‘Rising from The Ashes’ with the Growth Mindset

Currently world is going through a very difficult phase due to the prevailing rnCOVID19 pandemic situation. The number of COVID19 positive cases are increasingrnday by day and it is badly affecting various industries, nations and overall global rneconomy. On the other hand, scientists and pharma companies are working towardsrndeveloping some medicine or vaccine for the same, doctors are trying their best to rntreat the affected patients with the limited resources available and have been rnsuccessful in the recovery of lakhs of patients. Additionally, Govt. authorities are rnexecuting relevant measures to control the spread of this pandemic and we all are very rnmuch hopeful that with all these efforts, we will be able to come out of this situation rnsoon. However, the post COVID19 world will have some unpredictable challenges and rndifficulties for several sectors, economy and overall global business environment. In rnsuch uncertain circumstances, Growth Mindset will be the key to progress ahead and rnachieve the success.rnLet us first go through few stories, where few individuals had to go through rnsome difficult phase in their life, but with the Growth Mindset they emerged out as rnstars in their respective fields, and then understand this concept. • Story 1:rnIn 1978, a young & adventurous lady Marilyn Hamilton met with an accident rnwhile doing hang gliding, which resulted in serious spinal cord & leg injuries, because rnof which she couldn’t walk on her legs. At that time, there used to be very bulky rnwheelchairs and Marilyn experienced difficulties in moving such heavy wheelchair on rnher own. Further she observed that other handicapped people using such “stainless rnsteel dinosaurs” (the term she referred for such wheelchair) were also facing the rnsimilar problem of mobility and were mostly dependent on their family and friends to rnmove anywhere. rnHowever, unlike those other handicaps she took rnthe challenge to make a lightweight wheelchair whichrnshould be easy to move and feel as a part of her body.rnShe shared her idea of using hang gliding materials to rnmake the lightweight wheelchair with two of her friends rnhaving some engineering background and thus she co￾founded ‘Quickie Wheelchair’ company. Subsequently, rnwith the increasing popularity of such lightweight and rnuser-friendly wheelchairs Quickie turn out to become a rnglobal leader in the wheelchair industry. However, she didn’t stop there, and in 1980s rnstarted working on her next goal of making ultra-lightweight sport chairs, to enablernthe disabled to play the sports and thus transformed the world of adapted sports. rnIn addition, she herself participated in such sports events and also won somerntitles, including ‘Silver Medal’ in the 1982 ‘Winter Paralympics’ and ‘National rnWheelchair Tennis Singles Championship’ for two consecutive years 1982 & 83. rnMoreover, Marilyn also received ‘Minerva Award’ in 2006, one of the top honoursrnCalifornia gives to its most successful and inspiring women.rnThus, this story portrays how Marilyn Hamilton bounced back after a majorrnaccident in her life by developing a Growth Mindset to come out from the difficult rnphase of her life. • Story 2:rnIt was the 3rd test match against South Africa in March, 2018 series, when rnAustralia’s captain, Steven Smith was banned for 1 year by Cricket Australia, due to his rninvolvement in the ball-tampering scandal using sandpaper. During this period, he had rnto face a lot of criticism not only from the cricketing fraternity & experts but also from rnthe cricket fans all over the world. Thus, he was going through a difficult period which rnmay have ended his cricketing career.rnFinally, around one & half rnyear later he got the comeback rnopportunity in the Australian team rnfor the popular ‘Ashes series’ rnagainst England during August, rn2019. English fans were teasing rnSmith with various comments & rngestures as he entered the ground. Furthermore, Australian team’s batting rnperformance was also poor, as at one-point Australian team was struggling at 122 for rnthe loss of 8 wickets. From this stage, Smith formed two important partnerships with rnthe tail-enders, and added valuable 168 more runs to take Australian team to a rnrespectable score of 284. Subsequently, Australia went ahead to win this test match rnand Steven Smith was named as “Player of the Match” for scoring two consecutive rntons - 144 runs in the 1st innings & 142 runs in the 2nd innings. Moreover, Smith could rnplay 4 test matches in that series and scored 774 runs which was fifth highest ever in rna series, in the history of Ashes, despite of missing one test match due to his injury. rnIn terms of rnpercentage contribution to rnAustralian team’s total runs (excluding extras), Smith’s rnperformance was at par rnwith that of Don Bradman’s rncontribution in the rnmemorable 1930 Ashes rnseries, where he scored rn35.5% runs of Australian team’s runs off the bat. And currently, as per the ICC records, rnSmith has the all-time 2rnnd highest batting average of 62.8 behind the legendary Don rnBradman’s batting average of 99.9.rnThus, the second story displays how Steven Smith with the Growth Mindsetrnreclaimed his lost position, performance and respect in the world cricket. • What is ‘Growth Mindset’ & How to Develop it?rnThe term Growth Mindset may seems to be a common buzzword, but let us try rnto understand as it has been explained in one of bestseller books “Mindset: The New rnPsychology of Success” by Carol Dweck. The book says, there are mainly two types of rnmindsets: Growth mindset & Fixed mindset, which creates a significant difference in rnthe outcomes. Dweck mentioned that understanding these two mindsets, will not only rnhelp people in determining their existing state of mindset, but also will help them in rnproviding direction for further improvements. Following table gives a gist to these two rnmindsets:rnOn developing the Growth Mindset, Dweck shared about the importance ofrn‘Power of Yet’, where she mentioned the following experience: “I heard about a high rnschool in Chicago where students had to pass a certain number of courses to graduate, rnand if they didn’t pass a course, they got the grade “Not Yet.” And I thought that was rnfantastic, because if you get a failing grade, you think, I’m nothing, I’m nowhere. But rnif you get the grade “Not Yet” you understand that you’re on a learning curve. It gives rnyou a path into the future.” She further added that, “Some of them reacted in a rnshockingly positive way. They said things like, “I love a challenge,” or, “You know, I was rnhoping this would be informative.” They understood that their abilities could be rndeveloped. They had what I call a growth mindset.”rnThe following chart highlights, how Growth Mindset leads to the higher rnachievement.rnFinally, regarding how and when to praise students or team members for rndeveloping the Growth Mindset, Dweck shared: “We can praise wisely, not praising rnintelligence or talent. But praising the process that kids engage in: their effort, their rnstrategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement. This process praise rncreates kids who are hardy and resilient.”rnThus, Growth Mindset can develop a belief to face and overcome the rnuncertainty and motivate people to put more efforts without having fear of failure.