Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Summary
In the book, Professor Carol S. Dweck discusses how one's innate abilities and talents do not determine one's success. She shows through case studies and data how it is our mindset that determines one's success. The book discusses the difference between a fixed and growth mindset and how one can achieve a growth mindset throughout their life.
Table of Contents
- The Mindsets
- Inside the Mindsets
- The Truth about Ability and Accomplishment
- Sports: The Mindset of a Champion
- Business: Mindset and Leadership
- Relationships: Mindsets in Love (or not)
- Parents, Teachers and Coaches: Where do Mindsets come from?
- Changing Mindsets
Breaking it Down
1. The Mindsets
Readers are introduced to two forms of mindsets, a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset.
Someone with a Fixed Mindset believes that things such as talent and abilities are pre-fixed
Someone with a Growth Mindset believes that learning & development is a lifelong journey. The belief is that people can be further nurtured.
- Inside the Mindsets
The CEO Disease
The book shares about the "CEO Disease" which speaks of leading from atop a pedestal and creating an image of perfection. It also contours the trait of being unable to confront one's shortcomings.
A case study on the automotive industry depicts this phenomenon. Japan's Toyota was adamant in redesigning cars to suit market preferences while Chrysler's CEO was hesitant to adapt to changing demands. As such, Toyota was able to overtake Chrysler's position in the automotive sector. This example elucidates how CEO disease causes one to believe that their own judgement is perfect, increasing the likelihood of poor decision-making.
How both mindsets perceive challenges
For growth mindset individuals, they do not just seek challenges. They thrive on it. When faced with insurmountable obstacles, they have the propensity to stretch themselves to excel.
While for fixed mindset individuals, they thrive when things are safely within their grasp. When things become too difficult, they start to doubt themselves - resulting in them losing interest.
The stark comparison between the two exemplifies how fixed minded individuals require the challenges to be within their current limits in order to thrive. However, growth minded individuals can push themselves to improve with the growing challenges they face.
Gauging Pontential
Fixed mindset: Potential is determined when one is born
Growth mindset: Understands that potential takes time to flower
An example is Paul Cezanne who is a French artist. As a nascent artist, his initial paintings were mediocre at best. However, after years of effort his works were seen as masterpieces.
Shirking, Cheating and Blaming are not recipes for Success
A great wakeup call and something that can be immediately worked on is the unconscious tendency to shirk from responsibilities when we do not see the clear incentives for oneself, cheat when it comes to time of desperation and realising that cheating is a form of "shortcut", and blaming others when things go south. Instead of shirking, cheating and blaming, one has to adopt an extreme sense of ownership be it if one is right/wrong/partially right/partially wrong. If one allows tools such as shirking, cheating and blaming to protect one's ego, it hampers the potential of having a growth mindset. An example is Jack Welch, the CEO of GE. During the mistake of buying Kiddy and Peabody & Co that resulted in a big insider trading scandal. Instead of blaming and shirking responsibility, he phoned his top colleagues and said "I blame myself for the disaster". Simply, accountability is paramount.
Fallacy in Effortless Perfection
The renowned author and New York writer Malcolm Gladwell suggests that society values natural and effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort. Growth mindset individuals view that even individuals that have effortless perfection have to work hard for their achievements. Most importantly, one's effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into an accomplishment. Hence, one has to turn knowledge into action.
3. The Truth about Ability & Accomplishments
One of the key highlights of this chapter is the comparison of studying/learning process adopted between fixed and growth mindset individuals.
Fixed mindset: Usually read textbook and class notes. If material given is challenging, he/she will read it again. This is followed by memorising everything that they possibly can.
Growth mindset: Looks for themes & underlying principles across course material & lectures. They will go over their mistakes until they are certain that they understand where they went wrong. They study to learn instead of studying to ace the exam.
The contrast between the two allows those with a growth mindset to maintain their interest in the subject when the going gets tough. They are driven intrinsically to understand over the extrinsic drive to do well. Such fundamental difference in motivation explains why those with a growth mindset end up doing well even though their primary goal might not be to ace the exam.
Is artistic ability born or made?
There is a widespread belief that intelligence is intrinsic. However, the book "Drawing on the right side of the brain" by Betty Edwards challenges this belief. In her book, she challenges the belief of artistic ability being a God-given ability. She created a 5 days drawing course showing the before-and-after portraits of the participants. In the course, she thought learnable components of art by teaching them how to perceive edges, spaces, relationships, lights, shadows and the whole. She taught them each learning component and had them combine it together. The after portraits showed a drastic improvement in their ability to draw. This is an interesting experiment as it shows how important it is to understand the learnable components of anything. Even though some have a natural inclination to the components even without learning, the experiment shows how those that learn can be just as good/even better than the naturals.
Is creativity born or made?
In the book "The Creative Habit" by Twyla Tharp, she demonstrated how creativity is the result of hard work and not a miraculous act. An individual that was shared about was Jackson Pollack whom is famous for the footprints he left behind in modern art. She believed Jackson's success came because he was obsessed with art and worked on it all the time. This is the crucial difference between the creatives and the not-so creative. One of my favourite sharing in the book "Moonwalking with Einstein" by Joshua Foer is:
Creativity is the ability to form similar connections between disparate images and to create something new and hurl it into the future so it becomes a poem, a building, or a dance, or a novel. Creativity is, in a sense, future memory." If the essence of creativity is linking disparate facts and ideas, then the more facility you have making associations, and the more facts and ideas you have at your disposal, the better you'll be at coming up with new ideas." Joshua Foer
Growth mindsets are not defined by others
Those with a growth mindset do not let what others think/say affect them. They are not bottled with limiting thoughts and a fragile sense of belonging.
