Mindset

Some Impressionistic takes from the book of
Ms. Carol Dweck
“Mindset”- The new psychology of Success
by Ramki – ramaddster@gmail.com

About the Author
Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading
researchers in the field of motivation and is the Lewis
and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford
University.
Her research has focused on why people succeed and
how to foster success. She has held professorships at
Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured all over
the world, and has been elected to the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Her scholarly book Self-Theories: Their Role in
Motivation, Personality, and Development was named
Book of the Year by the World Education Federation. Her
work has been featured in such publications as The New
Yorker, Time, The New York Times, The Washington
Post, and The Boston Globe, and she has appeared on
Today and 20/20.

Prelude
This book has a simple premise: The world is divided between people who are open
to learning and those who are closed to it, and this trait affects everything from your
worldview to your interpersonal relationships. Author and psychology professor Carol
S. Dweck has scoured research papers and news clippings to extract anecdotes
about the pros and cons of both mindsets. Thus, stories about Michael Jordan, Lee
Iacocca, John McEnroe, Wilma Rudolph and Babe Ruth, among others, find a place
in this book.
Dweck addresses the ways that mindsets have an impact on people. She explains
that you can have a closed mindset in regard to some traits and an open mindset in
regard to others. The thought-provoking insight comes from learning when you need
to adjust your mindset to move ahead.
The author extends her basic point by viewing all areas of human relationships
through the prism of mindset.
This synopsis would be useful and illuminating even if it applied only to leadership
and management.

In this summary, you will learn:
 The differences between a fixed mindset and a
growth mindset;
 Why the growth mindset conveys more positive
lifelong opportunities; and
 How mindsets affect leadership styles

Political Leader
Winston Churchill
 REPEATED a grade
during elementary school
 He was placed in the
LOWEST division of the
LOWEST class
 Do you think his parents
were worried about his
potential?

Composer
 Beethoven’s teacher
called him a
HOPELESS
composer
 If someone said that
about your child,
would you suggest
your child try a
different activity?

Writer
Leo Tolstoy
 Dropped out of college
 He was described as
both “UNABLE and
unwilling to LEARN"

Business Leader
Warren Buffett (second
richest man in the world)
 Failed to get into
Harvard Business
School
 What if he took that to
mean he should not be
in business?

Role models
 Einstein's teacher said that he was ‘academically
subnormal’
 Michael Jordan's coach said that he wasn’t more talented
than other people…
 Walt Disney was told that he lacked ‘creative imagination’
 J.K. Rowling was told her story would never sell

‘People are made, not
born’
The Growth Mind-set

 Belief about ability
 Affects decisions related to learning
 Fixed mindset ––intelligence is a fixed trait
 Growth mindset ––intelligence can be trained; the brain is a ““growth organ”

Growth Mind-set
 Some people are more intelligent, more thoughtful or more
adventuresome than others.
 For years, experts attributed such differences to each individual's
combination of environment, physiology and genetic makeup. But
other factors help determine individual characteristics, including
traits that stem from having a "fixed" or "growth" mindset.
 Those who view their personality or intelligence as unshakable
have a "fixed mindset."
 They believe that neither personality nor intelligence is subject to
change and they feel the need to prove themselves constantly in all
situations.
 People with a fixed mindset often develop this outlook at an early
age, usually due to some influence from their teachers or parents.
Alternately, people with a "growth mindset" believe that they can
improve or change their personality characteristics over time.

Growth Mind-set
 They believe that the future offers opportunities to grow, even
during challenging times.
 To show the differences between fixed and growth mindsets, an
interviewer asked people what they would do if they got a C+ on
a midterm exam and then got a parking ticket.
 Faced with accumulated events, people with fixed mindsets said
this situation would prove that "the world is out to get me" or that
they were losers or idiots.
 People with growth mindsets said they would work harder in
school and park more carefully.

