The Grit Factor

Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male-Dominated Organization in the World

By: Shannon Huffman Polson

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

At age 19, Shannon Huffman Polson became the youngest woman ever to climb Denali, the highest mountain in North America. She went on to reach the summits of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Kilimanjaro and spent more than a decade traveling the world. Yet it was during her experience serving as one of the Army's first female attack helicopter pilots, and eventually leading an Apache flight platoon on deployment to Bosnia-Herzegovina, that she learned the lessons of leadership that forever changed her life.

Where did these insights come from? From her own crucibles of experience - and from other women. In writing The Grit Factor, Polson made it her mission to connect with an elite pack of tough, impressive female iconoclasts who shared with her their candid stories of combat and career. This slate of decorated leaders includes Heather Penney, one of the first female F-16 pilots, who was put on a suicide mission for 9/11; General Ann Dunwoody, the first female four-star general in the Army; Amy McGrath, the first female Marine to fly the F/A-18 in combat - and dozens of other unstoppable women who got there first, including Polson herself.

With its gripping narrative and relatable takeaways, The Grit Factor is both inspiring and pragmatic, a book that will energize and enlighten current and aspiring leaders everywhere - whether male or female.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2020 Shannon Huffman Polson (P)2020 Gildan Media

Inspirational story with practical application

The audible book for The Grit Factor - Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male-Dominated Organization in the World is a great way to consume this story. The reader does a wonderful job of adding the dramatic flair to the stories in this book - they are brought to life drawing you into the tales of extreme grit.

The information shared by the author about her career and those of other women in the military provides great examples of resilience. Although many of their stories are beyond what most of us will ever experience, the fundamental elements of how they faced their fears and managed to find their way through are the lessons for us all.

I found many nuggets of wisdom, but the one that really stood out was the description of the take off of the helicopter into the wind. The author suggests that, when facing your fears, to keep in mind that the force of the wind is what provides the lift for helicopters. In other words, you need this forcing function of the wind to successfully lift off. The analogy is that by facing your fears and heading right into them, rather than avoiding them, will provide this same lift to us as we tackle challenging situations.

Bottom line - Learning about the travails of the various women who have carved careers in the most male-dominated industry on the planet was extremely inspirational. The extreme mental, physical and emotional stress that they endured to come out on top of their careers provided great lessons in resilience, born from grit.

Wonderful Book on Leadership

I really enjoyed and appreciated this refreshing, practical take on how leaders—especially women—can cultivate grit to achieve their goals and success in life. I highly recommend this book.