Different Cultures, Different Mindsets [+Free Gift ??]

What were you doing at this point in the year, a decade ago?

I’ve always found it valuable to reflect on my past experiences and see how my perspectives have changed. 

Sometimes they don’t.

This time ten years ago, I began a four-month-long journey facilitating worldwide workshops, which took me through Istanbul, in the Middle East to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur in South East Asia. I then headed Down Under to Melbourne and Sydney before stopping in Antigua (Guatemala), Miami, Chicago, and Kinshassa in the Congo. 

My sessions included various interventions—train-the-trainer programs, executive leadership development, and individual coaching. I learned plenty about what “work” looks like in different cultures but even more about the home I’d left behind. 

Surprising, right?

Here’s struck me most: without making any blanket statements, I noticed a very sharp contrast between the broader Western European mentality (including the Netherlands) and how other countries viewed innovation and change. 

Slow Cooker Vs. Hot Pot

There was far less enthusiasm and willingness to embrace new things back home—in my journal, I attempted to describe describe this Western European attitude as an “unhurried bubbling,” rather like a thick, slow-cooking soup. Change was often seen as an unwelcome interruption to the status quo. (Could the government please do something to restore the way things were? Why does this need to change?)

Things were vastly different in many of the other countries I visited. Openness to change and opportunity was much higher in far less economically developed countries, where people had much less. 

Energy levels were far higher here, the dynamic livelier. There was more of an atmosphere, more willingness to accept uncertainty, and people seemed to have a lot more fun! 

In these countries, people saw opportunities and seized them with both hands. 

If Western Europe was like a slow cooker, I wrote back then, these countries were more like one of those East Asian hot pots: bubbling with energy and ready to go. 

Loss Aversion

I couldn’t fathom why there was such a difference back then, but I did have one strong suspicion: loss aversion. 

Loss aversion is our human instinct to fear losing what we already have, and it drives us to cling tightly to the status quo.

Loss aversion is our human instinct to fear losing what we already have, and it drives us to cling tightly to the status quo. I noticed that people in the Netherlands and Western Europe invested ample energy into avoiding or mitigating loss, often preventing them from adapting to new situations. 

This meant innovation was much lower; boardrooms and meetings were typically dominated by strategies for self-preservation rather than prioritizing innovation. 

One clear example of this was visible when I introduced “The Charity Game” into our workshops. This creative exercise asks participants to choose their own charity and eventually decide on one they all support:

• To the teams in Western Europe, this game was just a game.
• Overseas, people became personally invested in the activity, constantly and passionately asking themselves how they could have the biggest and best potential impact with their charitable donations.

I have just completed another multi-country trip, and I’m afraid this difference is still quite well-established (if not more defined). The more obsessed we are with conserving what we have, the less energy we have to look for a better future.

That logic seems cut and dry to me.

What Can We Do About It?

My takeaway now is the same as it was then—that it's time for a more widespread openness to embracing change. We have lots more to gain by focusing on preventing than we do by focusing on minimizing loss, so our priorities should be:

1. Learning to adopt a growth mindset, and 
2. Concentrating on creating a better future. 

Leaders, it’s up to you to inspire and empower those around you by leading by example. The stories you tell, each time you walk the talk…they all pave the way for growth and development. 

Your job is to nurture a culture of innovation and experimentation in your teams and your organizations. Reward and encourage people to take risks and try new things; it’s important if you want to be adaptive and stay ahead of your competition. 

So, it’s not a bad idea to take inspiration from these organizational cultures that I’ve described, but you also need to look at your current mindset. Is your company more like a slow cooker? 

If the answer is “yes,” then how can you make it a bit more like a hot pot?

Over To You

Should you need a little help understanding your company’s attitudes to change, send me a DM and tell me about your challenges (don’t forget to sign up using this link).

I will be giving away a free one-hour 1:1 coaching session as this week’s giveaway, in which we’ll unpack:

• A few main barriers to change and innovation in your team or organization
• Low-hanging fruit that you can address to start overcoming these obstacles
• Exercises, tools, and activities that can help you and your team adopt a growth mindset.

Look forward to hearing from you.

— Govert