0:00:00.880,0:00:02.930
When I was 27 years old,

0:00:02.954,0:00:06.277
I left a very demanding job[br]in management consulting

0:00:06.301,0:00:10.058
for a job that was even more[br]demanding: teaching.

0:00:11.298,0:00:13.778
I went to teach seventh graders math

0:00:13.802,0:00:15.702
in the New York City public schools.

0:00:16.202,0:00:19.083
And like any teacher,[br]I made quizzes and tests.

0:00:19.107,0:00:21.083
I gave out homework assignments.

0:00:21.107,0:00:23.829
When the work came back,[br]I calculated grades.

0:00:24.758,0:00:29.310
What struck me was that IQ[br]was not the only difference

0:00:29.334,0:00:32.470
between my best and my worst students.

0:00:33.017,0:00:37.784
Some of my strongest performers[br]did not have stratospheric IQ scores.

0:00:38.345,0:00:41.583
Some of my smartest kids[br]weren't doing so well.

0:00:42.297,0:00:43.694
And that got me thinking.

0:00:44.432,0:00:47.392
The kinds of things you need[br]to learn in seventh grade math,

0:00:47.416,0:00:52.318
sure, they're hard: ratios, decimals,[br]the area of a parallelogram.

0:00:52.668,0:00:55.344
But these concepts are not impossible,

0:00:55.368,0:00:59.478
and I was firmly convinced[br]that every one of my students

0:00:59.502,0:01:02.082
could learn the material

0:01:02.106,0:01:04.169
if they worked hard and long enough.

0:01:04.842,0:01:07.304
After several more years of teaching,

0:01:07.328,0:01:11.062
I came to the conclusion[br]that what we need in education

0:01:11.086,0:01:14.546
is a much better understanding[br]of students and learning

0:01:14.570,0:01:16.887
from a motivational perspective,

0:01:16.911,0:01:19.117
from a psychological perspective.

0:01:19.815,0:01:25.308
In education, the one thing[br]we know how to measure best is IQ.

0:01:26.172,0:01:30.024
But what if doing[br]well in school and in life

0:01:30.048,0:01:32.142
depends on much more

0:01:32.166,0:01:35.546
than your ability to learn[br]quickly and easily?

0:01:36.371,0:01:38.297
So I left the classroom,

0:01:38.321,0:01:41.312
and I went to graduate school[br]to become a psychologist.

0:01:41.877,0:01:44.027
I started studying kids and adults

0:01:44.051,0:01:46.884
in all kinds of super[br]challenging settings,

0:01:46.908,0:01:49.336
and in every study my question was,

0:01:49.360,0:01:51.606
who is successful here and why?

0:01:52.384,0:01:55.977
My research team and I went[br]to West Point Military Academy.

0:01:56.476,0:01:58.136
We tried to predict which cadets

0:01:58.160,0:02:01.668
would stay in military training[br]and which would drop out.

0:02:02.414,0:02:04.645
We went to the National Spelling Bee

0:02:04.669,0:02:09.208
and tried to predict which children[br]would advance farthest in competition.

0:02:09.867,0:02:13.923
We studied rookie teachers[br]working in really tough neighborhoods,

0:02:13.947,0:02:17.364
asking which teachers are still[br]going to be here in teaching

0:02:17.388,0:02:19.382
by the end of the school year,

0:02:19.406,0:02:22.417
and of those, who will be[br]the most effective

0:02:22.441,0:02:25.125
at improving learning[br]outcomes for their students?

0:02:25.592,0:02:27.822
We partnered with private[br]companies, asking,

0:02:27.846,0:02:30.541
which of these salespeople[br]is going to keep their jobs?

0:02:30.565,0:02:32.431
And who's going to earn the most money?

0:02:32.797,0:02:35.455
In all those very different contexts,

0:02:35.479,0:02:39.980
one characteristic emerged[br]as a significant predictor of success.

0:02:40.464,0:02:42.242
And it wasn't social intelligence.

0:02:42.662,0:02:45.647
It wasn't good looks, physical health,

0:02:45.671,0:02:46.989
and it wasn't IQ.

0:02:47.758,0:02:48.874
It was grit.

0:02:49.899,0:02:54.529
Grit is passion and perseverance[br]for very long-term goals.

0:02:54.989,0:02:56.660
Grit is having stamina.

0:02:57.232,0:03:01.438
Grit is sticking with your future,[br]day in, day out,

0:03:01.462,0:03:04.827
not just for the week,[br]not just for the month,

0:03:04.851,0:03:06.383
but for years,

0:03:06.407,0:03:10.128
and working really hard[br]to make that future a reality.

