Grit Isn’t About Hanging On. It’s About Knowing What NOT to Quit.

I listen to podcasts ALL the time – at the gym, while travelling…Recently, I listened to a new episode of Simon Sinek’s “A Bit of Optimism” podcast with guest Angela Duckworth (psychologist, professor and author of the best-selling book entitled Grit).  The podcast was a timely reminder that we’ve quietly misunderstood grit—especially in today’s world of constant transformation.

Duckworth’s work is often reduced to perseverance over time. But that framing assumes stability: a long road, a fixed destination, a clear finish line. Most leaders today don’t operate in that world. Strategies shift. Operating models evolve. AI rewrites roles mid-stream. The goalposts move while people are still running.

Sinek’s concept of true cause fills the gap that Duckworth’s research alone can’t. A true cause isn’t a goal you reach. It’s a vision of the world you are trying to advance—something on the other side of an obstacle, not at the end of a checklist.

As Simon puts it, it’s often easier to know what you stand for once you understand what stands in the way.

That matters, because grit without a true cause isn’t resilience. It’s stubbornness. And stubbornness, dressed up as commitment, is how organizations burn out good people while telling themselves they’re building “strong cultures.”

In an era of continuous change, grit isn’t about refusing to let go. It’s about disciplined adaptability in service of something that genuinely matters.

This came into sharp focus for me recently when someone asked, very casually:
“Do you want to be right, or do you want to be rich?”

The implication was clear. Compromise the principle. Bend the value. Smooth the edge. The obstacle goes away—and success follows.

But that question fundamentally misunderstands leadership.

Values are not obstacles to results. They are the guardrails that define which results are worth pursuing and how you pursue them. A true cause only becomes visible because there is resistance. The obstacle reveals the value. What you refuse to compromise tells everyone exactly what you stand for.

If you remove the obstacle by abandoning the value, you don’t get progress. You get drift.

The most resilient leaders and organizations I’ve seen don’t cling to plans, titles, or even business models. They cling to their true cause. They are explicit about what is non-negotiable and what must evolve. The mission holds. The methods change. The values do not.

This is where many organizations quietly fail.

They tell people to “be gritty” while constantly changing priorities.
They reward endurance while eroding trust.
They celebrate resilience while building systems that require heroics just to survive.

That isn’t grit. That’s exhaustion with better branding.

Real grit shows up when people believe the struggle is in service of something meaningful—something on the other side of the obstacle that is worth the effort. That belief doesn’t come from slogans, town halls, or resilience training. It comes from leadership choices that consistently honour stated values, especially when doing so is inconvenient, slower, or more expensive.

Choosing values over short-term gain is not about being “right.” It’s about being aligned. And alignment, over time, outperforms opportunism—financially, culturally, and reputationally.

In a world where work is being rewritten in real time, grit is no longer about grinding through. It’s about staying anchored to your true cause while having the courage to change how you operate—again and again.

Leaders who understand this stop asking, “Why are people burning out?”
They start asking, “What’s on the other side of the obstacle we’re asking people to push through—and is it worthy of their effort?”

That’s where trust is built.
And trust, not toughness, is what sustains performance over the long game.