A Growth Mindset is

The underlying human belief that talent and ability can be developed and that intelligence and natural gifts are just the starting point.

High Performers Are Not Afraid to Fail

High-performing people—the kind who innovate and adapt—are driven by the belief that there is nothing they can’t learn, no situation they can’t figure out—even if it means failing the first time. They are driven by a Growth Mindset. By contrast, people focused on individual achievement are driven by the need to maintain their status as the best and brightest, which means they are less willing to take risks, to fail, or to collaborate in ways that allow others to outshine them. They are limited by a Fixed Mindset. But mindsets can be changed—and so can performance.

How Growth Mindset Powers Performance

Changing mindset involves changing the way the brain interprets and responds to a threat.

Fixed Mindsets Perceive Change as a Threat

People can perceive any change, challenge, or setback as a threat. When a threat is present, people’s ability to think, learn, adapt, and recover from mistakes is immediately reduced.

Threat Removed by Shifting to a Growth Mindset

Perceived threats occur through triggers. Once people understand their triggers (through our Mindset Profiler), we help them practice shifting their fixed mindset triggers toward a Growth Mindset.

Growth Mindsets Drive a Culture of High Performance

Culture is built through daily interactions. Teams that practice shifting to a Growth Mindset develop skills inherent to high performance. They more effectively:

– Examine all sides of an issue because they embrace diverse thinking

– Respond to swiftly to change, shifting together to create agile solutions 

– Listen to—and act on—feedback, providing support instead of getting caught up in interpersonal drama

– Show resilience to setbacks and don’t quit until they succeed

– Pursue innovative ideas and opportunities

Growth Mindsets Drive a Culture of High Performance

Culture is built through daily interactions. Teams that practice shifting to a Growth Mindset develop skills inherent to high performance. They more effectively:

Examine all sides of an issue because they embrace diverse thinking

Respond to swiftly to change, shifting together to create agile solutions 

Listen to—and act on—feedback, providing support instead of getting caught up in interpersonal drama

Show resilience to setbacks and don’t quit until they succeed

Pursue innovative ideas and opportunities

What Is False Growth Mindset Consulting?

Some consulting firms have adopted the term Growth Mindset without studying the academic research behind or fully understanding its application. Here are a few red flags of false Growth Mindset consulting:

– Merely introducing concepts without tying them to individual behavior, practices—and most important—to results.

– Asserting that a Growth Mindset makes a person or organization capable of doing anything! While Growth Mindset stretches performance beyond previous levels, it is fundamentally a practice that opens up new paths and increases resilience after setbacks. It is a never-ending journey, not a one-and-done silver bullet.

– Using Fixed Mindset as a negative term that is used to blame or shame others. Fixed Mindsets are part of everyone and never simply go away. Identifying them and working with them is a lifelong journey. Fixed Mindsets actually become pathways to development when people learn to consciously shift them to a Growth Mindset.

– Often taught by people who have not undertaken the Growth Mindset journey themselves. They have not studied the underlying psychology and neuroscience and cannot speak to their own triggers and behavior. Lacking expertise, their ‘Growth Mindset’ approach is superficial and incapable of catalising organisational culture change.