When learning new things do you have a fixed mindset or growth mindset?

Here is my summary and favorite excerpts from Mindset:The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck.


What are the two interpretations of ability?

    A fixed ability that needs to be proven
    A changeable ability that can be developed through learning

How is your mindset impacted by how you perceive your identity?


Failure has been transformed from an action (I failed) to an identity (I am a failure). This is especially true in a fixed mindset.

When you’re given a positive label, you’re afraid of losing it, and when you’re hit with a negative label, you’re afraid of deserving it.

John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, says you aren’t a failure until you start to blame. What he means is that you can still be in the process of learning from your mistakes until you deny them.

How does mindset impact leadership?

Fixed-mindset leaders, like fixed-mindset people in general, live in a world where some people are superior and some are inferior. They must repeatedly affirm that they are superior, and the company is simply a platform for this.

Sometimes the victims are people the bosses consider to be less talented. This can feed their sense of superiority. But often the victims are the most competent people, because these are the ones who pose the greatest threat to a fixed-mindset boss.