By Janine Vanderburg

Over the holidays, I read Carol Dweck’s Mindset , an accessible explanation of the research of how one’s mindset is linked to achievement in school, business, sports and life. Essentially, Dweck discusses two mindsets:

• The fixed mindset, which holds that your basic qualities are something that you’re born with and that don’t essentially change much during your life.
• The growth mindset, which is “based on the belief that your basic qualities are something that you can cultivate through your efforts.”

The book shares compelling studies of the impact one’s mindset has. She presents a number of studies that show that when children or students are praised for being smart, they do much less well over the long-term than those who are praised for effort and who are encouraged to view every experience as a learning experience.

In the sports arena, Dweck compares Michael Jordan, for example, who had a growth mindset with John McEnroe, whose mindset was fixed. Convinced that he was born talented, McEnroe found excuses for any failure in performance, and didn’t stop and analyze what he could have done to improve performance. Jordan, on the other hand, never stopped trying to improve his game, earning a reputation as one of the best basketball players ever.

She contrasts business leaders like Lee Iacocca (fixed) with Lou Gerstner (growth), who totally turned around IBM.

So what are the takeaways for us as community and social leaders?

Many of the challenges that we are trying to address sometimes seem insurmountable. And the resources never seem enough.

With a fixed mindset, we might say:

• Well, we could do more if we could raise more money, but donors aren’t giving as much since the recession.
• My board won’t fundraise.

With a growth mindset, we might on the other hand say:

In 2014, I’m going to make sure that my staff and board members have the training and tools they need to be able to grow in their fundraising, and I’m going to learn how to be a better leader so that I can tap into their interests in our organization to share with others.

What will your mindset be in 2014?