Developing a growth mindset: 5 must-see TED talks

In summary…

• In an increasingly unpredictable and challenging business landscape, developing a growth mindset is crucial for personal and professional growth.
• Embracing challenges, learning from failures, and putting in effort are key components of a growth mindset.
• The 5 TED Talks featured in this Cezanne blog will help you cultivate a growth mindset, which can lead to increased motivation, resilience, and success in all areas of life.

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Take a moment and consider your workplace.

Which of your colleagues are confident in their abilities, eager to learn and will throw themselves head first into a new challenge – and which ones tend to dig their heels in and resist change? In other words, who has a growth mindset and whose is fixed?

In an increasingly unpredictable work environment with the rapid advance of technologies – from automation to AI – creating a brand new set of challenges, organisations are increasingly on the lookout for employees who are able to adapt quickly in difficult situations.

For those with a ‘fixed mindset’ however, all is not lost. Recent research has shown that there is lots that can be done to help those with a more negative view of their capabilities embrace change and take a more positive outlook on their development.

Continuing on from our recent blog on how you can encourage employees to develop a growth mindset, we’ve picked out some quality TED talks around the subject for you to get stuck into.

After watching this, your brain will not be the same – Lara Boyd

Dr Boyd, brain researcher at the University of British Columbia, uses her research on helping stroke sufferers and gives it a wider application. 25 years ago, we thought that after puberty, the only changes to the brain could be negative.

As she discusses, this isn’t the case, behaviours that you employ in your everyday life can impact your brain’s plasticity. By learning new skills and taking advantage of opportunities, you are physically changing who you are, and opening up a world of endless possibility. With over 24 million hits on YouTube, this is a must-watch!

The power of belief, mindset and success – Eduardo Briceno

“The key to success is not simply effort, or focus or resilience, but it’s the growth mindset that creates them – the mindset itself is critical”. Eduardo Briceño encourages you to develop a positive approach to bring your game to new levels. Those with a fixed mindset believe they are chained to their own capabilities, whereas people with growth mindset understand that setbacks are part of development and will flourish as a result.

Risk-taking, mistake-making and lifelong learning – Dr Kathleen Ciez-Volz

Dr. Katheleen Ciez-Volz draws on personal anecdotes to explain why we need to reject fear and embarrassment, take risks and embrace the possibility of mistakes for the sake of lifelong learning. She argues that we need to reframe our perceptions of failure in order to reach our full potential. Watch this video to discover what her four strategies are for helping to learn and grow from mistakes.

Developing a growth mindset – Carol Dweck

Although primarily focused on kids’ learning, Professor Carol Dweck’s lecture on the power of “yet” in aiding success applies to workplace culture, too. Those with a fixed mindset view failure as being catastrophic, which can stop their development dead. However, if we can encourage our kids, and our employees, to not think ‘I’ve failed’ but instead think ‘I’ve not succeeded…yet’, they are more likely to win in the long term.

Paper towns and why learning is awesome – John Green

All of us love learning, but not all of us love learning in the same way, which can be a barrier to developing a growth mindset. Some benefit from the more academic, classroom approach, whereas others prefer learning through day-to-day interactions, real-life experiences or online resources. Author John Green talks of the importance of being in a community of learners, and how resources like YouTube, Reddit and forums can be a fantastic source of knowledge.

We hope you find these interesting, do let us know which talks proved most inspirational to you, and if there are other talks we should have included. We’re keen to keep learning…