The Performance Paradox

The Performance Paradox Plot Summary

Introduction

Have you ever found yourself working harder and harder yet feeling like you're making little progress? This common experience points to what Eduardo Briceño calls "the performance paradox" - the counterintuitive reality that to improve our performance, we must do something other than just perform. When we focus solely on executing tasks while trying to minimize mistakes, we become trapped in chronic performance, a state that leads to stagnation rather than growth. The performance paradox framework offers a revolutionary approach to personal development, leadership, and organizational culture by distinguishing between two essential mental states: the Learning Zone and the Performance Zone. This distinction explains why many professionals hit plateaus despite years of experience, why teams struggle to innovate despite talented members, and why organizations fail to adapt despite significant resources. By understanding how these zones function and creating structures to support both, we can break free from chronic performance, accelerate our development, and achieve levels of excellence that would be impossible through execution alone.

Chapter 1: The Two Zones: Learning vs. Performance

The Learning Zone and Performance Zone represent two distinct mental states that serve fundamentally different purposes in our growth journey. In the Performance Zone, we focus on executing tasks to the best of our current abilities, minimizing mistakes and delivering results. This is the zone we enter when giving a presentation, competing in a tournament, or completing an important project. While essential for getting things done, the Performance Zone is not where significant growth occurs. The Learning Zone, by contrast, is where we deliberately focus on improving our skills and capabilities. In this zone, we take on challenges beyond our current abilities, experiment with new approaches, seek feedback, and reflect on our mistakes. A chess player solving puzzles slightly beyond their level, a professional athlete isolating a specific movement to perfect it, or a salesperson testing different pitches and tracking responses - these are all examples of engaging in the Learning Zone. The key distinction is that in the Learning Zone, we expect and welcome mistakes as opportunities for growth, whereas in the Performance Zone, we aim to execute flawlessly using our current skills. Most people and organizations spend far too much time in the Performance Zone, creating the illusion of productivity while actually leading to stagnation. Consider professional typists - many people type for hours every day for decades yet never improve beyond a certain point because they're always in Performance Zone, never deliberately practicing to improve. This chronic performance trap occurs due to present bias (prioritizing immediate results over long-term growth), fear of looking incompetent, and organizational cultures that reward execution but not learning. The performance paradox explains why experience alone doesn't guarantee expertise. Research shows that in many fields, professionals with 20+ years of experience perform no better than those with just a few years - they've simply repeated the same year of experience 20 times rather than continuously learning and growing. The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, provide a contrasting example - they didn't play junior tennis tournaments for years before turning professional, instead devoting their time to deliberate practice in the Learning Zone. Similarly, Beyoncé watches recordings of her performances after concerts to identify areas for improvement rather than simply celebrating her achievements. Breaking free from the performance paradox requires intentionally alternating between the two zones. This means creating dedicated time for learning and improvement, even when performance pressures are high. It also means recognizing when we're in each zone and adjusting our mindset accordingly. By deliberately engaging in both zones, we can achieve both short-term results and long-term growth, ultimately reaching levels of performance that would be impossible through execution alone. The most successful individuals, teams, and organizations don't just work harder - they work differently, creating structures that support both learning and performance.

