We establish thriving growth mindset cultures that drive higher performance in individuals, teams and organisations.
We revolutionise performance by inspiring and enabling people to maximise their potential through instilling and sustaining new ways of working with measurable outcomes.
Author of seven best selling books for adults and children and a highly acclaimed speaker in the field of high performance.
I spent the day with Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, last Friday. He is regarded as one of the world’s top leaders, having grown market cap by $250 billion since taking the helm in 2014. A big part of his explanation for this turnaround is simple: creating a “learning culture”. “I wanted our company to be a team of ‘learn it alls’ rather than ‘know it alls’” he said.
The problem Nadella inherited was that many within the organisation wanted to look like the smartest person in the room. People in this mindset (sometimes called the fixed mindset) struggle to admit to their own weaknesses. They become defensive when their mistakes are pointed out (or cover them up). And they don’t like innovating because of the failures that inevitably arise when trying new things. They fear that this might make them look less than super-smart.
This mindset can be profoundly destructive. In a complex world, progress is not about proclaiming how much you know, but finding out what you don’t know. It is about finding weaknesses quickly, so they can be turned into strengths. In short, it is about a mindset that is not defensive (“how dare you tell me that I am not super smart!”), but expansive (“none of us have all the answers, so let’s discover new ideas!”). This is sometimes called the growth mindset.
This distinction is subtler than it might at first appear. In his book, Expert Political Judgement, the great American academic Philip Tetlock found that high reputation forecasters, on average, made worse predictions than lower reputation forecasters. The reason is that the high reputation forecasters, who often made predictions on television, have oversized egos. They want to look smart, so when their predictions failed, they came up with ex post rationalisations for why they were right all along.
The irony is that because they were bright, these self-justifications were superficially plausible. They deluded both the economist and their clients, and torpedoed the adaptive process upon which science depends. This psychological process is not unrelated to a family of psychological quirks, such as confirmation bias, biased search, hindsight bias and the post hoc fallacy.
Lower reputations forecasters on the other hand, could see the data for what it was. Their egos were not bound up with their existing assumptions because they hadn’t been on television seeking to justify them. They were therefore more adaptive, their models and heuristics altering in the light of the evidence. That is why they were more successful at making sense of complexity.
The dichotomy between the fixed and growth mindsets can be seen in many domains, is corroborated by field data, and by randomised control trials. This is precisely what Nadella was attempting to change at Microsoft, altering it from a defensive, ego-driven company to a dynamic one seeking to innovate, break down silos and rediscover its core purpose. “I wanted to create a growth mindset at an organisational level,” he said. “I don’t want to claim we are there; that would be premature. It is a constant journey, and one we are still travelling.”
Another concept that was crucial to the change at Microsoft is empathy. Nadella learned the importance of this in his personal life when his first child, Zain, was born with cerebral palsy. For several years, he was angry at the world. Angry about what it meant for his life. Angry at the disruption. By observing his wife, Anupama, whose compassion was instant and powerful, he realised that he had to change. “I had to see the world through the point of view of Zain,” he said. “I needed to immerse myself in his perspective, to develop the compassion and understanding that enabled me to be a better dad and husband.”
This ability to see the world from the point of view of others is, he says, crucial for enlightened leadership.
How can you provide for your customers if you don’t have a deep and radical understanding of their needs? How can you motivate your people if you don’t know their challenges and aspirations? And, more generally, how you can create a sustainable company if there isn’t a human mission – and not merely profit – at the heart of it?
What struck me most about Nadella, at a personal level, was how much he asked and listened. When we first met before taking to the stage (over the course of the day we had two Q&A sessions, one for the press and one for customers of Microsoft), he could see that I was a little nervous. He asked about my life and family, and we realised we had a common interest in cricket. After a few minutes, we were completely relaxed in each other’s company. Not surprisingly, the two events went well. I would advise everyone to read his book, Hit Refresh.
Culture, as a concept, often sounds a bit soft and ephemeral. Most of the top leaders today, however, see their jobs, in part, as cultural architects. It was crucial for Nadella to alter the culture of Microsoft, so that the internal dynamic shifted from defensive to expansive, from fear of change to embracing change, from fixed to growth. They were no longer just looking smart; they were being truly smart.
