Walk Off Winning

7Are You a Brick with Mortar?

When you read about a successful NFL coach or watch an interview after championships are won, you hear words like “toughness,” “blue collar,” and “gritty.” This is often how leaders describe their teams' reactions when the chips are on the line. When it comes to building a strong culture for your program or organization, leaders want those “grinders” around them. We think they'll be the hardest-working, most reliable, and best able to get though the muck that will be dealt to a group over a period of time.

But what is real “toughness?” What does grit mean when describing a person within your organization?

Imagine a weekly staff meeting at a huge firm, where the account supervisor announces, “I want to point out how proud we all are of Julie's efforts this past month. She sealed one of our biggest contracts to date with a client we have been chasing for months. She showed determination and grit, going the extra mile with late hours and weekends to accomplish this account. Let's give her a big round of applause!”

What did the supervisor mean by grit? What is true toughness? I frequently ask these questions of people who have built championship programs or successful businesses.

True Toughness

A prevalent answer is that toughness is not a value or trait; it is a combination of many ideas, values, and traits that each individual in the organization is willing to invest in.

Toughness is a combination of many ideas, values, and traits that each individual ...