Understanding Carol Dweck's Mindset Theory

𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐀 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭? First, I want to clarify a few things about a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. Some people on LinkedIn have inaccurately described growth and fixed mindsets. I also had some wrong impressions until I peeled back Carol Dweck's studies and read most of what she had written and watched her speak. In The Leadership Academy sessions on Developing a Growth Mindset, I discuss some common myths up front before getting into the material. Here are a few. ______________________ 1/ A growth mindset is about being positive and open-minded. This is false: "People often confuse a growth mindset with being flexible or open-minded or with having a positive outlook - qualities they believe they've simply always had. My colleagues and I call this a false growth mindset" - Carol Dweck. 2/ You either have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. This is false: "Everyone is a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets. You could have a predominant growth mindset in an area, but there can still be things that trigger you into a fixed mindset trait," - Carol Dweck 3/ All efforts, productive and unproductive, are good. This is false. "Unproductive effort is never a good thing," - Carol Dweck. [My comment: What did you learn? Or were you wasting your time and knew it?] 4/ A growth mindset is about praising people. This is false. "The mindset ideas were developed as a counter to the self-esteem movement of blanketing everyone with praise, whether deserved or not," - Carol Dweck. ______________________ Understand that everyone can cultivate a growth mindset. Here are some ideas and concepts to put into practice with yourself, your children, and your team: 1/ Have goals 2/ Work consistently toward achieving your goals 3/ Put in place a "structure" of daily routines to make it easier to make the efforts 4/ Get uncomfortable. Know that the discomfort is the growth beyond your comfort zone. 5/ Put in sustained effort, but also know when you are pushing a rope uphill. 6/ Mistakes and failures are "normal." Welcome to life. It is okay not to be happy with mistakes and failure. Just don't surrender. 7/ Learning from setbacks is a process. What went wrong? What do you need to do differently? 8/ Ask for help, but first try doing the thing so you can better describe the help you need. 9/ Approach challenges not so much for winning or being seen as good or smart. That's a trap. Do it because it stretches the crap out of you. 10/ Pat yourself on the back as you look down from the mountain. Identify what you learned so far. Use this as a mental framework for "winning." 11/ Allow yourself to see the potential for growth in every experience. Your partner in success, Joe Murphy PS - I am bringing The Leadership Academy to LinkedIn soon. 📽 Stay tuned for 5 PM success videos (M-F) 🔔 Ring the bell for new posts 🌟 Cool to repost #LeadersatAllLevels #GrowthMindset #TheLeadershipAcademy

I started writing about Growth Mindset back in 2009, 3 years after Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by psychologist Carol Dweck, was published. At that time, it felt like an inner circle of people who knew the concept and were rethinking everything in their lives. I tried to spread it around Microsoft through my book Getting Results the Agile Way. In my book, I called out 3 mindsets that serve you: 1. Abundance Mindset 2. Positive Mindset 3. Growth Mindset It was early but for some people adopting a Growth Mindset became a life changing idea: The belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication, effort, and learning, rather than being fixed traits. As you can imagine, at Microsoft, this was a very big deal, especially when you are surrounded by elite performance and rockstar results. And it helped people hit fresh and reboot their career paths. I watched people reinvent their future and hop to completely different domains. It was very refreshing.  What I also learned was that agility is a key concept that makes the Growth Mindset possible. You need agility in thinking. You need emotional agility. You need agility to explore perspectives and pivot from what you "know". As you practice your Growth Mindset, if you ever feel "stuck" or not progressing the way you should, consider working on your mental ability. Thoughts are habits, too. I wrote a refresher on Growth Mindset to dispel some myths and reinforce the basics to help you make the most of it. #motivation #career #work #leadership https://lnkd.in/ggSWrBQ6

One of the best practical leadership tips I learned during my time in the military is the idea of praising effort over ability. If you're familiar with Carol Dweck's research on growth mindset, it shows that praising effort helps develop resilience. When effort is the focus, people are more likely to keep trying even after failure, as they see setbacks as part of the learning process. A fixed mindset (praising ability) can lead to avoidance of challenges due to fear of failure or embarrassment, ultimately stalling growth. As a parent, I can absolutely attest to this as I make it a priority to commend my kids efforts over their abilities and have seen them embrace a growth mindset.

𝟯 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 - A universal truth about human behavior is that our thinking directly impacts our actions, and our actions drive our results. In moments of crisis, our ability to understand and choose how we think, feel, and act will determine our success. Developing an understanding of how we think about different situations and choosing to update that thinking when it does not serve our goals is critical for life and career success. 𝟭) 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 If you believe that you have control over what happens, then you have an internal locus of control. If you believe that you have no control and external variables are to blame, then you have an external locus of control. When you believe that your actions do not matter, you will ignore potential opportunities for improvement and lose motivation to search for them. Believing that you have control over what happens to you increases your motivation to take action. The most successful among us – know that it is not the adversity itself but what we do with it that determines our fate.   𝟮) 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 Did you know that there are more than 70 identified cognitive biases that impact how we view situations? Combine this fact with our human tendency to think we see things just like a video recorder does and anyone who doesn’t see it our way must be misinformed or stupid. Understanding that our experiences, preferences, values, and goals can distort how we view and interpret situations should encourage us to seek other perspectives to gain a more accurate picture. 𝟯) 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset, says people can be split into two categories when it comes to learning: 𝘍𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 – A belief that one’s basic abilities, intelligence and talents are fixed traits. We either have it or we don’t, so there is no opportunity for growth or improvement. 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 – A belief that intelligence can be developed, and effort is the key to ongoing development. Success becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and motivation is the key. If we believe there will be a positive payoff for our effort, we will work harder instead of succumbing to helplessness. Do you agree? Share your COMMENTS below. ⤵️   𝗛𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 🔔 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 | Tony Gambill   Subscribe to my ↗️ 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 ↗️, LinkedIn newsletter to join 47,173 others who receive biweekly practical tips for Self-Leadership and Leading Others: https://lnkd.in/dYRwgY96   #leadership #careers #humanresources #management