Just came accross an excellent Interview with Carol Dweck. Thank you Coert! 

Carol Dweck is a professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Last year she published a great book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, where she elaborates on her (and ours) key message: the way you view your own intelligence largely determines how it will develop. And no matter how you define “intelligence”. In this interview Coert asks Carol Dweck about the book and about what the practical implications of her work are for managers. See a couple of quotes below:

- “In my book I identify two mindsets that play important roles in people’s success. In one, the fixed mindset, people believe that their talents and abilities are fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that; nothing can be done to change it. Many years of research have now shown that when people adopt the fixed mindset, it can limit their success. They become over-concerned with proving their talents and abilities, hiding deficiencies, and reacting defensively to mistakes or setbacks-because deficiencies and mistakes imply a (permanent) lack of talent or ability. People in this mindset will actually pass up important opportunities to learn and grow if there is a risk of unmasking weaknesses. This is not a recipe for success in business, as ultimately shown by the folks at Enron, who rarely admitted any mistakes. What is the alternative?”
- “In the other mindset, the growth mindset, people believe that their talents and abilities can be developed through passion, education, and persistence. For them, it’s not about looking smart or grooming their image. It’s about a commitment to learning–taking informed risks and learning from the results, surrounding yourself with people who will challenge you to grow, looking frankly at your deficiencies and seeking to remedy them. Most great business leaders have had this mindset, because building and maintaining excellent organizations in the face of constant change requires it.”

Enjoy the whole Interview with Carol Dweck
 

And this related blog post, where we posited that “In short: there is much that each of us can do to improve our brain fitness, no matter our age, occupation or starting point. There are some fundamental capacities that we can train. And we have to care for good physical exercise and stress management on top of mental exercise.”

Here is question 17 of 25 from Brain Fitness 101: Answers to Your Top 25 Questions.

Question:
Are there herbal and vitamin supplements that will protect my memory?

Key Points:

• Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids found in cold-water fish may be helpful to long term brain health.
• Folic acid may also be helpful to both cognitive function and hearing.
• Ginkgo biloba and DHEA do not appear to help your brain.
• There is still more research to be done and never dismiss the placebo effect!

Answer:
Read the rest of this entry »

Well, the idea that you can just pop a pill to improve your memory and attention lost some ground today.

The Associated Press released an article on DHEA, a steroid precursor to testosterone and estrogen used to improve athletic performance, increase sex drive, and reduce fat as well as fight diabetes and heart disease. The conclusion of a two-year study at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and University of Padua in Italy was that it did not improve strength, physical performance, or other measures of health. The positive news was: Read the rest of this entry »