♪ (intro music) ♪ (narrator) If you operate in the world
of sports or education you've most likely heard
of the term: growth mindset. It's a concept that's sweeping the world
and changing and improving the way that people learn. This powerful idea
has been pushed forward by Stanford professor
and best-selling author, Carol Dweck. (Carol) For decades, I've been studying why some people succeed while people
who are equally talented do not. And over the years,
I've discovered that people's mindsets play a crucial role in this process. (narrator) These mindsets
are really important when it comes to learning. Her work has uncovered two ways
of thinking about skill and development. Some people have what's called
a fixed mindset. They believe that skills
and intelligence are set and you either have them or you don't, that some people are just naturally
good at things, while others are not. In short, they believe
that you are not in control of your abilities. Other people have what's called
a growth mindset. And they believe that skills
and intelligence are grown and developed. So people who are good at something
are good because they built that ability, and people who aren't are not good
because they haven't done the work. In short, they believe
that you are in control of your abilities. Really the core idea here
is people with a fixed mindset believe that skills are born, people with a growth mindset
believe that skills are built. People with a fixed mindset
believe that you can't or don't have to learn and grow, and people with a growth mindset
do believe in their capacity to learn and grow. Dweck's work shows that mindsets
have a major influence on people's ability to learn. And that people who utilize
this growth mindset tend to learn, grow
and achieve more over time than people with a fixed. ♪ (music) ♪ Growth mindset really creates
a solid foundation for great learning. And because of its power,
companies, sports teams, and schools from all over the world
are implementing this into their culture. ♪ (music) ♪ (Trevor Ragan) Over the years,
we've worked with a ton of amazing groups to help instill this within their culture. We're talking Fortune 500 companies,
lots of colleges, lots of high schools, and even a few prisons who are working
to build growth mindset into their re-entry program. What I'm trying to say is,
this is bigger than one study or one TED Talk. This is a powerful concept
that's helping lots of different people in lots of different places. Now the reason it's so important
and powerful is, it is the foundation for learning. And if you understand this,
no matter what you build on that foundation,
it will be more powerful. But to really implement
and run with this concept we need to zoom in
and look at the nuts and the bolts of it. We need to talk about what it actually is
and how it actually works. (narrator) Through years of work,
Dweck and her team have uncovered sort of the defining characteristics
of the two mindsets. This table really illustrates
the contrast between the two. The first big characteristic
we need to talk about is belief. Again, people with this fixed mindset
believe that skills are born and therefore they can't
or don't have to learn. People with a growth mindset
believe that skills are built, therefore they can learn. The second major characteristic is focus. People in a fixed mindset
tend to focus on performance and outcomes and results. In other words, their main focus,
their main concern becomes how they look. More specifically, to not look bad. People with a growth mindset
tend to focus more on the process of getting better of learning and growing. These mindsets and these characteristics have a huge influence
on our ability to learn. And now we start to see why. Let's look at the four
key ingredients to growth: effort, challenges,
mistakes, and feedback. The research shows
that when somebody is in a fixed mindset they look at effort as a negative thing, as something that you do
when you're not good enough. They also don't see the value
or purpose of putting in effort. They've been shown to back down
and avoid challenging situations. They get really discouraged and worked up
when they make mistakes. And when somebody with a fixed mindset
receives feedback from a parent a teacher, a coach, or friend,
they get defensive. They take it personally,
and they don't see the value or purpose of the feedback. So, in other words,
people with this fixed mindset actually avoid and shy away
from these four key ingredients to growth. Dweck and her team have shown
that when people enter a growth mindset they look at effort as a useful thing, as an important part
of the learning process. They're actually more likely
to embrace challenges and persevere and work through them. They see mistakes
as learning opportunities, and when they receive feedback
they actually appreciate it and use it. Now the fascinating and important part
of this table is to connect the dots between these key characteristics
of the two mindsets and our actions
and behaviors towards learning. Let's look at
the fixed mindset side first. They actually shy away
from putting in effort because they don't believe
that they can change. They give up when they're met
with a challenge and things get hard because they don't want to look bad. So in their mind
the challenge becomes a threat and because they don't believe
that they can change. They hate making mistakes
and are discouraged by mistakes, because if you're making mistakes,
you're not looking good. And they don't see
the value or purpose of feedback because they don't believe
in their capacity to grow. So, in one way or the other,
every single one of these actions is a byproduct of these characteristics. And the same is true
on the growth mindset side. They see the value and purpose of effort because they believe
in their capacity to grow. They're more likely
to take on a challenge and persevere through it
because they believe that they can grow, and because they're focused on
the opportunity to do that. So they frame a challenge
as an opportunity to get better. And by focusing on the process
and believing in their capacity to grow they're more likely to understand how important mistakes
are in this process. And when they receive feedback
from a parent, teacher, coach, or friend they're more receptive to this
because their focus is on getting better and because they believe
that that information can help them grow. And they have the capacity to do so. Two key points with this table.
First, you're not just one or the other. This is a spectrum. In different times, on different days
and different situations, you might be in a growth, while other times
you'll slip into a fixed. But now that we understand how it works
and we understand the characteristics, you can start to identify
where you're at on the spectrum. And more specifically,
the cause of that mindset. Is it our beliefs? Or is it our focus? Second, yes, these actions
of learning are great and they're definitely
behaviors that we want, but we have to understand
that they come from our mindsets. So, to create
a great culture for learning, it's about zooming in on beliefs and focus and creating a real growth mindset, which is one of the most
important things we can do. ♪ (Kamau, "Jambo") ♪
