I was recently introduced to the book Innovator's Mindset by George Couros. I resisted the book at first being skeptical of, “the next thing,” likely capitalizing on Carol Dweck’s growth mindset research. Curiosity finally got the best of me. As expected, Mr. Couros was quoting Carol Dweck in the first chapter. Yet unexpectedly, I was deeply intrigued by his message.
What is the difference between a growth mindset and an innovator’s mindset? How does this apply to our quest to grow in virtue and holiness by being intentional and empathic disciples?
Couros defines an Innnovator’s Mindset as the, “belief that my abilities, intelligence, and talents can be developed, leading to the creation of new and better ideas.”
Belief that our abilities, intelligence, and talents can be developed, we have explored in great length over the past year. We have applied growth mindset to being intentional about taking risks and allowing our own failures to strengthen us as we strive to grow in virtue. We have used growth mindset as a tool to respond to change in our classrooms, schools, churches, and personal life.
Couros takes this idea one step further by encouraging through empathy that we might discover new and better ideas. He argues that as educators by focusing on what’s best for learners, we will create and design learning experiences.
He had me hooked when he used the word empathic. It was so affirming as this has been the backbone of this blog. I actually went back to reread my very first post…November 25, 2016. It was the first week of Advent. Here was my challenge:
“I challenge you to consider your daily encounters or avoidance of encounters. I challenge you to revise them with a new mindset - one that is intentional and empathic.”
The challenge remains the same. Yet now we know that while being intentional about meeting our students and those we love “where they’re at,” we too must ask the Holy Spirit daily to meet us where we are at and to lead us to the personal growth that our Lord so desires for each of us. Only then can we truly extend trust, openness, and collaboration in our classrooms, homes, and churches.
For each of us that means something different. Perhaps your temperament is choleric. Extending a growth mindset to an innovator’s mindset might mean to be intentional about not being in charge all of the time; to step back a little and allow an environment for students to explore, to make room for the Holy Spirit to connect and inspire learning amidst all of your well executed plans…and of course embrace the unexpected in these moments, both good and bad, as something to learn from and create new.
For the sanguine, who seems to be in a constant state of inspiration because they just can’t hold it all in, maybe it means being intentional about quieting down… stepping out of the center of attention so the Holy Spirit can bring forth the beauty of a moment - Like a living highlighter bringing attention to connections you hadn’t seen before or hearing the voice of a child or colleague in a new way.
For the melancholic, perhaps it means letting your guard down for just a little second. Stop questioning. Stop analyzing. Maybe even look for value in one of those ridiculous expectations that seem like a great injustice and busy work to which you must comply when you could be doing something better with your time.
For the phlegmatic, it means having the confidence to speak up, even if and especially if, everyone might not agree with you. It means being empathic about the responses of others by not taking it personally, rather as a collective effort to problem solve.
Now…one might argue do we need innovation? Does it contrast the church’s clear opposition to trends in modernism, immediate gratification, and other cultural norms that distract us from gratitude, charity, humility, and true joy?
I argue that the Saints had not only a growth mindset, but an innovator’s mindset. Despite glaring obstacles, challenges, failures, and persecution they persevered - allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them. Here are just a few that have changed the course of American education:
St. Francis Cabrini Xavier: Because of her frail health, she was not permitted to join the Daughters of the Sacred Heart who had been her teachers and under whose guidance she obtained her teaching certificate. However, in 1880, with seven young women, Frances founded the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She eventually made 23 trans-Atlantic crossings and established 67 institutions: schools, hospitals and orphanages. (https://www.mothercabrini.org/who-we-are/mother-cabrini/)
St. Katharine Drexel: During her lifetime, she opened, staffed and directly supported nearly 60 schools and missions, especially in the West and Southwest United States. Her crowning educational focus was the establishment in 1925 of Xavier University of Louisiana, the only predominantly Afro-American Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States. (http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20001001_katharine-drexel_en.html)
St. Mother Theodore Guerin: A French nun of fragile health, Guerin was doubtful when her superiors asked her to sail to America to lead a small band of missionaries in rural Indiana. "It is astonishing that this remote solitude has been chosen for a novitiate and especially for an academy," she wrote in her journal. "All appearances are against it." Yet within a year she opened St. Mary's Academy for Young Ladies and went on to establish schools throughout Indiana and Illinois. (http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pope-visit-us-saints-20150911-htmlstory.html)
All three of these women are Saints of the 20th century. They had a mindset Fixed on God, yet they were innovative and ready to respond to the needs around them.
I’ll be honest I had never heard of St. Mother Theodore Guerin until about ten minutes ago when I did a google search. I think my favorite part of her bio is that she was “doubtful” when her superiors asked her to lead a band of missionaries to a remote land, yet she overcame that and did not let resistance come in the way of opportunity. She trusted.
After reading the Saints accounts, how silly I feel that I resisted even reading a recommended book because of my own speculations? Wow. How humbling. I have such a long way to Sainthood! What have you resisted or doubted lately?
I suppose part of having an innovator’s mindset means to embrace where we are at by breaking the chains of constant resistance.
