Who achieves their potential and who does not? by Mark Schnurman

As a bit of a psychology wonk, I spend scores of hours each year trying to identify the traits that enable some people to succeed and cause others to fail. I have yet to identify the one trait that above all portends success.

Obviously certain traits such as emotional intelligence, smarts, drive and skills help people succeed. While they are important factors, are they the most critical pieces in success?

Now, based on the work of Stanford’s Carol Dweck and her book Mindsets, I am focused on a new area. Mindsets are beliefs that people hold about the fixed or malleable nature of traits such as intelligence, skills, talents and personality. Dweck asserts that the beliefs people hold about their traits answers, in large part, the question that I seek to answer: Who achieves their potential and who does not.

Ostensibly, there are two mindsets, fixed and growth. People who believe in the fixed mindset believe that traits are static and unchangeable. They believe they possess a certain amount of smarts, emotional intelligence and skills, and there is essentially nothing they can do to change that.

In stark contrast, people with a growth mindset believe in the power of work, effort and focus to develop themselves. Sure they would like to start off with an abundance of ability but they believe that their natural endowments are simply a starting point and that there is nothing that commitment, learning and passion cannot enhance.

If this sounds like the old nature v. nurture conundrum, it is. Fixed mindset is nature and growth is nurture. I believe in the interplay of nature and nurture but was surprised to learn that I had an ally in Alfred Binet, the inventor of the IQ test. Indeed, Binet believed that while people have different intellectual endowments intelligence can be increased by learning and practice.

What does the growth mindset mean for brokers?

More than anything else it means that even if you don’t have all the skills and ability you would like, you can grow them through intentional effort. How do you get good at cold calling? By making calls. How do you get good at conducting research? Conduct research. Specific, purposeful effort and practice will lead to increased aptitude and results.

The good news is that if you want to be a great broker, you control your destiny!

Mark Schnurman is chief sales officer, principal at Eastern Consolidated, New York, N.Y.