickiz. Concepts like resilient and grit have been popular in recent years, but it's much easier to

exalt them when you're flying high and times are good. It's quite another to think

about trying to be gritty when the world is adding new stresses left and right and you experience

setbacks. Let's face it, for many of us, this pandemic has been demanding and it might not let up anytime soon.

Well, today's guest is someone who knows about all the kind of mental and emotional fortitude so many experts say we need, but

maybe fewer people actually have.

She was the youngest woman ever at 19 to climb Dunali, the highest mountain in North America. She was one of the first women

to pilot the Apache attack helicopter in the United States Army, and she's launched a successful

corporate and consultant career too. And luckily she says we can think

about this big idea of grit as a series of smaller pieces and at a time like this you

can think about rebuilding, refocusing, and deciding what you really want from life.

Think of it as a reset on your way to becoming grittier.

Our guest is Shannon Huffman Polson. She's the author of The Grit Factor, Courage, Resilience,

and Leadership in the most male-dominated organization in the world. Shannon, thanks so much

for joining us. It's so good to be with you, Kurt. Thanks for

having me. So first and foremost, what does grit mean to you? You know, the way that

I have defined it over the past years is a dogged determination in the face of difficult circumstances

Angela Duckworth has defined grit as passion and perseverance towards long-term goals

...