[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_post_title date_format=”j M Y” categories=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”3.12″ title_font=”|700||on|||||” title_font_size=”20px” title_font_size_last_edited=”off|”]<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”39.5167px|0px|0|0px|false|false” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_testimonial author=”Soledad O’Brien” _builder_version=”3.12″]<\/p>\n
Being an entrepreneur is a mindset. You have to see things as opportunities all the time.<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_divider divider_weight=”5″ height=”5px” _builder_version=”3.12″]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42.5833px|0px|false|false” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.12.2″]<\/p>\n First, watch this video<\/a>.<\/p>\n The belief in right and wrong is a major factor why most college students, especially those that have done well in school, approach their schooling with a fixed mindset.\u00a0 Sadly, the education system encourages this.\u00a0 A student pays a high price for failure with respect to future opportunities.\u00a0 With grades and honors, students are sorted into categories of achievement (Dean\u2019s lists, graduation honors, scholarships, etc.).\u00a0 Worse, students must adapt to constant judgment by authority figures who know the right answers.<\/p>\n Carol Dweck, who first developed the theory of fixed and growth mindsets, uses an example that helps us see the difference between the two mindsets and how education creates a environment where fixed dominates.\u00a0 She found a high school in Chicago where students had to pass 84 units to graduate.\u00a0 A student who didn\u2019t pass, rather than get an F, got the grade \u201cNot yet.\u201d\u00a0 Dweck refers to this as \u201cthe power of yet<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 If one fails, you are nowhere.\u00a0 \u201cNot yet<\/em>\u201d means that a student is on a learning curve and, thus, has a clear path to the future.\u00a0 The \u201cgrade,\u201d at that point, is merely feedback on where the student is on the path to success, rather than an outcome<\/strong> that labels the student a failure.<\/p>\n Think about how that one basic change would alter a student\u2019s experience in education.\u00a0 It certainly would alleviate a lot of anxiety if students knew they would eventually achieve their goals and would not have their missteps show up on some record.\u00a0 More important, though, that one structural policy would undoubtedly impact the way students see all other aspects of schooling.\u00a0 [By the way, this is an excellent example for OrgTheory:\u00a0 a structural change – in this case a policy – that influences individual and collective behavior.]<\/em><\/p>\n Another structural aspect of a school or classroom has to do with its grading policies.\u00a0 As noted in the previous chapter, if you take your first exam and do poorly, that grade will likely impact your final grade in the class.\u00a0 That is definitely a failure because there is nothing you can do to remove it.\u00a0 And yet, that is not the way the rest of the world works.\u00a0 Whether you play a sport, do rock climbing, or have a job in public relations, all of them require<\/strong><\/em> early failures in order to learn.\u00a0 And yet, those turn out to be important lessons if a person learns from them, learns what not to do again, or learns how to improve with practice.<\/p>\n As a result, our playbook requires you to try and then try again; in other words, practice.\u00a0 Get feedback on your practice about how to improve.\u00a0 Once you believe you are ready, you’ll determine when you are graded.<\/p>\n When it comes down to it, mindset is a choice of each individual,\u00a0 However, as you can see in these two examples, things can be organized to make it more likely that one can choose to adopt a growth, rather than a fixed, mindset.<\/p>\n As i suggest, in addition to the fixation on right and wrong, another critical determinant of mindset is how one responds to failure.\u00a0 Education plays a major factor in helping us be terrified of it.\u00a0 This, of course, has spilled over into people’s lives and careers.\u00a0 The primary consequence of this is that people become terrified of taking risks.\u00a0 Fifty years ago, when life involved little change, that was not a problem.\u00a0 In today’s world, being risk averse is a huge obstacle to people’s careers, let alone for entire companies.<\/p>\n You see articles on the importance of failing pop up everywhere now (just today as i was editing, this article<\/a> was in the NYT Sunday Business section).\u00a0 i also got a notification yesterday from Linked it with this<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ray Dalio, author of Principles:\u00a0 Life and Work<\/strong><\/a>, the #1 best selling book in business on Amazon, says the following:<\/p>\n Be open-minded, radically open-minded.\u00a0\u00a0 You can fail. You can make mistakes.\u00a0 But you need perspective, beyond your own, to make use of these experiences.\u00a0 Being open to diverse points of view can only make you better.\u00a0 You might have issues, as a leader, not knowing all the answers.\u00a0 Yet in my experience, I\u2019ve seen that the best leaders are the ones who seek out fresh perspectives.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It is through new perspectives that we learn how to make the most of failure.\u00a0 Indeed, that is why you continually hear that the most prominent business people:\u00a0 Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, for example, read constantly.\u00a0 According to Blinkist magazine<\/a>, the average CEO reads 60 books a year. \u00a0Or how about the best reading 200 a year?<\/a>\u00a0 They are always looking for new perspectives.<\/p>\n One can easily see the importance of finding employees with growth mindsets.\u00a0 No one wants to hire employees who avoid challenges and withdraw when things get tough.\u00a0 Everyone wants employees who are constantly learning, taking on challenges, working to improve themselves at their jobs.\u00a0 Thus, increasingly companies are making the idea of mindset part of their hiring process.\u00a0 Among those are American Express<\/a> and Google<\/a>, as well as many others.<\/p>\n