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Mindset Manual

The document discusses mindsets and how they can impact success and outcomes. It defines mindsets as fundamental assumptions people use to make sense of the world. Specifically, it discusses fixed and growth mindsets, where a fixed mindset assumes attributes are stable and a growth mindset assumes they can change. Research shows that having a growth mindset can lead to more positive interpretations of challenges and motivate behaviors like seeking feedback that can improve performance and learning. A growth mindset has also been linked to better responses to prejudice, greater learning agility, improved negotiation skills, better mental health outcomes, and more success with weight loss.

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Akash Dutta
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100% found this document useful (7 votes)
2K views26 pages

Mindset Manual

The document discusses mindsets and how they can impact success and outcomes. It defines mindsets as fundamental assumptions people use to make sense of the world. Specifically, it discusses fixed and growth mindsets, where a fixed mindset assumes attributes are stable and a growth mindset assumes they can change. Research shows that having a growth mindset can lead to more positive interpretations of challenges and motivate behaviors like seeking feedback that can improve performance and learning. A growth mindset has also been linked to better responses to prejudice, greater learning agility, improved negotiation skills, better mental health outcomes, and more success with weight loss.

Uploaded by

Akash Dutta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 26

THE OFFICAL OWNER

’S

MINDSET MANUAL
I can be who
I want to be. Stick to what
you're good at.
People can
learn to
be better. I am who
I am, so deal
with it.

I can do People never


more. change.

You can
either do it
Mistakes are just or you can't.
opportunities
to grow.

Written by,
Pam Boney, Founder & CEO
Amanda L. Y. Valone PhD, CSO
GROWTH FIXED
I can be who
I want to be. Stick to what
you're good at.
People can
learn to
be better. I am who
I am, so deal
with it.

I can do People never


more. change.

You can
either do it
Mistakes are just or you can't.
opportunities
to grow.

WHAT ARE MINDSETS,


AND WHY DO THEY MATTER?
The idea of simply choosing to have a growth mindset to increase academic, sports,
or job success is compelling and has helped the concept gain popularity, especially in
educational settings. However, that simplicity is not supported by research and ignoring
the nuances of how mindsets work can lead to wasted time and resources. This post will
explain what mindsets are, the potential benefits of growth mindsets, and some of the
limitations of mindset interventions.

3
WHAT ARE MINDSETS?
Mindsets are fundamental assumptions that people use to make sense of the world.
Each mindset is a belief about the world or human nature that isn’t explicitly stated. For
example, a teacher could have the unstated belief that some children are simply more
intelligent than others. Although they likely wouldn’t go to students and explicitly tell
them they are just not smart, this belief could cause them to not “waste time” with the
less intelligent students and spend more time helping the smarter students learn.

When most people hear “mindset,” they think about fixed and growth mindsets, based
on research conducted by Carol Dweck and her colleagues. These mindsets are a
fundamental assumption about whether a person’s characteristics are stable or able to
change. Broadly, a fixed mindset is the assumption that an attribute, like intelligence or
personality, is stable and does not change, and a growth mindset is the assumption that
an attribute can change. However, the distinction between a fixed or growth mindset is
more nuanced than this broad definition.

People don’t simply have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. They can have different
assumptions about different attributes. For example, the same person who believes that
personality is who you are and there is no changing it (fixed mindset about personality)
could also think that people who work hard can become smarter (growth mindset about
intelligence). Further, mindsets aren’t truly divisible into two separate categories. People
can have views of an attribute like intelligence somewhere between an exclusively
fixed or exclusively growth mindset. One example is a belief that some aspects of
intelligence are inherited and thus fixed, but putting effort into learning determines
whether someone grows into their full potential. The distinction of fixed versus growth
may be easier for people to understand, but in reality, one side is just more dominant
than the other. So, someone can be closer to the side of fixed (e.g., personality is stable
unless someone works really hard to change it) and not believe the extreme level of a
fixed mindset (e.g., your personality is determined before you are born, and it can never
change).

4
WHY DO MINDSETS MATTER?
So why should you care about these complicated, nuanced assumptions about the
world? Simple - they can affect your success. Your mindset affects the way you interpret
events, and your interpretation influences how you respond. Two people in the same
situation could react very differently based on their mindset. For example, imagine two
people who both don’t get a promotion they wanted. One has more of a fixed mindset
about work performance, which could lead to interpreting the situations as “I’m just not
good enough” or “my manager will never like me enough to promote me.” Either of these
fixed mindset beliefs will likely cause this person to work less diligently. Why bother to
work hard if you believe you’ll never get rewarded? In contrast, someone with more of
a growth mindset could interpret it as not being good enough yet. Even though this
person still likely has a negative emotional reaction, the belief that they can do better
can motivate different behavior. If a promotion is something they really want, they’ll take
action and look for ways to develop their skills or talk to their supervisor about areas they
can improve. The assumption that they can improve could lead them to work harder and
likely increase their chance of promotion.

Beyond hypothetical or anecdotal examples, research has shown various outcomes that
can be improved by adopting more of a growth mindset. Here are a few examples of the
many ways mindsets can affect outcomes across different domains of people’s lives:

RESPONDING TO PREJUDICE IN THE WORKPLACE: Despite the best efforts of


organizations to promote diversity and inclusion, employees still experience prejudice.
Research has shown that having a growth mindset after confronting an incident of bias
is related to having a more positive attitude about future interactions with a coworker
who expressed bias and feelings of workplace belonging and satisfaction.
LEARNING AGILITY: Several studies have demonstrated a relationship between having
more of a growth mindset and processes associated with learning agility. For example,
a growth mindset is related to seeking feedback and learning from mistakes. Further,
people with a growth mindset are more likely to use all of the information available
to them when making judgments, but people with a fixed mindset are more likely to

5
Ti lted
I DON‛T THINK I CAN
the PULL THIS OFF. I‛M JUST
NOT SURE I HAVE WHAT
IT TAKES... Tail Stripe
C=0 M=42 Y=100 K=0
R=246 G=160 B=26

Ed ge
HEX = F6A01A

g
Body
C=14 M=100 Y=76 K=3
R=204 G=32 B=63
CC203F

Belly & Eyes


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R=254 G=234 B=124
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Tail Stripe

by Bob
C=56 M=0 Y=100 K=2
R=93 G=150 B=50
HEX = 5E9732

OSTR OM

YOU‛LL BE FINE. YOU‛RE RIGHT!


YOU JUST NEED TO ADOPT I‛M POSITIVE I
A MORE POSITIVE DON‛T HAVE WHAT
MINDSET! IT TAKES

6
over-rely on initial impressions. Finally, people with a growth mindset should feel more
comfortable experimenting with novel ideas and methods. Collectively, these and
other findings show that people with a growth mindset are more likely to learn from
experience with speed and flexibility.
NEGOTIATION SKILLS: Negotiation skills are one more example of an attribute that
people can believe are innate or can be learned. Research has shown that people who
have more of a growth mindset about negotiation skills improved their negotiation skills
and performed better in a negotiation task than people with more of a fixed mindset.
MENTAL HEALTH: Research has shown that holding a growth mindset can buffer
against the impact of stressful life events. People with a growth mindset about anxiety
experienced weaker post-stress symptoms such as depression and substance use
after experiencing stressful life events. Other research has found that an intervention
teaching about growth mindsets can reduce the risk for anxiety and depression in
adolescents.
WEIGHT LOSS: Individuals who are dieting to lose weight inevitably face setbacks.
Research has shown that teaching dieters to use a growth mindset can help them
manage their reactions to these setbacks. Having more of a growth mindset can thus
protect against setback-related weight gain.

WHAT NOW?
Knowing some of the potential benefits of a growth mindset, the next logical step is
knowing how to get those benefits. The simple answer is to cultivate a growth mindset
across multiple attributes like personality, intelligence, and anxiety. The research reviewed
in the previous sections shows that mindsets are both malleable and impactful. Even a
short educational training teaching that an attribute can be developed can lead to better
outcomes. However, it isn’t quite that simple.

Mindsets have gained popularity and acceptance largely due to the implied promise
that a simple intervention can lead to substantial improvements. If you were hoping

7
that a single training could drastically change your life, you might be disappointed.
Although there are examples of rigorously designed studies that showed statistically
significant results of growth mindset training, researchers have begun to debate the
conditions under which mindset interventions have a measurable impact. For example,
in education, mindset interventions have a stronger impact on lower-achieving students,
and the effectiveness of the program depends on whether the culture inside the
classroom reinforces the idea of growth mindsets. No matter how compelling a mindset
intervention is, if the environment around you consistently teaches that some people
are just good and something and others aren’t, it will be hard to truly cultivate a growth
mindset. Further, the actual size of the change in performance may not be as substantial
as desired. In a large-scale educational intervention, the average change in GPA was 0.1
points. For some people, that may be enough to have a substantial impact, whereas it
may seem more inconsequential to others. The message that you can take away from the
nuances in mindset research is that mindset interventions can be helpful, but more than a
simple mindset intervention is needed for large-scale change.

