Carol Dweck's book Mindset discusses two different mindsets that influence achievement - a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe their intelligence and talents are innate and cannot change. They focus on looking smart and avoiding challenges. Those with a growth mindset believe their abilities can be developed through effort and learning. They embrace challenges and persist in the face of setbacks. Research shows those with a growth mindset achieve more than those with a fixed mindset who may plateau early and achieve less than their full potential.

1. Mindset
by Carol Dweck
Synthesis by Deepak Jayaraman

2. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Some Context to this Document
• Does not substitute reading the book but hopefully provides an 80% view of the book in less than 20%
of the time it takes to read the book
• Most other book summaries I feel are too brief and don’t provide the richness we seek when we want to come
back to it later. In my mind, they provide a 40% view in 10% of the time it takes to read a book
• Most of us “get it” quite quickly; We don’t need extensive narration. Have used a “Pyramid Principle”
approach
• Instead of just having plain text (which a lot of summaries often are), have tried to keep it visual to aid
digestion
• Written by a Leadership consultant who works with CEOs and CXOs. Hopefully the nature of synthesis is
more appropriate and “fit for purpose” for consumption by business leaders

3. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Summary in 1 page
SUCCESS OF OTHERS
…feel threatened by the
success of others
…find lessons and
inspiration in the success
of others
CRITICISM
…ignore useful
negative feedback
…learn from
criticism
EFFORT
…see effort as
fruitless or worse
…see effort as the
path to mastery
OBSTACLES
CHALLENGES
Fixed Mindset
Intelligence is static
Growth Mindset
Intelligence can be
developed
Leads to a
desire to look
smart and
therefore a
tendency to…
Leads to a
desire to learn
and therefore a
tendency to…
…avoid challenges …embrace challenges
…get defensive or give
up easily
…persist in the face of
setbacks
As a result, they may plateau early &
achieve less than their full potential
As a result, they reach ever-
higher levels of achievement

4. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Chapter 1: The Mindsets
Key assertions
• Each person starts with a unique genetic endorsement, but research says that experience, training and personal effort take them rest of the way.
• Major factor in whether people achieve expertise is not some fixed prior ability but purposeful engagement.
• The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life
• Your mindset can fundamentally affect how you deal with situations and develop over time
Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset
What you tell
yourself
• Basic qualities are things I can cultivate through efforts
• I am not constrained by the “hand I am dealt with”, i.e. the
starting point
• I believe in the power of potential and possibilities that can be
accomplished with years of passion, toil and training
• Need to prove myself again and again
• If I have a certain amount of intelligence, moral character,
personality I better prove that I have a healthy dose of them
• My reputation is at stake each time there is a test, conversation or
an interaction. I want to “look good” and “be right”
• Avoid labeling themselves and throwing up their hands
• Although they are distressed, they are ready to take risks,
confront the challenges
• Keep working away at the areas which come in the way
• Feeling of utter failure and paralysis
• Tend to blame the system, get angry about the world at large and
get into a feeling of self-pity
• Will try and avoid similar situations in the future (stay in bed, get
drunk, eat, yell at someone, eat chocolate, binge etc)
• Look at news in binary terms (good/bad) when it comes to their
traits.
• They process feedback in a distorted manner – some outcomes
are magnified, some are explained away
• If you have a learning orientation, you would seek accurate
information about your current abilities
• This will help you drive the learning process more effectively
When thing’s
don’t go per
plan
Self
awareness
“You can change your mindset. It is not hard-wired

5. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset
Chapter 2: Inside the Mindsets
• Focus on stretching yourself to learn something new and developing
yourself
• Emphasis is on proving that you are smart and talented and
validating yourself
Dealing with
Success
Dealing with
Failure
Receiving
Feedback
Relationships
Leadership
When do you
feel smart
Interpreting
test results
Treating
others
Dealing with
depression
Dealingwithhighsandlows
• Setback is seen as an obstacle to fulfilling one’s potential. Pull up your
socks and rethink next steps
• One takes responsibility for a disaster than blaming others
• Having a setback (rejected, poor score, losing a tournament, getting
fired) is interpreted as one is not smart and talented
• Shift from “I have failed” to “I am a failure”
• Shirk, Cheat and blame (external attribution) to get out of a failure
• Work on something for a long time and start figuring it out
• Confronting a challenge and making progress
• Feel smart when something is easy for you and others cannot do it
• Not enough if you succeed. You need to appear flawless
• Hang on, drag themselves, get more determined and feel better when
life rebounds
• High propensity of hurtling down a slippery, downward slope
• Realize that test scores don’t limit the future smarts as they grow up.
They don’t let the setback come in the way of growth
• Take the results as gospel and label yourself if they don’t do well or
ace an exam; They feel the test measures their future capability too
• Paid close attention to what they could do to develop; learning was a
key priority for them
• Most attentive when they are told if they are right or wrong
• Pick relationships that see their faults, help them work on them,
challenge them to be a better person and encourage them to learn
new things
• Pick relationships that bolster your ego; ideal mate would put you on
a pedestal, make you feel perfect and worship you
• Have the courage of conviction to drive long term shareholder value
even if it means giving bad news in the short term, E.g. Jack Welch
• Drive short term results (often jeopardizing long term value) driven
by the urge to look good in the eyes of the stakeholders, specifically
the shareholders. E.g Lee Iacocca, Jeff Skilling
• Believe that you are human like anyone else (e.g. Michael Jordan)• If you are successful, you feel better than others and feel justified
abusing others and getting them to gravel in front of you
Interfacingwithpeople

6. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Chapter 3: Ability and Accomplishment
• Children with a Growth mindset don’t give up when they fail. They discover learning strategies
to overcome challenges (find patterns in mistakes, develop better coping strategies etc). They
turn the external world into allies to help them with the learning (instead of looking at others
as judges)
• Several greats started out as average
- Mozart produced average work for 10 years before belting out his classics
- Thomas Edison was an average school kid who was persistent and had the growth orientation
- Charles Darwin was collecting samples from when he was a kid; Many people don’t know his
persistence and determination through the years
• What any person in the world can learn, almost all others can learn (except for 2-5% of the
people who have a severe handicap) if provided with the appropriate conditions for learning
• Artistic ability – long considered as a “gift” can be taught. It is more about “seeing” better.
(Read “Drawing on the right size of the brain” for context)
“Ability is often over-rated. Even in exceptionally able people, the grind they put
themselves through often goes un-noticed”

7. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Chapter 4: Mindset of a Sports Champion
• Several cases* where the mindset is often the difference between champions and the ones that never made it
- Sachin Tendulkar vs Vinod Kambli (see 5:30 t0 6:15 of the video – Final Speech of Sachin Tendulkar after
his last test match – Illustrates his growth mindset) – He talks about analysing how he got out so that he
could improve if he came back to bat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4_0vR0vmMY. Vinod
Kambli, who was often considered more talented than Sachin, had a good start but stumbled when he had
a rough patch. He had a higher Test Batting average than Sachin.
- Roger Federer, when asked about the secret behind his successful run in 2014 after people had written him
off in 2013, spoke about the hard work he did in the off-season (in the winter of 2013). We think he is the
most gifted player ever but we miss out on all the hard work that goes on in the background
- Michael Jordan, was dropped from his initial selection trials at college and club level. Talented sportsman
but arguably the hardest working of all
• Some themes
- Sportspeople with a growth mindset found the training as much fun as the accomplishment. Fixed mindset
people thought working hard casts doubts over your talent
- Growth mindset people acknowledge the role of a team (even in a solo sport like Tennis, Swimming, Golf,
Chess etc). They are able to get the most out of the resources at their disposal
*Some of the examples are not from the book

8. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Chapter 5: Mindset and Leadership
• Jim Collins (Good to Great) analyzed high performing companies that created sustained value. The leaders that came on top were more
of the self-effacing types (not the charismatic types) who could confront brutal answers. They had a Kaizen mindset and asked more
questions than had answers
• If you praise the smartest idea, then it leads to Fixed Mindset. If you praise effort and right behavior you are trying to cultivate
Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset
• Jack Welsh
- When he was being considered for the CEO role at GE, he
pitched himself based on his capacity to grow not based on
what he knew
- When one of the mergers he led failed, he personally called
each of his Direct Reports and acknowledged that he had
“messed up”
• Alfred Sloan would say, “Looks like we are all in agreement here.
I propose we postpone further discussion until our next meeting
to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and gain some
understanding of the issue”
• Other examples – Lou Gerstner, Anne Mulcahy
• Leaders often create a culture of worshipping talent (e.g.
Enron). Forces employees to look smart and act extraordinarily
talented
• The leaders are keen on personal greatness. They often set up
the company to fail when they leave (just to prove the point
around how great they are)
• They often build weak teams (Genius with 1000 helpers model)
and don’t develop a pipeline of leaders under them. They feel
they just need mortals to execute their great ideas
• Odds of GroupThink increases. Everybody thinks that the
leader has the answer and nobody wants to contradict the leader
• A lot of people become bosses and not leaders. They stop
growing very quickly
• Other Examples – Jeff Skilling, Kenneth Lay, Steve Case, Jerry
Levin

9. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Chapter 6: Relationships
“They lived happily ever after…” “They worked happily ever after…”
Handling
Rejections
• Learn from a break-up about communication and other elements that
contributed to the separation. They also reflect on how to approach it the next
time
• They approach it from a sense of forgiveness
• They separate the event from the person. Labeling the person is of lesser
importance
• Take offense and feel they have been labelled as “not worthy” of a relationship
• Lasting intense feeling of bitterness
• “Will get back at him when I get a chance”
View of
relationships
• Growth Mindsets could be brought into play at 3 levels (Self, Partner,
Relationship)
• Couples focus less on how similar or how dis-similar they are. They understand
that differences are a given in any 2 people
• There is a good conflict resolution mechanism (listening, empathy,
communication, problem-solving on what they could do differently etc)
• Expect a Cinderella story. Come in with expectations of perfect conditions of
romance, experiences etc
• When cracks appear, instead of healing them, they get wider and start
separating
• They assume that if they are having to work hard at the relationship, they
probably aren’t meant for each other
Conflict
Resolution
• Start focusing on the issue at hand and how to resolve it than label the partner
• You recognize your end of the bargain in the relationship and acknowledge
• E.g. – Hillary and Bill Clinton – You forgive (or give benefit of doubt that this
was a one-off and unlikely to recur) and you work together to resurrect the
relationship
• Problems indicate character flaws. Feel anger and disgust towards the partner.
They start developing contempt and start hating the partner
• Also end up avoiding the issue and let the issue fester
• Don’t want to expend the energy resolving the issue. Start judging the
person/decision they took to get into a relationship
• Often poor awareness about what you are expected to “give” in a relationship.
Often there is a “take” mindset
Introversion • Start shy but open up over time
• More keen to meet different people and learn from their experiences
• They become more shy because they don’t want to be told that they are an
introvert
Bullying • As a receiver of bullying, the kids often say “poor guy, something must be wrong
with him”. They don’t let the bullying behaviour affect their assessment of
themselves
• Often comes from a Fixed Mindset behaviour space. Bully wants to feel better
than other kids and exerts power over others
• To change them, don’t label them but focus on their behaviours that they are
showing to change
• As the receiver of bullying, FM kids start doubting their capability and start
wondering if something is wrong with them
Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset

10. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Chapter 7: Where Does Mindset Come From
Parents • Praise children for what they achieved as a combination of
practice, study, persistence and good strategies. Ask them about
their work in a way that gets them to reflect on the effort they
have put in
• For somebody that failed (and you thought didn’t put in enough
effort), tell them that more is required for them to succeed. Tell
them other kids have spent more time at this
• For someone who put in the effort and didn’t succeed, provide
them the required moral support and tell them that WE will
work together to clear the hurdles
• Kids feel that parents are here to help them succeed. They see
the UNCONDITIONALITY
• We end up praising intelligence; Gives the kid a boost but when
they hit a snag, it does not give them the capability to deal with
a tough situation
• Since they don’t want to fail, they don’t take on tough
assignments as they don’t want to be seen as failures.
• Kids often feel judged on how good/capable they are. If the kid
doesn’t make the cut, the kid feels that the parents will not love
them any more. They believe that the love is conditional on
their “smarts” and achievement of certain milestones.
• The children hear parents say – “We love you, on our
terms”
Teachers • Believe in infinite potential of the mind
• Set high standards and a nurturing atmosphere
• Like to learn by teaching. They are passionate about knowing
what makes other people tick. They see school as a place for
their learning too, not just students’ learning
• Label the smart and the not so smart
• Ignore the “dumb ones”. They have stereotypes that influences
them to think about what would work and what wouldn’t
• See themselves as a finished product and stop learning
Coaches • Care about whether each player gave his or her 100%. They
believe that if this is true then success will come automatically
• Take the failure of the team members personally and see it as a
reflection on their capability
• They treat players based on how they performed
• Players often break down under the scenario (e.g. Drumming
tutor in the movie Whiplash)
Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset

11. Mindset by Carol Dweck. Synthesized by Deepak Jayaraman
Chapter 8: Changing Mindsets
Opinion on
self
• You try and determine, how else you could do things, what you
could do differently, what you need to learn etc
• Knowing about this framework is half the battle won. It gives
you an ability to reframe situations and how you look at yourself
• End up judging and labeling yourself at any point in time
• If things don’t go well, then the immediate reaction is “I am
incompetent, this will never work” etc
Interventions
to develop
the mindset
• Brainology programme – Help kids understand how they can
proactively work with their brains
• Mindset workshop for adolescent kids (brain is a muscle that
can be developed with some exercise); When you learn new
things, the tiny connections in the brain become stronger
• Stretch the child by giving slightly harder and harder tasks. Its
not just about solving tough problems
• Also talk to the child about other facets (friends they are
making, sacrifices, empathy they show etc)
• Haven’t come across any intervention to instill a Fixed Mindset
in people! –
☺
Why they
have a
mindset
• Some of the kids who know that hard-work and grind is the
only way out of their situation often could end up adopting a
growth mindset given their circumstances
• The fixed mindset might have saved them at some point in life.
When the child is low on self-confidence, the child tries to
pretend to be smart and get approval of parents
• Child stops saying “I don’t know” and stops asking questions
View of the
world
• Focus on making a difference to the people around
• Focus on the efforts it takes to achieve outcomes. If you enjoy
learning, you will eventually grow and pick up the capabilities
required for success
• Entitlement. The world owes me stuff. I am superior to the rest
and need to be treated differently
• Searching for Bobby Fisher - Chess genius but never realized
his potential
Nobody looks at a baby and says it is dumb. It hasn’t learnt yet!
Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset