Alberto Uncini Manganelli spent years interviewing the world’s greatest athletes — from Usain Bolt to José Mourinho. What they told him about grit, sacrifice, and the will to keep going isn’t what most people expect to hear.
Most of us never see what world champions actually look like. We see the podium, the medal, the post-race interview. What we don’t see — what Alberto Uncini Manganelli spent years documenting — is everything that came before it.
Manganelli is an executive who has operated at the highest levels of global sport business, including a senior role at adidas Worldwide, and whose career has put him in close proximity to elite performers across dozens of disciplines. His book distills conversations with 22 world champions into something rarer than a collection of success stories: an honest account of what greatness actually costs.
“I found it surprising to see how all of them had to face adversities that put their self-belief to the test,” he says. “We don’t see enough of that. We don’t understand how many sacrifices and choices they had to make, how much discipline they had to follow, just to achieve what they achieved.”
One of the most clarifying things Manganelli does in his work is separate two qualities that are constantly confused: grit and stubbornness. They look similar from the outside. Inside, they’re opposites.
“Stubbornness is ego-driven persistence,” he explains. “Stubborn people refuse to acquire new information, refuse to listen. They build their own world of conviction based on selective data, and sometimes that flows into manipulative behavior and a complete disconnect from reality.”
Grit is different in its foundation. “Grit is focused on the outcome. It doesn’t protect the path — it protects the goal. It’s fundamentally driven by values and beliefs.” Where stubbornness clings to decisions, grit clings to purpose. A gritty person will change their approach a hundred times. What they won’t do is abandon the destination.
This distinction matters enormously in practice, because organizations and coaches and families often mistake one for the other. They either reward pig-headedness as determination or they mistake genuine conviction for inflexibility. Manganelli has seen both errors, and both are costly.
“Talent without work ethic will not go very far when the normal level of your competition is exceptional people.”
History is full of extraordinary talents who never quite made it. Manganelli has thought hard about why, and his answer is less about ability than about orientation. “At a level where everyone is incredibly talented, talent alone cannot bring you first to the finish line.”
What separated the champions he interviewed was something closer to obsession — a dedication to their vision so complete that instant gratification never really competed with the long game. “They could always prioritize their highest goal above any instant gratification, which implies a level of conviction on your mission that goes way above any effort or sacrifice, with consistency and persistence over time.”
Every athlete he spoke with ultimately agreed on the talent question: it matters enormously at the start. It helps you stand out early, when the field is wide. But as the competition narrows and the level rises, work ethic becomes the differentiator. All 22 champions converged on this.
Manganelli is direct about something that makes a lot of people uncomfortable: not everyone is built for — or should aspire to — the highest level of pressure. And that’s not a failing. It’s just honesty.
“We’re entering a loop of acceptance that anything destabilizing a stable emotion is wrong or harmful. Sport teaches us otherwise — every day. To win, to lose, to continuously handle those emotions.” The athletes who compete at the elite level have not eliminated pressure. They have expanded their capacity to carry it. “Every race exposes a load of pressure. The higher the level, the higher the pressure. It’s tough to be at the tip.”
For those who do aspire to that level — in sport or in business or in any high-stakes endeavor — the reframe he offers is simple and demanding in equal measure: pressure is not a problem to manage. It is proof that you’ve earned the right to compete.
“If you really believe in something or badly want something, you need to have the courage to try. And again. And again. With all the consequences it takes.”
When asked whether grit can be built or whether it’s simply born, Manganelli refuses the binary. Some of it, he acknowledges, is wired in from the beginning — you can see in children early on who runs toward difficulty and who runs away. But that’s not the whole story.
Purpose is a builder of grit. When someone discovers a genuine passion — something that moves from interest to obsession — the conditions for grit emerge naturally. “From passion to obsession is a quick move,” he says, “and those create the conditions to push you forward whatever and whenever the circumstances.”
Support systems matter too. The champions he interviewed didn’t develop their resilience in isolation. Families, coaches, teammates, partners who kept saying yes, this is hard, and yes, you can do it — these were structural parts of what looked, from the outside, like individual will.
He also offers something less often said in the grit conversation: timing matters. Passion and drive are not always available on command. Life has seasons. “I do not believe it’s sustainable to expect that passion and motivation switch on and off on demand. So yes, we drive the vast majority of events — but we also need to learn how to let them go.”
What remains constant across all 22 conversations is the simplest and hardest instruction of all. Believe it’s possible. Find the courage to try. Do it again. “Because everything is possible,” he says, “if you really want it.”