Chapter 2: Breaking Free from Chronic Performance

Chronic performance - the state of constant execution without deliberate learning - represents a significant barrier to growth and excellence. This condition affects individuals, teams, and entire organizations, creating the illusion of productivity while actually leading to stagnation. Breaking free from chronic performance requires understanding its causes, recognizing its symptoms, and implementing specific strategies to balance execution with intentional development. The roots of chronic performance lie in both psychological and organizational factors. Our natural present bias leads us to prioritize immediate results over long-term growth, while fear of appearing incompetent discourages the vulnerability necessary for learning. Organizational cultures often reinforce these tendencies by rewarding visible execution while overlooking or even penalizing the "invisible" work of learning. Performance metrics typically measure outputs rather than development, and time pressures create a sense that learning is a luxury rather than a necessity. These factors combine to create environments where people feel compelled to constantly perform rather than taking time to learn and grow. The symptoms of chronic performance manifest in predictable patterns. Individuals trapped in this state often experience plateaus in their development despite working harder, feel increasingly stressed as they try to maintain performance with inadequate skills, and find themselves solving the same problems repeatedly rather than addressing root causes. Teams show similar signs - recycling the same approaches despite changing conditions, focusing on blame rather than learning when mistakes occur, and struggling to innovate despite talented members. Organizations suffering from chronic performance typically lose market share to more adaptive competitors, experience high turnover of talented employees seeking growth opportunities, and find themselves perpetually in reactive mode rather than proactively shaping their future. Breaking free from chronic performance begins with awareness - recognizing the distinction between learning and performing and honestly assessing how time is currently allocated between these modes. This awareness allows individuals and organizations to identify imbalances and make conscious decisions about how to redistribute their time and attention. The goal isn't to eliminate performance - execution remains essential - but rather to create space for deliberate learning alongside performance activities. This might mean scheduling specific times for skill development, establishing protected spaces for experimentation, or implementing reflection practices that extract learning from everyday work. Structural changes play a crucial role in overcoming chronic performance. These include creating explicit learning goals alongside performance targets, establishing feedback systems that focus on development rather than just evaluation, and designing physical and digital environments that support both learning and performance. For example, a sales team might set targets not only for revenue (a performance metric) but also for testing new approaches or developing specific skills (learning metrics). Similarly, meeting agendas might include dedicated time for sharing lessons learned rather than focusing exclusively on progress updates and next steps. Cultural transformation represents the most powerful but challenging aspect of breaking free from chronic performance. This involves shifting from a "know-it-all" culture that values appearing competent to a "learn-it-all" culture that prizes growth and development. Leaders play a crucial role in this transformation by modeling learning behaviors, talking openly about their own development journeys, and creating psychological safety that makes it possible for team members to acknowledge gaps and mistakes. When leaders consistently demonstrate that learning is valued as much as performance, they give others permission to engage in both modes appropriately.

Chapter 3: Essential Learning Zone Strategies for Growth

Effective learning doesn't happen by accident - it requires specific strategies tailored to different learning objectives. Six essential Learning Zone strategies stand out as particularly powerful for accelerating growth: deliberate practice, small-scale experimentation, developing air sense, avoiding bulldozing, asking why questions, and seeking feedback. These approaches, when applied consistently, transform time spent in the Learning Zone from general exploration into targeted development that produces breakthrough improvements. Deliberate practice represents perhaps the most powerful Learning Zone strategy, involving focused effort on specific subskills just beyond your current ability level. Unlike mindless repetition, deliberate practice breaks down complex abilities into component parts and challenges you with targeted exercises that provide immediate feedback. The young drummer Nandi Bushell, who at age eleven was invited to perform with the Foo Fighters, exemplifies this approach - she practices songs "slowly, bit by bit" to get each section right before attempting the full piece. Similarly, elite violinists don't simply play through entire pieces repeatedly; they isolate difficult passages and practice them systematically until mastered. This approach accelerates development by concentrating effort on the precise areas that need improvement rather than diluting attention across already-mastered skills. Small-scale experimentation allows you to test new approaches and learn from the results without excessive risk. When exploring unfamiliar territory, it's more effective to conduct limited, low-stakes trials rather than large implementations. Companies like Luke's Lobster learned this lesson when expanding their restaurant chain - they discovered that clustering multiple locations in the same city didn't proportionally expand their customer base because people treat lobster as a special occasion meal rather than an everyday option. Had they tested this hypothesis in one market before expanding broadly, they could have saved significant resources. Effective experimentation involves forming clear hypotheses, designing tests that isolate specific variables, carefully observing outcomes, and extracting principles that can guide future decisions. Developing your "air sense" - the integrated knowledge and intuition that guides expert performance - requires creating habits that strengthen your mental models. Apache helicopter pilot Shannon Polson demonstrated this when, faced with an alarm warning that her aircraft was in the crosshairs of a lethal antiaircraft system, she made the crucial decision to continue her mission rather than retreat. Her decision wasn't reckless but informed by years of study, deliberate practice, and experience that had developed her air sense. For most of us, this means establishing habits to regularly access high-quality sources of expertise, responding constructively to confusion or setbacks, and using the people around us as a brain trust to expand our perspective and deepen our understanding. Avoiding "bulldozing" - the mistake of doing one thing as much as possible without variation or rest - creates space for integration and insight. Research shows that world-class performers limit their engagement in deliberate practice because high-quality learning requires full concentration that the brain can't sustain indefinitely. Elite violinists, for instance, sleep more than average and take naps to recover from practice. Similarly, breakthrough insights often occur during periods of rest or unrelated activities when the brain can process information subconsciously. Finding the right balance between focused learning, creative activities, and rest creates the conditions for optimal growth. This might mean scheduling shorter, more intense learning sessions rather than marathon efforts, or alternating between different types of learning activities to maintain engagement and energy. Asking "why" questions helps you understand underlying principles rather than just memorizing procedures. This strategy involves probing beneath surface-level knowledge to grasp fundamental concepts and relationships. By understanding why things work the way they do, you develop transferable knowledge that can be applied in novel situations. Tom Brady, widely considered the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, described his method: "I look at what everyone else is doing... I look at everything they're taking. The way they eat... And I'm constantly going, 'Okay, that doesn't work. That doesn't work.' But then, 'He's onto something.' And then you incorporate them into your routine." This questioning approach helps you develop nuanced understanding rather than rigid formulas, making your knowledge more adaptable to changing conditions. Seeking feedback provides external perspective on your performance and progress. This strategy involves regularly soliciting input from others, being open to criticism, and using feedback to guide improvement efforts. Effective feedback helps identify blind spots, validate progress, and refine learning approaches. The key is seeking feedback frequently and from diverse sources, rather than waiting for formal evaluations or limiting input to a single perspective. When receiving feedback, focus on understanding rather than defending, asking clarifying questions to extract maximum value from the input. Remember that feedback reflects the perspective of the giver and may require interpretation rather than literal application - the goal is to gain additional viewpoints that expand your understanding rather than simply following others' advice.

