How Growth Mindset Flipped Microsoft’s Corporate Culture

The most dangerous phrase in the language is ‘It’s always been done that way.’
— Grace Hopper, computer scientist

What do you know about growth mindset? 

For me, it’s about being open to learning new things. About not getting stuck — fixed — into thinking things have to be done a certain way. 

Let me share a story to illustrate mindset in action.

A family pulls into a restaurant at the edge of a pretty oceanside town, wanting to grab a quick bite. The server, a relaxed woman somewhere in her mid-70s who has that special quality of presence that only a wise elder can embody, greets them pleasantly.

The dad unfolds his napkin and asks: “We’re thinking of moving to this town. What’s it like?”

The server replies: “What’s your old town like?”

“Terrible,” says the father. “Everyone there is judgmental and negative. So much road rage. And I don’t like my job. We want out of there.”

“Right,” says the server. She pauses. “Well, I don’t think you should move here, because this town is pretty much the same.”

A couple days later, another family shows up for lunch. The server greets them pleasantly.

One of the mothers says: “We’re thinking of moving to this town. What’s it like?”

The server asks: “What’s your old town like?”

“Oh, it’s an awesome place to live,” says the mum. “Everyone is friendly and we’re super happy with our community. I’ve just had a new job offer here.”

The server smiles. “This town is very much the same,” she says. “I think you’re going to like it here.”

Right? 

Both families were from the same town. That wise old waitress spotted the father’s fixed mindset. No matter what happens in his life experience, he’ll find excuses and people to blame his unhappiness on. He’s likely not very open to learning, or to failure, or to looking inside and seeing that what he gives out…he gets back.

The server also knew that the mother in the second family would adapt with a positive learning outlook. Her growth mindset would allow her and her family to thrive in the new town just as well as they had in the old town.

Your mindset colours every single thing you perceive.

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, the originator of the terms fixed and growth mindset, studied schoolchildren to illuminate how mindset influences our actions. She published her findings in research papers and in her 2007 bestseller, Mindset:The New Psychology of Success.

Dweck’s research has lit the fuse on a whole new way of looking at what’s possible in the workplace.

If you’ve walked with me for a while, you know I admire much of the work of NeuroLeadership Institute. NLI defines a growth mindset as the belief that your skills and abilities can be improved, and that ongoing development is the goal of the work you do.

That’s different from a fixed mindset, which is pretty much the opposite. Here’s a quick schematic to show you the difference:

You can see the advantages of a growth mindset over a fixed mindset when it comes to your organization’s culture.

NeuroLeadership Institute goes on to point out that creating a growth-mindset culture “isn’t just about having optimistic employees, but creating a space where employees strive to learn, enjoy being challenged, and feel encouraged to develop new skills.”

Does that sound like your workplace?

If not, read on, and I’ll tell you a bit about how Microsoft has flipped its company culture. 

But first, let’s dig a bit deeper into mindset.

Your mindset is shaped very, very early in life.

Our mindset is built upon our belief in ourselves and our ability to succeed in life. The mindset we adopt, whether fixed or growth, generally becomes established in childhood. That’s when most of our beliefs are handed to us — by the things our teachers say, by the things our parents say, and by the things our peers say.

You can see mindset habits among the adults you know. When people say, I suck at math or I always screw up recipes, this is evidence of a fixed mindset. Negative self-talk is a dead giveaway.

Whereas the growth mindset says, I could get better at math with more practice or If I follow the recipe instructions, my results should turn out well.

Mindset is very much how we frame things for ourselves. 

But because mindset tends to pivot on beliefs that we encoded as children, a fixed mindset can be tough to crack. 

But crack it you must. Because in the 21st century, a fixed mindset is a liability at work.

People who have a fixed mindset, says NLI founder Dr. David Rock, don’t pay as much attention to what’s going on as do those with a growth mindset. (YIKES!) They make cognitive errors; feedback is stressful. Even mentorship is stressful. They don’t set stretch goals. 

The kicker? If you show them a positive role model, their competence actually decreases. “In leadership,” Rock says, “people with a fixed mindset become less confident when they see effective leaders.” 

That’s alarming.

So many reasons to help yourself and each person on your team move away from a fixed mindset, and toward a place of possibility and learning. 

At Microsoft, leadership principles are structured to support growth mindset. General Manager, Employee Career and Development Priya Priyadarshini explained in a recent NLI webinar that the company centers “a yearning to learn, an openness to feedback, and getting comfortable with the discomfort of the unknown.”

Over time, by weaving growth mindset into every part of the company culture and into everything it does, the multinational tech giant has managed to shift itself from a culture of know-it-alls to a culture of learn-it-alls. 

Research overwhelmingly shows that mindsets can and do change. 

You can change your mindset just like changing any other habit. All it requires is a decision and a commitment. You decide to make a shift, and you commit to practicing new actions until the new behaviour becomes routine. 

The same principle underlies physical training. We build our muscles through actions that we repeat over and over, in a focused way. Our brains respond just the same as muscle tissue does: they develop pathways that become stronger and more defined with practice. 

This is what we call neuroplasticity. It’s about the brain’s ability to rewire itself.

NeuroLeadership Institute notes that by making small, lasting changes to everyday habits, “employees can bring to life the priorities of improving themselves, rather than proving themselves, and stay aligned in times of uncertainty.”

And that’s a great thing for any organization in the 21st century. 

“Being extremely adaptive as a company,” Rock says, “will be a winning capability.”

So let this be my call to you, friends, to practice taking a learning stance. To practice openness to new ideas. To believe that you can improve your abilities.

And to understand that, like any of this deep leadership work, it’s all about practice.