Book Notes: Carol Dweck — Mindset: Change the way you think to fulfil your potential

Do you stand in the way of your success? Your views about your abilities may influence how you learn, work, and treat other people. The groundbreaking research on mindsets discussed in this book shows you how to fulfil your potential.

The Book

Dweck, C (2017): “Mindset — Change the way you think to fulfil your potential”, updated edition. New York, NY: Random House.

Review

The idea of the growth mindset has been hugely influential, especially in education. Therefore, I wanted to get back to the original book to get some more information on this theory. The basic idea of the fixed mindset vs growth mindset is that people either believe that their abilities are either fixed or that their abilities can improve through challenges and practice (growth mindset). The research of Prof Dweck and others firmly established that these mindsets have a broad influence, ranging from school learning to success in sports, and even the prosperity of companies. While this research was undoubtedly groundbreaking, the book is utterly disappointing. The same idea gets repeated over and over through various anecdotes and case examples that begin to blur into each other after the first few chapters. The whole book reads like an endless sales…