Innovation and Change: Picking Leaders

Do you want to succeed in life? Do you want to pick people to help your ministry or company grow? How do we select the right folks? Here is a hint: Get men and women who have a mental map that loves challenges and keeps on trying.

WHY do some people reach their creative potential in business while other equally talented peers don’t?
After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’re ever going to have approach life with what she calls a “fixed mind-set.” Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a “growth mind-set.”
Guess which ones prove to be most innovative over time.
“Society is obsessed with the idea of talent and genius and people who are ‘naturals’ with innate ability,” says Ms. Dweck, who is known for research that crosses the boundaries of personal, social and developmental psychology.
“People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes. But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”
In this case, nurture wins out over nature just about every time.

If You’re Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow
new_york_times:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/business/06unbox.html

By JANET RAE-DUPREE
Published: July 6, 2008

I am kicking off a new ministry at age 70 and I am looking for Seasoned Believers who are not afraid to keep experimenting, growing and learning. I see far too many closed minds in Christianity, especially among Christian leaders.

For example, Christianity Today has some helpful articles and papers on ministry. One is on developing Adult Ministries but they continually use terms like Seniors, Older Adults, Second Half of Life, Aged, etc. Does anyone want to be so identified?

I have registered the name Seasoned Believers (TM) because it focuses on people's attributes and experience not their biology. I am often asked what age a person must be to "join" us. It is not in years of life but experience of living in Christ.

My focus in experience, wisdom, insight, calling and spiritual nurture. As Ms. Rae-Dupree mentions in her article, I want people whose life experiences have opened their eyes to possibility thinking. I want people who think outside the boxes of life and who expect God to break into those boxes.

This is what makes the difference in whether we can really make a difference and I want to make a difference.

Gary Sweeten

http://www.sweetenlife.com/