Do you wonder why some people have success in their lives and others don’t? Last week I interviewed Stanford Professor Carol Dweck and Michael Port. Both of them have different backgrounds. Professor Dweck is a social psychologist with research interests in motivation, personality, and development and Michael Port is a trained actor turned successful businessman. In both of their interviews they discuss how the mind/brain plays such an impact in the actions we do in our lives.
Professor Dweck, author of Mindset discusses growth mindset vs. fixed mindset. After the interview I asked her “What is the relationship between possessing a growth mindset and success as an entrepreneur?”
Her response was:
“…in my book I have a chapter on business and leadership in which I analyze the characteristics of successful leaders: the desire to take on challenges (as opposed to the desire to feed one’s ego), the desire for honest feedback (as opposed to flattering feedback), the ability to face problems and setbacks and remain effective (as opposed to denying problems or blaming them on others), the desire to have great people on your team (as opposed to being threatened by others’ talents). These qualities are especially important in times like these, and each is a characteristic of the growth mindset. Recent research has examined this directly, examining business people who had breakout results with a new idea or product. The major thing they shared was a growth mindset.”
Michael Port wants to start a Think Big Revolution. Why think small thoughts when we can choose to think Big Thoughts? In his latest book The Think Big Manifesto, Michael states
“Thinking small is often about who we think we should be. It’s about a concept of a better self. But you are not a concept. I am not a concept. We are who we are and who we think we are. It’s not easy to overthrow the judges and think big, but it’s not complicated.”
Do you Think Big? When do you let small thoughts get in the way? When are you a fixed mindset and when are you a growth mindset? What are the results when you are in a growth mindset?