The power of belief -- mindset and success | Eduardo Briceno | TEDxManhattanBeach

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Eduardo re-discovered the joy of learning during his teenage years, when his family moved from Caracas, Venezuela to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he landed in a foreign land, with different customs and a great school. Since then, learning has been a central source of joy and fulfillment.

Eduardo went on to earn B.S. in Economics and B.S. in Chemical Engineering degrees at UPenn, and later MBA and M.A. in Education degrees at Stanford. Most important, he continues to love learning outside school, and keeps a large personal repository of lessons learned, knowing that otherwise he will remember less than 20% of what he deems important, and finding the process of writing things down to be helpful.

After college, Eduardo worked in investment banking, and later in venture capital, enjoying interacting with many people and being exposed to innovation and change initiatives in a variety of industries. He served in non-profit and for-profit boards, including Akimbo Systems, Aurora Networks, KIPP Heartwood Academy and Start Up.

After his wife became a public school teacher, and once he met her students and their families, Eduardo was bit by the education bug, and has since devoted his life to helping create life opportunities for children. He likes collaborating with peers, teachers and students around making sense of the world and supporting one another to lead more fulfilling lives.

Eduardo now serves as the CEO of Mindset Works, an organization he co-founded with Carol Dweck, Ph.D., Lisa Blackwell, Ph.D., and others to equip people with the core beliefs and learning strategies needed for success. Together with his fellow mindsetters, he helps schools throughout the U.S. and abroad build learner capacity by instilling growth mindset beliefs and practices in students, teachers and the broader community.

What do you think is the key
to achieve our goals, our success?

Some people suggest things
like hard work, focus, persistence.

But research shows these are
all by-products of something else,

something much more powerful
that we can all develop.

It is this very special something
that is really critical to success,

and is what I am here
to discuss with you today.

Someone who has achieved
great success is Josh Waitzkin,

a chess international master
and the subject of the movie

"Searching for Bobby Fischer".

Nobody has won all the national chess
championships that Josh has.

But even more impressive,
when he turned 21,

he took on the challenge
of mastering something completely new

and very different from chess:
martial arts.

He realized that he had learned
how to grow and succeed,

and he could apply
that understanding to other domains.

And so, he devoted himself
relentlessly to tai chi chuan.

And after lots of hard work,
many failures, and some broken joints,

he became a great martial artist,
and he won two world championships.

Now he is off to jiu-jitsu.

So what does Josh say is
the greatest thing ever happened to him?

Believe it or not, he says, "Losing
my first national chess championship,

because it helped me avoid
many of the psychological traps."

The key trap that Josh avoided
was believing that he was special,

that he was smarter than other people,
and that he didn't have to work hard.

He could have thought
of himself as a prodigy,

but he doesn't think
that he has extraordinary intelligence.

He says, "The moment we believe

that success is determined
by an ingrained level of ability,

we will be brittle
in the face of adversity."

Josh often quotes
Stanford Professor Carol Dweck

who discovered that some people
see intelligence or abilities as fixed

what is called a fixed mindset,

while other people see them as Josh does,

as qualities that can be developed;
a growth mindset.

More important, Dr. Dweck discovered
that these two different mindsets

lead to very different
behaviors and results.

In a study she did
with Dr. Lisa Blackwell,

several hundreds seventh graders
were surveyed to determine

which mindset each student had,
and then they were tracked for two years.

Results showed that the students
with a growth mindset,

those who thought
they could change their own intelligence

increased their grades over time.

While those with a fixed mindset did not.

You can see the trend,
the gap in performance

just widens and widens over time.

The difference between these two groups:
a different perspective on intelligence.

Other studies have shown similar effects
for our mindset about other abilities

like problem solving,
playing sports, managing people,

or anything else you'd like,
dancing La Macarena.

The key to success is not
simply effort, or focus, or resilience,

but it is the growth mindset
that creates them,

the mindset itself is critical.

Research shows that when we directly
try to build grit or persistence,

it's not nearly as effective as addressing
the mindset that underlies them.

How many of us think of ourselves
as not math people, or creative,

or sociable, or athletic,
or conversely, that we are naturals?

If we are to fulfill our potential,
we have to start thinking differently.

We have to realize we are not chained
to our current capabilities.

Neuroscience shows
the brain is very malleable.

And we can change our own ability
to think and to perform.

In fact, many of the most
accomplished people of our era

were thought of, by experts,
to have no future.

People like Charles Darwin, Lucille Ball,
Marcel Proust, and many others.

But they, along with all great achievers
from Mozart to Einstein,

built their abilities.

But the key insight I would like you
to walk away with today

is that when we realize that,

when we realize we can change
our own abilities,

when we have a growth mindset,
we bring our game to new levels.

So how does a growth mindset do that?

It turns out that there are
physiological manifestations to mindset.

Brain scans show
that for people with a fixed mindset,

the brain becomes most active
when receiving information

about how the person performed
such as a grade or a score.

