For about 30 years, Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has been studying human motivation — specifically, how we fail, and pick ourselves up. She's posed questions like, what blend of talent, practice and perseverance enables us to succeed? Is talent innate or built overtime?
From her research has sprung the theory of the growth mindset: rather than possessing fixed abilities, humans can develop their intelligence, says Dweck. Her ideas have been applied to individuals across industries, from sports to education, and more recently, to entire organizations. In a study of Fortune 1000 companies, Dweck and her colleagues found that employees at organizations with a growth-mindset culture feel more empowered to innovate and more committed to company goals.
In this video, Jeff Miller, AVP of learning and organizational effectiveness at Cornerstone OnDemand, explains why it's so important to create this type of culture that encourages employees to take risks and seek feedback.
"Making mistakes is not only okay, it's critical," he says. "Just try your best to ensure they're not making the same mistake time after time."
Photo: Creative Commons
