I have been intrigued with just about any article or book on business startups over the past ten years or so. I am also aware that to start something that endures is incredibly difficult, and there are far more failures than long-term successes. I then became interested in Walker Deibel’s book, Buy Then Build – How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game, because he makes the case for buying a profitable business and then growing it into something greater.
In the book, Deibel introduces the idea of “mindset” in chapter 3 by referring to Carol Dweck’s research document in the book Mindset: We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential. She makes the distinction between a fixed and growth mindset.
Fixed mindset: Personal qualities such as intelligence and personality are innate and unchangeable. A fixed mindset is the belief that your intelligence, talents and other abilities are set in stone. You believe that you’re born with a particular set of skills and that you can’t change them. This mindset believes in limited resources and people need to confirm their character and intelligence.
Growth mindset: People can change and improve; they can learn from experiences. When you have a growth mindset, you believe the abilities you’re born with are only a starting point—you can get smarter and improve yourself with hard work, persistence, and the right learning strategies. You have a passion for learning and welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn, and you seek challenges to push yourself. Effort is the path to mastery.
Dweck affirms that having a growth mindset is often regarded as the number one predictor of entrepreneurial success. She then goes on to say that if a person isn’t currently oriented toward a growth mindset, it can be cultivated.
So how can it be assessed and cultivated?
I discovered lots of articles on the internet which address this question, and lots of little assessment tools to help one to get started. Here is one that asks some questions and gives some feedback and suggestions for cultivation.
https://blog.mindsetworks.com/what-s-my-mindset
An Example of a Growth mindset
Many years ago, when IBEC was in its infancy, I did my best to help a Crossworld member named Lee with a business startup in Central Asia. He had partnered with a national believer who was a lawyer and member of a Christian church. Things went well for a couple of years as they built a consulting business focused on economic growth of the post-Soviet era.
One day, I got a message saying that his partner had stripped all monies from the bank accounts and the business was bankrupt. I picked up the phone and thought I would empathize with him and encourage him in what was total loss and disappointment. Less than a minute into the call, he cheerfully told me all was well as he had secured a loan and had gone down the street and rented a new office and was starting over.
Lee had a growth mindset. He saw the sad experience as a learning experience, and he was determined to push on with renewed determination. The net result was that the new business grew and was successful. Ultimately, when he developed medical issues that necessitated his departure from the country, he was able to sell the business for a good profit.
All startup founders need to think about this question: do you have a growth mindset? If not, take steps to cultivate one, or do something else. A growth mindset is extremely vital for entrepreneurial success.
Larry W. Sharp, BAM Support Specialist, IBEC Ventures
Larry.Sharp@ibecventures.com