Boundaries Under Fire
Have you ever heard of The Growth Mindset?
Most people interested in mindset, workplace culture, or leadership have likely stumbled upon Carol Dweck and her work, Mindset: The Psychology of Success, or her TEDx talk, The Power of Believing That You Can Improve.
Dweck explored the difference between a Fixed Mindset - stuck in the now - and a Growth Mindset - excited by possibility.
But what sits beneath a Fixed Mindset?
There's a study of sugar cane farmers I quote in The Rhythm Effect showing how we make poorer decisions when we are poor (Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function, Science, 2013).
The study found that when humans experience scarcity (i.e. they don't have enough cash), their IQ falls.
No matter who we are, or what role we hold, our brains stop functioning as well when our bank account - or business results - are going south.
This is called a Scarcity Mindset.
So, if...
A Growth Mindset is about ownership, possibility, and embracing challenge;
A Fixed Mindset is about dodging ownership, getting stuck in problems, and catastrophising challenge;
Then a Scarcity Mindset is about fleeing ownership, fighting problems, and freezing in the midst of challenge.
When we become worried about surviving the next day, quarter, or board meeting, we tend to do silly things.
This often leaks into passive-aggressive or aggressive communication, reactive behaviour, and questionable strategic decisions. No one is too senior or experienced for this all-too-human pitfall.
Reviews, Meetings, and Analysis
Recently, Justin Langer, Head Coach of the Lucknow Super Giants IPL Cricket franchise, wrote:
"Winners have parties. Losers have meetings."
Langer was reflecting on his experience as a professional sportsperson and leader, where losing players and teams tend to paralyse themselves through overanalysis.
"When you’re losing, the meetings multiply. The PowerPoints get longer. Phones light up at midnight. Talking replaces working. Theories replace plans. People start looking sideways instead of forward."
This is the Scarcity Mindset in action.
When executive leaders are feeling the pinch, regaining a sense of control becomes the top priority. Unfortunately, it rarely helps.
In fact, this reaction usually demotivates, distracts, and annoys the very people results depend upon - senior leaders and their teams.
Panic Wants Certainty
Psychologists tell us our brains are not wired for happiness. They are wired for safety. And familiarity creates a sense of safety.
But in a volatile world - where no forecast can offer certainty - what can senior leaders do to manage up, calm the farm, and reduce the scarcity mindset freaking out their executive leaders?
1 . What Can They Expect From You
In a recent coaching session, one of my clients - let's call her Sophie - and I discussed boundaries, expectations, and controllables.
It became clear what Sophie could confidently deliver to her executive:
She could provide a regular cadence of communication and meetings, and follow through on the actions she committed to in strategic discussions. We went hard on divorcing actions from results because forecasted outcomes were not something Sophie could guarantee.
Sophie would provide systemised reporting on team activations, progress updates, and actual vs target performance at appropriate intervals.
To Langer's point, adding more weekly and daily meetings or check-ins wasn't going to improve results. At best, they would become distracting and annoying.
This approach is sensible, gives Sophie a sense of empowerment, and ultimately resets relationship and communication boundaries.
2. What Do You Need From Them
Scope creep enters every leadership role. But when it comes to executive communication, evenings and weekends can creep in and become more than occasional.
It can feel chaotic, overbearing, and overwhelming.
Yet when you desperately need support, your executive can suddenly go absent on you.
I call this the "Deluge or Drought Paradox", where the executive's needs and schedule cause either the deluge of calls and follow-ups or a drought of deafening silence.
There are often good reasons for this paradox, however unproductive it may be. So Sophie had a confrontational conversation with her executive to straighten it out.
She needed consistency. She also needed advocacy, trust, and the right resources to continue delivering the wonderful work she was already doing without unnecessary hiccups or interference.
Sophie had a brilliant track record, so this was more reminder than pitch. (We often forget how valuable and capable we've already proven ourselves to be.)
3. What Does the Situation Demand of the Royal Us
Based on the level of anxiety being projected onto us, we often react in one of two ways:
Passive — we withdraw, go quiet or become overly subservient.
Aggressive — we pre-emptively attack with a host of good news, justifications, or explanations before anyone else gets a word in.
Neither reflects the way leaders of any description show up when they are at their best.
Committing to an assertive doctrine is when we are at our best. Sophie and I worked through what this looks like for her, and how to execute it in the short term and as a practice over time.
An assertive person holds others to account as well as themselves. They listen as much as they speak. They collaborate instead of compete.
Making it clear this is your modus operandi — this week and every week thereafter — is a certainty you can control and deliver, no matter how weird the world gets.
Our world, markets, and organisations are driving even the most experienced leaders into a Scarcity Mindset. See it, recognise it, and lead through it from whatever position you are in.
Those able to nudge the practices, agreements, and thinking towards a Growth Mindset will become the most valuable, stable, and safest hands during the rapid change affecting us all.
