Leading in a Non-Linear World

CHAPTER 1WHAT IS MINDSET?

The term ‘mindset’ has become laden with significance in recent times. The dictionary definition suggests a fixed set of beliefs and attitudes that shape our actions. But think about this for a moment. Are your actions driven solely by your assumptions and beliefs? I'm sure it won't take you long to recall numerous situations where you acted against your ‘beliefs’. Not because of cognitive bias, or social pressure, but for a whole host of urges and feelings that combined to create a sense of certainty in the moment which defied being logical.

And we don't have just one mindset. We have collections of beliefs, many of which occupy contradictory positions, shaped by different contexts, interpretations of risk, uncertainty, and social influences. We may have a playful mindset when working with one group of people and unconsciously adopt a pragmatic one with another. Our mindset can be profoundly different when we're with strangers, travelling, fatigued, overwhelmed, or feeling unfairly treated.

Mindset is now code for everything from the zeitgeist, worldviews, personality, attitudes, beliefs, motivation, political and social affiliation, and identity. Why has the term, relatively little used until a decade ago, become so sticky? Perhaps it helps us to join the dots between the enormous societal change we're experiencing and what's going on inside us.

Most influential in the recent popularity of the term has been Carol Dweck's theory of fixed and growth ...