Many books, including Talent is Overrated, Peak, Grit and Outliers have made the argument that hard work, persistence, deliberate practice, opportunity and a nurturing environment are among the reasons why people excel, not talent alone. In Mindset, Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck adds another reason why some people thrive and achieve – they have a growth mindset.Dweck proposes that human qualities are not carved in stone, they can be cultivated. People can grow and get better at anything, including sports, art, music, business, parenting or relationships. This includes intellectual skills. People can get smarter.Some people choose to believe their intelligence or ability is a static and deep-seated trait. This is the fixed mindset. Others choose to believe that intelligence and ability are traits you can develop. This is the growth mindset.In the fixed mindset, because intelligence and ability are seen as static, this leads to a tendency to avoid challenges, see effort as fruitless, ignore useful feedback, feel threatened by the success of others, give up easily when obstacles arise, and get defensive and place blame for poor performance or failure. As a result, people with this mindset plateau early and achieve less than their full potential.In the growth mindset, a person sees intelligence and ability as something that can be developed. This leads to a desire to learn, to embrace challenges, persist in the face of obstacles, see effort as the path to mastery and therefore work harder, learn from criticism and find lessons and inspiration in the success of others. As a result, they reach even higher levels of achievement.Mindset does not argue that success is a matter of either genes or environment, talent or hard work. It acknowledges that there’s a constant interaction between the two. The book also doesn’t propose that anyone can become anything – a Mozart or Einstein or Michael Jordan – if they simply work hard enough and long enough.However, Dweck does suggest that people are capable of much more than first meets the eye and there’s no way to know a person’s potential or predict what can be accomplished without trying and putting in the time and effort. Some of the most successful people in history had no obvious signs of talent when they started.The book gives examples of fixed versus growth mindset in school, sports, business, relationships, and parenting so there’s value for coaches, athletes, students, teachers, parents, couples, managers, executives and employees. There’s an entire chapter devoted to business and another to sports, but the largest number of examples are related to education and learning.I believe the message in Mindset is an important one. I would rate this 5 stars for concept. I give it 4 for delivery. It’s filled with so many anecdotes I felt like it dragged in places and was a bit repetitive. I think this is the kind of subject that could be covered completely in a 20 minute TED talk. But if you’re interested in psychology, especially learning, mindsets, beliefs and the talent vs work or nature vs nurture debate, then you would enjoy reading this whole book cover to cover.