Can a growth mindset enable success? Does the resolve to improve enable success? If making resolutions is a way to connect to a growth mindset, will the belief that abilities will grow over time ensure success New beginnings fill us with hope. When the year begins, human beings make resolutions. These could be the usual ones — about losing weight, saving more, reading more … the list goes on. I too have noticed such a pattern in my own resolutions. But apart from being fairly consistent in making such resolutions, I have not always followed up to see them materialize. Does this resolve to change (some day) enable success? If making resolutions is a way to connect to a growth mindset, will the belief that our abilities will grow over time ensure success? What does the science of talent say?

The science of talent 

Organizational science is almost 100 years old. There is a lot of research which shows that some elements of our personality is inherited and fixed. There are other aspects that we can change. “Our ability to identify and manage our own and others’ emotions is fairly stable over time, influenced by our early childhood experiences and even genetics. That does not mean we cannot change it, but, realistically, long-term improvements will require a great deal of dedication and guidance.” (read more)

Some are more coachable

Does having a “growth mindset” make us successful? With adequate training, people can become more pro-social, altruistic, and compassionate. But some people are more coachable than others. It is easier for some people to change their behavior than for others. Having a coach certainly helps.

Intelligence varies

Back to the question of “growth mindset” – is there really such a thing? The experiments in “growth mindset” were primarily done on children in the beginning and it was observed that intelligence does change in children and fluctuates the most during adolescence and then stabilizes. So just wishing for it to increase is not going to make it happen. Think of intelligence as the processor in a computer. Having a faster processor makes the programs load faster. Today’s software needs faster processors and much more computing power. That makes computers with slower processor unfit for several complex programs. Human intelligence is that processor and someone who is more intelligent can grasp complex ideas faster than others. That is why when someone explains multivariate regression, not everyone will understand it equally. The processor speed can help explain the ability to learn new subjects. Two people with similar intelligence will achieve different results. In addition to intelligence, their motivation, values and preferences will determine how successful they will be. If the task involves working with a wide variety of people, someone with better social skills will be more successful. A great sports person is often not as successful as a coach.

Emotional Quotient matters

But that is not all. “Studies have shown that a high emotional quotient (or EQ) boosts career success, entrepreneurial potential, leadership talent, health, relationship satisfaction, humor, and happiness. It is also the best antidote to work stress and it matters in every job — because all jobs involve dealing with people, and people with higher EQ are more rewarding to deal with.”

The context matters a great deal

Bob Nardelli was hired from GE to run Home Depot. He failed at Home Depot because his skills and working style did not work well in the context of his new company. A rose will not grow in the desert, a cactus will. Self-awareness helps us get comfortable in making those choices.   Professor Boris Groysberg found that when successful Wall Street analysts went to work for their competitor, they were not successful. Even individual contributors’ success depends on the relations with other colleagues. So knowing which pond to swim in can be a huge factor in success. A person who fails in one company can succeed in another. Just because your friend is doing well in a well-known organization does not mean that other classmates (including you) will automatically succeed in that organization.

How do unsubstantiated fads go mainstream 

 There are three common ways in which something is sold to you as the next big wave you have to ride – advertorials, sponsored research and peer-group endorsement. 

Popular press has advertorials

It is common for mainstream newspapers to do paid content. Advertorials that are tucked in to normal news tends to be accepted if the publication is credible. The actor who is wearing a white lab coat selling a cosmetic or procedure is not a doctor but an actor. But the white coat makes us believe that he is a doctor. An actor who has played the role of a cop in several films will get a special smile from cops in real life.  Read this <click here>So be sceptical and look up the research before you buy the advice. Don’t get pressurized and conform. Look for evidence in peer-reviewed research journals, not the popular press. Clickbait gets in eyeballs and revenue but it does not overrule science. Look for the fine print that says (usually) that what you are reading has been paid for. Tell yourself that it is an ADVERTISEMENT dressed up cleverly to look like serious content. 

“Research” to shift public opinion

When someone quotes research that requires you to make a major shift, ask, who sponsored the “research”? Companies fund research to help shift public opinion. Chocolate maker Mars has funded several “health studies” that drew glowing conclusions about cocoa and chocolate — promoting everything from the heart health benefits of chocolates to cocoa’s ability to fight disease.   Read this <click here>

“Everyone else has done it”

We tend to quickly adopt what our peers are doing. If we read a top company adopting a practice, it speeds up adoption by others. When Google declared that they do not hire people anymore based on IQ (measured through brain-teasers), many others followed suit. Given that more than 80% hires in Google are people from top schools, they have already filtered out candidates for cognitive ability. Decades of quantitative research in the field of personnel psychology has shown that “general cognitive ability” or IQ is the best tools employers have to predict performance in roles that involve complex cognitive tasks. That may not be the only factor for success. The role may need someone to work with others. Motivation and drive to succeed when combined with cognitive ability and people skills impacts success. Hiring someone who is not a topper at MIT will still give Google a person with high IQ but ADDITIONALLY allows them to hire for soft skills too. The same approach may not be appropriate for your company’s talent strategy. Read more <click this>

Find the right fit 

Choosing wisely matters. Just because someone who is not as smart as you is a big honcho at a well-known firm is no evidence that you would succeed there as well. Someone who is a brilliant employee may be a bad entrepreneur. Not every individual contributor will be a great people manager. Success is dependent on finding the right pond to swim in. So choosing a profession where the combination of your strengths and weakness is what it takes to create success is a better idea than simply believing it will. No trait is an asset in every job or organization. Being a high-risk-taker may be useful for an entrepreneur but can be a disaster for someone managing security. Even creativity has a dark side. Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely showed that a creative personality and a creative mindset promote an individuals’ ability to justify their actions, which, in turn, leads to unethical behavior. A creative person will be a disaster in a role that demands adherence to a process. Having a “growth mindset” will not make the person compliant. 

Personality in the right place is “talent”

In making career choices, it is important to swim in the pond where your strengths AND weaknesses together create the recipe for success. Every singer who won the reality TV shows did not go on to make it big in the world of play back singing. Every great play back singer is not necessarily terrific engaging the audience in a stage-performance. Self-awareness is the starting point of any leader’s journey. Finding a role that suits one’s strengths and weaknesses (OK “development opportunity” if I need to be politically correct) is what creates success, and this is the biggest piece of advice.  Written for the January 2019 issue of People Matters magazine. Read previous columns <click here>Books that Gautam Mukunda,  Harvard Professor recommends you should read to get a better view of your career choices

• Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow
• Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
• Clayton Christensen, How Will You Measure Your Life?
• Nassim Taleb, Fooled by Randomness
• Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
• Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals
• Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, Willpower

References https://hbr.org/2013/05/can-you-really-improve-your-emhttps://abhijit2.spidertrainers.com/2017/12/26/silicon-valley-talent-management/ https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/jun/13/scientists-dont-need-to-wear-a-white-lab-coat-to-talk-about-science https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/10/18/15995478/chocolate-health-benefits-heart-disease http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/09/opinion/la-oe-chabris-google-intelligence-20140309 https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-102-3-445.pdf