Course Correct Your Mindset

I was about 30 years old, when Lee Iacocca's autobiography came out. I remember buying it and devouring it. I enjoyed reading about all that he had done, his stint at Ford, how he was Henry Ford's blue-eyed boy and had risen to be President of Ford Motors. Then he moved from there to Chrysler and took Chrysler from the depths where it was to dizzying heights and became Chairman of Chrysler. I am sure that all of you, too, have followed Lee Iacocca's story with some interest.

 

So, it was quite difficult for me when I read Jim Collins' book 'Good To Great', to read about some disturbing things that showed that he didn't have too good an ending. In his later days at Chrysler, there was a sense that he didn't want to give up Chairmanship, that he wasn't really concerned about the company, that he had got into fueling his ego more than seeing the company go on--all of this kind of upset me. I remember thinking that it felt like a hero being brought down. A year back I was talking about this at a seminar in Pune, and somebody came up to me and said, "I revered this man. I've read his book over and over again." I told him, "I have the same sense, but the truth is the truth. This is what happened. At one point, he spent so much money trying to build himself up, that it was a deterrent to the company that he was a part of."

 

In fact, in her book, Carol Dweck says, "He needed to prove his greatness to himself, to Henry Ford, to the world on a larger and larger scale. He spent his company time on things that would enhance his public image. And he spent the company's money on things that would impress Wall Street and hike up Chrysler's top prices. But he did this instead of investing in new car designs or manufacturing improvements that would keep the company profitable in the long run." She goes on to write, "Two million dollars were spent renovating his corporate suite at the Waldorf in New York instead of putting that money into Chrysler where it was sorely needed."

 

The thing that really grabbed me as I was reading all this was that it fed into the fixed mindset. You might remember that some months back I talked about Carol Dweck's book on Mindset and how you can have two kinds of mindsets – the fixed mindset or the growth mindset. The fixed mindset makes you concerned about how you will be judged and the growth mindset makes you concerned with improving yourself. I began to think that it's very easy to move from a growth mindset that we have, which is good, to a fixed mindset which we might get into, which not be so good. And, it can happen very smoothly.

 

Ego has a way of getting in the way of progress.

 

What would be a good growth mindset?

·       Am I constantly trying to improve?

·       Do I surround myself with the most able people that I can find?

·       Do I look squarely at my mistakes and deficiencies, and try to improve on them?

·       Do I ask myself what skills are needed for myself and my company so that we can go into the future in a much better way?

Are these the questions we are asking, and if they are, then we're in a good place. But if we're not, and the focus is on us, then somehow, maybe this is a good time to do a checklist and say: Do I need to make a course correction? Do I need to realign with some of the purposes that I had some years back?

 

In our Holy Scriptures, there's a place where Paul is talking to the people at Galatia and he makes this observation. It's pretty harsh yet pertinent. He says, and I paraphrase: You're foolish! You started out with the Spirit of God leading you. And now you are being led by your own motives, your own self, your own ego.  What's the underlying implication?  That you had a growth mindset when you started—open to God's counsel and advice and growth plans, but now you've slipped into a fixed mindset that is focused around yourself, your plans and your limited understanding.

 

And you and I could be in the same position today.  Maybe we didn't start out with God's wonderful guidance but the good news is that He is still the best One to help us make a course correction today.  Why?  Because He sees the big picture, and He has our best interests at heart.  So maybe today would be a good day to turn to Him and say: "Lord, am I in the right place? Have I missed the plot? Am I going down a wrong street?" Would you please help me do a course-correct? And my confident closing line is this: HE WILL!

 

May I pray with you? Almighty God, to You we yield this morning. We come to You because You have the big picture of our lives. You see everything. We ask You, if we need to make course corrections today, would You help us? Would You give each one who reads this post the wisdom to do what we need to do, to be where we ought to be, rather than where we may be. And we ask this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.

 

·       Iacocca: An autobiography.=C2=A0https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/486319.Iacocca

·       Carol S. Dweck, "Mindset: The New  Psychology of Success.=C2=A0htt= ps://www.amazon.in/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322/ref=3Dsr_= 1_1?ie=3DUTF8&qid=3D1511235113&sr=3D8-1&keywords=3Dmindset+the+= new+psychology+by+carol+dweck

·       Bible reference: Galatians 3:3