Tausi Insider

To master the world you must master yourself, advises Toronto-based executive coach Craig Dowden. And high on the list of what you must master are your mindset, emotions and strengths. Our mindset affects how we process information and affects our experiences. “Imagine you’re getting ready for an upcoming meeting and are thinking, ‘This is going to be torturous and a complete waste of time.’ Guess how the meeting turns out?” he writes in A Time to Lead . Mr. Dowden places great stock in having a “growth mindset,” in which we are energized about new opportunities, rather than a fixed mindset, in which we prefer tasks we already do well and don’t expect to make mistakes. A growth mindset allows us to handle challenges and setbacks better, because we have a more flexible approach. Indeed, for those with a growth mindset, a setback becomes a puzzle to figure out rather than a reason to give up. We are likely to put more effort into improving ourselves because we believe such change is p...