Carol Dweck spent decades studying why some people keep growing while others stall. Her answer comes down to mindset.
People with a fixed mindset believe their abilities are set: you either have natural ability or you do not. People with a growth mindset believe ability is developed through effort, reflection, and adjusting strategy when faced with self-doubt.
The most useful part of her work for founders is how that mindset forms.
Praise plays a big role.
In her experiments, Dweck gave children a task, then praised them in one of two ways. Some were praised for being clever. Others were praised for working hard. Offered a choice of what to try next, the clever group picked the easier option. When they hit a tough problem, they gave up quickly.
Praising talent teaches people to protect their status. Praising effort teaches them to stretch themselves.
That's useful for parents. So why does it matter in a business?
Because you hand out praise every day.
"You're a natural with clients."
"You're brilliant at this."
"You're our best designer."
It feels generous. It also teaches your best people to avoid anything that might prove the label wrong. They stop volunteering for the hard pitch. They hide mistakes. They stay where they know they look good.
Here is how to change the way you give praise:
Then turn it on yourself. Most founders carry labels they never question. "I am not a numbers person." "I am not a salesperson." "I am not a natural leader." Each one is a fixed mindset. Add "yet" to the end and notice how different it feels.
This sits close to the heart of my book, The Power of Self Doubt. I spent years treating every doubt as a verdict. Learning to treat it as something I could work on changed how I build.
Signed copies are available to pre-order:
SPONSORED BY CLARIFY
The place I see founders let doubt make the call more than anywhere else is sales. Plenty of founders do not feel legitimate selling their own product. So they retreat into the work that feels safe. They bury themselves in delivery, the website, the next LinkedIn post—anything that feels productive and carries zero risk of hearing "no".
Most of us start out nervous on sales calls. Every objection feels like a verdict. Keep going though, and it gets better. The tough questions start to feel like a puzzle worth solving, and give you the best insights into your business.
Sales is the one job you cannot hand off early. Selling is how you find out whether you are building the right thing in the first place.
→ Read the Founder-Led Sales Guide at clarify.ai/fls. It is free, ungated, and well worth bookmarking.
Ian MacRae and Adrian Furnham identified six personality traits closely linked to high potential at work: conscientiousness, adjustment, curiosity, courage in the face of risk, comfort with ambiguity, and competitiveness.
Their key finding was about balance. Too little of a trait holds you back. Too much causes damage.
The default mindsets and strengths that help a founder launch often create invisible ceilings as the business scales.
Here are the six traits and what each looks like when overdone:
I know which trait I overdo. When Digital Ethos grew past 50 people, my conscientiousness turned into a bottleneck that slowed down our whole leadership team.
Which of these six traits are you currently overdoing in your business?
Every week I answer a reader question with how I handle it in practice.
Hi Luke,
I have run my business for three years. Revenue is growing, but I feel like I am doing it alone. My partner is supportive but does not get the business, and my friends are employed. Who should I talk to?
Hi Alex,
Plenty of founders feel this. Very few say it out loud.
You do not need a big network. One or two people who understand your stage do more than a room full of contacts.
Building a growth mindset requires the right network. Support comes in fivefour types—here is how to audit your inner circle:
1. Emotional support. Who can you tell the truth to when a month goes wrong?
2. Esteem support. Who reminds you how far you have come on a bad week?
3. Informational support. Who is one stage ahead and can tell you what is coming next?
4. Practical support. Who takes tasks off your plate so you can focus on scale?
5. Mutual support. Who are you helping in return so the relationship works both ways?
Blank spaces mark your gaps.
Here is how to fill those gaps this month:
For emotional and esteem support:
For informational and practical support:
Who is the first person you will reach out to this week?
Luke
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