Grit – the new driving force behind innovation?

“Can countries, companies, educational institutions and even families, foster innovation by helping young people (and old people!) become more disciplined and gritty”?

That is the question posed by Jim Kim – President at the World Bank, after a recent discussion with Bill Gates.

After reading this recent article posted by Mr. Kim, I began wondering whether this type of grit is a old world phenomenon that the new generations are prepared to buy into.  Or is it something that we are in fact losing?  Grit takes hard work, effort and discipline.  These are some of the things that many people are wondering whether the new generations, as a result of their (sometime?) entitlement attitude, may not be prepared to embrace.  True or false?

What is the real driving force behind innovation?

So what is the real driving force behind innovation?

Our Western environment has afforded us so much privilege that we’ve come to expect many things,  rather than realizing we need to take a lesson from John Wayne’s Western classic “True Grit”, and make it happen, regardless of the barriers that are placed in our way and the effort required to overcome them.  Technological innovation comes easy to the new generation, however innovation does not only belong in the technological world.  Innovation can take many forms, including through simple creative thinking, hard research and analysis, determination and even just an attitude to fully embrace risk.

So, are we all ready to apply ourselves to make it happen?  Will we allow our true grit to shine through, and to take on and overcome the pain that often accompanies failure, disappointment and a lack of success.  As Vince Lombardi said: “It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up”.

Read Mr Kim’s full article here and judge for yourself