“No one is less ready for tomorrow than the person who holds the most rigid beliefs about what tomorrow will contain.”

— Watts Wacker, Jim Taylor and Howard Means
The Visionary’s Handbook: Ten Paradoxes That Will Shape the Future of Your Business (1999)

Those rigid schemata are the topic of Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset.  Carol Dweck is professor of psychology at Stanford, and in her book she writes: “Students who hold a fixed (rigid) view of their intelligence care so much about looking smart that they act dumb.”  In what ways do people with a “fixed” mindset act dumb you may ask?

In her book she describes students who give up chances to learn new things for fear that in the process they may appear less intelligent.  Subconsciously, people with a “fixed” mindset think to themselves, “What if I don’t know what I’m about to learn…someone may think I’m not smart, and my self-image couldn’t handle that.”  Dweck writes, “What could be dumber than giving up a chance to learn something that is essential for your own success?”

What could be dumber than giving up an opportunity to create something worth talking about – something that optimizes the human experience – because you believe that the future is fixed?  Believing that your future is “fixed” is like believing your intelligence is “fixed.”  That thinking is at odds with the growth mindset -a  mindset in coherence with genesis – a mindset inspired by eternal life.

“The mind governed by the flesh is death (finished, final, fixed), but the mind governed by the Spirit is life (alive, maturing, growing) and peace.”

– Romans 8:6

If the life resonating from God is infinitely abundant, and Jesus put the power of this life on display when he rose from the dead,  why is it that many Christian businessmen govern in such a way as to “suck the life” from their stakeholders?

Could it be due to a lack of vision – vision for the future that Jesus prayed for – vision for a future where the kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven?

“Where there is no vision the people perish.”

— Proverbs 29:18

Let me encourage you not to “…conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Seek a vision for your company that resonates to the abundant life in God and maximizes well-being for all of your stakeholders.  This will exercise your faith.  You may not always be able to see your way forward.  Remember, vision is more valuable than visibility.

“The only way to predict the future is to build it.”

– Alan Kay, Computer Scientist, pioneer of object oriented programming and graphical user interfaces

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