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"Psychological safety is not about avoiding criticism so people feel more comfortable, it's about cultivating respectful candor. ... However, a growth mindset culture goes a step farther, encouraging employees to actively seek out opportunities to innovate and to improve—both the work product and themselves. Psychological safety tunes the atmosphere to one in which employees feel more comfortable sharing their insights and ideas."

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Equity, diversity, and inclusion (p. 91)

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Equity, diversity, and inclusion (p. 91)

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"Achieving greater equity, diversity, and inclusion are not about increasing people's comfort. Rather, they are about removing barriers and obstacles to opportunities that are present for some, so that success is available to all."

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My professors cared about me as a person

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My professors cared about me as a person

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I had at least one professor who made me excited about learning

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I had at least one professor who made me excited about learning

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I had a mentor who encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams

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I had a mentor who encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams

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I had an internship/job that allowed me to apply what I was learning

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I had an internship/job that allowed me to apply what I was learning

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I was extremely active in extracurricular activities & organizations

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I was extremely active in extracurricular activities & organizations

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"For employees in cultures of growth, the perception that the culture desires and supports collaboration fosters organizational trust and commitment. In cultures of Genius, the sense that interpersonal competition is the norm makes employees feel less committed."

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"“Star search” and “stack ranking” evaluation practices are a common outgrowth of fixed-minded Cultures of Genius. If leadership believes that some have it and some don’t, the focus naturally shifts to finding, recruiting, and promoting stars and either ignoring or firing everyone else. In Cultures of Genius, systems encourage people to compete against one another to prove themselves and to see who rises to the top (often by whatever means necessary)."

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"Our society has a cultural fascination with the idea of genius and the perception that some special people are born with innate abilities and skills that lie beyond the grasp of the rest of us. We even falsify history to retell stories that emphasize the genius or lone hero who, by virtue of innate talent, has a brilliant “aha” moment that changes the world. Paradoxically, the more our daily lives require interdependence, collaboration, and teamwork, the more we seem to cling to these genius narratives."

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"...a psychologically safe environment makes it more likely they'll speak up because they don't fear being ignored, ridiculed, or fired for it."

This describes nursing education and error disclosure. When students learn in a Culture of Growth, they are more likely to ask questions and speak up when an error is made. However, many evaluations and assessments are modeled after a prove-and-perform mindset.

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"In Cultures of Growth, risks are still risky- it's always uncertain how they will turn out- yet people understand that risk is essential to growth and innovation and necessary to reach one's goals."

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Learning, combined with the psychological safety needed to speak up, kept the highest-functioning teams focused on continuous improvement.

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One part I really liked was the part about equity: "In fact, research shows consistently that when implemented thoughtfully, modifications aimed at equity result in all students performing better." It connects with some of my recent efforts to make my teaching more universally accessible and easy to digest, in the hope that it can help students who start at different place reach the same goal.

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p. 12 - "When a professor is functioning in their growth mindset while leading a class, they will keep challenging students to stretch themselves to learn and grow." I want to do better at approaching each class with a growth mindset. I know it's important to consistently challenge students to think more deeply and push themselves to grow. By focusing more on this, I hope to create a learning environment where growth feels both encouraged and achievable.

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p. 60 - "Environments that move people toward their growth mindset around creativity are more likely to stoke employees' self-efficacy and motivation about their own creative abilities, which helps them become more effective problem solvers."

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In a world where success seems reserved for a chosen few, Cultures of Growth unveils a radically different approach to creating organizations that inspire learning, growth, and success at all levels.”

This is a vision statement: it gives a purpose to cultivating growth cultures, not just for elite performers but for everyone.

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“In Cultures of Growth, we found that data were widely accessible. Everyone understood how to access and use data to inform their decision-making, not just those in IT and Analytics. Because of that, they had a shared context and understanding of the current state of affairs—and what the models predicted for the future. We also saw that leaders in Cultures of Growth were more confident in sharing their vision with their teams and inviting their team members into the process to make that vision a reality. When functioning in an environment with a clear vision, growth-oriented process, and relevant data review to assess whether they were headed in the right direction, teams in turn stepped up and often generated more creative solutions.

Meanwhile in Cultures of Genius, data were often siloed by strong gatekeepers. In some of the companies we interviewed, it could take months for IT to provide the data that people had requested—and often we saw data teams hoarding information and reluctantly sharing it only when a senior leader insisted on the information. Ironically, in Cultures of Genius we saw leaders more likely to rely on their gut and intuition rather than consult the numbers (when we know that optimal decision-making is a function of both data and intuition).”

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As a teacher, I feel excited to share the details of my class with my students. The more they know, the better prepared they are to engage meaningfully with the material. I strongly disagree with sidelining or hiding aspects of the course that require students’ effort.

Equally important, I avoid concealing my own limitations. A key part of my growth as a teacher has been learning to acknowledge that I do not know everything about every topic I teach. At times, impostor syndrome can make me feel uneasy about this, but I find greater peace in being transparent. My students deserve to know that their instructor is also human, still learning and growing alongside them.

In this sense, my experience as a fencer has influenced my teaching philosophy. In fencing, a true Master is not defined by being undefeated, but by guiding students to eventually surpass him. I believe the same applies in education: my role is not to be infallible, but to prepare my students to think critically, to challenge, and even to outgrow me.

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“My professors care about me as a person.”

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“My professors care about me as a person.”

