Well, I have finally decided to listen to the advice of my good friend Toby Troug (you can find his excellent blog referenced on my site and also here) and introduce some structure to these posts.
Therefore here is the first in a series where I will share some of my thoughts on great (and not so great) books I have recently read. The aim is merely to raise awareness of some of the works out there that can be influential.
This week (to which people who know me can attest) I read “Mindset – the new psychology of success” by Carol Dweck. The central thesis revolves around what people believe to be true about themselves – specifically the talents and intelligence they possess.
In a fixed mindset this belief holds that such things are fixed and set early in life, resulting in some people being smarter than others, better at certain things and that is just how it is. In the opposite state, known as a growth mindset, such skills can be developed and learned through experience. Most of us think within one of these terms of reference and we can use both – for example we might see athletic ability in a fixed mindset, math ability in a growth mindset.
The implications for coaching are potentially huge. In a fixed mindset there is a continual desire to avoid failure as this demonstrates that we are less good (and therefore less speacial) than others. Since these skills are fixed there is no point in trying to develop them so we avoid situations where we might fail – such as change.
Growth requires us to be learners, demonstrate that we don’t yet possess a skill and work hard to develop it. Working hard isn’t seen as a indicative of less talent as it is in the fixed mindset.
So, when facing change, or if you have ever considered that something is fixed, inherent, luck of the draw and can’t be changed, I encourage you to consider reading Mindset.
