Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Review

Do you believe you are born with certain innate talents that can't be changed? Or do you believe your intelligence and other traits can be developed? According to Carol Dweck, Lewis and Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success the first conclusion represents a "fixed" mindset while the second shows a "growth" mindset.

This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. … [T]hey believe that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.

So what difference does it make if you have a growth versus a fixed mindset? A lot. People who believe growth is possible will “value of challenging themselves and the importance of effort. Our research has shown that this comes directly from the growth mindset. When we teach people the growth mindset, with its focus on development, these ideas about challenge and effort follow. … When we (temporarily) put people in a fixed mindset, with its focus on permanent traits, they quickly fear challenge and devalue effort.”

In addition Dweck claims growth minded people will also be more honest about their weaknesses and failures because this provides valuable information growers can use to improve themselves. Those with a fixed belief will not be as honest about their mistakes because everything hinges on outcome and validation. Failures thus reflect negatively on -- and possibly undercut -- your innate abilities. She cites examples from business such as Enron whose top leadership exemplified the fixed mindset versus other companies whose leaders are guided by a growth-oriented mentality.

In one world – the world of fixed traits – success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other – the world of changing qualities – it’s about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself.

So how do these conclusions apply in the real world? At work, for example, “Instead of just giving employees an award for the smartest idea or praise for a brilliant performance, they would get praise for taking imitative, for seeing a difficult task through, for struggling and learning something new, for being undaunted by a setback, or for being open to and acting on criticism.”

In relationships, fixed mindsetters believe problems have no cure because change isn’t possible for either party. The only recourse is to place blame or plot revenge. For growth mindsetters, “it was about understanding, forgiving, and moving on.” They still feel pain but not humiliation, the hallmark emotion for someone with a fixed mindset.

For parents Dweck says they can best help their children by teaching them “to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning. That way, their children don’t have to be slaves of praise. They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence.”

Fixed mindset parents, on the other hand, send a different message to their kids. “’We love you – on our terms’ Those with the fixed mindset feel their parents won’t love and respect them unless they fulfill their parents’ aspirations for them.”

Dweck also comments on the ill-advised attempts to help raise grades, test scores and self-esteem by lowering standards. She feels this approach back fires because it ”just leads to poorly educated students who feel entitled to easy work.” Amen to that! Dweck also sites Benjamin Bloom’s study of world-class performers which revealed, “their first teachers were incredibly warm and accepting. Not that they set low standards. Not at all, but they created an atmosphere of trust, not judgment.”

Because the growth mindset accepts the idea of continual improvement coaches like basketball’s John Wooden strive to help their players to improve through constant preparation with focused effort. As Wooden explains: “You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better.”

Or, as Dweck says: “As parents, teachers, and coaches, our mission is developing people’s potential.” You can’t develop talent if you believe your players, kids or employees have a fixed, unchangeable nature.

As you can tell I liked Mindset. I know reviewers are supposed to find something to criticize and I’m sure I’d find something if I looked long enough. However I believe Dweck’s distinction between growth and fixed mindsets provides a key concept that explains many things about how people act and relate to each other. It also gives us invaluable assistance to improve how we work, relate, parent, coach and grow.

The Talent Code Review

Why do some people excel in their fields while others struggle or stagnate? Is it their genes? Their upbringing? Luck? According to Coyle it's none of the above. Three factors help propel people to achieve more than others: deliberate practice, ignition and master coaches.

The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How. covers a lot of the same ground as Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else but takes a different approach that is broader by spanning the range from basic neurology to coaching techniques. Both books feature the vital role of "deliberate practice", focused effort to improve. Not just doing something repeatedly but also doing something in a targeted manner that drives improvement.

The Talent Code goes a step further to explain why. Repetition causes myelin to grow around neural paths in the brain. This layer of myelin shields the pathway to reduce signal loss and ultimately accelerates and strengthens the signal. Deliberate practice builds myelin while also forcing the practicer to the edge of their ability where mistakes are made. Fixing these mistakes results in strengthening their skill. Although the author doesn't mention it this process also fosters "flow", the state of being so absorbed in an activity that you lose sense of time and of self.

Deliberate practice requires hours and hours of commitment. What motivates people to invest thousands of hours? Ignition: the desire to become who you want to be. (This resembles the ancient Greek concept of daimonism: becoming your ideal self.) These people have a vision of who they want to become: their vision draws them forward.

Practice and fire by themselves aren't quite enough. We need someone to guide us, to push us to the point where we make mistakes then help us correct them. We need master coaches, or "talent whisperers" as Coyle calls them.

These coaches work their magic not with stirring pep talks but with sharply focused, corrective input. When their student does an act correctly they say, "Good, now do this" and pose a more challenging task. He holds college basketball coach John Wooden as an exemplar of this approach. Wooden prefers to present challenges that his players have to solve. If they don't figure out the solution Wooden helps. (I've used this approach in coaching youth and premier league soccer and believe it helps create players who can think for themselves in competition rather than depending on the coach to give them solutions during the game.)

In essence The Talent Code says:

1. To build myelin use deliberate practice (which encourages flow).

2. To maintain motivation follow your ideal self - ignition.

3. To maintain one's course rely on a master coach.

Speaking as someone in his late 50's The Talent Code also has an optimistic message for people like me. You can grow myelin, hence skill, at almost any age. It just takes longer as you get older.