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My reflection highlights transparency, openness, and care in my teaching. By refusing to hide difficult aspects of the course, I show respect for my students’ ability to meet challenges. By acknowledging my own limitations and being honest about them, I strive to model humility and authenticity. With this, I aim to create an environment where students can see myself not just as an authority figure, but as a human being who is still learning and growing.

This approach communicates to students care—I care about their development, their resilience, and their ability to engage meaningfully with knowledge. Much like the “Culture of Growth” described in the excerpt, my teaching philosophy emphasizes accessibility, shared responsibility, and trust, which are all signs of genuine care for students as individuals.

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"Mindset exists on a continuum. And where we fall on that continuum at any given moment often has to do with the situation we're in and the people around us" (p. 23).

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"When in our growth mindsets, our vision is broader and more accurate. We're more open to seeing the challenges we face, and we have more humility around our ideas, so we're more willing to stress test and refine them" (p. 123). This applies to my students who are in their counseling internships... many are accustomed to the fixed mindset of good/bad and right/wrong. However, learning to be a counselor invites students into the growth mindset. When they can see that their learning is a process, they can view the challenges as opportunities for growth. Their humility fosters openness to learning.

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One of the pieces that resonated with me within these chapters was a combination of statements within Chapters 2-3 laying out the foundation of organizational mindsets and collaboration, “we found that organization mindsets are indeed powerful enough to shape people’s behavior” (p.49) and “when chances to succeed are scarce, people tend to be triggered toward their fixed mindset” (p.56).

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Linking back to the quotes I shared, there were plenty of other passages that reinforced the first of those quotes, but the second one is a great reminder to make sure opportunities for success are not just given to top performers but available for all. Trying to steer clear of a competitive approach and making sure to encourage collaboration while setting clear strategies for success. This is something I want to dig into further with my graduate students, possibly doing a cues audit of sorts, to see if I’m encouraging collaboration and being clear with expectations and supporting them enough to feel successful in all stages of their degree.

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I related to this quote (on page 37 of the ebook): "Charged with competition, faculty members vied to be the first to find the fatal flaw in each research talk, to take down the idea most effectively, and to one-up each other with the most devastating comment."

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I related to this quote (on page 37 of the ebook): "Charged with competition, faculty members vied to be the first to find the fatal flaw in each research talk, to take down the idea most effectively, and to one-up each other with the most devastating comment."

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This is exactly how I experienced graduate school, and it was SO SO toxic!! I have spent much of my career unlearning the dehumanized way people in my discipline so often communicate with one another. There's no reason for that!

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"The results were clear: Mindset as professed in these companies' mission statements had a distinct impact on employees' experience of their company's culture. Yet simply proclaiming the desired norms and values doesn't guarantee they'll become an actuality." (p. 47 of the ebook)

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"The results were clear: Mindset as professed in these companies' mission statements had a distinct impact on employees' experience of their company's culture. Yet simply proclaiming the desired norms and values doesn't guarantee they'll become an actuality." (p. 47 of the ebook)

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At my last job, I was asked to provide feedback on the mission/vision/values during strategic planning, and specifically participated in a small focus group to surface ways the institution wasn't living up to its values. Diligent notes were taken and shared with the campus... and absolutely nothing changed. It was so disheartening, and I feel like the things we shared openly during that process were later weaponized against us. It was a terrible working environment with absolutely no psychological safety, at least for me.

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Growth and Fixed Mindsets are context based

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Growth and Fixed Mindsets are context based

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Connected to quote on p. 40 "At the organizational level, the question is not: "How can we avoid hiring fixed mindset people?" The questions is: "What triggers our employees to adopt more fixed or growth mindset views and behaviors?" How can we shape the environment to encourage more of growth mindset more of the time? "

This reminder that we all have moments where we take a fixed mindset to things is important as is the insight that we can make changes to the environment to encourage a growth mindset, whether we are working with employees or students. For me this also called to mind some of the insights from another book I am currently reading 10 to 25. The Science of Motivating Young People by David Yeager. Yeager suggests 5 specific "mentor mindset" practices for fostering motivation: Transparency, Questioning, Reframing Stress, Purpose, Belonging.

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"Culture of growth harness the tension between where individuals and the organization are versus where they want to be, and they use it to fuel collaborative efforts that propel everyone forward toward their goal." (57)

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"Culture of growth harness the tension between where individuals and the organization are versus where they want to be, and they use it to fuel collaborative efforts that propel everyone forward toward their goal." (57)

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"Mindset exists on a continuum. And where we fall on that continuum at any given moment often has to do with the situation we’re in and the people around us."

I'm often drawn to theories that center a continuum rather than polarized views of a "thing." Humans aren't simple- they are nuanced and complex.

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In my very first teaching job, I was in a building in which the leader (perhaps subconsciously) reinforced individual competition. She chose certain teachers as her advisory board and they made the decisions for the school. She rewarded individuals rather than teams and often had solo conversations regarding improvement and development. That job was miserable. The teachers wouldn't share or work together. When the district tried to implement "Professional Learning Communities" it flopped at this school because the collective mindset was of individual competition. This experience made it quite clear to me how ineffective this leadership style and mindset is for a collective effort.

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Resilience and growth mindset are required to commit to a long-term project rather than throwing in the towel!

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To me personally, I used to be stuck in fixed mindset for very long and life become so much better and more abundant once I let go of that