Practice Identifying Fixed Mindset Thoughts

The following are snapshots of people from all walks of life who exhibit fixed mindset thoughts.:

  • All-or-none judgments about self when faced with a challenging task 

  • Negative view of effort when a task is a struggle 

  • Perfectionist standards when assessing performance 

  • Magnification or minimization of your mistakes

  • Viewing others as judges when receiving feedback 

  • Competitive comparison

1. On morning rounds, a medical intern jumps in with a response to the chief resident’s question about a case, after a fellow intern stumbles. Upon reciting the correct answer, she thinks, I’m the best there is in this program, and everyone knows it!

2. A violist receives word that she has not made the cut for a community orchestra. She says to herself, What a horrific audition I gave! All that rehearsing for nothing! I don’t have what it takes to make it professionally as a musician.

3. After a second interview at a tech start-up, a recent college graduate receives word that he is no longer being considered for the job. He tells himself, I’m not creative enough for these tech start-ups. I’m just wasting my time.

4. A bank manager is called in for her yearly performance evaluation by the bank vice president. The evaluation is essentially a positive checkoff for almost all of the items. She says to herself, Finally been recognized for my true talents. It will be smooth sailing to the top from now on!

5. After thirty-one years with a major insurance company, a man with two children in college is laid off from what he had considered his dream job. He thinks, I’m a failure. How can I face my family now? I’ve been irresponsible. Haven’t socked away enough savings.

Analyze Me:

Paul: Monisha, there’s a lot here for us to dig into and discuss. I have two initial reactions. One is, “Wow, if this is how people are feeling, then this is a real wake-up call, and I’ve got to understand this better.” At the same time, I admit that some parts of it don’t fit with my sense of the climate here. So it’s confusing, which is why I’m glad you’re here to talk it through with me.

Monisha: Paul, you can dismiss this feedback, and I can understand the inclination to do that, but I don’t think hiding from reality is going to get us anywhere.

Paul: The feedback doesn’t match up with what I thought was going on, but that doesn’t mean that what I thought was going on is accurate. So this is what I want to investigate and understand.

Monisha: I think the primary finding is that our mid-level managers are feeling disempowered and out of the loop.

Paul: Let’s get specific. What does it mean that they’re feeling “disempowered and out of the loop”?

Monisha: We surveyed everyone from associates to VPs. There was a pervasive sense that the executive team doesn’t communicate well, input is not sought, and contributions are not appropriately valued.

Paul: So, let’s look at a concrete example.

Monisha: A number of people mentioned the ethics initiative. People were very unhappy that they had to attend a series of ethics workshops over the course of a year, while the senior leadership attended a session that was just two hours.

Paul: Well, we don’t call them “ethics workshops” or “ethics meetings,” but ethics are embedded in our jobs, day in and day out. I’m constantly meeting with lawyers, compliance people, risk management people. Ethics and values are at the heart of everything I do.

If people are feeling that this is a cynical program, or that senior leadership doesn’t buy in, I can imagine why they’d feel frustrated. From my point of view, much of my job is about ethics. I meet with lawyers, compliance people, risk managers. But the mid-level people are obviously seeing it differently, and that’s a concern.

Monisha: Yes, they are seeing it differently. Part of it is a matter of perception, of messaging. But I think there’s something deeper going on here. A genuine attitude problem.

Paul: I’m not clear what you mean. What do you mean by messaging versus attitude?

Monisha: Here’s the difference between a messaging problem and an attitude problem: What was the primary motive behind senior management’s doing only two hours of ethics work?

Paul: For one, we wanted to send the message that this really matters.

Monisha: But I think the message they heard was that “the senior team doesn’t really need it.” It’s not the message you intended to send, but that message is actually an accurate reflection of the senior team’s attitude.

Paul: Hmm, that’s interesting. So you’re saying we sent a message we didn’t intend, but which is actually the truth.

Monisha: I think so.

Paul: Just to clarify, do you think that’s the perception that some people have of me personally? That I think the senior team doesn’t need ethics training?