 Each person starts with a unique genetic endorsement, but research says that experience, training &
personal effort take them rest of the way.
 Major factor in whether people achieve expertise is not some fixed prior ability but purposeful engagement.
 The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life
 Your mindset can fundamentally affect how you deal with situations and develop over time
“You can change your mindset. It is not hard-wired
Key Assertions

Two Mindsets- Understanding
 Learning & understanding about the two mindsets it
is crucial to remember that you have a choice.
 Even if your mindsets are fixed in some areas, they
are beliefs and can be changed.
 If you can change your mind you can change your
mindsets.
 This is important because mindsets affect many
aspects of life—how you view success and failure,
the effort you put into what you do, how you
approach a challenge, how you communicate with
your students, and more.

Views of Success, Interest & Intelligence
 Everyone is born a learner—that is, with a growth mindset.
Babies push themselves to do incredibly challenging tasks
like learning to walk and talk, and they don’t give up but plow
ahead.
 So what changes when these same children later stop
following their natural desire to learn?
 Dweck maintains they become afraid of not being “smart”
and develop a fixed mindset which hinders their ability to
want to learn challenging things. They are afraid that
struggling means they are not smart and stop doing things
that are challenging.
 This chapter gives numerous examples of studies and
instances that illustrate how differing mindsets affected
people’s interest, attentiveness, and ability to learn..

The Mindsets & Failure
 The mindsets also affect how people view failure. When you have
a fixed mindset, failure defines who you are. Failure gets
transformed from an action (I failed) to an identity (I am a failure).
 Of course failure can be painful if you have a growth mindset as
well, but it doesn’t completely define you. It’s a problem or a
setback to be faced and learned from.
 Those with the growth mindset often use the failure to improve
themselves. So, how do those with fixed mindsets respond to
failure?
 Dweck found that these responses were often negative (apathy,
blaming others, making excuses, depression) because the people
did not believe they were able to change their situation.
 When people were taught the growth mindset, it changed the way
they reacted when they got depressed. Mindsets are an important
part of who you are, and they can be changed.

3
The Truth about the Ability
& Accomplishment

Truth – Ability & Accomplishment
 There are many myths about ability and
achievement. This chapter is about the real
ingredients of achievement and what makes some
people achieve less and some more.
 Many people think achievement comes effortlessly
to talented people, but that is not typical.
 The fixed mindset limits achievement, fills people’s
minds with interfering thoughts, and turns other
people into judges instead of allies.

 The same is often true of praise and
positive/negative labels.
 When people are praised for their ability, they may
be afraid of damaging that perception if they
struggle and stop challenging themselves.
 Conversely, when people are praised for their hard
work, they often embrace future challenges.
 Overall, a growth mindset encourages people to
develop their minds fully by embracing challenges
and avoiding limiting thoughts which might hold
them back.

 Children with a Growth mindset don’t give up when they fail. They discover
learning strategies to overcome challenges (find patterns in mistakes,
develop better coping strategies etc.).
 They turn the external world into allies to help them with the learning
(instead of looking at others as judges)
 Several greats started out as average
 Mozart produced average work for 10 years before belting out his
classics
 Thomas Edison was an average school kid who was persistent and
had the growth orientation
 Charles Darwin was collecting samples from when he was a kid; Many
people don’t know his persistence and determination through the years
 What any person in the world can learn, almost all others can learn
(except for 2-5% of the people who have a severe handicap) if provided
with the appropriate conditions for learning
 Artistic ability – long considered as a “gift” can be taught. It is more about
“seeing” better. (Read “Drawing on the right size of the brain” for context)

“Ability is often over-rated. Even in exceptionally
able people, the grind they put themselves
through often goes un-noticed”

4
The Sports- The Mindset of a Champion

Mindset of Sports Champion
 In the world of sports, the fixed mindset – the belief that
natural talent is the key to success – is dominant. It is
common for coaches, scouts, fans, and athletes to believe
that to be the best, you must be “a natural.”
 However, modern sports history shows this is not true.
Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Wilma Rudolph,
 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Maury Wills all demonstrate that
superior athletic achievement is not due to natural talent
alone – it is also heavily linked to effort and practice.
 In fact, athletes for whom skill comes easily with little work
often never learn to connect performance with hard work. In
addition, they may find it much more difficult to see
themselves as a member of a team of other athletes or with
assisting coaches and staff.