Chapter 4: The Growth Propeller: Five Elements for Development

The Growth Propeller represents a comprehensive framework for understanding what drives our development and growth. This model identifies five interconnected elements that, when aligned and strengthened, create a powerful force propelling us forward in our learning journey. These elements - identity, purpose, beliefs, habits, and community - form a self-reinforcing system that determines how effectively we engage in both learning and performance. At the hub of the Growth Propeller are identity and purpose, which provide the core energy and direction driving our efforts. Identity - how we see ourselves - fundamentally shapes our approach to learning and growth. Those who identify as lifelong learners approach challenges differently than those with fixed self-concepts. Linda Rabbitt exemplifies this principle - after her ex-husband left her penniless with children to support, she took a job as an executive assistant despite having no relevant experience. When asked what she knew about her next venture - starting a construction company - she replied, "Absolutely nothing, but I can learn." This identity as a learner helped her become the founder of Rand Construction, the largest woman-founded commercial construction company in the United States. Our identity isn't fixed or discovered but rather actively constructed through the stories we tell ourselves and others about who we are and what we're capable of becoming. Purpose provides the motivation and direction that sustains our growth efforts. Meirav Oren founded Versatile, a technology company making construction sites safer, after her brother lost a worker in a tragic accident. Her emotional connection to construction sites from childhood days spent with her father, combined with her brother's experience, gave her a powerful sense of purpose that drove her company to raise over $100 million. Rather than thinking about finding your purpose (which implies it's predetermined), effective learners develop their purpose through exploration, tinkering, and noticing what ignites their passion. Purpose answers the question of why we're pursuing development in a particular area, connecting our learning to meaningful goals that generate the energy and commitment needed to persist through difficulties. The three blades of the Growth Propeller - beliefs, habits, and community - determine how effectively we engage in both learning and performance. Beliefs about competence, agency, and transparency significantly impact our growth trajectory. Financial advisor Lizzie Dipp Metzger transformed her career after realizing that successful colleagues weren't fundamentally different from her - they simply believed they could achieve more. This shift in belief enabled her to become one of the top financial advisors in the United States. Similarly, entrepreneur Alex Stephany founded Beam, a platform helping homeless people develop skills and find employment, because he believed in his agency to effect change rather than feeling helpless when confronted with a social problem. Our beliefs act as filters through which we interpret experiences and make decisions about how to invest our time and energy. Habits form the practical mechanisms through which we implement our growth intentions. These include proactive habits (deliberate efforts to develop specific skills), responsive habits (triggered by events around us), and stem habits (stable routines ensuring our constant evolution). Linda Rabbitt follows a habit of daily reading, sending valuable insights to people who might benefit. This consistent investment in learning has been crucial to her success. Effective habits create structures that support both learning and performance, making growth more automatic and less dependent on fluctuating motivation. By establishing routines that prioritize development alongside execution, we ensure that learning happens consistently rather than only when convenient. Community completes the growth propeller, as we learn faster and accomplish more when surrounded by others who can provide feedback, share resources, and support our development. The people around us deeply influence all other components of our growth propeller - they shape our identity through the roles they see us playing, reinforce or challenge our beliefs through their expectations, and either support or undermine our habits through their own behaviors. Building an effective community involves developing trust through transparent sharing, cultivating belonging by identifying common goals, and fostering collaboration by soliciting and offering help. When we surround ourselves with others committed to learning and growth, we create an environment that accelerates our development beyond what would be possible alone. The power of the Growth Propeller lies in the interconnection of these five elements. When aligned, they create a self-reinforcing system that propels us forward. By understanding and intentionally strengthening each element, we can create the conditions for transformative growth in any area we choose to develop. This framework provides a comprehensive approach to overcoming the performance paradox, ensuring that we not only perform effectively but also continuously evolve our capabilities.