Praise and Mindsets
Even though many might think that praising others is a good thing, sometimes it causes more harm than good. It was found that when people are praised for their ability, it pushes them into a fixed mindset. However, when people are praised for their effort, it breeds a growth mindset.
The difference lies in the message underlying the praise. when praised for their effort, it causes them to think that difficulty meant "I have to put in more effort to be better". On the flip side, when praised for their ability, it translates to "I have to naturally be good at something from the get-go". Those with a growth mindset did not see failure as a reflection of their ability/intellect but the lack of effort.
4. Sports: The Mindset of a Champion
Many great athletes have a common trait. They had heroic qualities. Even though it is widely believed that the best athletes are the most talented, it was found that what differentiates them was their character.
Qualities of a hero: In the face of defeat, they are able to bet on themselves and try to muster up a comeback.
What truly differentiates champions is their ability to win despite the odds being against their favour. They possess the mental toughness to push through.
It can be seen in many great athletes via the amount of focus and effort they invest in their sport. Those who work hard learn how to maintain their focus despite competing under tremendous pressure. When it is time for them to show up, they do not crumble. Instead, they excel.
5. Business: Mindset & Leadership
The best leaders are those that are not self-effacing
In the book "Good to Great" by Jim Collins, he found that self-effacing leaders are those that hit the ball out of the park.
He realised that they constantly asked questions and had the ability to confront the most brutal questions. Leaders who prioritise themselves instead of the organisation/people as the primary reality did mediocre or far worse.
Most importantly, non self-effacing leaders strongly believe in constant improvement. Hence, they tend to spend time and resources to work on human development.
Growth > Brilliance
Even though it is important to gauge the ability of an individual, it is even more important to gauge how they have developed their ability. The focus should be oriented on people's bandwidth to grow instead of their talent.
6. Relationships: Mindsets in Love (or not)
Find those that are happy for you when things are going well for you
It is important to find friends and a spouse that are happy for you when things are going well for you. It is not one's failures and misfortunes that threaten people's self-esteem. Instead, it is one's assets and successes that threatens people's self-esteem from the sense of superiority. It is the underlying superiority complex in people that makes them unable to feel happy for you when things are good for you.
Hence, it is important to ask oneself these questions:
Who can I turn to:
- When good things happen?
- When I find a wonderful partner?
- When I get a great job offer or promotion?
Who will be happy and jumping for your when they hear all these good news?
Shyness and the Fear of Judgement
It was found that those whom are shy coupled with a fixed mindset are more self-conscious and anxious. Shyness affecs social interactions but those with a growth mindset and are shywere able to better interact with others after a warm-up.
7. Parents, Teachers and Coaches: Where do mindsets come from?
Expanding one's skills and knowledge
A widely held belief is that innate talent is the goal that they are trying to reach for. Hence, construing the need to find their strengths and specialising in that area of innate talent. However, the true goal is to expand one's skills and knowledge.
8. Changing Mindsets
The Inner Monologue
Fixed mindset: Internal monologue focused on judgement
Growth mindset: Internal monologue focused on learning and constructive actions
One of the most interesting sharing was how the more one challenged their mind, the more one's brain cells grow.
Differing frameworks
Fixed mindset: Judge-and-to-be-judged framework
One's mindset is geared towards judging others and increases one's own fear of being judged. It is being in a state of judgement.
Growth mindset: Learn-and-help framework
On the flip side, learn-and-help framework is being in a constant state of learning.
It perceiving everyday as an opportunity to grow and help those around them grow.
Learn-and-Help Framework Questions:
What are the opportunities for learning and growth today? For Myself? For the people around me?
As one thinks of various opportunities, create a action plan and ask:
When, where and how will I embark on this plan?
As one encounter setbacks, create a new plan and ask this question:
When, where and how will I act on my new plan?
When one actually succeeds (eventually!):
What do one have to do to maintain and continue this growth trajectory?
Here is a quote I really enjoyed:
As Alex Rodriguez, the great baseball player said: "You either go one way or the other." You might as well be the one deciding the direction. Carol S. Dweck
The Two Mindsets
The two mindsets can be seen from the graphic by Nigel Holmes.
Questions
1. What is the key concept and underlying principle?
Growth mindset is to develop a mentality that everything can be learnt and developed. It stems from believing in effort rather than one’s innate talent to achieve success/results.
2. How can it be implemented?
Having a growth mindset is really a daily mental exercise that it becomes a habit. Instead of seeing challenges as something to avoid, having a growth mindset is to perceive challenges as an opportunity to learn and develop. It is to see every situation/event/action as an opportunity to grow.
Reflection
The book has indeed shed light on many key findings on the importance of growth mindset. It also further exemplifies how a growth mindset is the cornerstone to one’s personal success.
Even though the concept may seem straightforward as it is a call to see every situation as an opportunity to grow, it is the research and findings of Carol S. Dweck that makes this book such a compelling book to read.
Personally, I felt that the book persuades one on the importance of changing from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Most importantly, it provides action steps to develop a growth mindset. Furthermore, the perception of being naturally good at something was debunked in the book. It elucidates how having a growth mindset is having the mental toughness to put in the effort to achieve one’s objective.