How This Former Apache Helicopter Pilot Created A Program To Help Leaders Develop Grit

Shannon Polson, founder of GRIT Institute and former U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilot, exemplifies courage, tenacity and perseverance. Her experience in the army provided her with a foundation to learn, develop and design a leadership training platform for individuals and companies.

The Grit Institute is two-faceted: one part is a book series and the second part is an actual program to help people develop grit. The project is the culmination of three years of research into grit, including most notably the lessons, stories and candid recommendations from general officers, military aviators over three generations, submariners, rescue swimmers and other outstanding leaders. Recognizing recent studies pinpointing GRIT as the most critical skill for success in today's world, The Grit Institute focuses on ways its members can develop their own GRIT. The idea behind GRIT developed when Polson was asked by a second lieutenant if she could be her mentor through flight school.

As she began to think of what advice to share with her mentee, she sought out other platforms or advice she could provide. That was the start of Polson interviewing other women to accumulate stories, themes and data on how they developed grit and succeeded within their respective branches of the military. “I had been out [of the military] for a while,” she states, “and I wanted to know if there was a way to gather more wisdom to share with her and share it with more people. That was the genesis of reaching out to other women to ask if I could profile them. Then I realized that I had this incredible wisdom that has been gathered and wanted to find out how I could get that out into the world.”

Her journey began at Duke University where she signed up for ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Camp). Shortly after graduation, she decided to enter into aviation. “Growing up in Alaska gave me a sense of adventure,” she shares. “I was young, 21-years old and just graduated from college. It just seemed like the most interesting thing I could do. The concept of adventure was definitely a part of who I was. After graduation, I thought aviation was the most interesting path, and all I was thinking about was the adventure piece of it.”

Polson served for eight years, and when the Pentagon lifted the restraints on women being able to fly in combat, she took the opportunity to become one of the first women to fly an Apache helicopter. “When the Apache opened up it was complex airframe, it was systems management, it’s managing lots and lots of systems that are all run by computers and managing this aircraft. I wanted the challenge and the opportunity of the adventure that came with that challenge.” Polson led two flight platoons and was a company commander, which is above a platoon.

When Polson’s eight years wrapped up she had to make the decision as to whether or not to renew her contract or leave the military. She decided it was time to transition out and attend graduate school for her MBA. “When I was leaving college I was looking at how I could be a part of something. I realized over the course of those eight years there were components of that service that wasn’t a good fit for me personally, and also I had very little control over what I was doing because ultimately you’re assigned by the needs of the army. That need for more independence and the need to be more true to the aspects of myself I couldn’t express or work on in the military were reasons to go on and find another route.”

“Right after I started [graduate] school the twin towers fell,” she sighs. “I had this sense of loss of not being a part of the response to the attack, and feeling completely powerless. It was a difficult thing for me to come to terms with. It took several years to get to a place where I was comfortable.”

Polson began working in the corporate world at various companies including Microsoft. She wound up leaving Microsoft in part to write her first book. Writing had always been one of her passions so she decided to go back to school to earn her MFA (Masters of Fine Arts).

Polson embrace’s the pivot by focusing on these three main key points:

• Find something formal that makes your next transition legitimate.
• Seek out a mentor who has gone through a similar pivot as you or is the industry and understands the new trends. They can help set you up for success.
• Write down the reasons you’re making this choice. So, when you’re in the middle of it and questioning it, you can come back and see why you decided to make this choice.

Now having published four books, Polson is on a journey to inspire the world through her writing and speaking engagements. “Allowing myself to do what I always knew I was good at,” she concludes, “was a long process of experimentation and trying things to see how they worked.”