Is your mindsetsupporting your success? Are you pushing your learning well beyondyour comfort zone? Is your curiosity causing you to takeintellectual risks in order to grow?

Will just reading this piece help you to become smarter, moretalented and more effective?

How we view our ability to grow actually affects our successes,outcomes and even the structure of our brains. Dr. Carol S. Dweck,a Stanford psychologist, who has researched motivation, personalityand development for decades, relates how people with a “growthmindset” are able to increase their talent, ability and evenintelligence.

It all starts with a belief that these traits are not fixed, butcan grow through curiosity and discipline. In a growth mindset,challenges, mistakes and struggles are opportunities to learn andto evolve into the person you want to become. If you believe youcan grow and have the courage to express this belief, you willgrow.

Those with a growth mindset don't necessarily believe everyoneis the same or that anyone can be an Einstein. But they do believethat almost anyone can become smarter if they work at it.

A “fixed mindset” reflects the belief that personal endowmentsare fixed and that native ability cannot be changed. A fixedmindset limits growth and development. Dr. Dweck's research appliesacross the diverse fields of business, music, language, sports,leadership and even personal relationships.

Importantly for today's complex world, the qualities that helpus manage complexity, Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence, canboth be developed if you are open to it and disciplined in theirpursuit. Complex environments are overflowing with information,creating increasingly greater demands for both cognitive abilitiesand psychological skills.

A higher IQ enables faster learning and problem solving.Research shows that even intelligence can be developed throughdisciplined perseverance in learning new things. French educatorAlfred Binet, who developed the first IQ test in 1905, did notbelieve that IQ was fixed. He wanted to identify students needingspecial help in order to create better learning methods to expandtheir intelligence. Neurological research shows that anatomicalchanges actually occur in the brain when we learn new things.Learners gain additional neural pathways and the brain networkactually becomes better integrated.

EQ involves the ability to recognize, manage and convey emotion.Using the Dweck framework, a mindset of openness to continuouslearning can improve interpersonal skills as well. Learning fromdifficult management situations enhances leadership ability. Itallows people to become more entrepreneurial, proactive and able toexploit opportunities. They are comfortable taking smarter risks toadvance themselves and their organizations. Greater EQ is alsoassociated with reduced stress and anxiety.

Discipline is critical to growth. Dweck tells that whenbasketball legend Michael Jordan didn't make his high schoolvarsity team as a sophomore, his mother told him to “go back anddiscipline himself”. He did, training intensively to become a starJV player. At the University of North Carolina, his coachessaw that he worked harder than anyone else.

Mohammed Ali was written off when he first entered boxingbecause he didn't have the body of a boxer and had the “wrongboxing style”. But Ali worked his body to the limit and had themental discipline to psyche out his opponents starting with SonnyListon. When asked how many reps he did to work out, he said heworked until it hurt, because that's when the positive impact wouldbe felt.

A disciplined growth mindset applies to all levels of anorganization, even transforming nations. In his recent book,“Turnaround”, Peter Blair Henry, Dean of New York University'sStern School of Business, tells how through discipline, China,Mexico and Brazil, considered third world countries just decadesago, have lifted millions out of poverty.

Using the language of EQ, Dean Henry states: “Just as anindividual's ability to delay gratification at a young age is apowerful predictor of future academic and professional achievement,discipline is also central to the long-run economic health ofnations. Discipline [calls for] healthy habits practiced over alifetime”.

Just adopting a disciplined growth mindset can begin atransformation. Creating a growth mindset culture within yourorganization begins when challenges are used as opportunities forlearning and when passion for learning on the part of leadershipstimulates an environment for intellectual curiosity.

As Albert Einstein said, “I have no special talents. I am onlypassionately curious.”