Mindset, Motivation and Leadership

Program Highlights

• The different psychological worlds created by fixed and growth mindsets.
• How one’s mindset about intelligence affects long-term achievement.
• Why even the most confident, charismatic leaders can fail.

People are fairly evenly divided between those with either a growth or a fixed mindset about intelligence and talent. And leaders’ mindsets, Professor Dweck shows, influence their ability to grow on the job and to develop successful teams. Leaders with a growth mindset (who assume talents can be developed) place high value on learning, are open to feedback, and are confident in their ability to cultivate their own and others’ abilities. Leaders with a fixed mindset (who assume basic talents are carved in stone) place greater value on looking smart and are less likely to believe that they or others can change.

How does this play out in an organization? Leaders who believe intelligence is static place little value in developing staff, and in turn foster a fixed mindset environment. However, leaders with a growth mindset value effort in developing abilities and thus evaluate and praise workers to create optimal motivation and teamwork. Mindsets can be taught, and Professor Dweck shares research in how fixed mindsets can be identified and changed to growth mindsets.

Carol Dweck is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and author of “Mindset.” She earned her BA in Psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University and her PhD in Psychology from Yale University.