“What do you mean you can’t fix it? We pay you $16.00 an hour to know this stuff!” Folks, if anyone ever says this to you it’s time to start looking for greener pastures. First of all, $16.00 an hour to be an expert in HVAC, plumbing, electrical, appliance repair, carpentry, trash hauling, and swimming pools is an insult. Then on top of that, they want you to be perfect and know everything?! RUN!
You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to know everything. Nor should you be expected to be perfect and know everything. I get a lot of messages from techs and office staff around the world telling me about their property manager or a supervisor who is constantly nagging or belittling them if they make a mistake or don’t know how to fix something because they’ve never done it before. And we wonder why the apartment maintenance trade is a revolving door and no one is applying! People don’t quit jobs. They quit bad leadership.
A fixed mindset is what these terrible leaders have. People with a fixed mindset expect themselves and those around them to be a finished product, not a work-in-progress. In other words, learning, effort, and growth is a weakness. “You must be a failure if you don’t already know this stuff,” is their way of thinking. They rely on talent to carry them through and expect others to be next to perfect and just as talented. Even if you’re fairly new to the job! And, when things don’t go right they have to protect themselves by pointing fingers and blaming instead of relaxing, releasing, and taking charge. The mark of a true leader is the ability to win and inspire when things aren’t quite right.
Any kind of learning experience that requires effort is a threat to their intelligence. They can’t stand it! Therefore, they walk around grumpy a lot because life has no shortage of challenges where learning, effort, and patience is required. A fixed mindset does not allow the luxury of becoming. They have to already be and want those around them to already be as well. With a fixed mindset it’s judge and be judged.
So, what’s the alternative? The alternative is a growth mindset. That’s the mindset that all great people from the past and present have had. Keys to a growth mindset are knowing that effort is a good thing and does not threaten your intelligence. People with a growth mindset look forward to problems, helping others and are themselves life long students. Where a fixed mindset is judge and be judged. A growth mindset is learn and help learn.
Leaders with a growth mindset know that life is all about the solving and management of problems, not the elimination of them. When one problem gets solved, a new one will always appear. With a growth mindset you’re never worried about mistakes because you know that you will always be an unfinished human being. Like a piece of clay that’s always learning, growing, shifting, and being squeezed into a better version.
So techs, managers and leasing agents you do not have to be perfect or know everything. However, you DO have to always be growing and learning from your mistakes and the mistakes of those around you with a good attitude.
This is just the Cliff’s notes on fixed and growth mindsets. If you’re a manager, a supervisor, a parent, or someone who would like to one day be in a leadership position, I implore you to read the book Mindset by Carol Dwek. It will change you and you will become a better leader or parent. Did you know that telling your kid, “Wow you’re so smart! You must be a genius.” does more harm than good? This book will tell you why and it’s based on facts backed up by years and years of science and child development experiments.
If you’re busy and don’t have time to read, I totally understand. However, you should try audiobooks. I’ve fallen in love with audiobooks and have turned my truck into a rolling university. Click here and you’ll get 2 audiobooks for FREE!
Although I’ve never been a tyrant with a fixed mindset, this book pointed to some things I needed to work on and it’s helped a lot. You’ll read about sports stars who fell from grace because of their fixed mindset and sports stars who are still on top today because of their growth mindset. You’ll hear about a teacher who took kids labeled “mentally challenged” and had them reading Shakespeare and Tolstoy with straight A’s within a year in her classroom. Also, you’ll read about multiple companies that got destroyed due to fixed mindset leadership.
This book is a treat to share with you because I know that it is a missing piece that a lot of you have been looking for. And remember, perfect is great! But, you don’t have to be.
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