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

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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(lǐng)域的人們能有擁有著創(chuàng)造性的潛意識(shí),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(huì)有所發(fā)現(xiàn)

James Yang

經(jīng)過(guò)3個(gè)世紀(jì)的不屑努力,Stanford的 心理研究學(xué)家Carol Dweck 相信答案主要困惑是在于人們是如何認(rèn)為智慧與才能的.那些相信自己生來(lái)就機(jī)智靈敏賦有天賦的人們,他們?cè)��?jīng)企圖想用她所說(shuō)的一種"固有的思維模式"來(lái)與生活靠近.那些認(rèn)為自己的能夠可以隨著時(shí)間的推移而增強(qiáng)的人們,反之,他們卻生活在"擴(kuò)張性思維模式"中.

到現(xiàn)在為止,猜想下哪些人被證實(shí)是最有革新的思想呢?

社會(huì)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(shuō),他以研究個(gè)人,社會(huì)和發(fā)展心理學(xué)的界限而著稱(chēng).

"人們相信天才的能力并沒(méi)有發(fā)揮出他們本有的潛在能力,是因?yàn)樗麄兲�過(guò)于在意他們外觀的敏銳和奠定的事實(shí).但是那些認(rèn)為天才屬于一些接受對(duì)他們施加壓力,磨練和勇敢面對(duì)自己所犯的錯(cuò)誤并吸收改正它的人們.

既然這樣,后期培養(yǎng)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)勝過(guò)天資,只是把握一個(gè)過(guò)程.

當(dāng)經(jīng)理每天都重復(fù)提出這些原則的同時(shí),其它滲透出來(lái)的一些概念也證實(shí)出了,雇傭最好的知名學(xué)校的尖子能夠確保公司的受益.

問(wèn)題在于,一直被認(rèn)為的所謂的天才，這種觀點(diǎn)開(kāi)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(dá)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(shuō)．

在２００６年她的書(shū)中，＂思維模式＂一種新型成功心理學(xué)，＂她指出如果接受對(duì)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(lèi)各個(gè)方面的生活，從教養(yǎng)，富有想象的關(guān)系到學(xué)校的突出和事業(yè)上的成就．

她歸因幾個(gè)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(gè)人的能力可以激發(fā)他們的工作動(dòng)力。他們是通用電器的John F. Welch Jr.，他以個(gè)人才能論斷一個(gè)小組的價(jià)值；IBM的Louis V. Gerstner Jr.，獻(xiàn)身于他的著作是有關(guān)IBM的轉(zhuǎn)向?qū)ｉT(mén)針對(duì)那些從沒(méi)放棄過(guò)計(jì)算機(jī)事業(yè)的IBM上千萬(wàn)職員們。還有Xerox的Anne M. Mulcahy，正當(dāng)面臨裁員的危險(xiǎn)處境她還堅(jiān)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(duì)于未來(lái)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(shí)進(jìn)行—喜歡挑戰(zhàn)并能改變局勢(shì)的那些迫切渴望得到知識(shí)的人們。

蘋(píng)果公司負(fù)責(zé)iPhone軟件的高級(jí)副總裁Scott Forstall在讀夠她書(shū)以后，聯(lián)絡(luò)了Dweck女士談?wù)摿岁P(guān)于包括iPhone發(fā)展小組在內(nèi)的他所經(jīng)歷的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。Forstall先生告訴她說(shuō)他識(shí)別在蘋(píng)果公司各個(gè)部門(mén)的一批高端人才是通過(guò)把他們叫來(lái)與他談話的這種方式。

在面談一開(kāi)始，他就提醒這些應(yīng)聘者說(shuō)他對(duì)他所進(jìn)行的計(jì)劃的細(xì)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(jué)告訴我們，他所雇傭的職員是在越過(guò)險(xiǎn)峻山脈后還依然挺立的一些有價(jià)值的人，”她說(shuō)。

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

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

根據(jù)Dweck的說(shuō)法，回答是肯定的。但是“但是讓你放手已經(jīng)跟隨你好幾年的一些想法并非那么容易，”她寫(xiě)道。她還說(shuō)：“沒(méi)有什么比能看到那些找到自己認(rèn)為值得去做的事更好的了。”

Janet Rae-Dupree關(guān)于科學(xué)的著作