Angela Lee Duckworth’s research at the U of Penn has begun to make a strong case against the usual success predictors in students and employees. These are things like test scores, IQ, and socioeconomics. The definitive variable is grit: the chemistry of passion and perseverance that makes people failure-resilient.
The good news is that passion can be learned as a tacit skill, beginning with teaching people how to dream in ways that are personally compelling and significant. An exciting trend in the data.
Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit | Video on TED.com