The papers that are linked to this page have been written to generate discussion. I hope that you find them useful and would be happy to receive your comments.

• Mindsets are not all the same

  We detail the evidence that growth mindsets about general characteristics such as 'intelligence' and 'character' are poor substitutes for mindsets about specific capabilities. If you want to harness the power of growth mindsets, you need to focus on an individual's beliefs about whether the particular skills being targeted can be learnt.

  The paper is written for HR professionals and executives who are contemplating using growth mindsets within their developmental initiatives.
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• Leader development will be more effective when developmental beliefs are taken into account

  This paper has been written for those who are looking for ways to ensure that an investment in leader development is as effective as it can be.

• The paper argues that someone’s beliefs about whether leaders are more likely to be born than to be made will affect the way they approach, and the benefits they receive from, a development initiative. As beliefs can be challenged and changed, the paper points out the need to address implicit mindsets about capability acquisition before a development program is initiated.
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• Assessing beliefs about capability acquisition – the design and trial of an on-line survey

  This paper has been written for those who are interested in how we measured managerial beliefs about capability acquisition and the results we obtained. It is a sequel to the paper above, “Leader development will be more effective when developmental beliefs are taken into account“.

• The paper describes how a questionnaire was created and reports the results from administering the questionnaire to senior managers in a multinational corporation.
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  Learning to Lead

  The paper has been written for the consciously incompetent leader who wants to improve their effectiveness. It does not prescribe what to do in a particular situation, nor what leadership style to use. What it does do is describe a process that can be used to decide the ‘what and how’ of leadership. The process gives leaders a way to approach any issue that may arise, be it large or small, strategic or operational.
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