But for people with a growth mindset,
the brain becomes most active

when receiving information about
what they could do better next time.

In other words,

people with a fixed mindset
worry the most about how they are judged,

while those with a growth mindset
focus the most on learning.

There are other consequences of mindset:

people with a fixed mindset
see effort as a bad thing,

something that only people
with low capabilities need,

while those with a growth mindset
see effort as what makes us smart,

as the way to grow.

And when they hit a set back or a failure,

people with a fixed mindset tend
to conclude that they are incapable.

So to protect their ego,
they lose interest or withdraw.

We observe that as lack of motivation.

But behind it is a fixed mindset,

whereas people with a growth mindset

understand that set backs
are part of growth.

So when they hit one,
they find a way around it.

Like Josh Waitzkin did when he lost
in chess or in martial arts.

Research clearly shows
these effects of mindset.

In one study Dr. Dweck did
with Dr. Claudia Mueller,

they had children do a set of puzzles,

and then they praised the kids.

To some of the kids, they said,

"Wow, that's a really good score,
you must be smart at this."

That's fixed mindset praise

because it portrays intelligence
or abilities as a fixed quality.

To other kids they said,

"Wow, that's a really good score,
you must have tried really hard."

That's growth mindset praise
because it focuses on the process.

Then, they asked the kids,

"OK, what kind of puzzle would you like
to do next? An easy one or a hard one?"

The majority of the kids
who received the fixed mindset praise

chose to do the easy puzzle.

While the great majority of those
who received the growth mindset praise

chose to do challenge themselves.

Then the researchers gave
a hard puzzle to all of the kids

because they were interested in seeing

what confronting difficulty would do
to their performance.

Look at what happened
when the kids later went back

to the set of easier problems
that they started with.

The kids who received
the fixed mindset praise

did significantly worse
than they had originally,

while those who received
a growth mindset praise did better.

And to top it off,

at they very end, kids were asked
to report their scores;

and the kids who received
the fixed mindset praise

lied about their scores
over three times more often

than those who received
the growth mindset praise.

They did not have another way
to cope with their failure.

The difference between these two groups:

one short little sentence.

How often do we praise kids for being
smart or for being great at something?

We have been told
that this will raise their self-esteem.

But instead, it puts them
in a fixed mindset.

They become afraid of challenges,

and they lose confidence
when things hit hard.

As Josh Waitzkin says,

"It is incredibly important for parents
to make their feedback process related

as oppose to praising
or criticizing talent.

If we win because we are winners,

then when we lose,
it must make us losers."

These studies show not only the mechanisms
by which mindset affects performance,

but they also show something
else that is very important:

they show that we can change mindsets,

and that's important, because most of us
have fixed mindsets about something.

Another study that showed
that we can change mindsets

is one in which Dweck and Blackwell
did a workshop with seventh graders

to instill a growth mindset in them.

As a result of the workshop, the students
gained more interest in learning,

and they worked harder;

and as a result of that,
their grades improved.

Other studies have shown
that when we teach a growth mindset,

not only that it improves achievements
for students as a whole

but it also narrows the achievement gap,

because the effects are most pronounced

for the students
who face negative stereotypes

such as minority students,
and girls in math.

I have spoken mostly about children,
but mindsets affects all of us.

In our work places, managers with fixed
mindsets don't welcome feedback as much,

and they don't mentor employees as much.

And employees with growth mindsets

about specific skills like negotiations

become far better at those skills
than people with fixed views.

Mindsets can even help us
solve big social issues.

A recent study showed

that when we expose
Israelis and Palestinians

to the idea that groups can change,

they increase their attitudes
towards towards one another,

they improve them.

and they enhance their willingness
to compromise and to work for peace.

We also see the effects of mindsets
on relationships, sports, health.

How is it possible that as a society,

we are not asking schools to develop
a growth mindset in children?

Our myopic efforts
to teach them facts, concepts,

and even critical critical thinking skills

is likely to fail,

if we don't also deliberately teach them
the essential beliefs that will allow them

to succeed not only in school
but also beyond.

There is a lot that we can do
to change mindsets,

but here are three things that any of us
can do to instill a growth mindset

in ourselves and in those around us.

First, recognize that the growth mindset
is not only beneficial

but it is also supported by science.

Neuroscience shows that the brain
changes and becomes more capable

when we work hard to improve ourselves.

Second, learn and teach others
about how to develop our abilities.

Learn about deliberate practice
and what makes for effective effort.

When we understand
how to develop our abilities,

we strengthen our conviction
that we are in charge of them.

And third, listen
for your fixed mindset voice,

and when you hear it,
talk back with a growth mindset voice.

If you hear, "I can't do it," add, "Yet."

My request to you today
is that you share this knowledge

about the growth mindset
with your family, friends, and schools

so that all of us can go
and fulfill our potential.

Thank you.

(Applause)