Having a Growth Mindset Can Boost Your Business

There are countless traits and tactics necessary to running a successful small business — from financial savvy, to identifying good employees, to stellar client relations. But one equally important aspect that is often overlooked is mindset. That is, the way a business owner or entrepreneur perceives and interacts with the world around them.?

In particular, there are two mindsets a business owner can have: a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. Carol Dweck, a psychologist and professor at Stanford University, has written extensively about both. According to Dweck, individuals with a fixed mindset believe that traits and skills are fixed — unable to be altered or improved. Alternatively, individuals with a growth mindset believe that traits and skills can be learned, and greater success always achieved — you just need to work at it.?

In harnessing a growth mindset when running your business, you can unlock significant success. Here are just three ways how.

Growth mindsets aren’t afraid to fail. While people with a fixed mindset fear failure, people with a growth mindset embrace it. And that’s a good thing. “For some people, failure is the end of the world — but for others, it’s this exciting new opportunity,” Dweck has explained. When you fear failure, you’re less likely to pursue new opportunities. That may mean you don’t pitch a new client, you don’t open a second location, or you don’t try to engage new audiences. It’s no surprise, then, that business owners with fixed mindsets are often stagnant, and business owners with growth mindsets are more likely to thrive. Because even if their latest idea falls flat, there’s plenty to learn from the experience.??

Growth mindsets embrace challenges. One thing all business owners and entrepreneurs have in common is challenges: There is always a new competitor, or a sluggish economy, or a supply chain issue. Where individuals begin to differ, however, is in how they react to those challenges. Individuals with a fixed mindset shrink from challenges — they’re something to be dreaded and avoided. This can set up your business to be inherently anxious and timid. Alternatively, individuals with a growth mindset welcome challenges — they’re an opportunity to learn, to persist, and to build resilience. This positive approach to challenges in turn builds confidence and mitigates fear.

Growth mindsets celebrate others’ success. People can respond to others’ success in wildly different ways, but there’s usually a pattern. Business owners and entrepreneurs with a fixed mindset tend to resent others’ success. Seeing a similar business thrive can create feelings of jealousy. After all, this mindset is deterministic: It believes that other people or businesses must possess something they themselves don’t, and can’t. Meanwhile, those with a growth mindset are inspired by the success of others — even if those others are competitors. Growth mindset individuals see others’ success as an opportunity to learn valuable lessons and, eventually, emulate that success.?

Change and uncertainty are the status quo for small business owners and entrepreneurs. In this challenging ecosystem, adopting the right mindset can go a long way. In 2023 and beyond, make sure you’re approaching your business with a growth mindset. You can achieve success because you hold the power.?

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CF Creative (www.cf-creative.com) is a full-service marketing and consulting agency that provides business growth, strategic content, and technical assistance consulting for small and minority-owned businesses, as well as the public and private sector organizations and companies that support them.