Chapter 5: Transforming Mistakes into Learning Opportunities

Mistakes are not universally good or bad - they're tools that can either accelerate or hinder our growth depending on how we approach them. Research with pianists found that top performers didn't make fewer initial errors than others; rather, they responded differently to those errors by identifying their specific source and practicing targeted adjustments until corrected. This finding aligns with neuroscience research showing that after about age twenty-five, one of the few ways to trigger neuroplasticity - changes in the brain's wiring - is through making mistakes. When we encounter errors, our nervous system releases chemicals that increase alertness and focus, preparing the brain for learning. To harness the power of mistakes, we must first understand their different types. Sloppy mistakes occur when we're doing something we already know how to do but execute incorrectly due to lack of concentration. While these shouldn't be overanalyzed, they sometimes signal opportunities to enhance focus or adjust processes. Aha-moment mistakes happen when we do something as intended but realize it was the wrong approach, generating powerful new insights. Stretch mistakes occur when we're working to expand our abilities and try something new - these are positive signs of growth and should be deliberately sought out. Finally, high-stakes mistakes involve potentially dangerous errors that should be minimized through careful preparation and systems. Creating a mistake-positive culture transforms how organizations approach errors and setbacks. In such cultures, mistakes are viewed as inevitable parts of innovation and improvement rather than signs of incompetence or lack of effort. Leaders model this approach by openly discussing their own mistakes, emphasizing learning over blame, and recognizing the courage required to acknowledge errors. Organizations that excel at learning establish structures for examining mistakes constructively. Some medical organizations bring together professionals to analyze common errors and improve patient outcomes. When orthopedists and neurosurgeons collaborated to review spinal surgery cases, they discovered recurring patterns: "We are making the same mistakes over and over again," one participant noted, leading to significant improvements in treatment protocols. Implementing systematic approaches to learning from mistakes maximizes their value. These systems might include structured after-action reviews, blameless post-mortems, or regular "failure forums" where teams share lessons from unsuccessful initiatives. Engineers Without Borders now publishes an annual failure report citing the organization's biggest failures and invites other organizations to share theirs through a website called admittingfailure.org. These formal processes ensure that valuable insights aren't lost and that similar errors aren't repeated. By creating spaces where mistakes can be discussed openly without fear of punishment, organizations transform errors from sources of shame into catalysts for innovation. Reframing failures as experiments transforms how we approach uncertain situations. When we view our work as a series of experiments designed to generate learning, failures become valuable data points rather than personal deficiencies. This experimental mindset encourages appropriate risk-taking, reduces fear of failure, and accelerates innovation. As real estate investor Gino Barbaro discovered after losing his life savings on a bad investment, what initially seemed like a devastating failure became what he now calls "the best deal I ever made" because it taught him to invest in his own development before investing in properties. By approaching uncertain situations as opportunities to gather information rather than tests of our worth, we can extract maximum value from both successes and failures. The key to learning from mistakes is reflection - simply making errors doesn't lead to improvement unless we examine them thoughtfully. After making a mistake, effective learners ask: What can I learn from this? What will I do differently going forward? If my mistake harmed someone, how can I repair that harm? This reflective process transforms errors from sources of shame into catalysts for growth. By creating habits of reflection - whether through journaling, structured reviews, or conversations with trusted colleagues - we ensure that our mistakes become stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks on our path to mastery.