CLOSING
The idea that simply changing an “assumption about the world” can help your
performance (to a degree) is both counterintuitive and obvious. Nothing is more
fundamental to shaping how individuals perceive reality than their assumptions, but
it is something that we seldom consider. How often do you find yourself wishing
you’d behaved differently and wonder, “what assumption(s) do I hold that may have
negatively influenced my behavior?” My guess is not often. But if people do not address
these fundamental assumptions, they will continue to react to situations in the same
way, even if they don’t like the outcome. Understanding your mindsets and how they
influence your actions is a valuable starting point to help you more purposefully control
how you interact with the world.

To learn more about how your underlying belief system influences your behavior, take
the True Tilt Personality Profile.

8
9
10
GOALS
GROWTH MINDSET FIXED MINDSET

PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE APPROACH PERFORMANCE AVOIDANCE
“I'll be the best” I don't want to look bad”

LEARNING
LEARNING APPROACH LEARNING AVOIDANCE
“I'm excited to learn “I have to learn enough to
everything I can” not get behind”

LEVERAGING A
GROWTH MINDSET
Using training to foster a growth mindset is gaining popularity in educational and work
settings. Many people are aware that mindsets can influence outcomes like academic
achievement, job performance, and mental health, but cultivating a growth mindset is
only the first step. The key to successfully leveraging a growth mindset is knowing how
to use it. This article will explain how mindsets can lead to goal achievement and how
individuals and organizations can use this information to be successful.

11
HOW DO MINDSETS LEAD TO SUCCESS?
Mindsets are beliefs and assumptions about the malleability of human attributes
(e.g., personality, intelligence, bias, character, etc.). A growth mindset is a belief
that attributes can be changed, whereas a fixed mindset is a belief that an attribute
is unchangeable. Research has established that a growth mindset can be beneficial,
but the evidence regarding the size of the benefit has been inconsistent. This
inconsistency shows that some conditions change the utility of having a growth
mindset. Logically, it makes sense that just believing you are capable of change
doesn’t mean you will actually put in the work required to change. A growth
mindset is an excellent first step, but alone it isn’t sufficient for success. There are
many steps between a belief and meeting a goal. Thus, rather than focusing on
the overly simplistic notion of whether you should develop a growth mindset, the
question becomes how do we best utilize those steps between a growth mindset
and an outcome.

The way mindsets affect outcomes can be understood within the framework of
how people pursue goals. A mindset is the belief that you can develop and change
(or not), and the goal is the outcome you are working toward. The steps between a
mindset and achieving a goal are the type of goal, strategies for pursuing the goal,
and reactions to progress (or lack thereof).

GOAL TYPE
There are four different types of goals: performance-avoidance, performance-
approach, learning-avoidance, and learning-approach. Each type is a different
combination of an outcome (performance or learning) and direction (approach
or avoid). Performance goals are focused on demonstrating competency, whereas
learning goals are focused on improving skills. Approach-oriented goals are
focused on gaining a desired outcome, whereas avoidance-oriented goals focus on
preventing a negative outcome. When you combine these two ideas, it creates four
distinct types of goals. An example of a performance-avoidance goal is wanting

12
to not look stupid in front of your colleagues. An example performance-approach
goal would be aiming to perform a task better than your colleagues. A learning-
avoidance goal is wanting to participate in an optional workshop because you are
afraid of missing a chance to learn a new skill, and participating in a workshop so
that you can learn as much as possible is a learning-approach goal. The differences
between the types of goals are more than just semantic. The different types of
goals tend to lead to varying levels of success in different situations. In general,
approach-oriented goals are more effective than avoidance-oriented goals. The
effectiveness of performance-approach versus learning-approach depends on the
situation and your level of skill in the specific task.

People with a growth mindset are significantly more likely to choose a learning-
approach goal, and people with a fixed mindset are more likely to choose a
performance-avoidance goal. This means that people with growth mindsets tend
to seek opportunities to learn and grow their skills, but people with fixed mindsets
focus on trying to keep themselves from looking incompetent. Research has shown
that approach-oriented goals are positively related to achievement, and avoidance-
oriented goals are negatively associated with achievement. So, one way a growth
mindset can lead to better goal achievement is by increasing the chance that
people choose the more effective learning-approach goal type.

