The same patterns emerged for world-class tennis players. When Bloom’s team interviewed
eighteen American tennis players who had been ranked in the top ten in the world, they found that
although their first coaches “were not exceptional coaches, they tended to be very good with young
children... What this first coach provided was motivation for the child to become interested in
tennis and to spend time practicing.”
In roles as leaders and mentors, givers resist the temptation to search for talent first. By
recognizing that anyone can be a bloomer, givers focus their attention on motivation. The top-ranked
tennis players tended to have a first coach who took “a special interest in the tennis player,” Bloom’s
team notes, “usually because he perceived the player as being motivated and willing to work hard,
rather than because of any special physical abilities.”
In the accounting classroom, looking for motivation and work ethic, not only intellectual ability, is
part of what has made C. J. Skender so successful in recognizing talent. When Skender bet Beth
Traynham that she would pass the CPA exam, it wasn’t because she was unusually gifted in
accounting. It was because he noticed “how hard she worked all semester.” When Skender recognized
that Reggie Love had promise, whereas others wrote him off as just another jock, it was because
Love “worked diligently, and was always prepared for class,” Skender says. “He was interested in
learning and bettering himself.” When Skender encouraged Marie Arcuri, it was because she was “the
most involved and committed individual I have ever met. Her persistence set her apart.”
The psychologist Angela Duckworth calls this grit: having passion and perseverance toward
long-term goals. Her research shows that above and beyond intelligence and aptitude, gritty people—
by virtue of their interest, focus, and drive—achieve higher performance. “Persistence is incredibly
important,” says psychologist Tom Kolditz, a brigadier general who headed up behavioral sciences
and leadership at the U.S. Military Academy for a dozen years. The standard selection rate for Army
officers to key command positions is 12 percent; Kolditz’s former faculty have been selected at rates
as high as 75 percent, and he chalks much of it up to selecting candidates based on grit. As George
Anders writes in The Rare Find, “you can’t take motivation for granted.”
Of course, natural talent also matters, but once you have a pool of candidates above the threshold
of necessary potential, grit is a major factor that predicts how close they get to achieving their
potential. This is why givers focus on gritty people: it’s where givers have the greatest return on their
investment, the most meaningful and lasting impact. And along with investing their time in motivating
gritty people, givers like Skender strive to cultivate grit in the first place. “Setting high expectations
is so important,” Skender says. “You have to push people, make them stretch and do more than they
think possible. When they take my tests, I want them thinking it was the toughest exam they’ve ever
seen in their lives. It makes them better learners.” To encourage effort, he gives them a half dozen past
exams for practice. “They need to make a significant investment, and it pays off. Forcing them to work
harder than they ever have in their lives benefits them in the long run.”
One of the keys to cultivating grit is making the task at hand more interesting and motivating. In
Bloom’s study, across the board, the talented musicians and athletes were initially taught by givers,
teachers who
liked children and rewarded them with praise, signs of approval, or even candy
when they did anything right. They were extremely encouraging. They were
enthusiastic about the talent field and what they had to teach these children. In