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What if our jobs weren鈥檛 who we are, but something we did because our lives were enriched by something more than money? The longing to 鈥済et rich quick鈥� has survived thousands of iterations, all of which position wealth as integral to happiness. , and like all the others, it robs people of the opportunity to build community and drive social progress, two things that can鈥檛 be measured by the amount of money in your bank account. 

The phrase 鈥渢hink and grow rich鈥� originated in of the same name. Hill鈥檚 book outlined 13 principles鈥攂ased on, he claimed, the lives of more than 500 men of great means鈥攖o create a 鈥減hilosophy of achievement鈥� that allows people to accrue wealth. Some of those principles include having a defined goal and pouring everything you have into achieving it, while others have a decidedly mystical bent, such as developing 鈥渢he sixth sense鈥� or 鈥渧ibrating on a high frequency鈥� in order to tap into an 鈥渋nfinite intelligence鈥� that guarantees success. These principles follow a familiar pattern, one that suggests if people just try hard enough, they鈥檒l acquire the life of their dreams. 

If we heed Hill鈥檚 philosophy, success is a matter of effort and unwavering self-belief rather than a game of luck. However, his 鈥減hilosophy of achievement鈥� ethos doesn鈥檛 account for . And yet, that hasn鈥檛 stopped Hill鈥檚 idea from fueling a slew of advice books and concepts, including The Human Side of Enterprise (1960), The Effective Executive (1967), The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), and Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (2005), all of which build on his work. 

One such concept is 鈥済rowth mindset,鈥� a term developed by psychologist in the 1970s to be applied to educational contexts. While the concept isn鈥檛 derived from 鈥渢hink and grow rich,鈥� it is still part of Hill鈥檚 legacy, joining a conveyor belt of fads that blame those who fail under capitalism for their lack of success. 鈥淚ndividuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset,鈥� wrote Dweck in . 鈥淭hey tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts).鈥� 

On the surface, this premise is not outlandish: Humans learn and grow throughout their lives, and that may require working through discomfort or failures. In the classroom, d to help students cultivate a growth mindset by pushing them to take risks and aspirations that may be beyond their present abilities, but could be achievable by taking chances. But as , the dean鈥檚 distinguished professor of education at San Diego State University, notes, before they can hit 鈥渞each goals,鈥� students need affirmation, validation, and support. However Wood says many students of color never receive encouragement in the classroom: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a common microaggression in education with students of color: educators assume that based upon their race, they are academically inferior or incapable.鈥� When educators don鈥檛 recognize this fundamental barrier for students of color, assuming their capacity is both fixed and below that of white students, it鈥檚 hard to make 鈥渞each goals.鈥�

鈥淕rowth mindset 鈥� creates a myth of meritocracy, that students who work the hardest, put in more hours, are the ones who do the best,鈥� says Wood, putting the burden on students, rather than educators. This individualist approach also leaves out the role of larger community circles, including not just educators, but also family and mentors; these supports are more readily available to white, under the growth mindset model. 

In a study that compared school districts applying the growth mindset approach, 鈥渢he Native kids [from a low-performing district] outdid the Microsoft kids,鈥� , suggesting the concept could help struggling students achieve at a higher level. But the study relied on test scores as a metric for results, hardly the only or best way to find out how children are learning and developing, particularly when it comes to outcomes for Black, Indigenous, Southeast Asian, and Latinx students, who have a fundamentally different classroom experience.

From Classroom to Boardroom

The modern application of the growth mindset to workplaces echoes the same philosophy: If you aren鈥檛 achieving the career success you desire, you simply aren鈥檛 stretching yourself enough. In the best-selling 2017 book , Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and several co-authors argue that people with a growth mindset make for better leaders, and that Microsoft鈥檚 success under Nadella can be partially attributed to . Similarly, technologist and business analyst Vinita Bansal draws on the idea in Upgrade Your Mindset: How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs and Tap Your Potential (2021), which puts responsibility on workers to change their thinking in order to change the material conditions of their lives. 

Considering that the singular, , this army of self-help books aims to help workers and middle management chase their 鈥渢hink and grow rich鈥� dreams, without acknowledging that some people are born on third base, much closer to success than those who have to start at the beginning. These books also betray a fundamentally narrow and ultimately very dull version of the world, one in which success follows specific tracks, and failure nips at the heels of those who can鈥檛 stay on them. Hyperfocusing on high-status jobs, as these books do, posits white-collar work in fields such as tech, business, and medicine as the ultimate accomplishment; the guy who flips burgers should have worked harder on his growth mindset. 

Many factors that shape the trajectory of a career are beyond a worker鈥檚 control. , , , and may determine whether someone is provided with the tools and support to grow. External, systemic factors, from to , impede many workers鈥� ascent up the corporate ladder. Society celebrates people who develop skills and work through adversity鈥攖he perceived 鈥済rowth mindset鈥濃�攁nd punishes those who seem trapped鈥攖he perceived 鈥渇ixed mindset.鈥� But it鈥檚 not possible to 鈥済rowth mindset鈥� out of racism. 

