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In this episode, I am very excited to share some BIG NEWS with you. The Engineering Career Coach Podcast will have a new host. Many of you might have heard of him on some of our previous episodes or read some of his articles. He is no other than Jeff Perry, MBA, the founder of More than Engineering. In this episode, Jeff talks about how mindsets fuel behavior and how they are the key to career and personal growth. He also shares his goal as a new host of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast.
“Everyone is a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets. You could have a predominant growth mindset in an area, but there can still be things that trigger you into a fixed mindset trait.”
~ Carol S. Dweck
Engineering Quotes:
Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About How Mindsets Fuel Behavior:
- One of the ways to define mindsets is to refer to them as the lenses through which we see the world and the people around us. A bad mindset can distort how we see the people, the challenges, and the opportunities that we face in our lives, whereas a good mindset will allow us to clearly see what we are faced with and help us to move through it more effectively.
- Our mindset really drives what we do, and what we do drives the results and consequences that we get in life.
- When trying to change something in your life or trying to reach a new goal you have, you should not only focus on the behavioral changes, but also focus on your mindset and what you believe. When you neglect your mindset, your mindset is going to pull you right back to where you were before.
- If you can manage to view setbacks in your career and life as opportunities to grow, you will grow tremendously through each interaction you face in your career and life.
- Mindsets can fuel how we see other people. When looking at other people, do you see them as objects that you can gain something from or as an object that is in your way, or do you see them as people who matter like you matter?
Mindsets Can Be Put Into Pairs That Will Allow People to Rate Themselves on a Scale:
Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset
- A growth mindset refers to viewing our own ability and the ability of other people in our lives to continue to grow and develop. A fixed mindset would be when we think we have fixed traits, such as our talents, abilities, or IQ, that we cannot break out of.
- Having a growth mindset and believing that you can continue to grow and improve is much more positive and helps us to believe that we can improve with focused effort and hard work.
Open Mindset vs Closed Mindset
- This is the degree to which we are open to new ideas and suggestions in our lives. Are you open to feedback, even if it is critical, or do you always look for information that confirms your own beliefs? Do you care more about who is right, or what is right?
- Those who have an open mindset will always seek to find what the truth is and invite open communication with others, rather than being the authority themselves.
Promotion Mindset vs Prevention Mindset
- This is to establish where your fear comes from. Someone with a prevention mindset will have a large fear of having problems, having people see their problems, and making mistakes. These people are committed to avoiding discomfort and problems and prefer to play it safe. This can turn into a lot of other negative things that can cause more problems, like micromanaging or reprimanding others.
- Someone with a promotion mindset will always seek to reach more and make more progress, and will be aggressive with their goals.
Inward Mindset vs Outward Mindset
- When we have an inward mindset, we see other people as objects. We often see them as vehicles in our lives to help us get something done, or we can see them as obstacles in our way that need to be removed, or we can even just see them as irrelevant and just don’t care.
- An outward mindset suggests that we should see people who matter like we matter, and that we should be more focused on the success of the group than we are on our own success.
More in This Episode…
In the Take Action Today segment of the show, Jeff provides some great tips on how you can cultivate good mindsets in your career and life.
About Jeff Perry, MBA
Jeff has an uncommon ability to grow people in technical organizations as well as the engineering skills to align culture and teams with innovative, high-tech initiatives. He eagerly shares his passions for culture, creativity, engineering, technology, and good business.
After years spent as a technical contributor/leader in software, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering environments, Jeff decided to become an entrepreneur and started More Than Engineering. His passion is to help technical individuals and leaders use the fundamental principles of science and engineering and apply them to their own leadership and personal growth. To do this, they need to be more than just engineers — they need to be humans who create. Jeff started More Than Engineering, a service to coach and grow engineers beyond their technical skills and increase their positive impact in their organizations and communities.
Using his unique blend of technical and business experience/education with a knack for training and coaching, Jeff can help people see in themselves what they can’t see and achieve more than they thought possible. With his mature outlook on relationships and circumstances, Jeff can quickly rise above and see the big picture to recognize opportunities to solve debilitating issues facing people and projects.
Jeff is a talented speaker and trainer, having delivered presentations and workshops to diverse groups large and small. Personally, Jeff loves making delicious homemade ice cream, visiting county fairs, playing with his two beautiful daughters, and learning new stuff, and he has a goal to jump higher so he can dunk a basketball. Feel free to reach out to Jeff on LinkedIn or at [email protected].
Resources and Links Mentioned in This Session Include:
Connect with Jeff Perry on LinkedIn
How to Land an Engineering Job You Love Masterclass
More Than Engineering
The power of believing that you can improve
Mindset and the Basics of Arbinger’s Work
The Civil Engineering Podcast
This Week in Civil Engineering (TWiCE)
Books Mentioned in the Episode:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
How can mindsets affect behavior?
We would love to hear any questions you might have or stories you might share on how mindsets fuel behavior.
Please leave your comments, feedback, or questions in the section below.
To your success,
Anthony Fasano, P.E., LEED AP
The Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success
