BUSINESS | GROWTH MINDSET | MODELS

Growth Mindset Is Harmfully Overrated As A List Of Cliches For Most

Leadership gurus and consultants love buzzwords and simplifications; is the Growth Mindset one of those?

The facilitator had a PowerPoint on the projector screen: Dr Carol S. Dweck’s famous picture of the Fixed and Growth Mindsets that Nigel Holmes made a corporate training art hanging on every HR wall.

The leadership team in the room nodded knowingly. We all agreed that having this all-encompassing Growth Mindset is better than anything else.

The GM who set up the session wanted us to write it as part of the ‘team charter’ we were supposed to produce as the day’s outcome.

After the training, everybody had a ‘team charter’ written, and nothing changed on the factory floor, i.e. in the daily hustle and bustle.

The GM restructured the teams a few months later, and the laminated Growth Mindset posters filled the bins.

The cost of that training day, $18,000, was sunken money.

A growth Mindset is a hammer in the hands of those who want to nail you.

I have seen the Growth Mindset model used to justify cruel performance review practices and dodgy corporate witch hunts.

– “I don’t know what to do,” said Christopher (name changed) after HR Business Partner and the GM grilled him about his alleged fixed mindset behaviours, “I just wanted to give honest and constructive feedback to a colleague. He repeatedly made the same mistake and caused a lot of re-work. Then this person ran to HR and complained, and now I am this evil Fixed Mindset guy who doesn’t want to grow and blocks the growth of others”.

Christopher didn’t need to be the blocker for long because he was restructured and got a handsome redundancy payment to ease the pain.

The famous British statistician George E. P. Box said, “All models are wrong, but some are useful”.

A growth Mindset is one of those, and it is perilous in the hands of people like the GM in my example.

When is the Growth Mindset useful?

The Growth Mindset model simplifies human behaviour and mind to the point of ridicule. Its assumption that we have two ways to look at intelligence is absurd: claiming that intelligence is static or can be developed is pure nonsense.

Everything in nature is coherent and on a spectrum — and in constant change. Intelligence is an outcome rather than a trait on that spectrum of human development and growth.

What the Growth Mindset consultants forget is the emotional reality of people and the social tapestry where they live.

You see only nails if you use it as a hammer, as the cliche says. The lazy mind loves labels, and what is more rewarding than a model with this kind of dichotomy to apply?

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” — Shakespeare, Hamlet 2.2.

However, the Growth Mindset has merit as a tool for building self-awareness. If you use it to analyse your approach and reactions to challenges, obstacles, efforts, criticism and the success of others, you might find some nutritious food for thought.

If we look at Dr Carol S. Dwecks book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, it’s evident that the armies of consultants have picked up just one simplified illustration from its rich content. And reading the book, you can see that Dwecks’ world is not as simple as the model suggest. Unfortunately, she left the door wide open for abusers of her work.

In conclusion

Whatever model you use, go to the source. Find out what is behind the simplifaction that model always is. You might be surprised.

If you look it straight from the horse’s mouth, you will find this interesting statement that Dr Dweck herself wrote in Harward Business Review:

“Growth mindset” has become a buzzword in many major companies, even working its way into their mission statements. But when I probe, I often discover that people have a limited understanding of the idea. — Carol Dweck, HBR.

And Dweck is not the only researcher whose work the veiled priests of consulting and the parishes of HR have been sacrificing on the altar of corporate whitewash. For example, Maslow never drew a triangle when he wrote about the hierarchy of needs.

And it is almost a crime what the vicious witches of Myers and Briggs did to C. G. Jung and his psychology. But that’s another story.

For me, the only Growth Mindset we need is relentless curiosity. It covers all aspects without dualistic simplifications. If you are curious, you cannot stop growing.

I leave you to the brilliant Sir Ken Robison’s hands:

“Curiosity is the engine of achievement.”

I am a curiosity expert; if you want to know how I can help you to become a more curious leader, creative and confident thinker, book a free discovery meeting with me here.

If you enjoy reading stories like these and want to support me as a writer, consider signing up to become a Medium member. It’s $5 a month, giving unlimited access to Medium stories. If you sign up using my link, I’ll earn a small commission: click below to join.

You can also reach out by sending me a video message on Volley.