0:03:10.969,0:03:15.238
Grit is living life[br]like it's a marathon, not a sprint.

0:03:16.156,0:03:17.587
A few years ago,

0:03:17.611,0:03:20.625
I started studying grit[br]in the Chicago public schools.

0:03:21.141,0:03:23.429
I asked thousands of high school juniors

0:03:23.453,0:03:25.281
to take grit questionnaires,

0:03:25.305,0:03:27.257
and then waited around more than a year

0:03:27.281,0:03:28.637
to see who would graduate.

0:03:29.518,0:03:31.740
Turns out that grittier kids

0:03:31.764,0:03:34.944
were significantly more[br]likely to graduate,

0:03:34.968,0:03:38.730
even when I matched them[br]on every characteristic I could measure,

0:03:38.754,0:03:41.004
things like family income,

0:03:41.028,0:03:43.750
standardized achievement test scores,

0:03:43.774,0:03:46.798
even how safe kids felt[br]when they were at school.

0:03:47.377,0:03:50.314
So it's not just at West Point[br]or the National Spelling Bee

0:03:50.338,0:03:51.452
that grit matters.

0:03:51.476,0:03:53.417
It's also in school,

0:03:53.441,0:03:55.822
especially for kids[br]at risk for dropping out.

0:03:57.116,0:04:00.074
To me, the most shocking thing about grit

0:04:00.098,0:04:02.057
is how little we know,

0:04:02.081,0:04:04.583
how little science knows,[br]about building it.

0:04:05.003,0:04:07.254
Every day, parents and teachers ask me,

0:04:07.278,0:04:09.478
"How do I build grit in kids?

0:04:09.502,0:04:12.419
What do I do to teach kids[br]a solid work ethic?

0:04:12.753,0:04:15.241
How do I keep them motivated[br]for the long run?"

0:04:15.860,0:04:17.835
The honest answer is,

0:04:17.859,0:04:18.936
I don't know.

0:04:18.960,0:04:20.435
(Laughter)

0:04:20.459,0:04:23.498
What I do know is that talent[br]doesn't make you gritty.

0:04:23.522,0:04:25.853
Our data show very clearly

0:04:25.877,0:04:28.290
that there are many talented individuals

0:04:28.314,0:04:31.433
who simply do not follow through[br]on their commitments.

0:04:31.814,0:04:36.028
In fact, in our data,[br]grit is usually unrelated

0:04:36.052,0:04:39.173
or even inversely related[br]to measures of talent.

0:04:40.465,0:04:44.560
So far, the best idea I've heard[br]about building grit in kids

0:04:44.584,0:04:46.806
is something called "growth mindset."

0:04:47.449,0:04:51.119
This is an idea developed[br]at Stanford University by Carol Dweck,

0:04:51.143,0:04:56.241
and it is the belief that the ability[br]to learn is not fixed,

0:04:56.265,0:04:58.732
that it can change with your effort.

0:04:59.440,0:05:00.759
Dr. Dweck has shown

0:05:00.783,0:05:03.918
that when kids read[br]and learn about the brain

0:05:03.942,0:05:07.416
and how it changes and grows[br]in response to challenge,

0:05:07.440,0:05:11.437
they're much more likely[br]to persevere when they fail,

0:05:11.461,0:05:16.070
because they don't believe that failure[br]is a permanent condition.

0:05:17.052,0:05:20.182
So growth mindset[br]is a great idea for building grit.

0:05:20.724,0:05:22.261
But we need more.

0:05:22.825,0:05:24.921
And that's where I'm going[br]to end my remarks,

0:05:24.945,0:05:26.291
because that's where we are.

0:05:26.315,0:05:28.480
That's the work that stands before us.

0:05:28.504,0:05:32.384
We need to take our best ideas,[br]our strongest intuitions,

0:05:32.408,0:05:34.043
and we need to test them.

0:05:34.512,0:05:37.223
We need to measure[br]whether we've been successful,

0:05:37.247,0:05:40.953
and we have to be willing[br]to fail, to be wrong,

0:05:40.977,0:05:43.615
to start over again with lessons learned.

0:05:44.336,0:05:47.280
In other words, we need to be gritty

0:05:47.304,0:05:49.773
about getting our kids grittier.

0:05:50.177,0:05:51.209
Thank you.

0:05:51.233,0:05:54.068
(Applause)