Welcome back. In the our last episode, we explored how to see the world through a new lens—how to identify the core beliefs, behaviors, and interview stories that separate a growth mindset from a fixed one. We talked about gardens vs. statues, observing people under pressure, and interviewing for lessons learned from failure. But identifying this powerful trait is only half the battle. How do you move from simply spotting it to systematically building a team full of people who embody it? Today’s article is about action and architecture. We’ll cover three more concepts designed to help you build a hiring process that actively attracts and selects for a growth mindset, moving from theory to blueprint. If you have a friend in HR, recruiting, or any kind of leadership role, they might appreciate these strategies. As before, a visual summary awaits you at the end of the page. Let’s dive in.
Bonus Resources for Paid Subscribers
Work Sample Test Builder — A downloadable template to design realistic, open-ended challenges for common roles, with instructions for adding a meaningful twist.
Job Description Rewrite Pack — Before-and-after examples of growth-mindset-oriented job posts, including copywriting tips and plug-in phrases.
Growth Mindset Scorecard Kit — A printable scorecard with definitions for 1/5/10 scores on skills, experience, and mindset—plus facilitation tips for hiring teams.
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1. THE MINDSET FILTER: BEYOND THE CONVERSATION
Watch what they do, not what they say.
Interviews are essential, but they are still a conversation, not a performance. People can be coached to give the "right" answers, especially when talking about past failures. To truly assess a candidate’s mindset, you need to see it in action. This is where well-designed work samples and assessments come in. They act as a filter, moving beyond what a person says they would do to what they actually do when faced with a realistic challenge. These aren’t generic personality quizzes; they are bespoke tests that simulate the real problems the candidate would face in the role.
Imagine you're hiring a data analyst. You could give them a messy, incomplete dataset and ask them to clean it and pull three key insights. The final report is only part of the evaluation. The real gold is in their process. Do they give up when they hit a roadblock? Do they complain that the data is bad? Or do they get creative, state their assumptions clearly, and explain the steps they took to overcome the data’s limitations? You can even add a collaborative element. After they submit their work, give them a piece of constructive feedback or a new piece of information that challenges their conclusion, and ask them how they would revise their approach. Their response to this unexpected twist is a powerful real-time indicator of their resilience and willingness to learn.
Screening for mindset with a work sample is like a chef's "stage" (pronounced 'staahj')—a working interview in a restaurant kitchen.
A chef can talk all day about their culinary philosophy, but it's only when they’re given a box of mystery ingredients and asked to create a dish under pressure, amidst the chaos of a real service, that the restaurant can see their true skill, creativity, and ability to handle stress and collaborate with the team.
What It Looks Like In Action
“For the final stage of our interview process for the Senior Content Strategist role,” explained David, the hiring manager, “we have a short practical exercise. We’ve provided a brief for a fictional company whose blog engagement has dropped by 50% in the last six months. We’d like you to outline a three-point plan to turn it around. You have 45 minutes.”
One candidate, Sarah, quickly typed up a plan based on standard industry practices and submitted it in 30 minutes.
The other candidate, Ben, used the full 45 minutes. His plan began with a series of questions: “Before executing a plan, we need to diagnose the 'why.' My first step would be to analyze which posts saw the biggest drop-offs, survey the remaining audience about their changing needs, and perform a competitive analysis. Based on those potential findings, here are three different strategies we could deploy…”
After time was up, David threw in the twist. “Thank you both. Now, imagine you just learned the company’s entire marketing budget was cut in half. How does that change your plan?”
Sarah hesitated. “Well, that makes my plan impossible. We couldn’t execute it without the budget.”
Ben’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great challenge. It forces creativity. We’d scrap any paid promotion and pivot to a purely organic strategy. My focus would immediately shift to collaborative content with industry partners and a guerrilla-style social media campaign built on user-generated content. The constraint is the opportunity.”
Remember:
If someone thrives under challenge, they likely have a growth mindset—so test them with a challenge.
Do It:
Design a Test. For a role you are hiring for (or your own role), design a simple, 1-hour work sample test. It should reflect a real-world problem and be open-ended enough to allow for multiple solutions. Like David's challenge, it should test how a person thinks.
Add a Twist. Incorporate a sudden change of constraints into your test. This could be a budget cut, a change in project goals, or unexpected negative feedback. The goal is to see how the candidate reacts when their initial plan is disrupted.
Evaluate Process. When reviewing a candidate's work, create two columns for your notes: "Outcome" and "Process." Pay more attention to the process column. How did they handle ambiguity? Did they state their assumptions? What was their reaction to the twist?
2. WEAVING THE MINDSET THREAD: FROM JOB POST TO OFFER
What you signal, you attract.
Hiring for a growth mindset can’t be a single step in a larger process; it has to be the thread that ties the entire process together. If this quality is truly important to you, you must signal it from the very first point of contact: the job description. Too many job posts are a laundry list of required experiences and qualifications—a fixed-mindset approach that screens people out. A growth-mindset-oriented job description, however, focuses on the challenges to be solved and the opportunities to learn.
Instead of “Must have 5 years of experience with X software,” try “You’ll be working on complex challenges that will require you to rapidly learn and adapt new technologies.” Instead of “Proven track record of success,” try “We’re looking for someone who learns from setbacks and is excited by the challenge of turning failure into progress.” This language attracts people who are energized by learning, not just those who want to leverage what they already know. This thread should continue through the entire process—from training interviewers to look for mindset cues (as discussed in Part 1) to making it an explicit criterion on the final hiring scorecard, weighted just as heavily as technical skill or experience.
