This describes nursing education and error disclosure. When students learn in a Culture of Growth, they are more likely to ask questions and speak up when an error is made. However, many evaluations and assessments are modeled after a prove-and-perform mindset.

This is a vision statement: it gives a purpose to cultivating growth cultures, not just for elite performers but for everyone.

Meanwhile in Cultures of Genius, data were often siloed by strong gatekeepers. In some of the companies we interviewed, it could take months for IT to provide the data that people had requested—and often we saw data teams hoarding information and reluctantly sharing it only when a senior leader insisted on the information. Ironically, in Cultures of Genius we saw leaders more likely to rely on their gut and intuition rather than consult the numbers (when we know that optimal decision-making is a function of both data and intuition).”

Equally important, I avoid concealing my own limitations. A key part of my growth as a teacher has been learning to acknowledge that I do not know everything about every topic I teach. At times, impostor syndrome can make me feel uneasy about this, but I find greater peace in being transparent. My students deserve to know that their instructor is also human, still learning and growing alongside them.

In this sense, my experience as a fencer has influenced my teaching philosophy. In fencing, a true Master is not defined by being undefeated, but by guiding students to eventually surpass him. I believe the same applies in education: my role is not to be infallible, but to prepare my students to think critically, to challenge, and even to outgrow me.

This approach communicates to students care—I care about their development, their resilience, and their ability to engage meaningfully with knowledge. Much like the “Culture of Growth” described in the excerpt, my teaching philosophy emphasizes accessibility, shared responsibility, and trust, which are all signs of genuine care for students as individuals.

This is exactly how I experienced graduate school, and it was SO SO toxic!! I have spent much of my career unlearning the dehumanized way people in my discipline so often communicate with one another. There's no reason for that!

This reminder that we all have moments where we take a fixed mindset to things is important as is the insight that we can make changes to the environment to encourage a growth mindset, whether we are working with employees or students. For me this also called to mind some of the insights from another book I am currently reading 10 to 25. The Science of Motivating Young People by David Yeager. Yeager suggests 5 specific "mentor mindset" practices for fostering motivation: Transparency, Questioning, Reframing Stress, Purpose, Belonging.

I'm often drawn to theories that center a continuum rather than polarized views of a "thing." Humans aren't simple- they are nuanced and complex.