13 Jul Mindset for 21st Century Leadership
It’s Sunday so I’m tucked up on the couch reading Carol Dweck’s book Mindset – How You Can Fulfill Your Potential and reflecting on what I’ve learnt at the latest International Conference of Thinking, ICOT 2018.
Many people know of Dweck’s work on growth and fixed mindsets but I’m not so sure they put it into practice – this is true or many local and international school leadership teams.
Dweck’s 20 years of research has shown that people with a growth mindset believe in self-improvement, love challenges, are open to new information, are more creative and are resilient in the face of setbacks. However, if you have a fixed mindset you’re more concerned with how you will be judged, about proving you’re smart or talented and you’re very cautious about exposing your deficiencies.
“A fixed mindset makes people into non-learners,” says Dweck. “A growth mindset gives you a different way to think, feel and act.” It’s about learning, improving and becoming better. A growth mindset activates the ability to focus, determination, the ability to work hard and the courage to embrace failure.
Ewan McIntosh, CEO of NoTosh, addressed failure in his presentation, “The Failure Talk,” at ICOT 2015 in Bilbao, Spain. McIntosh, a design thinker with a growth mindset, explained that fear of failure often stops us from making things happen. He sees FAIL as our First Attempt in Learning and believes that big improvements will happen when you build on what you already do well. He strongly encouraged educators to find what’s not working in their schools and use team strengths and feedback to solve problems, conquer tensions and create some wonderful surprises.
I think having a growth mindset is an absolute necessity for 21st Century Leaders. Growth mindsets change what people strive for and what they see as success and how they interpret and work with failure.
Why not challenge yourself to become a better 21st Century leader, learn new leadership skills, foster the development of your team and stretch beyond the possible to create the ultimate 21st century school?
Become a growth-oriented 21st Century leader by attending the next Leadership for the 21st Century workshop on 16 & 17 March at NIST International School, Bangkok. For more information on the 2-day workshop click HERE
For Workshop registration CLICK HERE
Or Contact Maxine if you would like on-site leadership training at your school.
