Dr. Carol S. Dweck was challenged by her student to write a book about the results of years of her research study. Dr. Carol S. Dweck rose to the occasion and has written this book, “The Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential” in the hope that it will help ordinary humans understand that life is what you make it and not what you were given at birth. She has written in simple language giving examples of real and ordinary people like her and her students, artists like Picasso, athletes like Michael Jordan, the basketball player and John McEnroe the tennis player, Marina Semyonova the great Russian dance instructor and CEOs of different companies to name a few. In the third paragraph of his introduction, he writes: “…you will learn how a simple belief about yourself…guides a large part of your life…In fact, it permeates every part of your life…” So Thus, it draws the reader into the book, turning the reader into one of its real-life examples as the reader finds themselves in these examples.
Dr. Dweck introduces the two types of mindsets, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset, in the first section of the book. She writes how she learned from ten-year-olds that failure can be turned into a gift if you have the right mindset. By giving them difficult puzzles to work on, the children cultivated their intellectual abilities through effort and did not give up. These children became her role models in her search for whether human qualities are things that can be cultivated or things carved in stone. Each person has a unique genetic endowment, but experience, training, and personal effort take them the rest of the way.
Dr. Dweck’s twenty years of research have shown that the view you take of yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. She writes that if you believe your qualities and traits are set in stone and cannot be changed, then you have a fixed mindset. And if you believe that prized qualities and traits can be developed and cultivated, then you have a growth mindset.
People with a fixed mindset believe that an individual’s intelligence, quality, and traits are a fixed quantity that cannot be increased. If they are doing well in school, then they are smarter than others who are not doing well. If they do well in sports, then they have talent given to them at birth. They spend time proving that they are better at the qualities given to them just to show that they received a healthy dose and are not deficient. If something doesn’t work for fixed mindset people, they always blame something else.
People with a growth mindset work hard to always do better. Don’t sit back and view your achievements as the ultimate goal. In their minds there is always room for improvement. They don’t have time to sit back and see themselves as the best or better than everyone else. They don’t have time to sit around and think that they have a special talent. They are busy thinking about how they can improve it and what changes they can make if something they hoped for did not go well. For them, if something doesn’t work out, it’s not a failure, it’s a challenge to find ways to make it happen.
In the second section of the book, Dr. Dweck takes us through her research journey of the fixed mindset and a growth mindset journey through several sets of eyes. Showing how these two mindsets make or break people in their daily lives. In individual sports, she gives an example of John McEnroe’s fixed mindset in tennis. He was a brilliant player who believed in talent and not in effort and work. When he didn’t win, he blamed something else. Like when he blamed the system for not liking the game anymore. He would not take responsibility. Micheal Jordan, on the other hand, has a growth mindset. If he missed a goal, he would go and practice for several hours trying to figure out why he missed it. In team sports, the author gives an example of Couch John Wooden, who was average tactically and strategically, but won ten national championships. Coach Wooden has a growth mindset, he tells us that he was good at getting players to fill roles as part of a team. He cared about the feelings of the players. He fixed mentality like that of coach Bobby Knight who chose players for his talent. He was an excellent coach, but he used the dictatorial approach to win. The winners were short-lived and broke people’s character in the process.
In corporate business, the author uses General Electric CEO Jack Welch as the fixed mindset that managed to humble itself into a growth mindset, and as he grew in his mindset, the company grew at the same time. Lee Iacocca, whose fixed mindset is good at getting the company to the top quickly, but then you need to get rid of him before he breaks it. The Ford Motor Company did just that, and Lee Iacocca wasn’t happy. Fixed mindset leaders are more concerned with being heroes and put their ego before the well-being of the company. The author gives the example of Enron as a company that went bankrupt in the hands of smart, fixed-minded senior people. Enron hired smart, talented people and paid the ultimate price for closing the company. Enron is a good example of groupthink where executives get carried away by their brilliance and superiority and make catastrophic decisions.
In love, these two mindsets can make or break a relationship. In her research, Dr. Dweck found that fixed mindsets feel judged and labeled by rejection in a breakup. They also take revenge as a means to get to the person who hurt them. The growth mindset is something to forgive, learn from, and move on. The author uses Hilary Clinton as an example, who forgave her husband and decided to cancel to save her relationship. It takes time and effort to cultivate the emotional skills necessary to sustain a relationship.
Dr. Dweck, end this third section with the influence that the mindset of parents, teachers, and coaches has on the children in their care. In his research, he found that children interpret words of support and encouragement from caregivers with a fixed-mindset approach. This sets them up for failure. For example, “…You learned that so fast! You’re so smart…” is interpreted as “…If I don’t learn something fast, I’m not smart…” She explains that parents, teachers, and coaches They should refrain from giving praise that judges their intelligence or talent, but praise them for the work they do. She goes on to say that parents, teachers, and coaches must give children equal time and attention, regardless of their starting abilities. Children in turn will give everything and flourish. The author points out, “…As parents, teachers and coaches we are entrusted with the lives of people. They are our responsibility and our legacy…”
In the fourth section of the book, Dr. Dweck begins the most rewarding part of her job, seeing how people change. People are not aware or aware of their beliefs. Dr. Aaron Beck, a psychiatrist, discovered that he could teach them how to work with these beliefs and change them. And cognitive therapy, one of the most effective therapies ever developed, was born. Dr. Dweck used workshops to investigate how people with fixed mindsets handled the information they received. She found that they put a strong evaluation on each piece of information. Something good led to a very strong positive label and something bad led to a very strong negative label. Growth mindset people are also constantly monitoring what’s going on, but their internal monologue isn’t about judging themselves or others. They are sensitive to positive and negative information, but are attentive to its implications for learning and constructive action. Dr. Dweck also had a workshop for students. The workshops require a large staff to deliver the material. The workshop material was then put into interactive computer modules. Teachers guide their classes through the modules and called it Braintology. These mindset workshops put students in charge of their brain.
It is interesting to note how a simple characteristic like mindset affects decision making across a broad spectrum of the population. A kindergarten student, a CEO at a multi-billion dollar company, a surgeon working in a hospital, an athlete in practice and on the court, a chef at a luxury hotel, a selection of students from dance and a sports team. College students drop classes or drop out of school because they have a fixed mindset. A growth mindset helps you learn to deal with anger and stereotypes around racial and gender discrimination. It’s quite fascinating.
