Great Leaders Aren’t Born—They’re Believed In: How Surrogate Grit Builds Future Leaders

What Makes a Great Leader?

Great leaders aren’t born—they’re believed in. That’s the powerful insight from University of Pennsylvania researcher Angela Duckworth. After years studying Olympic champions, Nobel winners, and Spelling Bee stars, she found one thing they all share: someone who refused to let them quit on a bad day. She calls it surrogate grit—the grit that comes from someone else believing in you when you stop believing in yourself.

This idea flips the old story about leadership. We often think grit is a personal trait you either have or don’t. But Duckworth’s research shows it’s deeply relational. It lives in the relationships and environments that either hold people to their potential or let them drift away.

“I have had bad days, and I have said out loud that I quit, and the only reason I didn't quit was not because of my individual grit, it was because somebody who cared about me was gritty for me. I call that surrogate grit. Every gritty performer I have ever interviewed has somebody in their life who does not let them quit on a bad day.” — Angela Duckworth

The Human Workplace Has Never Mattered More

Duckworth shared this message at Workhuman Live in Orlando this year. The timing couldn’t be more urgent. Today’s workplace is facing big challenges:

• Over 75% of workers report burnout
• AI investment is at record highs, but returns are low
• Employee engagement is at its lowest in a decade (Gallup)
• Half of workers say work used to be a better experience

Underneath it all, there’s a creeping anxiety: What does it mean to be a human contributor when machines can do so much?

That’s why surrogate grit matters more than ever. It’s the human connection that helps people push through tough days and grow into leaders.

How to Build Surrogate Grit in Your Organization

Conferences like Workhuman Live provide surrogate grit at scale—a community where people realize they’re not failing alone. But organizations run forever. So how do you build that same support into your company’s DNA?

Spot Future Leaders Before They Do

Duckworth’s research reveals that every great performer has someone who sees their potential before they do. In most companies, that someone has to find you by accident—because you sit nearby or happen to be noticed in a meeting. That’s not reliable.

Wharton’s research shows that most business leaders view succession planning as subjective, political, and uncertain. Yet 86% agree it’s critical to success.

Your Data Already Knows Who Your Leaders Are

At Workhuman, we’ve built recognition programs that generate rich, human-authored data about who does great work and how. When we trained our AI on billions of those moments, we discovered something powerful: using your own company data, our patent-pending Ascend model can predict who will become a VP—years in advance.

We call this tool Future Leaders. It’s the infrastructure for surrogate grit at organizational scale. Instead of leaving leadership discovery to luck, you can now see who your next leaders are and support them early.

Actionable Tips for Leaders

• Look for patterns, not just performance. Who consistently helps others succeed? Those are your talent magnets.
• Don’t wait for someone to ask for help. Step in on a bad day and offer encouragement.
• Use data to find hidden potential. Recognition data often reveals leaders you never saw coming.

The Bottom Line

As Duckworth told the Workhuman Live community: “Grit is about relationships. It’s about being stronger together than we can ever be on our own. And grit is about culture—creating a place where the way we do things around here is different and special and makes us who we are.”

Great leaders aren’t born. They’re believed in. The data is already in your organization. The only thing left is the grit to act on it.