Be a Learn-it-all, not a Know-it-all
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has lead an impressive revolution inside Microsoft, and is a vocal supporter of having a “growth mindset.” By that he means a specific way of approaching challenges that psychology professor Carol Dweck has studied for many years.
How could a company of incredibly smart and motivated people benefit from a change in mindset? And more importantly, if a different mindset can help Microsoft, could it help you?
To better understand the growth mindset, it’s helpful to compare it to its rival, the “fixed mindset.”
Fixed vs. Growth
A fixed mindset is a view that treats intelligence and ability as basically fixed. Statements such as “She’s a smart person.” or “I’m just not that good at math.” reflect a fixed mindset.
Somebody with a fixed mindset enjoys it when a challenge or problem is easy to solve. After all, the ease with which the problem was solved demonstrates their high ability level. It’s confirmation that they knew the answer.
Someone with a fixed mindset is more likely to avoid truly difficult challenges since struggling or failing to find a solution would be interpreted as indicators of low-ability.
The key aspect of a fixed mindset is that difficult situations or tough problems are not seen as an opportunity to improve, but rather a risk of not knowing the answer.
In contrast, the growth mindset focuses on opportunities to improve. Easy problems are not valued because they don’t provide valuable learning. Difficult problems are valued and sought after, in order to learn and grow.
Struggling to solve a problem is not viewed as revealing low-ability; it is viewed as demonstrating improvement.
Mindsets in the workplace
Dweck’s research initially focused on the benefits of a growth mindset to students in school, but there are a number of ways a growth mindset can be valuable to a company and individual employees.
Promote a culture of asking questions
I don’t like getting too philosophical, but asking a question is an implicit admission of not knowing. At some companies, people wouldn’t dare reveal that they don’t know everything about a certain topic.
Nadella has said Microsoft transformed its culture from “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all.” Dweck expresses the difference between the two mindsets that way in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. I think that’s a great way to phrase the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
Question-asking is learning, and should be encouraged.
Don’t protect your ego
A growth mindset is a humble mindset. You can’t learn from your mistakes if you try to minimize them. If something doesn’t go according to plan, be open about it and use the experience to grow. If your plan failed, that probably means there’s something you didn’t know that you need to know.
Let go of your ego and learn from failure. Asking for help, struggling, and failing are all parts of improving yourself.
Try new things
One of the hallmarks of a fixed mindset is staying within the bounds of what you know you can do well. The problem is you’re not learning or growing if you keep doing the same thing over and over after you’ve mastered it.
In order to grow, you need to move outside your comfort zone and try different things. This holds true for individuals and entire organizations.
Don’t praise effort alone
One of the most common misunderstandings is that a fixed mindset focuses on results and a growth mindset focuses on effort. Carol Dweck has discussed the problem herself.
It’s true that learning requires effort, but effort alone is not enough. The growth mindset values results just as much as a fixed mindset. The difference is that a growth mindset values learning and growth as a result. In that sense it is much more future-oriented than a fixed mindset.
So when a project flops or something doesn’t go as planned. Don’t say, “Well, you all did your best and worked hard.” You should ask, “What lessons did you learn from your setback?”
That is, everybody in an organization needs to be held responsible for results. A growth mindset considers learning to be a valuable result that could come from an otherwise failed project.
Startups as models of a corporate growth mindset
The way most startups operate is a good example of how an organization can follow a growth mindset. The most critical need for a startup is information — finding product-market fit, understanding which features are used and which aren’t, and figuring out branding and marketing language that is effective.
Startups frequently pass up opportunities for revenue today in exchange for bigger opportunity in the future.
There is a certain aspect of delayed gratification that goes with a growth mindset — exchanging hard work and challenges now for better performance later.
External funding is what gives startups the ability to experiment and learn without worrying about immediate results. Yes, it’s risky, but the potential for future success is great.
Finding the right balance
For most people and businesses, the key is to find a right balance of results today and growth for tomorrow.
If you’re a student, you should focus almost exclusively on growth, just like a VC backed startup.
If you have a family to support, you probably need to be more concerned with immediate results.
Profitable companies have a certain baseline of operating expenses that need to be covered, but beyond that they have discretion over how focused on future growth they will be. And the decision isn’t only financial.
At MakeStickers, we have decided to place a higher emphasis on future growth than we have before primarily to keep things interesting. We also hope future growth will lead to increased earnings, but even if some of our plans fail, we will learn and gain valuable experience along the way.
