The TED Talk “The Power of Belief- mindset and success” was given by Eduardo Briceno

in Manhattan Beach, California. The premise of the talk was the distinguishing characteristics of

two common mindsets, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. The fixed mindset was

characterized as believing one was special (either superior or inferior in comparison to others),

and when adversity came into view, saw it as an attack on their identity. Neurological studies of

the brains of the fixed mindset group showed heightened brain activity when they were praised

for their ability to achieve something. Growth mindset, on the other hand, believed that natural

ability was not the reason for success but was a byproduct of how much effort was put into the

endeavor. Studies of the brains of kids who had a growth mindset showed heightened brain

activity when given advice on how to improve performance instead of praising ability. The

presenter gave examples of numerical studies such as Carol Dweck’s study of the New York

public educational system, and more famous cases such as chess and martial art champion Josh

Waitzkin to show just how effective having a growth mindset is compare to the fixed.

Essentially, growth mindset people have the ability to take set-backs as opportunities to grow,

while those with fixed mindsets will either never place themselves in a position to fail (in which

case will never become better) or will simply give up because they have no coping mechanism

for failure.

Throughout the entire presentation the speaker did an excellent job deploying pictures,

bar graphs, and line graphs in order to support his arguments or highlight an important feature.

When discussing a growth and fixed mindset, Eduardo gave images that showed a brain with a

lock on it (portraying fixed mindset) and one that did not (symbolizing a growth mindset). After

discussing the effects of adversity had on each mindset the picture with the fixed mindset
stayed the same while the growth mindset picture showed a brain with more neural

connectivity that it had previously. When discussing the studies conducted by Dr. Carol Dweck,

he used a bar graph to show a population comparison on the overall performance of both

growth and fixed mindset while using a line graph to demonstrate performance of each group

over time. These two ways of showing data made it much easier to follow and distinguish

studies from each other and emphasized the key take away points from each study. Each of the

presenter’s slides contained relevant information that was given at that particular moment and

were easy to follow without distracting or confusing the audience.

The execution of the verbal delivery was done exceptionally well, as the presenter made

eye contact with the entire audience without losing track of the topic at hand. Even non-verbal

cues such as hand gestures and walking around on the stage proved to be effective, as the

majority of these were used to emphasize and highlight critical pieces of information. The

speaker put certain emphasis on particular words or phrases to convey to the listener the

importance of the information that was given without sounding over the top or even rude.

Eduardo also took momentary pauses within his speech in order for the audience to truly digest

the information that was given and to give the audience temporary relief of someone lecturing

for ten minutes straight.

I will take into account some of the visual and verbal techniques used in this TED Talk in

order to increase the effectiveness of my own presentations. Using appropriate graphics

(charts, tables, images) at the right time, emphasizing key points with either verbal or non-

verbal cues, and practicing my speech are the some of the many positive aspects I took away
from this video. Overall the presenter did an excellent job in the execution of his presentation

and delivering his main points in a concise manner.

 References

[1] Briceno, E., 2012, “The Power of belief -- mindset and success”, TEDx Talk ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc