Grit Major Figures Chart

Angela Duckworth

Author and psychologist Angela Duckworth (1970–) teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, where she researches the psychology of success. She draws on her expertise and also on her experiences in business, parenting and teaching.

Mike Matthews

Military psychologist and West Point faculty member Mike Matthews (1953–) proposed that persisting when challenges exceed skills results more from a “never give up” attitude than talent.

David Luong

David Luong, a hardworking high school student in Duckworth’s math class, helped to spark Duckworth’s belief that effort is more important than talent.

Francis Galton

British scientist Francis Galton (1822–1911), a relative of Charles Darwin, published a scientific paper in 1869 on the origins of high achievement.

William James

Harvard psychologist William James (1842–1910) studied the pursuit of goals. He published The Energies of Men, in which he identified a gap between potential and achievement.

Chia Jung-Tsay

Psychologist Chia Jung-Tsay studied whether people privilege talent or effort and found most harbor biases toward talent.

Scott Barry Kaufman

Duckworth’s colleague Scott Barry Kaufman (1979–) was placed in special education classes as a child but went on to excel in academia and music. Kaufman cites his own “grit” as the reason for his success.

Dan Chambliss

Sociologist Dan Chambliss studied champion swimmers. He believes people privilege a belief in talent over effort because it relieves them of the obligation to work hard.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), a 19th-century German philosopher, proposed that people prefer to believe that perfection is “magic” rather than the result of effort.

Marty Seligman

Marty Seligman (1942–), Angela Duckworth’s graduate-school advisor and former president of the American Psychological Association, challenged Duckworth to develop a theory about success. He also designed experiments that led to the notion of “learned helplessness.”

George Vaillant

Psychiatrist George Vaillant (1934–) followed up on the original participants of the Harvard Treadmill Test and found that those who were most successful in the original test also succeeded later in life.

Pete Carroll

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll (1951–) helped Duckworth to refine her understanding of passion as a coordinated hierarchy of goals with one overarching aim that serves as a compass for life.

Anders Ericsson

Cognitive psychologist Anders Ericsson (1947–2020) studied how experts acquire their skill. He found that experts practice differently from novices.

Carol Dweck

Psychologist Carol Dweck (1946–) studied the origins of optimism and pessimism. She found that those with a belief system she labeled a “growth mindset” were more optimistic than those with a “fixed mindset.”

Angela Duckworth’s father

When Angela Duckworth was a child, her father often reminded her she wasn’t a genius. He is proud of her when she wins a MacArthur “genius” grant and publishes a book.