Angela Duckworth is famous for the study of grit. But in this conversation with Harvard Dean David Deming, she tells a messier story: ten years of feeling lost after Harvard, the loneliness of achievement, and why she now believes perseverance only works when your situation lets effort pay off. Her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best, argues that grit is necessary but not sufficient — and that the people and places around you may matter just as much as the qualities you carry inside.
Angela is a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, a MacArthur Fellow, and the author of Grit. She graduated from Harvard College in 1992 with the Fay Prize for best senior thesis, went on to a Marshall Scholarship at Oxford, worked at McKinsey, taught in public schools, ran a nonprofit, and started her PhD at 32 under Martin Seligman.
You can watch the conversation and find full show notes here.