 They often prefer to think of themselves as the “star.”
 According to the author, however, the best athletes display
some common qualities in competition: when they
experience setbacks or challenges and become vulnerable,
they refuse to blame others or outside circumstances for
their problems. Instead, they find enough resolve within
themselves to come back and triumph. It is this mental
toughness that allows these athletes to succeed when other,
possibly more talented athletes, cannot.
 In studies conducted by sports researcher Stuart Biddle and
his colleagues, athletes with the growth mindset were found
to be more likely to display the mental toughness needed to
succeed than athletes with the fixed mindset. The growth
mindset athletes shared three common attitudes toward
success, failure, and effort.

 Believe true success is found in learning & improving.
 In contrast, athletes with the fixed mindset see success as an
establishment of their superiority in their sport. They cannot be
content with personal growth over winning.
 See setbacks as powerful motivators.
 With the growth mindset, athletes are able to see even the
most embarrassing failures as learning experiences.
 Fixed mindset athletes, however, see failures as shameful and
labeling.
 Are active in their progressive improvement.
 These athletes strive to continually hone their skills and stay on
top of their game. Since fixed mindset athletes see
 their successes more as a manifestation of their natural
abilities, they are less likely to take an active role in improving
themselves.

Several cases* where the mindset is often the difference between
champions and the ones that never made it
 Sachin Tendulkar vs Vinod Kambli (video – Final Speech of
Sachin Tendulkar after his last test match – Illustrates his growth
mindset) – He talks about analyzing how he got out so that he
could improve if he came back to bat.
 Vinod Kambli, who was often considered more talented than
Sachin, had a good start but stumbled when he had a rough
patch. He had a higher Test Batting average than Sachin.
 Roger Federer, when asked about the secret behind his
successful run in 2014 after people had written him off in 2013,
spoke about the hard work he did in the off-season (in the winter
of 2013). We think he is the most gifted player ever but we miss
out on all the hard work that goes on in the background

 Michael Jordan, was dropped from his initial selection trials
at college and club level. Talented sportsman but arguably
the hardest working of all
 Some themes
 Sportspeople with a growth mindset found the training as
much fun as the accomplishment.
 Fixed mindset people thought working hard casts doubts
over your talent
 Growth mindset people acknowledge the role of a team
(even in a solo sport like Tennis, Swimming, Golf, Chess
etc.). They are able to get the most out of the resources
at their disposal

5
Business – Mindset &
Leadership

Mindset & Leadership
 Successful business leaders typically possess a growth
mindset. Rather than trying to prove they are better than
others, they focus on trying to improve.
 Leaders with a fixed mindset believe that some people are
superior and others are inferior and their companies are a
reflection of their own superiority. These leaders don’t bother
building strong, collaborative teams because they may see
themselves as geniuses who only need helpers to implement
their ideas.
 A danger this type of business leader faces is the
development of “group speak” within the organization which
can discourage creativity and limit improvement.
 Business leaders who have a growth mindset are more likely
to encourage similar mindsets among employees, thereby
encouraging innovation, hard work, and productivity.

Fixed Mind Leaders
 Leo Iacocca:
 After basking in the favor of the Ford company’s head,
Henry Ford II, Iacocca was enraged when he was forced
out of the company.
 He rehabilitated Chrysler largely to prove himself to Henry
Ford.
 Though he was successful, he became obsessed with his
public image and worried that lower employees might
receive more praise than him. As a result, Chrysler suffered.
 Albert Dunlap:
 Albert Dunlap focused exclusively on business profits as a
means to improve his self-image.
 He did not invest in long-term strategies, instead putting his
energies into short-term strategies that would increase
stock prices.
 When Dunlap stayed to head Sunbeam, his short-term
outlook did not work: the company collapsed and Dunlap
was forced out.

