tough-minded 
adjective
Strong-willed and able to face up to reality: her mother was combative and tough-minded a tough-minded approach...
- These subjects are strong-willed and tough-minded.
- Ironic, tough-minded, unsentimental, all three remained possessed by a piece of experience they - none of them - could actually penetrate.
- But even if tough-minded businessmen and a reform-minded government make all the right moves, B.C. is going to be a far different province in the 21st century.
Derivatives
tough-mindedness
- The famous ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ slogan and the ‘rights and duties’ approach to citizenship signalled a reasonable attempt to combine liberal principles and tough-mindedness.
- While acknowledging the tough-mindedness of this view, I can't help hoping that we can one day work out how to have a civilization that doesn't depend on the threat of the ultimate incivility.
- They liked the relaxed but outspoken style, together with a certain tough-mindedness, to be found among Australian philosophers, and they liked the atmosphere of Australia.