Eduardo Briceño: The Performance Paradox

Eduardo Briceño is a global keynote speaker and facilitator who guides many of the world’s leading companies in developing cultures of learning and high performance. Earlier in his career, he was the co-founder and CEO of Mindset Works, the first company to offer growth mindset development services. Previously, he was a venture capital investor with the Sprout Group.

His TED Talk, How to Get Better at the Things You Care About, and his prior TEDx Talk, The Power of Belief, have been viewed more than nine million times. 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. He is the author of The Performance Paradox: Turning the Power of Mindset Into Action*.

Many of us have heard the invitation in recent years to have a growth mindset — but how do you establish this for an entire team? In this episode, Eduardo and I explore his research on systemizing the learning zone to help teams perform at the highest levels. Plus, we explore tactical shifts that managers can make in order to align intention with reality.

Key Points

In order for teams to performance at top levels, they need to spend intentional time in both the performance zone and the learning zone.

Internal competition can hold back teams from learning — and can over focusing on the present instead of the future.

Systemizing the learning zone helps build a culture where this is expected and normal. Setting expectations for feedback, role plays, and study groups are a few of the many ways organizations can do this.

Eliminate forced ranking systems, as they often over-perpetuate a culture of performance only vs. performance and learning together.

Include learning goals in professional development, not only performance goals. This normalizes and systemizes the learning zone as a critical part of work.

Resources Mentioned

The Performance Paradox: Turning the Power of Mindset Into Action by Eduardo Briceño

How to Get Better at the Things You Care About by Eduardo Briceño (TEDx talk)

Interview Notes

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The Way to Make Struggles More Productive, with Sarah Stein Greenberg (episode 569)

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