Grit To Great - Linda Kaplan Thaler & Robin Thaler

How perseverance, passion, and pluck take you from ordinary to extraordinary. The authors are also the authors if The Power of Nice. They acknowledge right off the bat that grit is a "somewhat old fashioned term" that means " sweat, not swagger" and "character not charisma" They chronicle their own start of the Kaplan Thayer Group advertising agency, that has grown to $3 billion in Billings, and over 800 employees.
Also the four ingredients of grit. Guts, resilience, initiative, and tenacity. At the end of every chapter are some action steps called Grit Builders, which are steps to take to put the information into practice. In the chapter titled the talent myth, the two talk about how they did a presentation and gained the business of fast food giant Wendys. The book is actually full of personal examples of using grit to accomplish goals. In the chapter, Lose the safety net, they tell the story of Nik Wallenda and his tightrope walking, and actually interviewed him.The chapter titled,  Get into wait training,  talks about psychology and delayed gratification and waiting. "It's on these moments of boredom or inactivity that we can be our most creative, solve problems, engage with the world around us, and train ourselves to accept that we don't always have to feel busy to be fulfilled." This is very good advice for all of us. This book reminded me of similar booms by Malcolm Gladwell that talk about what success is, and what it's not. And how some people are surprised that success is not what people think.
I enjoyed reading about success others have had using grit to become great. It is encouraging to hear about success among seemingly ordinary folks that seem to be nothing special on the outside, but have grit on the inside.
I have been provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.