The obvious piece of research which hasn’t been undertaken is to get someone to work on one of the top 5 (eg zest)and compare that to the impact that working on one of your top 5 (eg love of learning) and constrast the impact on life satisfaction.

I personally suspect that working on strengths taps into zest.

Isn’t Chris Peterson talking about relative contribution to life satisfaction, rather than absolute?

So Love of Learning might not have as big an impact as Love and Zest, but that isn’t equivalent to saying it has a limited or minimal impact, no?

Kathryn Britton

The question is why develop a talent that has minimal impact on life satisfaction.

Very interesting.

Tell us more about how you ’spread a culture of growth-mindset within the organization.’ What specifically do you do? Can you give an example of it working when you try it?

Kathryn

Less than 18 months after coming across Prof. Dweck’s material I am now running the company. And what am I doing? Spending my time spreading a culture of growth-mindset within the organisation.

It is the single most powerful psychological technique I have ever come across. Simple, broad-ranging and deep; it works for me every time I try it. Every time. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Thanks for this super-interesting article. I agree with you to the Nth degree! My friend David Seah quotes the famous designer Milton Glaser about the TOXICITY TEST on people: “…the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised.”

It sounds like Alex Linley has a similar outlook on activities. And that makes so much sense.

My favorite part of your article was when you contrasted Dweck’s work with having a reliance on strengths: “I’m left with the nagging thought that a strengths-based approach (for example, by concentrating organizational resources into developing the natural talents or strengths of a small group of individuals) could lead to the creation of a fixed mindset both in these individuals and in the organisation as a whole.” It’s fascinating to contrast both sets of research. I’d never thought about this before you I read your article, but this makes a lot of sense to me.

I also agree with you here: “In today’s world of constant change, surely the risk of creating a fixed mindset is a big risk to take?” Yes. Ditto that. Agreed.

Why not believe that your strengths will ebb and flow - will grow to meet the needs of you at that time? Why not believe that you have the resources rather than that you don’t?

Thanks,
Senia