Front-Line Leadership

CHAPTER 2Embracing a Growth Mindset

I like to think of myself as a little bit of a leadership geek. I love digging into the research behind leadership—the stats, the data, the experiments—all of it. When I speak and when I write, I don't just like to say stuff because it sounds good, I need something to back it up. And one of the first pieces of research that I stumbled upon was from Carol Dweck, a brilliant professor at Stanford who has pioneered the research behind the concept of a growth mindset.

Dweck has done extensive research on motivation and achievement, and one specific study really captured my attention. The researchers would put a kid in a room and give them a puzzle to complete. The first one was easy. Once that puzzle was completed, they would receive another puzzle that was a little more difficult. That process continued—as they completed each puzzle, they were given one that was a little more difficult. What the researchers found was that those with fixed mindsets were much more likely to give up and end the study. Those who had a growth mindset actually became more and more exhilarated as the puzzles became more and more challenging. They thrived on the idea that they might come up short but that it would be a huge learning opportunity for them.

People who have a fixed mindset like to stay in what I call their “nookie‐blankie” zone. This is the stuff that they know how to do and they don't want to try anything else for fear of failure. A fixed mindset can show ...