The Role of Grit vs. Resilience: What’s the Difference?

Picture a mid-level manager at a growing company. She’s responsible for leading a team through a major system change - new software, new workflows, and a lot of uncertainty. For weeks, she juggles meetings, coaches her team through frustration, learns the new tools herself, and stays late to catch up on her own tasks. It’s exhausting, but she shows up every day and keeps the team moving forward. That’s grit, sticking with a long term challenge despite the pressure.

Then, just when things start to settle, the company announces a restructuring. Half her team is reassigned. The project timeline shifts. Morale drops. She’s frustrated, her team’s frustrated, and none of it was in her control. But after a few tough conversations and a weekend to clear her head, she rallies. She reconnects with her team, reframes the situation, and builds a new plan. That’s resilience, adapting and recovering without giving up.

In leadership, especially in middle management, grit and resilience are essential, but they’re not the same. Understanding the difference helps leaders lead smarter, not just harder.

What is grit?

Grit is the sustained drive to keep going toward a long term goal, even when it gets hard, messy, or boring. It’s not about being constantly motivated, it’s about commitment. Grit is what keeps you showing up for the process, even when the results are slow or invisible.

Psychologist Angela Duckworth defines grit as the combination of passion and perseverance. In a workplace setting, grit shows up when a manager sticks with a difficult initiative, supports a struggling team, or fights for improvement in systems that don’t change overnight.

Grit is the steady energy behind long haul leadership.

What is resilience?

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity, setbacks, or sudden change. It’s about emotional flexibility, being able to bend without breaking. While grit moves us forward, resilience helps us recalibrate when the path shifts.

In middle management, resilience is tested often. You’re carrying pressure from the top while protecting and guiding people below. When plans change, deadlines shift, or unexpected challenges arise, resilience allows you to respond calmly, adjust quickly, and still keep people engaged.

Resilience is not about ignoring stress, it’s about handling it in a way that doesn’t derail your focus or your well-being.

Why the difference matters

It’s easy to assume that all it takes to lead well is to be gritty, to just keep pushing. But grit without resilience can lead to burnout. It can make leaders rigid, stuck in one plan, or emotionally drained.

On the flip side, if you’re only focused on bouncing back and adapting but don’t have the grit to stick with hard work long term, you risk becoming reactive, always responding to problems but never moving toward a bigger goal.

Strong leaders need both. Grit helps you power through. Resilience helps you pivot when things shift.

How to build grit

• Reconnect to the bigger goal. Grit thrives when there’s a purpose behind the effort.

• Stick with hard things. The more often you do something uncomfortable on purpose, the more grit you develop.

• Celebrate progress, not perfection. Grit is about showing up, not having all the answers.

• Be consistent. Small actions over time create momentum.

How to grow resilience

• Pause and reflect before reacting. This helps you lead with intention, not emotion.

• Normalize change. Accept that plans rarely go exactly as designed, and flexibility is part of the job.

• Lean on others. Support from peers and mentors helps you process stress and recover faster.

• Protect your energy. Rest, boundaries, and emotional awareness are all part of leading long term.

How grit and resilience work together

Back to our manager. Grit kept her leading through the project, day after day, despite fatigue and resistance. Resilience showed up when the unexpected hit, when the plan shifted and morale dropped. She needed both to keep leading effectively. One without the other would not have been enough.

That’s the balance strong managers develop: the ability to hold the vision through difficulty, and the capacity to recover and adapt when things don’t go as planned.

Final thought

Middle management is one of the most demanding positions in any organization. You are the translator between vision and execution, between strategy and people. And that requires more than just hard work.

It takes grit to stay the course. It takes resilience to rise when the course changes.

Ask yourself: Can I stay focused through the long game? And can I bounce back when the game shifts?

If the answer is yes - or even if you’re learning how you’re already becoming the kind of leader every company needs more of.

Ready to strengthen your leadership mindset? Whether you're looking to build lasting grit or bounce back stronger with resilience, we can help.

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