New growth mindsets needed for creating the future

The idiom, "you can't see the forest through the trees," highlights our propensity to let a narrow focus on details obscure our ability to see the big picture. This problem plagues leaders at organizations big and small. Just listen closely as executives say things like, "How can we meet our earnings forecast next quarter?" or "How do we drive success against our KPIs?" or "Let's not cannibalize our core business." While they fixate over the corporate trees they miss innovative competitors sparking new ideas that just might burn down their forests.

Look back a few decades. What happened to Howard Johnsons, Blockbuster and Eastman Kodak? Where are Lehman Brothers Solomon Brothers, and Sears?

How can a leader navigate myopic traps?

One answer lies with unlocking a fixed mindset. Carol Dweck, a researcher at Stanford University, is the foremost expert on fixed vs. growth mindsets. She writes: "For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value."

There is so much focus on how the traits of an organization can't be changed. We did this for X number of years, why would we change it? This is the type of mindset that leads to apathy and later on failure.

Let's examine Stripe, the billion-dollar payment portal, as an example. Take a look at Stripe's culture page: Click here to check it out. The thing that stands out is Optimism! It's a mindset. Optimism is even listed as the last value in their culture guide where they write, "We believe that Stripe will be far better in the future than it is today. When considering ideas, we think "how might it work?" is more interesting than "why will it fail?" ... We believe we're yet to see most of the impact of the Internet. And we think that ambitious, energetic, and deliberate efforts directed towards progress are surprisingly effective in improving the state of the world around us."

One of my proudest achievements was helping the state of Ohio become the first state in the country to accept cryptocurrency as tax payments. Government is often the slowest to change. Politicians are often afraid something may backfire or go wrong. That wasn't the mindset in the treasurer's office. It was always about how we can make things better and how we can solve today's problems to create a better future.

The world is changing at a phenomenal pace and nothing illustrates this better than looking at technology. It's one of the key catalysts changing the forests in corporations, nonprofits and governments.

Who do you think the smartest graduates want to work for these days? Here's a hint. It's no longer the tie-wearing investment banks. It's the t-shirt, sneaker wearing, fast moving, game-changers like Amazon, Google and Facebook. These technology giants are achieving world domination by investing heavily in developing new products and services leading to an explosion in innovation and ever-accelerating growth. As these companies become more dominant, they are disrupting, and chopping down established tree-focused companies. Just think of Amazon's impact on the retail sector.

These companies are benefiting from leaders with growth mindsets focused on globalization, accessing new markets, and creating the future. They are also quick to identify and aggressively respond to threats. Any promising small company that might pose a threat, is quickly gobbled up. Examples are plentiful. Facebook identified up-and-coming threats at WhatsApp and Instagram, while Alphabet, parent of Google, made more than 177 acquisitions in the last 10 years.

It's time for a mindset shift. Instead of thinking about why something can't be done, or the way it's always been, instead of locking thoughts on the short-term indicators and focusing on a tree, it's time for our new growth mindsets to take relentless actions that create the forests of the future.