Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Quote of the Week - Mindsets

"Often when you mention risk, what people think of is the downside. Danger. That's not the entrepreneurial mind-set," she said. "The entrepreneurial mind-set is that risk is the heightened probability that there is a big range of possible outcomes." -- Heidi Roizen

The above quote is from Money.com's recent series on What it takes to be rich. I love the story describing growth mindsets versus fixed mindsets.
Dweck, the psychologist who studies growth mind-sets, created an experiment to demonstrate how persistence and the pursuit of knowledge leads to success. She posed a series of trivia questions to a group of people with fixed mind-sets and another with growth mind-sets.

After each answer, one and a half seconds passed before the participants were told whether they were right or wrong, and, if they were wrong, another one and a half seconds lapsed before they were given the correct response. Their brains were monitored with electrodes the entire time.

Dweck found that the people with fixed mind-sets cared a lot about whether they were right or wrong but not at all about what the right answer was. The growth-mind-set participants stayed interested until the correct answer was given, showing an interest in learning new information rather than in simply validating their intelligence.
more from Carol Dweck...
People with fixed mind-sets believe that they were born with a certain amount of intelligence, and they strive to convince the world of their brilliance so that no one finds out they're not actually geniuses.

Growth-mind-set people believe that intelligence, knowledge and skill need to be "cultivated" by trial and error. Failing at something, they believe, is the best way to ensure they'll succeed at it the next time.
This growth mindset versus fixed mindset sounds so interesting...I just might have to go out and read her new book:


Follow along with the Money.com's series here...
Lesson 1: Make your own luck
Lesson 1, Corollary 1: Building 'social capital' often pays off in the end.
Lesson 2: Failing at something is the best way to ensure success at it the next time.
Lesson 2, Corollary 1: Successful people are always on the look out for new experiences that they can later build on.
Lesson 2, Corollary 2: If you see an opportunity, take it. But that doesn't mean betting the ranch.

Later Trades,

MT

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