Resilience Matters More Than Grit In Entrepreneurs’ Success

Entrepreneurial success often hinges on having the right combination of traits and qualities. Among these, grit—the fusion of persistence and passion toward long-term goals—has been hailed as a must-have trait, symbolizing the heroic nature of entrepreneurship. However, recent research suggests that the relentless pursuit encapsulated by grit can have its downsides, including burnout and depression. In this article, I explore the nuances of grit and its limitations and argue that resilience, forged through pain and suffering, is more crucial for entrepreneurs.

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Grit: The Backbone of (Entrepreneurial) Success

Grit is often celebrated as the secret sauce to success. Defined by psychologist Angela Duckworth and colleagues in 2007, grit encompasses the perseverance to achieve long-term goals combined with a passionate commitment.

In their study, grit accounted for an average of 4% of the variance in success outcomes across various domains, including education, military academy retention, and performance in the National Spelling Bee.

In a TED talk that gathered over 13 million views, Duckworth shares a crucial realization: intelligence wasn’t the only factor separating her best and worst students. This observation sparked her curiosity about the role of perseverance and passion, or “grit,” in achieving long-term goals.

She embarked on a quest to understand what makes people successful in various demanding environments, from military academies to public schools. Her research across diverse settings revealed that grit emerged as a significant predictor of success, outweighing IQ and social intelligence.

It wasn’t long before the entrepreneurship ecosystem applied the grit theory to entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs with grit exhibit an unwavering focus, dedicating years, if not decades, to their vision. This steadfast approach allows them to navigate the ups and downs of building a business, making grit a celebrated trait in the entrepreneurial community.

The Dark Side of Grit: Burnout and Depression

While the virtues of grit are widely extolled, its limits are less frequently discussed. Persistent dedication without balance can lead entrepreneurs down a path of burnout and depression. The story of Ryan Caldbeck, former CEO of CircleUp, illustrates the peril. Caldbeck’s relentless pursuit of success, a manifestation of grit, culminated in severe burnout, highlighting that even the most celebrated qualities have their shadow side.

Caldbeck’s narrative shows that his relentless commitment to his role and company, despite professional and personal challenges, pushed him into a state of chronic stress, eventually leading to his decision to step down as CEO of CircleUp.

His journey underscores the importance of recognizing the limits of persistence and the potential consequences of pushing oneself too hard without adequate self-care or awareness of one’s mental and emotional needs.

Go Further: Entrepreneurs’ Mental Health: 5 Ways To Preserve It (Backed by Psychologists)

I described the deep roots of such behavior and how it leads to entrepreneurial burnout in the article above.

Why Resilience Trumps Grit

Resilience, the ability to recover from setbacks and adapt to change, emerges as a more critical trait for entrepreneurs. Unlike grit, which emphasizes persistence in the same direction, resilience allows for flexibility and adaptation. This trait enables entrepreneurs to pivot in response to new information, learn from failures, and continue moving forward, albeit on altered paths.

Resilience matters in success. I don’t know how to teach it to you expect hoping suffering happens to you.

Jensen Huang – NVIDIA (Source: Stanford SIEPR)

Great entrepreneurs know the value of resilience. In a keynote at Stanford, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang shared counterintuitive advice for improving chances of success, emphasizing the unexpected value of having low expectations. Huang pointed out that while Stanford graduates naturally harbor high expectations due to their exceptional backgrounds and education, their mindset can lead to a decrease in resilience—a critical component of success.

He argued that resilience, more than intelligence or achievements, fosters greatness. This resilience often stems from experiencing setbacks, suffering, and challenges, which refine character and determination.

Huang’s assertion that resilience is cultivated through experiences of pain and suffering finds support within academic circles. Martin Seligman’s research on positive psychology and learned optimism provides evidence that resilience is bolstered by facing and navigating challenges, reinforcing the notion that encountering difficulties can lead to significant personal growth and increased psychological stamina.

On one end are the people who fall apart into PTSD, depression, and even suicide. In the middle are most people, who at first react with symptoms of depression and anxiety but within a month or so are, by physical and psychological measures, back where they were before the trauma. That is resilience.

Martin Seligman – University of pennsylvania (source: Harvard business review)

However, Huang’s affirmation that pain and suffering promote success via resilience is a dangerous shortcut. Seligman’s work with the US Army demonstrated that “building mental toughness” is crucial to fostering resilience.

He described four steps in the process:

1. Separating emotions from adversity: Seligman and his team taught soldiers to dissect their reactions to stressful events. By identifying and challenging their negative beliefs about adversities, soldiers can alter their emotional responses and develop a more resilient outlook. For example, falling out of a three-mile run doesn’t mean the soldier is a failure.
2. Identifying Thinking Traps: Soldiers are taught to recognize and avoid common cognitive distortions or “thinking traps,” such as overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, or black-and-white thinking, that can exacerbate stress and impede problem-solving. For example, concluding that a soldier is not fit for the job because he struggled to complete exercises one day.
3. Challenging Deeply Held Beliefs (“Icebergs”): The program encourages soldiers to identify and examine their core beliefs or “icebergs” that may contribute to disproportionate emotional reactions to challenges. For example, “asking for help is a sign of weakness.”
4. Minimizing Catastrophic Thinking: Soldiers learn techniques to counter catastrophic thinking by evaluating a situation’s worst-case, best-case, and most likely outcomes. This practice helps to put fears into perspective, reduce anxiety, and facilitate more balanced and effective responses to stress. For example, a soldier receiving a negative evaluation may believe that he won’t be recommended for promotion (worst case), that the report was a mistake (best case), or that he’ll receive a corrective action plan (most likely case).

Seligman’s work with the army underscores the broader applicability of these resilience-building techniques, offering insights that can benefit individuals and organizations outside the military context. It also clarifies that, unlike Jensen Huang, not everybody will emerge from suffering with a positive outlook.

Conclusion: tl;dr

Grit and resilience both play critical roles in the entrepreneurial journey. However, the flexibility and adaptability offered by resilience may prove more valuable than grit’s unwavering persistence. By understanding the limitations of grit and embracing the lessons learned through adversity, entrepreneurs can cultivate a more balanced and sustainable path to success.

Aram Founder

Aram is a veteran investment professional with 20 years of experience. He’s realized over 45 transactions across Project Finance, LBO Financings, Growth Equity, Venture Capital, and M&A in half a dozen countries on three continents.

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