Shannon Huffman Polson is the author of The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience and Leadership in the Most Male Dominated Organization in the World, as well as the memoir North of Hope. She is the founder of The Grit Institute, a leadership institute committed to whole leader development, and host of The Grit Factor podcast. Polson also teaches on the faculty of the Tuck School's Leadership and Strategic Initiative Executive Education Program.

As one of the first women to fly the Apache helicopter in the U.S. Army, leading line units on three continents, Polson combines her passion and firsthand experience in and study of leadership, grit, purpose and story to address the needs of her clients in the face of challenge and change with world-class keynotes and executive education.

After serving for a decade in the armed services, Polson earned her MBA at the Tuck School at Dartmouth, and later her MFA. She went on to lead outstanding teams in the corporate world in the medical device industry and at Microsoft. As a community leader, Polson successfully envisioned, founded and led the completion of a $6.5M new library and civic center.

Polson has a decade of experience speaking to companies and organizations around the world, and is consistently the highest rated speaker at her events.

Polson lives with her husband and two children in Washington State.