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

為什么一些涉及商業(yè)領域的人們能有擁有著創(chuàng)造性的潛意識,反之其他的與他們擁有同等智商的同齡人卻不能呢?

看下一段你將會有所發(fā)現(xiàn)

James Yang

經過3個世紀的不屑努力,Stanford的 心理研究學家Carol Dweck 相信答案主要困惑是在于人們是如何認為智慧與才能的.那些相信自己生來就機智靈敏賦有天賦的人們,他們曾經企圖想用她所說的一種"固有的思維模式"來與生活靠近.那些認為自己的能夠可以隨著時間的推移而增強的人們,反之,他們卻生活在"擴張性思維模式"中.

到現(xiàn)在為止,猜想下哪些人被證實是最有革新的思想呢?

社會被天才與天賦思想所捆饒著,那些圣人是天生固有的能力,"Dweck先生說,他以研究個人,社會和發(fā)展心理學的界限而著稱.

"人們相信天才的能力并沒有發(fā)揮出他們本有的潛在能力,是因為他們太過于在意他們外觀的敏銳和奠定的事實.但是那些認為天才屬于一些接受對他們施加壓力,磨練和勇敢面對自己所犯的錯誤并吸收改正它的人們.

既然這樣,后期培養(yǎng)遠遠勝過天資,只是把握一個過程.

當經理每天都重復提出這些原則的同時,其它滲透出來的一些概念也證實出了,雇傭最好的知名學校的尖子能夠確保公司的受益.

問題在于,一直被認為的所謂的天才，這種觀點開始漫漫的腿色變地不那么完美了．＂如果群雄中的每一位都想要冒頭，那么就很難在達到更加具有創(chuàng)造性和突出的培養(yǎng)小組的目的了．＂Dweck女士說．

在２００６年她的書中，＂思維模式＂一種新型成功心理學，＂她指出如果接受對于天才所固有的和可發(fā)展的態(tài)度才能深刻的影響到人類各個方面的生活，從教養(yǎng)，富有想象的關系到學校的突出和事業(yè)上的成就．

她歸因幾個典型首要執(zhí)行官的成功到他們的發(fā)展思維模式中，引證了一個人的能力可以激發(fā)他們的工作動力。他們是通用電器的John F. Welch Jr.，他以個人才能論斷一個小組的價值；IBM的Louis V. Gerstner Jr.，獻身于他的著作是有關IBM的轉向專門針對那些從沒放棄過計算機事業(yè)的IBM上千萬職員們。還有Xerox的Anne M. Mulcahy，正當面臨裁員的危險處境她還堅持滿懷斗志的鼓舞著她的職員們。

但是Dweck女士并不建議被雇傭者因此就忽視了本身的才能。相反的她還建議對于未來它們所要招聘的職員必須天資與發(fā)展性思維模式要同時進行—喜歡挑戰(zhàn)并能改變局勢的那些迫切渴望得到知識的人們。

蘋果公司負責iPhone軟件的高級副總裁Scott Forstall在讀夠她書以后，聯(lián)絡了Dweck女士談論了關于包括iPhone發(fā)展小組在內的他所經歷的經驗。Forstall先生告訴她說他識別在蘋果公司各個部門的一批高端人才是通過把他們叫來與他談話的這種方式。

在面談一開始，他就提醒這些應聘者說他對他所進行的計劃的細節(jié)不給予透露。

最棒的是在那一刻能夠敢于接受挑戰(zhàn)最終小組勝出的人。“他的直覺告訴我們，他所雇傭的職員是在越過險峻山脈后還依然挺立的一些有價值的人，”她說。

那些擁有發(fā)展思維模式的人們充分展示出，面對通向未來成功道路中生活上的遇到的挫敗要以一種堅持不懈和富有樂觀的精神待之。

什么引起人們發(fā)問：真的需要由固有思維模式轉變?yōu)榘l(fā)展思維模式嗎？

根據Dweck的說法，回答是肯定的。但是“但是讓你放手已經跟隨你好幾年的一些想法并非那么容易，”她寫道。她還說：“沒有什么比能看到那些找到自己認為值得去做的事更好的了。”

Janet Rae-Dupree關于科學的著作