Chapter 6: Building Learning Teams and Organizations

The strongest organizations are those that make learning and development their everyday default, creating structures and systems that support both the Learning Zone and the Performance Zone. When Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he inherited what he described as a "know-it-all culture" where employees felt they needed to be the smartest person in the room. This culture, trapped in chronic performance, had caused Microsoft to miss major opportunities in internet search, mobile operating systems, social media, and cloud technology while competitors surged ahead. Nadella's transformation of Microsoft into a "learn-it-all culture" demonstrates how organizations can break free from chronic performance to achieve sustainable growth and innovation. Creating a learning organization begins with establishing clear guiding language that everyone can easily remember and reference daily. Companies like Jake & Gino (real estate) and Procter & Gamble ensure their core values and principles are regularly discussed and used to guide behavior. This shared language creates alignment around learning priorities and makes it easier for team members to navigate between the Learning Zone and Performance Zone appropriately. When everyone understands the distinction between these zones and recognizes when each is appropriate, they can make better decisions about how to allocate time and attention between learning and execution activities. Performance management systems must evolve beyond annual reviews focused solely on outcomes to include learning goals and frequent development-oriented conversations. Traditional performance evaluations often reinforce chronic performance by measuring only results rather than growth and development. Learning organizations implement practices like regular check-ins focused on both performance and learning, developmental feedback separate from evaluative feedback, and recognition systems that celebrate both achievement and growth. These approaches ensure that learning receives as much attention and priority as performance, creating balanced incentives that support both zones. Learning organizations create dedicated structures for risk-taking and experimentation. Deloitte launched Deloitte Ventures as a resource for employees to access innovation strategies and tools, while Coats created Innovation Hubs where employees can prototype new ideas with customers and suppliers. Even without large budgets, teams can implement practices like Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's quarterly experiments, where every team member conducts a small experiment and presents findings to peers. These structures create safe spaces for exploration and learning, allowing team members to develop new capabilities without the pressure of immediate performance expectations. Psychological safety - the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking - forms the foundation of effective learning teams. Google's research identified psychological safety as the number one driver of team effectiveness. Leaders can promote this through framing (clearly communicating that a situation calls for candor and learning) and inquiry (explicitly asking members to contribute their thoughts). At Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, "radical transparency" includes recording all meetings and making them available to everyone in the company, creating a culture where feedback and learning are expected. When team members feel safe to speak up, ask questions, and admit mistakes, they can engage more fully in both learning and performance. Diversity and inclusion significantly enhance organizational learning capacity. Papaya, a bill payment app, transformed its hiring practices after founders realized they had unintentionally built a homogeneous team. They rewrote job postings to remove unnecessary requirements, clearly stated diversity values, ensured interview panels included diverse employees, and recognized the importance of formal structures like titles and performance reviews for underrepresented staff members. These changes helped the company build a workforce where about 60% of staff comes from underrepresented groups, which they consider a great source of strength. Diverse perspectives lead to more creative solutions, more robust decision-making, and broader understanding of customer needs - all essential components of organizational learning. The journey to becoming a learning organization involves both top-down and bottom-up efforts. ClearChoice Dental demonstrates this approach through its comprehensive learning systems - from video recording patient consultations for reflection and improvement to collaborative games where staff members share effective approaches to patient cases. The result has been extraordinary performance gains, with the company surpassing 50% market share and breaking previous sales records. As ClearChoice's chief performance officer notes, "It's all about driving passion for learning and then giving the passionate learners the tools they need to satisfy their passion." This combination of cultural values and practical systems creates organizations that continuously evolve their capabilities while delivering exceptional performance.