To read more about Mindset Advantage, the innovative psychometric tool that will help you embed growth mindset across your business and transform performance, please visit our Mindset Advantage page or email the consulting team at team@matthewsyed.co.uk.
© Matthew Syed Consulting 2024. All rights reserved. Registered in England and Wales. Mindset Analytics Ltd. trading as Matthew Syed Consulting. Company No. 12234380. VAT No. 333252530. Matthew Syed Media Ltd. Company No. 08760326. VAT No. 176704488.
Privacy Policy
| Cookie Policy
Website by Eldo™
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cf_bm | 30 minutes | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. |
__stripe_mid | 1 year | Stripe sets this cookie cookie to process payments. |
__stripe_sid | 30 minutes | Stripe sets this cookie cookie to process payments. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
datadome | session | This is a security cookie set by Force24 to detect BOTS and malicious traffic. |
JSESSIONID | session | The JSESSIONID cookie is used by New Relic to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application. A session cookie is required to follow your progress through the website. It is essential to ensure that any information you enter or routes you take are remembered by the website. Without this cookie, every page you visited would treat you as a completely new visitor. This cookie does not identify you personally and is not linked to any other information we store about you. |
PHPSESSID | session | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
visitor_id860573-hash | 10 years | Used by Pardot to to provide protection against hackers |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
wp_woocommerce_session_* | 2 days | WooCommerce sets this cookie to make a unique code for each customer so that it knows where to find the cart data in the database for each one. |
yt-player-headers-readable | never | The yt-player-headers-readable cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences related to video playback and interface, enhancing the user's viewing experience. |
yt-remote-cast-available | session | The yt-remote-cast-available cookie is used to store the user's preferences regarding whether casting is available on their YouTube video player. |
yt-remote-cast-installed | session | The yt-remote-cast-installed cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-fast-check-period | session | The yt-remote-fast-check-period cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences for embedded YouTube videos. |
yt-remote-session-app | session | The yt-remote-session-app cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences and information about the interface of the embedded YouTube video player. |
yt-remote-session-name | session | The yt-remote-session-name cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video. |
ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY | never | The cookie ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY is used by YouTube to store the last search result entry that was clicked by the user. This information is used to improve the user experience by providing more relevant search results in the future. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_ga_* | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views. |
_gat_gtag_UA_* | 1 minute | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store a unique user ID. |
_gat_gtag_UA_140963640_1 | 1 minute | Set by Google to distinguish users. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
_s | 30 minutes | This cookie is associated with Shopify's analytics suite. |
_shopify_s | 30 minutes | This cookie is associated with Shopify's analytics suite. |
_shopify_y | 2 years | This cookie is associated with Shopify's analytics suite. |
_y | 2 years | This cookie is associated with Shopify's analytics suite. |
CONSENT | 2 years | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. |
lpv860573 | 30 minutes | Used by Pardot to to store and count pageviews. |
m | 2 years | No description available. |
pardot | session | The pardot cookie is set while the visitor is logged in as a Pardot user. The cookie indicates an active session and is not used for tracking. |
sbjs_current | session | Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website. |
sbjs_current_add | session | Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website. |
sbjs_first | session | Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website. |
sbjs_first_add | session | Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website. |
sbjs_migrations | session | Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website. |
sbjs_session | 1 hour | Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website. |
sbjs_udata | session | Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website. |
visitor_id860573 | 10 years | Used by Pardot to to store a unique user ID. |
vuid | 2 years | Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website. |
wp_woocommerce_session_55fdad7143c708e2c279417d48aa073b | 2 days | No description |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
NID | 6 months | NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads. |
test_cookie | 15 minutes | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
visitor_id* | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Pardot sets this cookie to store a unique user ID. |
visitor_id*-hash | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Pardot sets this cookie to store a unique user ID. |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 5 months 27 days | A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. |
YSC | session | YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. |
yt-remote-connected-devices | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-device-id | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt.innertube::nextId | never | This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
yt.innertube::requests | never | This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_cfuvid | session | Description is currently not available. |
DEVICE_INFO | 5 months 27 days | No description |
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA | 5 months 27 days | Description is currently not available. |