GEL Lunch n' Learn: Guts and Grit

Guts and Grit: A Case Study of Bold Female Leadership

Do you want to learn more about what it takes to engage in “gutsy” leadership? David Niño will join us for a lunch and learn conversation about one woman’s attempts at bold and courageous leadership in Washington D.C.’s school system. David teaches a new MIT graduate course called “Leading Creative Teams” (https://gelp.mit.edu/grad) and is offering this lunch and learn as a sampling of how you can develop your own capacities to lead.

To gain the most from the experience, please complete the following:

1. Read the Newsweek article, “Can Michelle Rhee save D.C.’s school?" Focusing only on this reading, consider her motivations, her experiences and preparations, the (formidable) challenge she accepted, and her capacity to persevere in the face of difficulty. What are your observations about her early experiences as a gutsy leader?

2. (optional) If you’d like to assess your own capacities for grit and perseverance, complete the following assessment at https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter. We’ll discuss “grit” and how we can learn from these types of assessments.