I know a lot of CEOs who are looking for three- to four-year varsity athletes - not necessarily because these people are going to be doing pushups or spiking volleyballs in the workplace, but because they're looking for that continuity, that person who was gritty about something.

Many things matter other than our measured intelligence, so let's get to work on them.

I think the very idea of character, of developing not just grit, but empathy and curiosity, emotional intelligence - you know, the things that I want my own daughters to develop - the idea that we're going to get there through rewards and punishments seems completely at odds with the idea of character itself.

Gritty people train at the edge of their comfort zone. They zero in on one narrow aspect of their performance and set a stretch goal to improve it.

I still have a lot to learn about what the love of Christ is like - that it's not just knowledge... but it's allowing the truth to change you - allowing Christ's message of grace and hope and love through the cross, that that message is the message that changes the way we look at everything in our lives.

A part of growing up in this international world is understanding and being prepared and having tools to adapt outside of the small environment that you may have come from. That's what education is all about.

I grew up around books - my grandmother's house, where I lived as a small child, was full of books. My father was a history teacher, and he loved the Russian novels. There were always books around.

If lenders are forced to scale back student lending because private student loans are subject to bankruptcy discharge, many students will be denied access to higher education.