What if improving your mindset could improve your business? Would you invest in developing a growth mindset to gain better productivity, profitability, and opportunities for future growth? Your overall growth mindset in business makes a huge difference in defining how your business performs for years to come. Let’s explore how having the right growth mindset in business can make a difference.
A growth mindset is a smart investment. It supercharges business success and sets the stage for sustainable, long-term growth.
Some of the most famous and fast-growing businesses in the world are using the power of the growth mindset to outshine their competition and achieve their biggest goals. Below, we’ll explain how to build a growth mindset in business, plus we’ll highlight 3 companies that are doing it right.
What Is a Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset?
First of all, do you know the difference between a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset? Here’s how to tell them apart.
Fixed Mindset
Someone with a fixed mindset is stuck on the idea that change is impossible or not worth pursuing. They’re an inflexible thinker who often faces decisions and new situations by displaying fear, denial, and blame.
Growth Mindset
Someone with a growth mindset isn’t afraid to encounter new situations and is fast to adapt to changing conditions. They have the openness to accept evolving circumstances and look for new opportunities to succeed.
In the business world, identifying the fixed vs. growth mindset is particularly important when it comes to hiring people and developing emerging leaders. A growing company relies on people who can easily adjust and adapt to business growth.
3 Great Growth Mindset Examples
Certain companies and leaders are experts at capitalizing on a growth mindset. Here are three of the best examples of famous businesses that fostered a growth mindset to accomplish exceptional success.
Microsoft: A Tech Growth Mindset
Microsoft was one of the first companies to use the terminology of “fixed mindset vs. growth mindset” years ago. Today, the company still emphasizes the importance of having a growth mindset when you’re one of its business partners. Microsoft bases its approach on Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck’s book Mindset, The New Psychology of Success.
Dweck’s book focuses on educational settings, where young learners do best when they make the connection between mindset and student achievement. This concept translates well to the business world. Leadership development goes hand in hand with having the right mindset.
General Electric: A No-Excuses Growth Mindset
At General Electric, Jack Welch was famous for warning people about the dangers of having a fixed mindset, as opposed to a flexible mindset. He often repeated some version of the quote, “For people with a fixed mindset, failure is an identity.”
People with fixed mindsets get into the habit of blaming others for their failures. Instead of focusing on what they can learn from the experience, they bury themselves in the blame game. People with growth mindsets can instead gather intel from failure and go on to much greater accomplishments. This is widely acknowledged as the secret behind Welch’s success at GE.
Procter & Gamble: A Learning Growth Mindset
In the fast-paced and competitive world of pharmaceuticals, companies that aren’t growing are at risk of getting left behind. That’s why Procter & Gamble famously adopted a “fastest learner wins” approach. P&G rewards its employees for expanding their minds, not just outshining their competition in terms of traditional measures like building revenue or market share.
F.D. Wilder, the former P&G senior vice president of global market strategy, was one of the company’s biggest supporters of an educational growth mindset. He said, “Because growth is shifting and disruption is accelerating, we must be the fastest learners and the fastest at applying learning to deliver business outcomes.”
Building The Right Mindset for Business Growth
Is your organization leveraging the power of a growth mindset yet? If you need extra help, Leadership Resources is here with growth-focused resources and business mentorship.
Keep in mind that growth always comes with risks of unintended consequences among your employees, like infighting, jealousy, frustration, interpersonal stress, and feelings of being burned out. That’s why experts recommend supporting your employees with robust leadership development programs as opposed to simple training sessions.
To learn more, please contact us and schedule a discovery meeting. Let’s grow your mind and grow your business!
