CIPD HR People Pod – Ep 30: Enabling high performance working: A growth mindset – with Matthew Syed
Aug 13, 2025
Join Matthew Syed, a best-selling author, journalist, and former Olympian, as he discusses the vital elements of high performance. He explores how a growth mindset can transform personal and organizational outcomes. Syed reflects on his childhood anxieties connected to sports and emphasizes the importance of embracing failure and learning from mistakes. He also highlights the necessity of psychological safety for fostering collaboration and innovation, drawing insights from Microsoft’s cultural evolution.
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From Teen Athlete To Writer
- Matthew Syed left school at 16 to focus on table tennis and spent decades improving his performance.
- He later reinvented himself into journalism and writing after the Sydney Olympics as his sporting career wound down.
Mindset Trumps Fixed Talent
- Growth mindset lets people adapt in a world of rapid change and new technologies.
- Mindsets are more malleable than personality and cultures can shift them.
Experimentation Unlocks Learning
- Scientific progress accelerated when thinkers accepted that models can be improved and started experimenting.
- Experiments are driven by curiosity and require willingness to test and update beliefs.