STRATEGIES
After setting a goal, people have to decide what behaviors are needed to
accomplish the goal. There are two strategies that people tend to use when
choosing behaviors to meet their goals: mastery-oriented and helpless-oriented.
People with a fixed mindset tend to use a helpless-oriented strategy when faced
with challenging goals. A helpless-oriented strategy includes thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors that help the person protect their self-image or feel like they aren’t
a failure. If the person believes they cannot change, then failing to meet a goal is
equated to fundamentally lacking the ability to succeed. This can lead to a fear of
even accepting challenging goals, but when there is no choice in the goal, people
with a fixed mindset can respond by focusing on finding a way to protect their self-

13
14
concept instead of trying to meet the goal. For example, someone could procrastinate
working on an important project and not leave enough time to do it well. Then if they
fail, they can think, “I just didn’t have enough time” instead of “I’m not capable.”

People with a growth mindset do not view failure as a threat, which allows them to
choose a mastery-oriented strategy to approach goals. Mastery-oriented strategies
are thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that encourage learning and persistence. This
strategy is possible because people with a growth mindset are not as threatened
by challenges and view challenges as a chance to learn. “Failure” for them is simply
necessary feedback so that they can learn to do better the next time. For example,
after receiving negative feedback on a rushed project, someone using a mastery-
oriented strategy might devote more time, not less, to the next one. Unsurprisingly,
increasing persistence and other mastery-oriented strategies are related to higher goal
achievement than helpless-oriented strategies. Thus, a growth mindset can lead to
success by encouraging people to choose mastery-oriented strategies to accomplish
their goals.

GOAL MONITORING
Once you have started working toward a goal, you will likely receive some kind of
feedback about your progress. Feedback elicits an emotional reaction and affects
your expectation of reaching your goal. Positive feedback (progressing toward the
goal) leads to positive emotions (e.g., excitement) and the expectation of meeting
the goal. The potential problem comes when people receive negative feedback.
If they are not progressing or not progressing fast enough, then they could feel
negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, sadness, etc.) and begin to believe that they cannot
reach their goal. This reaction is more common for someone with a fixed mindset.
Negative emotions and negatively evaluating your likelihood of meeting your goal
reduce goal achievement. For someone with a growth mindset, negative feedback
is useful information. They feel less negative emotions and still believe they can
successfully reach their goal, which increases the likelihood of goal achievement.
Thus, a growth mindset can also affect goal achievement by creating more positive
evaluations of feedback as people monitor their progress.

15
HOW INDIVIDUALS CAN USE MINDSETS
You can use the knowledge of these three ways that growth mindsets can lead to success to
meet your own goals. However, you should use this approach only for goals that matter to you.
No one can master everything. Sometimes it makes sense to stop pursuing a goal, not because
you don’t think you could improve, but because another goal is more valuable. You might
believe that you can increase your musical skills and master the guitar, and you probably can,
but if that is not important to you, then it is okay not to be persistent and choose a goal that is
a better fit for you. For the goals that matter:

Cultivate a growth mindset. Although a mindset alone isn’t enough, it is the starting place. Many
attributes are malleable. People have a fantastic ability to adapt and change that shouldn’t be
overlooked. Attributes like intelligence, personality, and anxiety can all be developed. More
specific actions like dieting and negotiation skills can be developed as well. Believing this is the
first step for development.
Choose approach-oriented goals. We may not always pay attention to the goals we set, but
effective goals are powerful motivational tools that we can use to our advantage. When you
select a goal, focus on gaining something instead of preventing a loss. Choosing between
performance-approach and learning-approach goal depends on the situation. In general,
choosing a learning-approach goal is more appropriate when you don’t already have the skills
you need to meet your goal.
Choose a mastery-oriented strategy. Don’t give yourself excuses for why you may not
succeed. Failure is only temporary, and it provides valuable information for how you can
succeed next time. Welcome feedback and be persistent.
Seek feedback. Continuous feedback can help ensure that you are progressing at the rate you
need to meet your goals. This information will help keep you on track and allow you to make
changes if you are not moving fast enough.
Monitor your response to feedback. Not progressing as fast as you want can often be
disheartening, and it is okay if you have an initial adverse reaction. But you can’t let yourself get
stuck in the negativity. Enjoy the challenge, and focus on improving instead of proving that you
are already good enough.

