Growth Mindsets

In the company I work, there is renewed interest in a buzzword that has actually been floating around for a while, it's called the Growth Mindset. Progressive and forward-thinking companies all over the world seem to be suddenly embracing this concept to drive innovation, motivation, and productivity.

I've taken it home and explained it to the kids in terms in which they can apply to their daily lives, or maybe not. In essence, the difference between a Fixed and a Growth Mindset is as follows:

I think many kids and adults, by default, have a Fixed Mindset. It's either due to the mass education system, or traditional upbringing, or some other cultural standard that has been crafted to create students of a certain mold. It is the survival of the fittest, competition-style society that I guess has suited us so far, but will it take us into the future?

With 1) new sets of economic and technological challenges and 2) the current generation who lack the discipline and grit of the previous ones, requiring new methods of education and motivation. The concept of sitting down to study, focusing on a task, writing notes during class, which to us was a basic component of the schooling life, all of a sudden has become a "learning how to learn" lesson on its own which many cannot seem to muster. Some give up, thinking themselves not suited for studying, academics and instead, looking for alternative ways to succeed, which might actually not be realistic in the future that I envision - for example, how many DJs can there be?

In fact, in the current knowledge economy where we find ourselves having to climb the food chain to escape the clutches of other fast-emerging economies, we don't really need hands-on workers, but brains-on thinkers who can out-wit and out-smart using intelligence, ideas, and strategies.

So, schooling is still needed, a good education necessary, but a different approach must be used which encourages experimentation, failure and a willingness to go beyond traditional methods and strategies, looking for alternative designs and solutions to ensure we all remain relevant in our collective future.