Introduction to Mindset for Retail Leaders
In the previous article, I introduced this series on Mindset. Now I want to provide an introduction to what mindset is. As I mentioned in the initial article, if you have not watched the Carol Dweck TEDTalk, I would highly recommend it to provide yourself with foundational knowledge of the terms and general concept of mindset. Mindset is something that, as it gains popularity, will lose some of the original novelty. It will get oversimplified, overused, and the meaning will adjust to fit the specific needs of people leading the discussion.
In this article, I want to share the core idea of Mindset and provide an understanding that you can use to build your own definition and process for absorbing and implementing how it can work for you.
In a quest to capture the easy parts of new ideas, they can quickly become a buzzword or fad. There has already been evidence of that in the workplace around the concept of ‘growth mindset’. It sounds good. Who doesn’t want a ‘growth’ oriented mindset? It is even more obvious when you compare it with having a ‘fixed’ mindset. No one wants to be seen that way. Our challenge then becomes: how do we truly understand what a growth mindset is, and not simply use the term and try to pretend we are doing the right things? As with most other great concepts, saying it is one thing; living it, breathing it, and truly putting it in action is an entirely different thing.
We like to make things as black and white as possible. But, even Dweck acknowledges that will not be the case when using her terms of fixed or growth mindsets. They are not binary.
“Everyone is actually a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets, and that mixture continually evolves with experience. A ‘pure’ growth mindset doesn’t exist, which we have to acknowledge in order to attain the benefits we seek.” — Carol Dweck
Some of the misconceptions that come from a person’s understanding are driven by the stigma I mentioned above. It feels better to say, “I always live with a growth mindset.” Or, “I am a very positive person, I absolutely have a growth mindset.” Again, easy to say, unlikely it is happening in reality, and only proves the challenge we identified that mindset become more about a buzzword than a set of consist actions and behaviors. In fact, as leaders, we will want a diversity of thought, and having players with different mindsets, growth oriented or fixed, can be tremendously valuable in different situations.
A definition
A good definition of mindset for retail leaders is a set of attitudes and beliefs that shape their perceptions and actions, influencing how they approach challenges, opportunities, and decision-making in their retail organizations.
In the context of retail leadership, a growth mindset refers to a positive, flexible, and adaptive outlook that values learning, growth, and development, both for oneself and for one's team and organization. Retail leaders with a growth mindset are open to new ideas and approaches, embrace challenges as opportunities for growth, and foster a positive and supportive culture that encourages learning and continuous improvement.
On the other hand, a fixed mindset is characterized by a belief that abilities and qualities are set and cannot be changed, leading to a focus on proving oneself and avoiding challenges. Retail leaders with a fixed mindset may struggle to adapt to change, embrace new ideas, and foster a culture of learning and growth in their organizations.
These follow Dweck’s characterizations closely, but it is important to recognize that these are not completely binary, nor will they always be true about every person you lead or work with. We should not immediately assume that how you observe someone in one situation will automatically apply in others. Understanding how that person operates in many situations and, over time, will give you a better idea of whether they tend to operate more with a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
Attitude and mindset
I also wonder about how attitude and mindset differ. It feels like they could be interchangeable, especially in a world where we like to oversimplify the meanings of things. Here are the definitions of both from the Oxford English Dictionary:
Mindset – a set of attitudes or fixed ideas that somebody has and that are often difficult to change 1
Attitude – the way that you think and feel about somebody/something; the way that you behave towards somebody/something that shows how you think and feel 2
And, I thought this excerpt from the article from Four Streams Coaching, Attitude versus Mindset: What’s the Difference? sums up the differences very well.
According to Kendra Cherry, an author and educator in the field of psychology, “Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way. This can include evaluations of people, issues, objects, or events.”
Cherry goes on to say that these evaluations—these attitudes—aren’t necessarily limited to being positive or negative. It’s also possible for us to have uncertain attitudes about specific things (what people commonly call having “mixed feelings” about something).
So, to recap: Your mindset is how you see the world around you.
Your attitude is how you interact with the world, according to how you see things.
As you can see, an attitude is really just one part of your mindset.
It can be an extremely important, powerful part of your mindset, to be sure—but it is still just a part of your overall mindset.
While interdependent, your attitude and mindset are separate. But I believe we can all choose our attitude, and that will give us some level of control over the mindset we demonstrate as well. The point being, our mindset is not defined by the outside. How we react (external) to the outside world (attitude) will greatly influence how we see (internal) that outside world (our mindset).
The science of mindset
As the interest has grown in mindset, the science behind it has surfaced as well. The field of neuroscience has done extensive studies into the concept of mindset. We heard about it in many different ways, and as topics like habits, recognition, gratitude, and happiness have come to the forefront in the past two decades, the science is well-connected.
At the core of mindset is neuroplasticity. The brain is a muscle. When it is exercised, it gets stronger and can work harder. That exercise comes in the form of new experiences, working with different people, and exposing yourself to different environments. Neuroscientists believe that leading with a growth mindset will enable greater neuroplasticity allowing leaders to develop new skills and abilities more easily. No different from practicing at something will make you better over time, and the ability to try new things becomes easier to get started.
When scientists are studying people’s brains (through use of fMRIs)3they can see different patterns of brain activity in those that display more of a growth mindset than a fixed mindset. Growth mindset oriented people show activations in regions that are associated with learning and problem-solving. Conversely, fixed mindset oriented individuals show more activation in regions associated with reacting to threats.
Cortisol 4 is a brain chemical that is widely referred to as the ‘stress hormone’ and works with nearly every organ and aspect of the body. Cortisol is associated with stress levels and response, helps to manage your body’s metabolism, suppressing inflammation, and regulates your blood pressure and sugar levels. All those have extending impacts on how you feel and function. When you feel stress, you have elevated cortisol levels. This could be in association with the ‘fight or flight’ reflex we have as humans. The elevated levels can make it more difficult to focus and maintain motivation in specific areas. When monitoring those with more of a growth mindset, cortisol levels are reduced, suggesting that they will be better able to remain calm, in control, and react more effectively in stressful situations.
The impact of the mindset on the brain function and hormone levels can significantly impact how leaders can perform in challenging environments and still have very positive results as well as learning and development. Overall, these combine to support leaders in being more resilient, persistent, and adaptive. Each of which of critical ingredients to effective leaders.
What all of this shows is that our brain can change and grow based on the experiences we have. How we think and feel about different situations (our mindset) will have a meaningful impact on the paths our brains take, making it easier (growth mindset) or harder (fixed mindset) to learn and remember new things. When our brain is growing and learning, it will better manage our cortisol to help provide the focus we need in stressful situations, and the motivation and energy levels to engage in new experiences. Mindset, engagement, neuroscience, and personal growth are not buzzwords, and not only something to talk about. Rather, they are the ingredients to sustainable results, positive energy, and ongoing personal development.
Where is your mindset? What are you doing to ensure you have more of a growth mindset through your actions, and not only your words?
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Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash
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1 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/mindset
2 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/attitude
3 https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info/fmribrain
4 https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22187-cortisol