16
HOW ORGANIZATIONS CAN SUPPORT GROWTH MINDSETS
Organizations should foster a culture that supports growth mindsets because cultivating
a growth mindset can be difficult in an environment that doesn’t support it. If an
organization’s culture focuses on meeting performance standards and does not leave
room for growth, then individual growth mindsets will not likely affect goal achievement.
The impact of culture has been demonstrated clearly in an educational context. Students
in schools with norms that did not support seeking challenge and learning did not
benefit as much from a growth mindset. People who are in a context that does not
support growth and punishes the “failure” that comes with setting difficult learning
goals are incentivized to do the minimum possible to meet their goals and not risk
the punishments associated with taking a chance to do more. This type of culture not
only discourages benefits related to growth mindsets but does not have the space for
experimentation and psychological safety needed for innovation. Even in organizations
that are not focused on innovation, supporting growth mindsets is important. Employee
growth mindsets have been linked to outcomes that matter to organizations, such as
higher job performance, better relationships with managers, creativity, more accurate
performance appraisals, and more leadership behaviors.

So what can organizations do to cultivate a culture that supports growth mindsets?


First, organizations should provide training on growth mindsets for employees. This
training is especially important for leaders who will choose whether to reinforce or
undermine growth mindsets. Leaders with a growth mindset can more effectively coach
their subordinates and encourage their subordinates to contribute to the organization.
In addition, framing most training and development programs within the context of a
growth mindset can help employees avoid perfectionism and transfer knowledge more
effectively from training to applications in the workplace.

In addition to focused training and development efforts, organizations should use


their performance management systems to build a culture of continuous feedback.
If feedback is ongoing and framed with a growth mindset, then it could be less
performance-focused and threatening than yearly evaluations where feedback is too late
for development. Performance management is a crucial process in shaping organizational

17
culture. No matter what the organization claims to value, organizations get what they
reward. If you say a culture of learning and growth matters, but evaluate people annually
by strict performance goals and provide no developmental feedback, you aren’t really
reinforcing growth. Comprehensive performance management systems shouldn’t omit
accountability, but there should also be recognition of improvement and growth.

CLOSING
Individuals and organizations can benefit from cultivating a growth mindset, if they
understand how. This belief in one’s ability to change can lead to goal achievement by
influencing goal choice, goal pursuit strategies, and reactions to feedback. Individuals can
use this information to best leverage a growth mindset for success. Organizations can
use training and performance management systems to cultivate a culture that supports
learning and growth to support employee growth mindsets.

18
MINDSETS
AGILE/OPEN
GENERATIVE
AGILE
ADAPTIVE
INTEGRATIVE
COMPETITIVE

RIGID/CLOSED PROTECTIVE

TILT MINDSETS
Mindsets are fundamental assumptions that people use to understand and interact with
the world. These assumptions are important because they influence your behavior, even
when you don’t explicitly know they are there. At Tilt, we discuss six mindsets that vary
from more rigid or closed to more flexible and open: protective, competitive, integrative,
adaptive, agile, and generative.

19
If you’ve heard the term “mindset” before, it was likely in the context of growth versus
fixed mindsets. These simply reflect a person’s belief of the degree to which their
attributes, such as personality, anxiety, and intelligence, are stable or changeable.
This specific type of mindset has gained popularity, especially in an educational
context, because of its demonstrated utility in improving outcomes. The Tilt mindsets
are similar to growth and fixed mindsets because both types of mindsets are mental
states that influence how people interact with the world, but they aren’t completely
interchangeable concepts. The Tilt mindsets incorporate people’s ability to intentionally
choose their mindset depending on the situation.

For example, the most rigid and closed Tilt mindset, protective, is similar to the fixed
mindset in that both lead people to behave in an inflexible, defensive, or closed manner.
But, someone can either have a protective mindset because they don’t believe they
can change (a rigid mindset) OR because they believe that they can change and have
chosen not to in that situation. Because there is an element of choice, unlike a fixed
mindset, a protective mindset can be beneficial in certain situations. Contrast these
two situations for example: Choosing to be protective for a detrimental reason, like
stubbornly refusing to admit fault. Versus, choosing to use a protective mindset because
a situation is potentially high-risk in their estimation and they should be closed. For
example, someone who works in accounting could be purposefully rigid in cases where
being more flexible could end up hurting the organization. Therefore, a rigid mindset
could be based on a fixed mindset or the choice to be protective in a specific situation.
Regardless of the reason, each of the six mindsets has different implications for people’s
behaviors.

