82 PART I Knowing What to Do

believe that, but our actions may indicate other beliefs that work against the very things we espouse.

In chapter 11, “Moving Toward Mastery,” I suggest a way that you can begin to identify your own mindset a little more objectively than you might at first glance. Here is a hint: Think about a change that you led. Pick one that either went extremely well or was legendary in its failure. And then maybe with the help of a trusted advisor, consider what the beliefs might have been behind your performance as a leader.

For example, when I am asked what I value, I could easily sound like I was reciting the Boy Scout’s credo. It’s only in looking at my actual behav- ior that I begin to see the gap—sometimes a chasm between what I profess and what I do.

Robert Wood and Albert Bandura conducted a study using graduate business students, many of whom had experience in management. The task was to work on a critical management task. One group was “given a fixed mindset” and told that this exercise measured their own underlying abili- ties. The other group was told that management skills were built through practice and this task would allow them to develop those skills. The exercise was set up to be extremely difficult so that both groups failed the first few rounds. The students with a fixed mindset focus never learned from their experience and never improved. Those who were given a growth mindset focus kept getting better and better.15

In the classic (and sobering) article, “Pygmalion in Management,” Sterling Livingston writes that people respond to how they are treated. “Some managers always treat their subordinates in a way that leads to supe- rior performance.”16 He discusses a study conducted in a district of a large insurance company. Researcher Alfred Oberlander set up an experiment where he “observed that the outstanding insurance agencies grew faster than average or poor agencies.”17 As part of this study, an “average” unit was created. They predicted that this group would perform kind of so-so. But they didn’t. “The assistant manager in charge of the group refused to believe that he was less capable than the manager of the ‘super staff’ or that the agents in the top group had a greater ability than the agents in his group.”18 He gave them a challenge to outperform the “super staff.” Although they never achieved the numbers of the super staff, each year the so-called average group increased productivity by a higher percentage than the stars. Mindsets do matter.