Carol S. Dweck

Maybe you don't know how to do something at work. Instead of asking the boss or seeking someone as a mentor, you might not want to show them your ignorance. So, you're depriving yourself of this learning and mentorship. All of these ways are ways that a fixed mindset will hold you back.

Praise your child explicitly for how capable they are of learning rather than telling them how smart they are.

Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.

When we praise children for their intelligence, we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart; don't risk making mistakes.

Some students start thinking of their intelligence as something fixed, as carved in stone. They worry about, 'Do I have enough? Don't I have enough?'

Most experts and great leaders agree that leaders are made, not born, and that they are made through their own drive for learning and self-improvement.

I grew up in an environment that promoted a very fixed mindset. It was an era that worshipped IQ and thought that your IQ was the most important thing in determining your future. My sixth-grade teacher even seated us around the room in IQ order.

Scholars are deeply gratified when their ideas catch on. And they are even more gratified when their ideas make a difference - improving motivation, innovation, or productivity, for example. But popularity has a price: people sometimes distort ideas and, therefore, fail to reap their benefits.

We say women have made great strides: in biology, in many areas of chemistry, in many places, women are now the majority of medical students. But when I began my career, that wasn't the case. There were very strong stereotypes in biology and medicine.

When I was in graduate school, I became very interested in why some kids took on challenges and were able to bounce back from setbacks whereas others shy away from difficulty and really crumble when they hit failures. I became fascinated with people who had that kind of courage to take on challenges.

When you have a limited theory of willpower, you're constantly on alert, constantly monitoring yourself. 'Am I tired? Am I hungry? Do I need a break? How am I feeling?' And at the first sign that something is flagging, you think, 'I need a rest or a boost.'

When I went into psychology, there were very few women.