It's about growth mindset:

1. Praising kids merely for their innate abilities, such as their intelligence, actually makes it lesslikely that they'll grow up to enjoy learning and to excel.
2. Praising kids instead for the strategies and processes they develop to solve problems--even when they don't fully succeed--makes them more likely to try harder and ultimately achieve.
3. And--perhaps the kicker--the effects of these praise strategies can be quantified even when we're talking about children as young as 1 to 3 years of age. (So once again, my 15-month-old daughter will get the benefit of something I've learned while writing for Inc.!)

does this type of praise work better than other types on adults too?

It makes sense that it would but the article doesn't say whether that's the case.