The Performance Paradox

We all know we should be learning and growing. But how do you make time while under pressure to perform? Discover the right balance to bolster personal and team success with this revolutionary guide from the CEO of Mindset Works. “An essential read for fostering learning, performance, and a growth mindset . . . I wholeheartedly recommend it.”--Carol Dweck, bestselling author of In order to succeed in a fast-changing world, individuals and companies know they must create a culture of growth mindset: an environment where practice and mistakes are encouraged and learning is integrated into the everyday. Fostering growth mindset and developing a learning habit is Eduardo Briceño''s specialty. Through his work with over a hundred companies, he discovered that success--personal, organizational, and financial--hinges on navigating the crucial balance between learning and performing. We must integrate the two, and be proficient at both, to succeed long-term as an individual or a business. In • Avoid falling into the chronic performance trap (which stagnates growth) • Unlock the power of mistakes • Solicit the most useful feedback • Integrate learning into daily habits • Lead teams that constantly improve and outperform their targets With Briceño''s game-changing framework of balancing learning and performing, individuals, companies--even society as a whole--will achieve the best results of their lives and thrive in the process.

Autorentext

Eduardo Briceño is a global keynote speaker, facilitator, and guide supporting leaders cultivating growth mindset cultures. He is a Pahara-Aspen Fellow, a member of the Aspen Institute’s Global Leadership Network, and an inductee in the Happiness Hall of Fame. For over a decade he was the CEO of Mindset Works, which he cofounded in 2007 with Stanford professor Carol Dweck, Lisa Blackwell, and others. Earlier, he served as a technology investor with Credit Suisse’s venture capital arm the Sprout Group. Eduardo grew up in Caracas, Venezuela. He holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MBA and M.A. in education from Stanford University. Most important, he continues to enjoy lifelong learning every day.

Klappentext

Discover how to balance learning and performing to bolster personal and team success with this revolutionary guide from a world-renowned expert on growth mindset.
 
“An essential read for fostering learning, performance, and a growth mindset . . . I wholeheartedly recommend it.”—Carol Dweck, bestselling author of Mindset

To succeed in a fast-changing world, individuals and companies know they must create a culture of growth, where experimentation and feedback are encouraged, and learning is integrated into the everyday. Yet we often get stuck in a well-worn pattern of habits that don’t move us forward. Why?

Because many of us get trapped in the Performance Paradox: the counterintuitive phenomenon that if we focus only on performing, our performance suffers.

How can we give ourselves the space to experiment and grow while also delivering high-level results?

Fostering growth mindset to elevate performance is Eduardo Briceño’s specialty. As CEO of Mindset Works and in his work with Fortune 500 companies, he discovered that mastering growth—personal, organizational, and financial—hinges on navigating the crucial balance between learning and performing.

In The Performance Paradox, Briceño reveals how to
• avoid falling into the chronic performance trap that stagnates growth
• identify when and how to unlock the power of mistakes
• integrate learning into daily habits in ways that stick
• lead teams that constantly improve and outperform their targets
• grow your skill level and output simultaneously and for the long term
 
We can achieve more tomorrow than we do today if we develop the belief that we can change and the competence for how to change. With Briceño’s innovative and refreshing framework of balancing learning and performing, individuals and companies can reach their boldest aspirations.

Leseprobe
Chapter 1: The Performance Paradox

Big idea While it might seem counterintuitive, constantly performing does not improve our performance. The route to success is often not a straight line.

Anjali felt her palms grow sweaty every time her manager Salma asked, “Can I offer some feedback?”

“No!” She wanted to scream. “I’m already working as hard as I can!”

Indeed, she was, and since joining the company, she’d received positive feedback from managers and direct reports alike.

But she’d never had a manager who was also so up-­front about areas where she could improve—­and it was usually the logistical components of her job, which she rarely had time to stay on top of. Anjali viewed herself as an attentive, hands-­on person who always put her customers first, and if she had to choose between taking a customer’s call and updating the company’s database, she’d pick the phone call 100 percent of the time.

Talking to Salma made her feel like a kid again, like she couldn’t get it right.

The next time Salma uttered that dreaded F-­word—­feedback—­and started offering suggestions on how she could do things differently, Anjali couldn’t hold back. “I’m already working as hard as I can!”

After a brief but painful pause, Salma smiled at her.

“Anjali, no one wants you to work any harder. We want to figure out how we can make things easier for you.”

Anjali had never thought about it like that—­she assumed all of the feedback was a veiled warning that her job was in jeopardy.

When the phone rang, Gino Barbaro always leaped to answer it.

If he saw a bartender or waiter reaching for the receiver, he would shoo them away; after all, this was his restaurant, his reputation, his name. At Gino’s Trattoria, if he wanted something done right, he needed to do it himself.

That’s how Gino approached pretty much everything at the restaurant. Each day his mind would bounce around to whatever needed to be done next—­taking orders over the phone, managing the kitchen staff, ordering supplies and ingredients, cleaning, keeping on top of financial transactions, locking up at night.

He didn’t trust anyone to do these things as well as he would, and he didn’t have the time to train them.

During the 2008 recession, the restaurant started to lose money. Gino responded by putting in extra hours to make sure everything was executed “perfectly,” but it soon became apparent that that wasn’t enough to keep the restaurant afloat. After twelve years of seventy-­hour weeks, he was exhausted and couldn’t envision working even harder to cut costs or promote the business to get out of this hole—­there weren’t enough hours in the day to stop and think about what to try differently. Something had to change.

There had to be a way to run a business that didn’t leave him miserable, scrambling for time, and burnt out.

Douglas Franco was tapped by Peruvian investment firm Enfoca to change the trajectory of its new acquisition, iEduca, a Lima-­based higher education company that offers courses for adults. The investment firm thought that a change in leadership would enable iEduca to grow faster.

Upon joining the company as CEO, Douglas observed that his new colleagues—­especially those on the executive team—­seemed to believe they were already optimizing the business. Dougla…