Society celebrates people who develop skills and work through adversity鈥攖he perceived 鈥榞rowth mindset鈥欌�攁nd punishes those who seem trapped鈥攖he perceived 鈥榝ixed mindset.鈥� But it鈥檚 not possible to 鈥榞rowth mindset鈥� out of racism.鈥� 

鈥淏lack people鈥攁nd Black women especially鈥攁re shut out of traditional employment, but our culture applauds the hustler who responds to exclusion by striking out on her own,鈥� . 鈥淏lack women platform entrepreneurs have more education than their white male and female counterparts,鈥� McMillan Cottom continued. 鈥淒espite having more formal education, they face more job insecurity than similarly educated peers.鈥� Between 2009 and 2018, Black women founders in tech raised $289 million in capital, with , while the industry as a whole raised $424.7 billion. Though the number of Black female entrepreneurs is rising, a stubborn pay gap still holds them back, and 2020 highlighted that .

Holistic Growth

Growth mindset could be interpreted differently, as a genuinely collaborative process that creates interdependent communities and reshapes how people view life goals. Instead of being defined by career, growth could be viewed through the webs of connections built via mutualism. 鈥淎re you a good steward for the space that you鈥檙e in?鈥� founder of disability rights organization , speaker, and disability rights consultant asks, a reminder that success may be viewed in ways that are unquantifiable. 

Growth mindset could be interpreted differently, as a genuinely collaborative process that creates interdependent communities and reshapes how people view life goals. Instead of being defined by career, growth could be viewed through the webs of connections built via mutualism.鈥�

Breaking free of capitalist pressures to separate work from life includes , fostering union growth, and building worker power. All of these mutual projects are an important starting point for shifting culture away from a personal-focused model to something larger鈥攖rue growth requires community support, not just work and individual effort. For example, growth mindset could include raising children, volunteering, and seeking out new skills for pleasure or to support the community as a whole. It could also include that allow people to lead fuller lives, and finding validation in activities that aren鈥檛 necessarily sanctioned under capitalism: Spending a day at the beach fosters growth, as does attending a protest.

Careerism is not the only or most important goal in life; people should not be defined by the wage labor they perform, and the things they do shouldn鈥檛 need to have monetary value. Sometimes a painting is just a painting. Even as the pandemic sparked complex conversations about work, it also opened up the possibility for a better understanding of community. Neighbors became allies, and as the world slowly opened up, some formed 鈥渂ubbles鈥� who socialized together, managed children learning remotely together, and sourced toilet paper together. For some, these bubbles went deeper than getting to know the neighbors and reflected interdependent networks that already existed. 

Anne Helen Petersen, a journalist and culture critic, moved to Lummi Island, Washington, during the pandemic to find community. 鈥淲hat brought me here was my best friends were living here,鈥� says Petersen, who decided to put her writing about how into practice. The island is small, with , but has a lively social world. Part of that world includes her friends鈥� two young children, whom Petersen or her partner pick up every day after school and care for over the course of a few hours. 

This 鈥渒id-swapping,鈥� as she calls it, is an important part of her social life, and is part of the web of connections she鈥檚 formed. Some kid-swapping days are easier than others. 鈥淚鈥檓 [sometimes] like 鈥業 can鈥檛 do it, there鈥檚 too much going on鈥︹�� and every single time I鈥檓 like 鈥榯hat was amazing.鈥欌�� Growth through challenge is possible by means other than career striving: The relationship she has with her young charges cultivates a different kind of personal development. 鈥淲hat fills your life? There are so many answers when we鈥檙e not as yoked to making money all the time,鈥� says Petersen. 

Choosing intentional community doesn鈥檛 mean rejecting work or career-building. As memoirist Nicole Chung explains, work and community can integrate: 鈥淚 actually had a debut writers email group. We kept in touch, cheering each other on. It was small, but really vital. I tried to have that same generally open positive spirit in other interactions and relationships with fellow writers, regardless of career stage.鈥� For Chung, a writing community was characterized by mutualism and support. That鈥檚 formalized not just through groups, but also her work at , a mentoring organization for writers of color, as well as holding office hours for writers during her time at , a now-shuttered online magazine. Chung is not focused solely on personal growth and her career, but uplifting others as well.

Rejecting individualism can reframe the idea of a growth mindset as a cultural shift toward a more interdependent and mutually supportive society. That鈥檚 a sentiment Dweck seems to agree with, as she explained in a 2020 : 鈥淚t is not about teaching the concept alone, it is much more about implementing practices that focus on growth and learning.鈥� As Wood has found in his own research, putting up a sign out front or including language about a 鈥済rowth mindset school鈥� in advertising materials for a private or charter school doesn鈥檛 speak to the culture change that needs to happen in each classroom, customized to the students in that classroom. In affirming students who are willing to challenge themselves with difficult tasks such as reaching for advanced math skills, it鈥檚 important to consider who is encouraged to do so, the risks of failing, and what it takes to build a classroom environment where it is safe to take risks and success is defined by more than test scores. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 basically capitalism in a nutshell, making you feel responsible for the things that you struggle with, all the bad things that happen to you,鈥� Chung says. Rejecting the notion of a simplistic growth mindset and instead embracing and reckoning with the complexity of living in a society provides a much clearer path to building a culture that prizes working together through rich and lean, pandemic and wildfire, protest and celebration. Walking away from dreams of wealth may be the ultimate growth mindset, leaving wildflowers to bloom in the ashes of careerism.