WHY do some people reach their creative potential in business while other equally talented peers don’t?

Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
 
James Yang

After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’re ever going to have approach life with what she calls a “fixed mind-set.” Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a “growth mind-set.”

Guess which ones prove to be most innovative over time.

“Society is obsessed with the idea of talent and genius and people who are ‘naturals’ with innate ability,” says Ms. Dweck, who is known for research that crosses the boundaries of personal, social and developmental psychology.

“People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes. But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”

In this case, nurture wins out over nature just about every time.

While some managers apply these principles every day, too many others instead believe that hiring the best and the brightest from top-flight schools guarantees corporate success.

The problem is that, having been identified as geniuses, the anointed become fearful of falling from grace. “It’s hard to move forward creatively and especially to foster teamwork if each person is trying to look like the biggest star in the constellation,” Ms. Dweck says.

In her 2006 book, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” she shows how adopting either a fixed or growth attitude toward talent can profoundly affect all aspects of a person’s life, from parenting and romantic relationships to success at school and on the job.

She attributes the success of several high-profile chief executives to their growth mind-set, citing an ability to energize a work force. These include John F. Welch Jr. of General Electric, who valued teamwork over individual genius; Louis V. Gerstner Jr. of I.B.M., who dedicated his book about I.B.M.’s turnaround to “the thousands of I.B.M.’ers who never gave up on their company”; and Anne M. Mulcahy of Xerox, who focused on morale and development of her people even as she implemented painful cuts.

But Ms. Dweck does not suggest that recruiters ignore innate talent. Instead, she suggests looking for both talent and a growth mind-set in prospective hires — people with a passion for learning who thrive on challenge and change.

After reading her book, Scott Forstall, senior vice president of Apple in charge of iPhone software, contacted Ms. Dweck to talk about his experience putting together the iPhone development team. Mr. Forstall told her that he identified a number of superstars within various departments at Apple and asked them in for a chat.

At the beginning of each interview, he warned the recruit that he couldn’t reveal details of the project he was working on. But he promised the opportunity, Ms. Dweck says, “to make mistakes and struggle, but eventually we may do something that we’ll remember the rest of our lives.”

Only people who immediately jumped at the challenge ended up on the team. “It was his intuition that he wanted people who valued stretching themselves over being king of their particular hill,” she says.

People with a growth mind-set tend to demonstrate the kind of perseverance and resilience required to convert life’s setbacks into future successes. That ability to learn from experience was cited as the No. 1 ingredient for creative achievement in a poll of 143 creativity researchers cited in “Handbook of Creativity” in 1999.

Which leads one to ask: Is it possible to shift from a fixed mind-set to a growth mind-set?

Absolutely, according to Ms. Dweck. But, “it’s not easy to just let go of something that has felt like your self for many years,” she writes. Still, she says, “nothing is better than seeing people find their way to things they value.”

Janet Rae-Dupree writes about science

为什么一些涉及商业领域的人们能有拥有着创造性的潜意识,反之其他的与他们拥有同等智商的同龄人却不能呢?

看下一段你将会有所发现

James Yang

经过3个世纪的不屑努力,Stanford的 心理研究学家Carol Dweck 相信答案主要困惑是在于人们是如何认为智慧与才能的.那些相信自己生来就机智灵敏赋有天赋的人们,他们曾经企图想用她所说的一种"固有的思维模式"来与生活靠近.那些认为自己的能够可以随着时间的推移而增强的人们,反之,他们却生活在"扩张性思维模式"中.

到现在为止,猜想下哪些人被证实是最有革新的思想呢?

社会被天才与天赋思想所捆饶着,那些圣人是天生固有的能力,"Dweck先生说,他以研究个人,社会和发展心理学的界限而著称.

"人们相信天才的能力并没有发挥出他们本有的潜在能力,是因为他们太过于在意他们外观的敏锐和奠定的事实.但是那些认为天才属于一些接受对他们施加压力,磨练和勇敢面对自己所犯的错误并吸收改正它的人们.

既然这样,后期培养远远胜过天资,只是把握一个过程.

当经理每天都重复提出这些原则的同时,其它渗透出来的一些概念也证实出了,雇佣最好的知名学校的尖子能够确保公司的受益.

问题在于,一直被认为的所谓的天才，这种观点开始漫漫的腿色变地不那么完美了．＂如果群雄中的每一位都想要冒头，那么就很难在达到更加具有创造性和突出的培养小组的目的了．＂Dweck女士说．

在２００６年她的书中，＂思维模式＂一种新型成功心理学，＂她指出如果接受对于天才所固有的和可发展的态度才能深刻的影响到人类各个方面的生活，从教养，富有想象的关系到学校的突出和事业上的成就．

她归因几个典型首要执行官的成功到他们的发展思维模式中，引证了一个人的能力可以激发他们的工作动力。他们是通用电器的John F. Welch Jr.，他以个人才能论断一个小组的价值；IBM的Louis V. Gerstner Jr.，献身于他的著作是有关IBM的转向专门针对那些从没放弃过计算机事业的IBM上千万职员们。还有Xerox的Anne M. Mulcahy，正当面临裁员的危险处境她还坚持满怀斗志的鼓舞着她的职员们。

但是Dweck女士并不建议被雇佣者因此就忽视了本身的才能。相反的她还建议对于未来它们所要招聘的职员必须天资与发展性思维模式要同时进行—喜欢挑战并能改变局势的那些迫切渴望得到知识的人们。

苹果公司负责iPhone软件的高级副总裁Scott Forstall在读够她书以后，联络了Dweck女士谈论了关于包括iPhone发展小组在内的他所经历的经验。Forstall先生告诉她说他识别在苹果公司各个部门的一批高端人才是通过把他们叫来与他谈话的这种方式。

在面谈一开始，他就提醒这些应聘者说他对他所进行的计划的细节不给予透露。

最棒的是在那一刻能够敢于接受挑战最终小组胜出的人。“他的直觉告诉我们，他所雇佣的职员是在越过险峻山脉后还依然挺立的一些有价值的人，”她说。

那些拥有发展思维模式的人们充分展示出，面对通向未来成功道路中生活上的遇到的挫败要以一种坚持不懈和富有乐观的精神待之。

什么引起人们发问：真的需要由固有思维模式转变为发展思维模式吗？

根据Dweck的说法，回答是肯定的。但是“但是让你放手已经跟随你好几年的一些想法并非那么容易，”她写道。她还说：“没有什么比能看到那些找到自己认为值得去做的事更好的了。”

Janet Rae-Dupree关于科学的著作