PROTECTIVE
The most rigid and closed mindset is the protective mindset. People who are viewing the
world from a protective mindset are closed to input from others. In fact, they may avoid
others altogether and focus on their own work or tasks. There are times when this could
be beneficial. For example, if your role is an individual contributor, this mindset could be
an appropriate one for some of your work. However, even individual contributors need

20
to be able to communicate with the rest of the team and organization at times, so being
completely inflexible in your thoughts and processes will inevitably lead to unproductive
conflict if someone used in every situation.

COMPETITIVE
Similar to the protective mindset, people using a competitive mindset are also somewhat
closed to input from others, but it manifests in a different way. Rather than trying to stay
isolated, someone using a competitive mindset actively pushes others out of the way.
This is a self-advancing way of thinking. While using a competitive mindset, a person
is convinced not only that their way is correct, but others need to be on board or not
slow them down. Again, there are times when this is an appropriate way to approach a
situation. If there are tight deadlines that require immediate action, then waiting for a
group consensus could slow down progress and be harmful. However, this is clearly not
always appropriate. Disregarding others can lead to negative interpersonal relationships
and can keep you from improving when others have good ideas.

INTEGRATIVE
The integrative mindset is less rigid and moves from being more self-focused to open.
This mindset encourages listening to other’s ideas and integrating them. A person
using an integrative mindset tends to take on a receptive demeanor to make sure that
everyone in a group has a voice, rather than asserting their own opinions. This style can
be beneficial in team settings because making sure everyone is heard can help maintain
the harmony and cohesion of the group. However, spending too much time consulting a
team to gain consensus can be counterproductive when one person does really have the
right answer, or if a decision needs to be made quickly.

ADAPTIVE
An adaptive mindset also encourages being open to the input of others. The difference
between an adaptive and integrative mindset is that instead of just integrating other
people’s ideas and knowledge, those with an adaptive mindset are more willing to share
their own ideas too. People in this mindset seek to collaborate with a large network of

21
INTERESTING ANSWER
BUT I‛M NOT SURE IF AN
IMPENETRABLE FORTRESS OF
EMOTIONAL SOLITUDE WOULD
NECESSARILY CONSTRUE A
GENERATIVE MINDSET.

22
other people, and they are able to quickly incorporate other people’s opinions to update
their own opinion or perspective. This can be helpful for implementing changes because
someone using an adaptive mindset can update the processes continuously based on the
feedback from others. On the other hand, too much fluctuation in a plan could end up
being confusing or hard to execute.

AGILE
An agile mindset is unique in that there is a belief and practice of using all of the
mindsets and patterns of behavior and shifting as the content calls for it. Instead of
leading to a certain tendency (like being open or closed to input from others), people
using the agile mindset consciously think about the context of a situation and then
actively choose which of the other mindsets is most appropriate and should be used. The
agile mindset can be thought of as a 3 part process. First, the person must have a general
idea of the mindsets and how they manifest. Second, the person needs to understand
the situation and be able to choose the most effective mindset. Third, the person must
be able to actively control the way they are thinking about the situation, meaning they
have to actually USE the mindset they know is right and then act upon it. This higher
awareness is generally beneficial, but because it requires a conscious effort that is
difficult to maintain all of the time.

GENERATIVE
A generative mindset is similar to an agile mindset because it allows the person to
consciously choose which of the four mindsets is most beneficial in each situation. But
it goes beyond an agile mindset because it becomes wired into the brain over time,
training and expanding the ways one can think and choose to act. In this case, the focus
transcends the self-focused ego for what serves a greater purpose or common good.
Someone with an agile mindset is more focused on what is appropriate for them and
others in that situation, but someone with a generative mindset has a broader focus
on what would have the best long-term benefit for society. This mindset requires the
individual to have a large contextual view of the world and make decisions that might
even have a negative short-term impact yet serve a greater good in the long term.

23
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Whether we think about it or not, our mindsets influence how we think, feel, and behave.
We all use each of the mindsets, but the important part is when we use each mindset.
A protective or competitive mindset in the wrong situation could lead to conflict. But an
integrative or adaptive mindset in the wrong situation can slow down progress when
wholesale change is needed. In order to be the best versions of ourselves, we should
learn to understand and consciously train our brains to develop a variety of mindsets
that can be activated at the right moment. An agile or generative mindset puts us in a
position of greater positive influence because we are not caught up in unnecessary ego
dynamics.

Which mindsets do you use?


To learn which mindsets you use most frequently, take the Positive Influence Predictor
and gather feedback from others to see how you show up and learn how to more
consciously choose your mindset.

24

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