Fixed Mindset Leaders
 Jerry Levin and Steve Case:
 AOL’s Steve Case and Time Warner’s Jerry Levin
both led their companies with the fixed mindset.
 The two were convinced of their superiority and
remained intolerant to criticism.
 When their companies merged, their power
struggle gave AOL Time Warner the biggest
yearly financial loss in American history in 2002
 Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling:
 Both Lay and Skilling saw themselves as
profoundly more intelligent than the rest of their
employees, and they acted with a harshness and
condescension that matched that belief.
 The two were so confident in their infallible
business sense they began to record Enron
profits for business ventures that had not yet
generated any revenue.

Growth Mindset Leaders
 Jack Welch:
 As CEO of GE, Welch increased the company’s value
from $14 billion to $490 billion in 20 years.
 Welch emphasized teamwork & stayed in constant
contact with employees right down to the front-line
factory workers.
 Welch learned from early business mistakes to be open
to change and constant improvement, to act as a
supportive guide – not a judge – to his workers, and to
reward kindness and cooperation in managers and
supervisors.
 Lou Gerstner:
 When he became the CEO of IBM in 1993, Gerstner
fostered a culture of teamwork by taking power away
from upper-level management and preventing separate
sales divisions from working against one another.
Before Gerstner, IBM had become a company deaf to
its customers’ needs; Gerstner restored quality
customer service as the organization’s main focus.

Jim Collins (Good to Great) analyzed high performing
companies that created sustained value. The leaders that
came on top were more of the self-effacing types (not the
charismatic types) who could confront brutal answers. They
had a Kaizen mindset and asked more questions than had
answers.
If you praise the smartest idea, then it leads to Fixed Mindset.
If you praise effort and right behavior you are trying to cultivate
Mindset & Leadership

6
Relationships-Mindset in
Love (or not)

7
Parents, Teachers &
Coaches- Where do
mindsets come from?

Parents, Teachers & Coaches- Where do mindsets come from ?

 Mindsets frame the running account that constantly takes
place in people’s heads. These mindsets guide the whole
interpretation process.
 A fixed mindset creates beliefs focused on judgment.
 A growth mindset creates beliefs focused on change.
 It is possible to help people/students replace the judging
going on in their heads with a growth mindset in which they
ask, “What can I learn from this? How can I improve?”
Simply teaching about the mindsets helps people to shift
their thinking about intelligence and talent.
 The brain does not have a fixed amount of intelligence.
Instead, it is more like a muscle in that it changes and gets
stronger when used.
Changing Mindsets

 The more you challenge yourself, the more the brain grows.
When students learn this they end up feeling empowered to
know they can be in charge of the growth of their own brains.
 Changing your mindset doesn’t occur by learning a few
tricks, however.
 The goal is for students to change from a judge-and-be-
judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework.
 Students benefit when adults model this mindset, make
comments that reflect a growth mindset, and who reward
student behavior that aligns with a growth mindset.
Changing Mindsets

Changing Mindsets
Nobody looks at a baby and says it is dumb. It hasn’t learnt yet!

Take-Away -1/2
 People have either a fixed or a growth mindset.
 People who believe their personal qualities are
unchangeable have a "fixed mindset."
 People who believe they can improve or change their
personality traits over time have a "growth mindset."
 People with a growth mindset believe that the future
presents an opportunity to grow, even during
challenging times.
 Mindsets produce definite worldviews, but they can be
changed.

Take-Away -2/2
 Children who are praised for their intelligence tend to
adopt a fixed mindset and reject new challenges.
 Jack Welch, who had a growth mindset, took over GE in
1980 when the company was valued at $14 billion; 20
years later, it had a $490-billion valuation.
 Athletes with a growth mindset build strong characters by
challenging themselves.
 Historically company executives who hold fixed mindsets
and regard themselves as geniuses or visionaries do not
build great teams.
 Coaching and teaching about mindset are the best ways
to boost kids' self-esteem.

Mail your comments to ramaddster&gmail.com

Mindset

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