Lavin Exclusive Speaker
Lauren Eskreis-Winkler is among a select group of people who can speak authoritatively on grit: steadfast resilience that predicts success better than talent. Eskreis-Winkler has worked closely with Angela Duckworth—the world’s preeminent grit researcher—to carry out “grit interventions” with leading organizations such as Major League Baseball Teams and the World Bank. Drawing from her hands-on research, her talks show us how to practice, and benefit from, grit on every level.
Lauren Eskreis-Winkler is an assistant professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she researches motivation and achievement. Her work is crucial in helping people reach their goals, no matter their situation in life. Grit—the ability to pursue long-term goals with passion and perseverance—has been proven to predict success time and time again, over and beyond measures of talent. Yet, surprisingly little research has been done as to how, or whether, grit can be cultivated.
Formerly a post-doctoral fellow at the Wharton School, (as well as a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Character Lab), Eskries-Winkler has designed and implemented numerous interventions alongside #1 New York Times bestselling author Angela Duckworth. Together, they have successfully reached everyone from struggling athletes, to students in grade school and college, to individuals at every level of the workforce. Her work reveals a critical fact: “Grit is not only important, but also malleable and can be encouraged via intervention.”
More than a stand-and-deliver lecturer, Eskreis-Winkler’s sessions prime audiences on the cutting-edge science of grit, using fun intervention techniques that work empirically to increase motivation, resilience, and other gritty qualities. Her interactive talks can be used for individual character-building, or to nurture a corporate-wide culture of grit. Eskreis-Winkler earned her PhD in Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.