The facts are in! You can grow your intelligence.
I continue to be shocked about the thinking on intelligence. Just the other day I was reading a new post by a leading business scholar and he commented that business people are (permanently) limited by their general intelligence. It's as though the growth mindset doesn't exist. Yet Carol Dweck, Anders Ericsson and their colleagues have done hundreds of studies revealing that intelligence is not fixed: we can grow our intelligence. Their research puts the lie to the notions of fixed intelligence.
So why is it so easy to fall back into old thinking and old habits outside the new growth model? Here are five reasons:
- For more than 100 years society has said that success is about being more gifted than others. It's emphasized the notion that failure measures you. Effort, we've heard is for those who can't make it on pure talent. ..
- We don't talk about or emphasize either vulnerability or struggle as good things. Ridiculous as it is, we believe in instant success without struggle, and that showing vulnerability is a sign of weakness rather than strength. In fact, feeling vulnerable is merely a sign that we've identified something else to learn.
- We have told the younger generation that they could be anything they want to be and it isn't always true. We tend to ignore the high requirements of struggle and effort necessary for great achievement. Insta-achievement won't square with reality.
- It's difficult to sit with someone who is struggling or trying to cope. The pattern of long-term support of the younger generation is not admitted to nor ingrained into our society.
- We don't applaud risk-taking. What risk-takers risk is failure, and failure is something we're trained to avoid.
Is it time to assess your own intelligence model? Your IQ is not fixed. Change your intelligence: change your life. Living on the learning edge is the smart thing to do.