Chapter 7: Leading with Trust and Psychological Safety

Effective leadership in the modern era requires a fundamental shift from command-and-control approaches to fostering environments where people can thrive in both the Learning Zone and the Performance Zone. This begins with genuine care and trust-building. When Francesca Lenci became CFO of Siemens Mobility in Italy, she didn't immediately focus on performance metrics despite ambitious goals. Instead, she took time to meet individually with team members, remembered personal details important to each person, and created a weekly thirty-minute meeting where anyone could discuss anything except work. Only after establishing these foundations did she guide her team toward winning the company's prestigious Cash Award for exemplary financial management. Creating psychological safety - the belief that one won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes - forms the foundation of effective learning teams. Amy Edmondson's research in hospitals found that higher-performing teams didn't make fewer errors; they reported more errors because team members felt safe discussing mistakes openly to learn from them. Google similarly identified psychological safety as the number one driver of team effectiveness. Leaders build psychological safety through their responses to vulnerability - when team members share concerns, admit mistakes, or offer dissenting opinions, how leaders react determines whether psychological safety flourishes or withers. Constructive, learning-oriented responses build safety, while dismissive or punitive reactions destroy it. Leaders must provide clear framing and guidance about when and how to engage in the two zones. Ian MacGregor, CEO of Skratch Labs, realized this during a lunch with his new COO, who described joining the company as "the riskiest thing he had ever done." As a former professional cyclist and downhill ski racer, MacGregor found this perspective surprising - it helped him understand that if he wanted employees to take appropriate risks, he needed to explicitly encourage and guide them, ensuring they felt safe to do so. Without clear framing, employees default to chronic performance, avoiding mistakes rather than stretching their capabilities. Effective leaders clearly communicate when a situation calls for learning versus performance, adjusting expectations accordingly. The most powerful approach to building a feedback culture is to focus first on soliciting feedback rather than giving it. When leaders model the habit of regularly asking for input from various people, they make it easier for others to give feedback and reinforce a sense of confidence and agency. This creates a virtuous cycle where transparency becomes the norm rather than the exception. As team members become accustomed to sharing openly and seeing others respond constructively, psychological safety strengthens, enabling more effective collaboration in both zones. Leaders can start this cycle by asking simple questions like "What's one thing I could do differently that would make your work more effective?" or "What have you observed about my leadership that I might not be aware of?" Balancing challenge and support allows teams to stretch beyond their current capabilities while maintaining confidence and momentum. Effective leaders provide ambitious goals that require growth to achieve, while also offering the resources, guidance, and encouragement needed to pursue those goals successfully. They recognize when team members need more challenge to avoid complacency and when they need more support to avoid discouragement. This balanced approach creates an environment where team members continuously expand their capabilities while maintaining the confidence needed for high performance. The key is calibrating this balance for each individual and situation, recognizing that different people require different combinations of challenge and support at different times. Leading across differences requires cultural humility and adaptability. As teams become increasingly diverse, leaders must recognize that approaches to learning and performance vary across cultures, generations, and individual preferences. Some cultures emphasize collective learning while others focus on individual achievement; some prioritize harmony while others value direct feedback. Effective leaders adapt their approach to these differences, creating environments where everyone can engage effectively in both zones regardless of background or style. This adaptability doesn't mean abandoning core principles but rather finding multiple paths to implement those principles in ways that resonate with diverse team members. Anyone can promote these leadership principles regardless of formal position. By taking small risks - such as soliciting feedback on something you did that could be improved or sharing what you're working to develop - you can influence those around you. When others see you modeling learning behaviors and experiencing positive outcomes, they're more likely to follow suit. The key is to start with those who show enthusiasm rather than trying to convince everyone immediately. As this circle expands and begins seeing results, the culture gradually shifts toward one where learning and growth become the expected norm rather than the exception. Leadership for learning isn't about position but about influence - and everyone has the capacity to influence those around them toward more effective approaches to both learning and performance.

Summary

The Performance Paradox offers a transformative framework for achieving sustainable growth and excellence through the deliberate integration of learning and performance. By distinguishing between the Learning Zone (where we focus on improvement) and the Performance Zone (where we execute to our current abilities), we gain powerful insight into why many individuals and organizations plateau despite significant effort. The key to breaking free from chronic performance lies in creating structures, habits, and cultures that support both zones - allowing us to deliver results today while developing capabilities for tomorrow. The most profound insight from this theoretical framework is that excellence doesn't come from working harder within our current capabilities but from systematically expanding those capabilities through deliberate learning strategies. By strengthening our Growth Propeller (identity, purpose, beliefs, habits, and community), implementing effective Learning Zone practices, transforming mistakes into growth opportunities, and creating environments of psychological safety, we can achieve levels of performance that would be impossible through execution alone. In a world of accelerating change and complexity, this balanced approach to learning and performance may be the most essential skill for thriving in the decades ahead - not just for individuals but for teams, organizations, and entire societies seeking sustainable excellence.

About Author

Loading...

Eduardo Briceno

Eduardo Briceño is a global keynote speaker, facilitator, and author who guides many of the world’s leading companies in developing cultures of learning and high performance. 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. For over a decade he was the Co-Founder and CEO of Mindset Works, the first company to offer growth mindset development services. His TED and TEDx talks have been viewed more than nine million times. Earlier in his career, he was a technology investor with Credit Suisse’s venture capital arm. He holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MBA and M.A. in education from Stanford. His book, The Performance Paradox: Turning the Power of Mindset into Action, published by Penguin Random House on September 5 2023, was selected as a Must-Read by the Next Big Idea Club.

Read more