
Why Inclusion Leads to a Growth Mindset
Last week I had the pleasure to moderate a WomenWill Workshop from Google’s Zukunfstwerkstatt in Munich Germany. I had the privilege to meet 72 inspiring women in leadership and we had intensive discussions about a women’s experience as a leader today. During our panel discussion, Maria had the courage to ask quite directly
“Why does everyone measure goal achievement as a successful career and are there other aspects that creates a fulfilling career?
I was thinking quite intensively about Maria’s question and came to three conclusions:
1. Happiness is NOT ONLY Goal Achievement
What makes us really feeling happy and content? It is definitely not only about reaching a goal or a career. We have four major hormones that make us feel happy or content and those four are:
- ENDORPHIN: Is the neurotransmitter that is produced when we keep repetitively doing something, e.g. working out or keeping focussed on one subject
- DOPAMINE: is the hormone that we feel when we have achieved something (reward) and is also produced e.g. when consume cocaine, nicotine or coffee. But it is also the hormone we get when fulfilling our OKRs and finishing our Asana task list.
- SEROTONIN: is the hormone when we feel that we are much appreciated by an inner circle that we bring a great value to our team and we are appreciated. It is also produced when you work as a coach and you empower someone to achieve something.
- OXYTOCIN: is the hormone that we produce when we think into something, when we feel with someone and when we share true love or appreciation for someone. That’s why so many people love the School of Design Thinking workshops since they produce a high level of Oxytocin.
According to a Princeton University Research, people that activate all four neurochemical transmitters will have a 30% more longevity than people that will have an unbalanced happiness level.
2. A balanced happiness level is important for high performing teams
If you work in an environment that is strongly guided on performance level (dopamine) you will of course fulfil probably all your OKRs and goals but you will lack purpose, creativity and empathy to develop something new and innovation will come short and teams will only run to get the next 100m$ turnover together. On the contrary if you would work in a team that is high in appreciation and empathy you would definitely feel happy to work there but maybe your performance goals would lack behind. Especially in the new work area it is even more important to have teams that have the four balanced neurochemical transmitters:
- They have a clear vision, where to go to get endurance and patience
- They have goals to achieve
- They have a high appreciation and empowerment of the individual (yourself and others)
- They have a high level of emotional intelligence to think disruptive and empathic
From this background I agree with Simon Sinek (Why Leaders eat last) we need female and male leaders that have a highly balanced approach that considers to activate all four happiness neurochemical transmitters to give birth and spirit to high-performing and happy teams.
3. Inclusion will help us to develop a growth mindset to leave our default thinking
There is no empirical evidence on this but since I am a woman myself and I am reading a lot about neurology and endocrinology I am coming to the following conjecture:
- By default women tend to have a higher need of Serotonin (confirmation of the outside) as well as oxytocin level hence when we work in a positive environment we feel well accepted and there is a purpose why we invest our time into it. Since per default our testosterone level is not on the same level as for men we do not need the daily kick to get high dopamine doses.
And now please don’t say — “we can’t change, it’s the hormones”. The good thing is that we can exercise our thinking — this is called neuroplasticity and this will also trigger your neurochemical transmitters likewise. So this means women as well as men can change their default mode thinking to activate in a balanced way your four neurochemical transmitters, but this means that you are in the driver seat and you need to have the self-governance to leave your default mode thinking. Hence, if you want to develop a high performing team that uses all four happiness hormones you can develop a growth mindset by leaving your default thinking irrespective if you are a man or a woman. Practice a fullistic mindset on:
- What is my vision (activate your endorphin level with a clear vision)
- What do I want to achieve (activate your dopamine daily)
- Why am I suitable for this and why I am appreciating the people that fight with me (take care of your serotonin level by empowering yourself and others)
- How are the other thinking and feeling and how can I support and give something back (activate your oxytocin level by developing empathy and perspective for colleagues, employees and clients)
The good news with the growth mindset is: It changes immediately and while you mindful change your daily thinking practice you will learn that all of a sudden there are no gender differences anymore it is a beautiful work together to achieve the maximum output as one team. Thank you Maria for opening me the eyes to bring this aspect to our current research “How to develop a Growth Mindset” a framework that is currently developed by Naomi Olofsson , Lea Kalbfell and myself at Amaze Growth.
