"Don't pigeon hole me!"

I was really shy growing up.  I mean really shy.  I used to hate attention and would do everything possible not to draw attention to myself.  I was always quiet in elementary school, and I used to hate it when the teacher called on me.  Remember that annoying classmate when you were in school - the one who used to raise his or her hand and do everything possible to get the teacher's attention so that they could show off his or her intelligence?  Well that wasn't me.  I was exactly the opposite.  I would do everything possible to NOT get called on.  I even would try to outsmart the teacher and use reverse psychology ("maybe if I look straight at her, she won't call on me").  I eventually grew out of my shyness, but I still would call myself an introvert.  I've taken the Myers-Briggs personality test a few times, and I score very high on the introversion scale every time. 

My shyness ended up being a major liability when I was in the first grade.  I remember learning who my first grade teacher would be towards the end of the summer.  On my first day of school, however, we were told that our first grade teacher was recovering from being sick (or having surgery - I can't remember exactly) and that we would have a substitute for most of the first month or two of school.  I didn't mind the substitute so much - she seemed nice enough, but she really liked to have us read out loud during class.  I used to hate that so much, that I just would not do it.  I remember that she used to like for us to color between the lines using appropriate colors.  I thought that was a waste of time, so I would pick whatever color from my crayon box and do my best to stay in the lines (I didn't do it very well).  Suffice it to say that my first grade substitute teacher didn't think too highly of my potential as a student. 

I was placed in the lowest reading group - the "Little Pig" reading group (the name of the book we were reading - think "Sally, Dick, and Jane" only even worse).  And then, my real teacher showed up.  I remember the day like it was yesterday.  I thought that I would have a new chance with my real teacher, so I read aloud during our reading group.  She took one look at me and told me that I was in the wrong reading group.  She moved me up to the next group - this one was called the "Red Rock Ranch" reading group (again, after the name of the book).  I read aloud again, and this time she told me, "Nope, still the wrong group.  Come with me."  She then brought me to the highest reading group in our class, the "Rainbow" reading group.  I read aloud a third time and fit right in with the rest of the group.  I stayed in the highest reading group for the rest of the year.

So what's the lesson here?  Simple.  If you treat the members on your team like they are idiots, they will be idiots.  However, if you expect them to be successful, if you motivate them in the right way, and if you treat them as equals, they will respond in kind.  All of this reminds me of a book I just read called, "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck.  Dweck says that there are two types of mindsets in this world - a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.  Individuals who adopt a fixed mindset are like my first grade substitute teacher.  According to this view, individuals are born with a certain degree of intelligence and a certain set of abilities and skills.  Effort and practice will help them improve, but only to a certain degree.  They are who they are based on their genetic make-up and environment - nothing else.  Conversely, individuals who adopt a growth mindset are like my real first grade teacher.  Everyone is born with the potential to be great.  According to this view, effort, dedication, motivation, and hard work all matter.  And they matter a lot.

As an example, Dweck tells of a study in which adults were asked to draw a self-portrait.  Next, they participated in a workshop on drawing that lasted for five days.  At the end of the five days, they were again asked to draw a self-portrait.  Just look at some of the pictures below to see what a difference the 5 days of instruction made:

 Pretty incredible, huh!?!  If these students had adopted a fixed mindset, they would have never been able to improve on their ability to draw.  They were improved, or so Carol Dweck says, because they had a growth mindset.

Clearly, my first grade teacher (the real one, not the substitute) had a growth mindset.  Perhaps she brought out the growth mindset in me too.  The important thing is that she did not pigeon hole me.  She thought I could do better at reading.  She told me I could do better.  And then when I did do better, she encouraged me even more.