I am excited to announce that I have a new version of my mindset assessment results.
If you want to take the mindset assessment to see the new results you can do so here: Personal Mindset Assessment.
The changes are small but, I believe, quite significant.
In the past, I have used the labels of “Negative” and “Positive” to connote the opposing ends of the mindset continuums as follows:
I have never loved these labels, but, until recently, I haven’t been able to come up with anything better.
Now, I am using the labels of “Self-Protective” and “Value Creating:”
Inspiration for the New Labels
These new labels came together as a culmination of three different perspectives related to recent learnings associated with vertical development:
First Perspective
When looking at personal development through the lens of adult development theory, we find that there are three primary levels of adult development:
The more people are toward the bottom of these levels, the more self-protective they are (wired to seek safety, comfort, and belonging). And, the more people are toward the top of these levels, the more value creating they are (wired to put off their own self-protective or ego interests for something greater than themselves).
Second Perspective
The more I have sought to understand vertical development, including how to identify one’s vertical development altitude and how to go about vertically developing, I have been led to research related to psychological trauma.
To make a long story short, I have learned that our body, specifically our nervous system, is designed to take drastic action when we encounter stress that exceeds our current capacity to deal with stress. The drastic action that our body takes leads to alterations to how our nervous system operates. These alterations generally involve dissociation, hypervigilance, or both.
The reason why our body engages in these alterations amongst significant stress is because our nervous system is designed to keep us alive and protect us from significant stress. And, these alterations are designed to protect us in the moment, and protect us from experiencing similar stress in the future.
Stated differently, when we experience psychological trauma, our body becomes wired for self-protection. While this helps ensure our safety, it also inhibits our ability to operate in a value creating way.
(If you are interested in this topic, check out my TED Talk: How to Fix Leadership Development | Ryan Gottfredson | TEDxColeParkStudio.)
Third Perspective
I am always looking for ways to help people connect to the concepts associated with vertical development. And, one approach that seems to work well is to explain that we have two sides of ourselves:
- Our DOING Side – This represents our talent, knowledge, skills, and abilities
- Our BEING Side – This represents our character, psyche, consciousness, and mindsets
While this has been a helpful approach, it has forced me to figure out how to best communicate what exactly is our BEING Side.
And, if I combine my thinking around adult development theory (first perspective), trauma (second perspective), and my mindset continuum, a very clear explanation for our BEING Side unveils itself:
Our BEING Side is the degree to which our body’s internal operating system (i.e., nervous system) is wired for self-protection versus value creation.
Improving My Mindset Assessment Results
With this understanding, I believe a more accurate way to depict the mindset continuums (fixed-growth, closed-open, prevention-promotion, inward-outward) is to use the labels: ‘Self-Protective” and “Value Creating.”
To me, this puts less of a stigma on one’s Personal Mindset Assessment results that have previously used the labels of “negative” and “positive.”
The reality is that we all have some self-protective wiring, and the more we can awaken to and own that, the more able we are going to be to vertically develop, elevate along our BEING Side, and become more value creating.
Again, if you want to see the new version of my Personal Mindset Assessment, click here: Personal Mindset Assessment.
2 Responses
Thanks for the explanation Ryan. I like how you integrated various models into a new perspective that better represents the underlying dynamics. Self-protection in and of itself needed be inherently “negative” — it simply doesn’t result in the more desirable value creation on the other end of the spectrum. Nicely done! Any way for previous instances of the assessment to be re-reported with the updated scales?
Thanks for the explanation Ryan. I like how you integrated various models into a new perspective that better represents the underlying dynamics. Self-protection in and of itself needn’t be inherently “negative” — it simply doesn’t result in the more desirable value creation on the other end of the spectrum. Nicely done! Any way for previous instances of the assessment to be re-reported with the updated scales?