Chapter 5: Business and Leadership

  1. Recently, a friend of mine said, “I never take a job where I have more than 50% of the required skills and knowledge.” Would this be beyond your comfort level? Why? What would you do if you found yourself in this position?
  2. Do you think leaders are born not made, as in “a born leader”? Why?
  3. Now break up business leadership into its separate parts: knowledge of the company, management skills, negotiation skills, planning for the future, and all the others you can think of. Do you think each of these is learnable or not?
  4. Do you have a worker or co-worker who has a fixed mindset? How does it show itself? What are some steps you could take to teach him or her a growth mindset?
  5. Is there something in your business or career you’ve been wanting to try for? What’s stopping you? Can you analyze it from a growth mindset and plan a first step?
  6. Suppose you were passed over for a promotion? How would you react in a fixed mindset? Would you be down on yourself? Would you blame others? Would you feel angry and vindictive? Now how would you react in a growth mindset? What would you do to gain the feedback, skills, and knowledge you need to be promoted next time?
  7. What would you do if you found out your (fixed-mindset) boss thought you had a bad attitude, a losing personality, no talent for the job?