Fixed vs. Growth Minds

Human’s mind is the most valuable thing to shape every progress, but also the root cause of all mankind problems.

At the traditional organizational setting, people are hired to do their job with compliance; and managers are hired to manage projects or people with control. However, businesses large or small are faced with rapid changes and digital dynamic. Such static management practice based on the fixed mindset is no longer sufficient to adapt to the changes or lift business up to the next level. Which shift is needed for smooth digital transformation?

From a fixed mindset to a growth mind: Fixed mindset refers to those who approach the work with fixed mindset-the assumption that their abilities were innate and not subject to change; while accelerated or growth mindset refers to those who solve problems or target the goals with growth mindset- the belief that their ability level was nothing more than a snapshot in time and eminently changeable as they continued to learn and develop. In industrial era, fixed mindset is OK to survive, even get rewarded as the business and the world are slow to change, and businesses avoid risks and stay in their "comfort zone" with culture of mediocre; however, at the age of digitalization, knowledge is only a click away, growth mindset is strategic imperative to adapt to the changes, and accelerated mind is needed to match the digital speed and leapfrog their businesses. The speed in organizations is determined by:

-The speed of transactions

-The speed of decision making

-The speed with which new ideas are created

-How fast ideas are brought to market

-The velocity of capital flows

-The speed which information and knowledge flow through the economic system.

Growth leadership mind is the key to driving business growth: What inspiring leaders want to cultivate a ‘growth mindset’? With this mindset, you believe that you can change things through the result into the great output and vice verse. Growth leadership mindset must believe - all dreams have the potential to be translated into fulfillment. The key here is BELIEF. Even harder than changing behavior, it is changing beliefs. And, when your effort doesn't translate into desired results trying to understand why. Were you focusing on the wrong things? What can you learn? What would you do differently next time? What can you change? Beats the 'beating myself up' option every time!  A growth leadership mind can inspire more growth mind by making the story VIVID. Research has shown that when you do a presentation follow these three principles: Tell the Truth, Tell a Story, Tell the Story with Pictures. Extraordinary Presentations CHANGE people. Demonstrate a challenge and how obstacles were overcome - a Hero's Journey. Then instead of perceiving information from your HEAD because you THINK it, the information is in your HEART and you BELIEVE it.

Growth mindset wanted: There are some basic fundamental characteristics will separate the right candidate from a wrong candidate in digital talent recruiting. For example, would you prefer hiring a person who has a graduate (know it all) attitude vs. somebody who is passionate about lifelong learning? Would you hire somebody who demonstrates the ability to execute vs. somebody who lacks the capacity to break down a strategy into execution? Would you hire a person who is constant negative vs. somebody have a positive attitude? Would you hire a candidate for a leadership position who is strong in keeping hands full, but the lack of thinking and strategy formulation skills? Would you hire a person for coaching position who understand the subject inside out, but not a great communicator? Would you hire one who only follows the command, but the lack of creativity to do things differently, to fit a key position? In a business setting, the philosophy, work ethic and values of an organization are established in recruiting people to the company. Then through training and closely monitoring results and ethics, you develop your talent so that they have the growth mind to deliver business results effectively and efficiently in an ethical manner while exhibiting the vision and guts required to lead the organization’s next level of growth.

Mindset is everything. Human’s mind is the most valuable thing to shape every progress, but also the root cause of all mankind's problems. And a growth leadership mindset is audacious, adaptive, aggressive when necessary—these leaders are stepping out of their own comfort zone, walking the talk and leading changes more confidently.

Posted in: Connecting Dots,Learning,Mindshift