The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau

A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.

Angela Duckworth

Grit gets you started, but your situation determines how far you go. Learn to make it work for you.

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Grit and Situated | Pioneering Researcher on Grit, Perseverance, and the Power of Situation

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Why Effort Matters More Than Talent (6:24)

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Want to Measure Your Team’s Grit? Ask These Two Questions (3:11)

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Lavin Exclusive Speaker

What if the secret to success isn’t just who you are or what you do, but where you put yourself? Angela Duckworth, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit whose TED Talk has surpassed 29 million views, spent years proving that grit—passion and perseverance for long-term goals—is the hidden engine behind extraordinary achievement. Now, the MacArthur Genius and pioneering researcher is back with a finding that changes the equation: changing your situation can help your grit take you further—and bring success within arm’s reach. In her hotly anticipated new book, Situated, Angela reveals how the objects on your desk, the people around you, and even your zip code can determine whether your grit pays off, and that shaping your environment is often more powerful than shaping yourself. “Though you’re often told to make the best of your situation,” she writes, “it is far, far better to make your situation better first.” Drawing on her landmark research and the habits of high performers from Taylor Swift to Michael Phelps, Angela shows audiences how to stop relying on willpower alone and start building situations that make excellence easier. The result is a practical, paradigm-shifting framework for anyone who wants to achieve more—at work, at home, and in life.

“A captivating look at what it takes to gain more control over your destiny. Angela Duckworth has delivered a book that’s bursting with surprising science, alluring anecdotes, and actionable advice about human agency.”— Adam Grant (author of Think Again) on Situated

Angela Duckworth is the co-founder of Character Lab, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance scientific insights that help children thrive. She is also the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change For Good Initiative, and founding faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics. A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Angela has advised the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs. She’s also been named to the Thinkers50, often referred to as the Oscars of management thinking, and has been ranked as the #1 education scholar in America by EdWeek.

Prior to her career in research, Angela founded a summer school for underserved children that was profiled as a Harvard Kennedy School case study and, in 2023, celebrated its 30th anniversary. She has also been a McKinsey management consultant and a math and science teacher in the public schools of New York City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.

Angela completed her undergraduate degree in Advanced Studies Neurobiology at Harvard, graduating magna cum laude. With the support of a Marshall Scholarship, she completed an MSc with Distinction in Neuroscience from Oxford University. She completed her PhD in Psychology as a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

Angela’s TED talk is among the most-viewed of all time. Her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, is a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her second book, Situated: Finding the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best, fuses “the instructive insights of solid behavioral science with the flair of a superb communicator” (Robert Cialdini, Influence). She was also co-host of the podcast No Stupid Questions, which ran from 2020 to 2024, with new episodes regularly ranking within the top 150 podcast episodes on Apple.

Testimonials

Angela was outstanding. We can’t say enough great things about her. The team loved meeting her, she did an excellent job on the show, and was all around professional and easy to work with.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Testimonials

Angela was fantastic—her message landed perfectly as a wrap-up to our kick-off week. I heard feedback it was one of the highlights, and have heard people quoting her in various meetings since. It gave our leaders some much needed thought provocations.

Hilti North America

Lavin Exclusive Speakers

Angela Duckworth

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Grit and Situated | Pioneering Researcher on Grit, Perseverance, and the Power of Situation

Daron Acemoglu

Nobel Prize Winner | 3rd Most Cited Economist in the World | Author, What Happened to Liberal Democracy? | Bestselling Co-Author, Why Nations Fail

Alison Wood Brooks

Harvard Business School Behavioral Science Professor | "40 Under 40 MBA Professor" | Author of TALK: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves

Derek Thompson

#1 New York Times Bestselling Co-Author of Abundance | Host of thePlain English Podcast | CBS News Contributor

Clint Smith

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of How the Word Is Passed and Above Ground | The Atlantic Staff Writer

Speech Topics

Execution & Performance

SituatedFinding the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best

Grit (passion and perseverance for long-term goals) is a vital part of success, says Angela Duckworth. But it’s not the only part—we’re powerfully influenced by the people, places, and circumstances around us. And learning how to turn your situation to your advantage can complement your grit and bring success within your reach.

A MacArthur Genius and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit, Angela has spent her career shaping how organizations worldwide cultivate resilience and achievement. In this talk, she draws on her latest book, Situated, to reveal the power of making your situation your ally. She reveals the four essential strategies that anyone can pursue to bring out their best, showing how high performers like Taylor Swift, Michael Phelps, and Jerry Seinfeld create situations that make the most of their grit, rather than trying to power through with grit alone. Audiences will learn:

Why your personality changes from situation to situation, and how to harness that shift;
The secret to conquering temptation without willpower;
How the company you keep shapes the person you become;
The most effective ways to help others succeed;
and much more!

This accessible, dynamic, science-backed talk is a must-listen for anyone who wants to do their best work and help others do the same.

Psychology

True GritThe Surprising, and Inspiring, Science of Success

Who succeeds in life? In this talk, Angela Duckworth presents her influential work on grit—the tendency to pursue long-term goals with perseverance and passion. She describes the predictive power of grit for performance in a variety of fascinating contexts. Angela has studied groups like the West Point cadets, National Spelling Bee competitors, rookie teachers, students from the Chicago public schools—all people performing in high-stress environments—to look at the correlation between grit and achievement.

Drawing from these examples, and others, Angela explains what makes gritty individuals different from others, and, shares her belief that grit “can be instilled and cultivated by anyone, anywhere, and at any time in life.”

Grit at Work

Grit in the New Era of WorkPursuing Resilience

It was the core components of grit—courage, conscientiousness, perseverance, resilience, and passion—that shone through in the acts of heroism we’ve witnessed through the crises of the last few years. We all cultivated our own resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges, whether moving to a hybrid model or battling economic uncertainty. Angela Duckworth’s pioneering work on grit is a guiding light as we continue to grow in the new era of work.

How can we capitalize on the skills that helped us get through our recent challenges? And how should we address our renewed priorities, and pursue goals that serve our higher selves over the long-term? Drawing from her landmark research, Angela shows us how to adapt to a new way of living. This timely and practical presentation will help audiences recognize their inner fortitude, nurture their true potential, and prepare to flourish—not merely survive—in the face of whatever may be around the next bend.