In Western culture, we tend to worship genius. We paper our dorm rooms with posters of Einstein, we propel Walter Isaacson biographies to bestseller status, and we pile funding onto every Ivy League dropout with a business plan promising to be the next disruptor. When it comes to our typical concepts of success, it seems that geniuses are at the top of the ladder. But what actually happens when we achieve this celebrated status is something quite different. Those labeled as geniuses more often fail than succeed, in part because of this designation. On top of that, characterizing a select few as innately gifted has negative impacts for the rest of us, as well.
Our American Culture of Genius – my term for the cultural equivalent of the fixed mindset, where some people are deemed to have innate talent, ability and intelligence, while others don’t– puts people identified as special stars in precarious positions. Afraid to lose their genius crown, they are less likely to stretch themselves in pursuit of growth. In over a decade of research and field work with teams, companies, and schools, my students and I have consistently found that companies and classrooms with strong Cultures of Genius actually produce less genius. In fact, our genius worship slows down innovation and creativity, makes people significantly more prone to ethical lapses, and blinds us to hidden talent from diverse groups— especially women and people from racial and ethnic minority groups.
Take Sara Blakely, for example. She scored so low on her LSATs (twice!) that she had to abandon her quest to attend law school. That hardly fits our genius mythology, and yet she became a billionaire heading the company she founded (Spanx). Blakely’s story showcases the value of inhabiting our growth-mindset, and her formula for success is one each of us can apply: effective effort, plus learning from failure, applied over time, equals progress.
In a fixed-minded Culture of Genius, it’s likely that Blakely would have been overlooked. (Instead, she created her own Culture of Growth – the cultural equivalent of the growth mindset by shifting into her growth mindset, persisting through challenges, and finding others to do it with.)
Think about it for a moment. When you read the word “genius,” who do you think of? As my research shows, chances are you’ll conjure a white (or sometimes an Asian) man, probably with an Ivy League education (like Einstein), sporting a hoodie (like Zuckerberg). The impact of this genius prototype that is so prevalent in our American culture is profound. When it comes to everything from hiring to resource distribution—and who gets mentors and sponsors, anyone who doesn’t match this model is more likely to be overlooked.
At the most fundamental level, whether we—or the organizations we’re part of— inhabit our fixed or our growth mindset determines whether or not we create inclusive teams and companies. From the start, Cultures of Genius generally struggle to recruit women and people from diverse backgrounds. That’s in part because these candidates are on alert for various cues that signal whether they will be welcome and supported at the company. Cues such as, who inhabits leadership roles within the organization? If everyone in the C-Suite embodies the narrow genius prototype (with the possible exception of roles typically associated with women, such as HR and marketing), they’re likely to question whether their contributions would be valued. In my team’s study of Fortune 500 companies, those with a stronger Culture of Growth had more women on their boards of directors. This is a powerful cue that, when coupled with similar cues, signals that all employees will be given the resources and support required to succeed.
When my team trained science, engineering, technology and math (STEM) professors to create Cultures of Growth in their gateway STEM classrooms, the results were powerful. The roughly 30,000 students taught by these professors reported higher levels of belonging and identity safety, meaning they felt valued and respected as members of the group. And these gains were even greater when students came from structurally disadvantaged backgrounds. Further, in these newly created Cultures of Growth, by the end of the term students from more disadvantaged backgrounds comprised a greater portion of the A-B grade distribution and were less likely to earn D’s or F’s or to withdraw early from class.
Retention among both students and employees from diverse backgrounds tends to be vastly different between fixed mindset and growth mindset cultures. Even when Cultures of Genius do manage to hire women and candidates from diverse backgrounds, they are challenged to keep them. It doesn’t take long for these employees to recognize that they’re being overlooked in favor of special stars deemed to “have what it takes” to succeed. As my research shows, fixed-minded Cultures of Genius tend to engender less trust among employees across the board. At any given moment, a large percentage of employees within these organizations are looking to leave. Consider the example of WeWork. Under the leadership of co-founder Adam Neumann, it was common for employees to cycle in and out of the company in just 18 months.
The fact is, our faith in the power of genius is often misplaced, because when it comes to actual performance, whether in a lab or a leadership role, at the top or in the trenches, geniuses often fail, or at least fall far short of their potential. And organizations that embody this genius mentality similarly fall short. As research shows, Cultures of Genius perform worse on virtually every metric that matters, including the bottom line.
Worse than whom? The answer is growth- minded Cultures of Growth. This is where the magic happens—where everyone (including Ivy League grads in hoodies) is motivated to learn, develop, and truly grow and where they are genuinely supported to do so. These are the cultures where we’re creative and inspired. Where everyone is encouraged to take risks, and where we rapidly learn from mistakes. Where we value diverse perspectives. This is why, ironically, so many “genius” breakthroughs actually come from Cultures of Growth: It’s in these environments that we are all—regardless of our gender, orientation, background, or socioeconomic status—free, supported, and encouraged to do our best work.
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