An overview of Dr. Carol Dweck's "Growth Mindset" concept, as popularized by her Mindset book and TED talk. As a manager, I used this presentation to help my team members embrace change at work by understanding they can learn new skills and use setbacks and feedback to ultimately be successful in a changing work environment.

1. Understanding
Growth Mindset

2. Hello!I’m Kevin Kaminski
I’m here because I think Growth
Mindset is important for people to
understand, especially in a changing
environment.
Plus, I find psychology interesting
and like to teach and coach people!
You can find me at @KevinKaminski 2

3. What we’ll do in this session
▫ Take a simple quiz
▫ Go over Fixed and Growth mindsets
▫ Talk about quiz results
▫ Discuss how mindsets relate to work
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4. 1.
Quick quiz
Take a few minutes to fill out your
answers.

5. A fun personality quiz
▫ Get the quiz at http://bit.ly/2rZ113k
▫ Just do Page 1 for now
▫ We’ll use Page 2 later!
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6. 2.
Fixed and Growth
Mindsets
An overview of mindsets

7. mindset
(noun)
the established set of attitudes
held by someone.
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8. Dr. Carol Dweck
▫ Stanford University
psychologist
▫ Extensively
researched mindset
▫ Wrote a book on
concept of Fixed and
Growth Mindsets
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9. Fixed Mindset
▫ Believe that
personality,
intelligence, abilities,
and so on are
unchangeable.
▫ “That’s just the way I
am.”
Are personal qualities changeable?
Growth Mindset
▫ Believe that
personality,
intelligence, abilities,
and so on can change
or improve over time.
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10. Fixed Mindset
▫ Can take failures
personally
▫ Interpret setbacks as
rejection
▫ Work to hide
weaknesses
Reaction to failure and feedback
Growth Mindset
▫ Believes future
presents opportunity to
grow, even during
challenging times
▫ Likely to use feedback
to build on talents
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11. Fixed Mindset
▫ Thrive when things are
safely within their
grasp
▫ Don’t care for change
Environmental preference
Growth Mindset
▫ Thrive when they’re
stretching themselves
▫ Love to learn; feel
frustrated when not
developing their
potential
▫ Embrace change 11

12. Fixed Mindset
▫ Looked at tests of
students who did really
poorly
▫ Made them feel better
about their own test
results
Experiment: College students who did
poorly on a test were given the chance
to look at other students’ tests
Growth Mindset
▫ Looked at tests of
those that did better
than they did.
▫ Wanted to correct their
mistakes and learn
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Source: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

13. You’re a young adult in
college. One day…
You go to a class that’s really important
to you and that you like a lot. The
professor returns midterm papers: you
got a C+. You’re disappointed. When you
walk to your car afterward, you see
you’ve gotten a parking ticket. Being
really frustrated, you call your best friend
to share your experiences but are sort of
brushed off. 13
Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/concrete-pavement-with-water-1228511/

14. If that student was you…
▫ What would you think about that day?
▫ What would you feel?
▫ What would you do?
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Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/concrete-pavement-with-water-1228511/

15. Fixed Mindset
▫ “I wouldn’t bother to
put so much time and
effort into doing well…”
▫ “Do nothing”
▫ “Listen to music and
pout”
▫ “What is there to do?”
Dweck’s Experiment: Got a C+ on mid-term,
car had parking ticket, friend blows you off
Growth Mindset
▫ “I need to try harder in class, be
more careful when parking the
car, and wonder if my friend had
a bad day.”
▫ “Work harder on my next paper,
speak to the teacher, be more
careful where I park…” 15
Source: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

16. About that scenario…
▫ The grade was a C+, not an F
▫ It was a midterm, not a final
▫ It was a parking ticket, not a car crash
▫ They were ”sort of brushed off” not
outright rejected by their friend
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Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/concrete-pavement-with-water-1228511/
Nothing catastrophic happened!

17. Mindset isn’t fixed!
▫ You may start with a certain
genetic temperament and
abilities…but experience,
training, and personal effort
take you the rest of the way.
▫ Situations, such as stress or
deadlines, can push you into a
different mindset.
▫ You can have different mindsets
about different things. 17

18. 3.
Quiz results
Score your quiz results using quiz Page 2

19. About that quiz…
▫ Quiz isn’t scientific! It’s just a fun
conversation starter.
▫ The results are a snapshot in time—mindset
can change
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20. Do you think
you’re most often
in a Fixed or
Growth mindset?
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21. 4.
Mindsets in the
workplace
How does our mindset impact work?

22. What’s a major change in your life that
you successfully got through?
▫ How did you bounce back once you realized
the change was happening?
▫ How did you have to adjust at the time, to get
through it?
▫ After making it through, how did it affect you?
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23. A guarantee
about our
careers is
that…
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24. There will be
changes in
▫ Our jobs
▫ Our teams
▫ Our department
▫ The whole company
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25. Given that we know things will
change here, both your company
and your managers value:
▫ Flexibility (being open to change)
▫ Resiliency/Adaptability (bouncing back from
change)
▫ In other words: a growth mindset
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26. 5.
Closing Thoughts

27. Growth Mindset
▫ Personality, intelligence, abilities, etc. can change
▫ Future gives opportunity to grow (even when challenging)
▫ Feedback used to build on talents
▫ Thrive when stretching themselves
▫ Love to learn (and frustrated when not growing)
▫ Embrace change
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28. “The passion for stretching yourself
and sticking to it, even (or especially)
when it’s not going well, is the
hallmark of the growth mindset. This
is the mindset that allows people to
thrive during some of the most
challenging times in their lives.”
– Dr. Carol S. Dweck 28

29. How will you apply a
Growth Mindset to
thrive in a changing
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work
environment?

30. 30
Thanks!
I’m Kevin Kaminski
You can find me at:
▫ @KevinKaminski
▫ www.kevkam.com
▫ www.linkedin.com/in/kevinkaminski

31. Resources
Find out more about Growth Mindset:
▫ Book:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
▫ TED talk:
The power of believing that you can improve
▫ Podcast:
“The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk”
Episode 140: Carol Dweck – The Power of a Growth Mindset
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32. Slide Template Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
▫ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
(Creative Commons Attribution License)
▫ Template photographs by Unsplash
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