The World's Best Book Summaries
What’s a growth mindset? What are the best growth mindset strategies? How can they benefit you in school, sports, parenting, and life in general? We’ll cover six scenarios in which your mindset comes into play and look at how the reactions of people with fixed and growth mindsets differ. Then we’ll look at the best growth mindset strategies to help you learn to get the best out of every situation.
What is low-effort syndrome? Do you have it? How do you combat it? Low-effort syndrome is the tendency to put in minimal or no effort at school, in sports, or in life. This may be due to a belief that you’re being discriminated against and can’t win in a rigged system, or it may be due to a fixed mindset and the belief that you if perfection isn’t guaranteed, you shouldn’t try at all. We’ll cover what low-effort syndrome is and how to work against it and develop a growth mindset.
How does your mind work? How do your mindsets affect your conscious and unconscious actions? Why is it important to understand how your mind works? We’ll cover how your mind works and how your particular mindset–a growth mindset or a fixed mindset–changes how your mind works. Learn why your mindset matters.
While labeling people negatively according to their perceived potential is often inaccurate and can hinder their development, positive labels and praise can also be detrimental. Are the positive labels you’re giving your kids hurting them? We’ll cover the effects of positive labeling and discuss why your efforts to build children’s self-esteem actually hurt them.
How do you define success? Could redefining success help you become more successful? In general, in the fixed mindset world, success is about proving to yourself and others that you’re smart and talented. It’s about validation. If you fail, it means you’re not smart or talented, therefore failure is intolerable. Failure is any type of setback: a bad grade, losing a competition, not getting the job or promotion you want, being rejected. Effort is a negative — if you need it, that means you’re not smart. It’s this definition of success that you need to combat. We’ll cover why commonly-held
Change is part of life. It can be distressing or rewarding, depending on our approach. “Who Moved My Cheese” is a parable that demonstrates in practical terms how to handle change better and avoid pitfalls, by practicing a few key principles: anticipate and prepare for change, overcome fears, envision success, and enjoy change. Because change is part of life, we need to learn to deal with it. By depicting simple, memorable characters and scenarios, the parable gives you a framework for responding to change successfully.
How did Lou Gerstner of IBM turn the company around? What key factors made Lou Gerstner one of the most successful CEOs in the world? Lou Gerstner was the CEO of IBM from 1993 to 2002. He took over IBM at the request of the board of directors, who realized the company was in trouble, and turned the company around. We’ll cover the lessons Lou Gerstner can teach you about leadership and the most important qualities for a successful leader.
Do you believe you have the potential to grow? If you do, you likely have a growth mindset. If you believe that your intelligence and abilities are fixed, you likely have a fixed mindset. We’ll cover Carol Dweck’s growth and fixed mindsets and why the belief in your own potential to grow is one of the most powerful mindsets you can have.
What are the best lessons about change? How can we manage change so that we’re ultimately better off for it? The parable “Who Moved My Cheese” gives us lessons about change that we can apply to our own lives, starting now. Learn the parable’s lessons about change and how one group of people applied these lessons to their own lives.
What can we learn from the ousted CEO of Scott Paper? How did Albert Dunlap’s fixed mindset hold his company back, and how can the rest of us avoid his mistakes? Albert Dunlap is the former executive of Scott Paper. He considered himself a hero and savior of struggling companies. We’ll briefly cover Albert Dunlap’s career at Scott Paper and examine why a fixed mindset is a bad quality in a leader. We’ll also look at the advantages of hiring with an eye for growth rather than talent.