Fixed vs Growth Mindsets

Who you are today is not who you have to be tomorrow.

And

Who your team member is today, is NOT the one tomorrow

I’ve been guilty of labelling myself “I’m this and not that” or “this comes to me naturally and I simply can’t do that” and have held myself back from exploring my fullest potential (as they say “YOU are your greatest enemy”). And the most dangerous thing for a leader apart from labelling self, is to label a team member this or that and not being open to possibilities.

In a fixed mindset, people believe their qualities are fixed traits and therefore cannot change. These people document their intelligence and talents rather than working to develop and improve them. They also believe that talent alone leads to success, and effort is not required.

Alternatively, in a growth mindset, people have an underlying belief that their learning and intelligence can grow with time and experience. When people believe they can get smarter, they realize that their effort has an effect on their success, so they put in extra time, leading to higher achievement.

Carol Dweck, a researcher at Stanford made the concept go viral in her pathbreaking book Mindset: How we can learn to fulfil our potential.

This concept is very very important for each individual to realize our own potential. And could make a difference between a good and a great leader. As a great leader our job is to move people from fixed to growth mindset whenever we see one. Please make time to read this book.

Reflection:

It was a tad late when I ran into this book. You are right, this is a wonderful book for parenting. My sons, both of them, somehow got this notion in their head, “I’m not good in Chemistry, OK in Math, Very good in programming” – a classic Fixed mindset. I’ve been trying hard to get them to understand that we can make incremental improvements in virtually any subject if we make consistent efforts and push the boundary. The book infact advises to NOT praise “inherent talent”, but to praise the “effort” when kids do well. It implores parents to put into every kids head to value effort over talent. I cannot recommend a better parenting book.