Building a hiring process around a growth mindset is like composing a piece of music.
You don't just write one beautiful instrument's part. You create a core musical theme—the growth mindset—and then you thoughtfully arrange it for every instrument in the orchestra, from the quiet flute introduction (the job post) to the powerful string section (the interviews) and the crashing cymbals of the final decision (the offer). The theme is present everywhere, creating a cohesive and powerful final piece.
What It Looks Like In Action
The HR team was reviewing their hiring scorecard for a new engineering role.
“Okay,” said Maria, the head of talent. “Technical skills: 9/10. Experience: 8/10. Culture fit: 7/10.”
Liam, a recruiter, interjected. “But what about the growth mindset score? Remember, we added that section last month.”
Maria looked at her notes. “Right. Based on his answer to the failure question and his performance on the coding challenge where we changed the requirements halfway through, I’d give him a 5/10. He got really flustered and complained about the change-up.”
“The other candidate scored lower on experience—a 6/10,” Liam added. “But she scored a 9/10 on the mindset evaluation. She was energized by the challenge and talked about how much she learned just from the interview process itself.”
David, the hiring manager, nodded. “We’ve made the mistake of hiring for experience over mindset before. A year from now, who do we think will be the more valuable team member? The person who starts with more knowledge, or the person who is better at acquiring it? Let’s go with the learner.”
Remember:
If you want people to learn and adapt, your hiring process must show that you value learning and adaptation.
Do It:
Rewrite a Post. Find a current job description from your company or a company you admire. Rewrite it using growth-mindset language. Focus on challenges, learning, and collaboration instead of just listing required qualifications. Notice how the feel of the role changes.
Build a Scorecard. Create a simple hiring scorecard with three sections: Skills, Experience, and Growth Mindset. Define what a 1, 5, and 10 looks like for the mindset category. For your next hiring decision, use it. Like the team in the story, it will force a more balanced conversation. Paid subscribers, see an example Growth-Mindset Score Card in the Not Theoretical Resources link under Episode 17.
Audit Your Language. For one week, pay attention to how you and your colleagues talk about roles and performance. Do you praise people for being "brilliant" and "talented" (fixed), or for being "persistent," "curious," and "great learners" (growth)? Small shifts in language can have a big impact on culture.
3. THE GROWTH ADVANTAGE AND ITS CAVEATS: A BALANCED PERSPECTIVE
Mindset is power—only if the system supports it.
Embracing a growth mindset in your hiring process can be profound. It leads to building teams that are more resilient, more innovative, and better equipped to handle the relentless pace of change in the modern world. Companies filled with learners can pivot faster, solve harder problems, and maintain higher levels of engagement. The long-term advantage is a workforce that doesn’t just perform tasks, but constantly evolves its capabilities. This creates a culture where feedback is a gift, challenges are opportunities, and the entire organization gets smarter over time.
However, a noble concept can be poorly applied. One major pitfall is the risk of "false growth mindset," where people learn the right buzzwords but don't actually live by the principles. They talk about loving challenges but crumble at the first sign of real adversity. Another serious concern is that an oversimplified focus on mindset can lead to bias, where a manager might label someone as "fixed" simply because their communication style is different or because they are more introverted or cautious. It's crucial to remember that mindset is not a fixed binary; it's a spectrum. We all have a mix of both, and we can be pushed towards one or the other by the environment we are in. The goal isn't to hire a team of perfect growth-minded clones, but to build a culture that actively encourages and develops a growth mindset in everyone.
Adopting a growth mindset philosophy in a company is like installing a powerful new engine in a car.
If installed correctly and maintained with the right fuel and care, it can dramatically increase the car’s speed, efficiency, and overall performance. But if it's installed carelessly, without upgrading the brakes and suspension (the cultural support systems), or if the driver uses it recklessly, that same powerful engine can cause the car to spin out of control. The power itself isn't good or bad; its value depends entirely on the system built around it.
What It Looks Like In Action
Two managers, Kenji and Liam, were discussing a new hire, Anya, who was struggling.
“I’m not sure Anya is working out,” Liam said with a sigh. “She seems to have a real fixed mindset. She’s hesitant to take on the new project and keeps talking about how she wasn’t trained on our specific software.”
Kenji considered this. “I see it a bit differently. I don’t think she has a fixed mindset, I think our onboarding process put her into one. We threw her into the deep end without a paddle and told her to swim. No wonder she’s afraid of failing. Have we praised her for the effort she’s putting in just to keep up? Have we explicitly given her permission to take time to learn and make mistakes?”
Liam paused. “No, I guess we haven’t. We just expected her to be an expert from day one.”
“Exactly,” Kenji replied. “Let’s not label her. Let’s change her environment. Let’s give her a small, manageable project with a clear learning objective and praise her for the progress she makes. My bet is we’ll see a different Anya.”
Remember:
If you expect people to grow, you must also create an environment where growth is possible.
Do It:
Look Inward. Before evaluating someone else's mindset, ask yourself: "What is my organization or team doing that might be pushing people towards a fixed mindset?" Do you punish failure? Do you only reward flawless performance? As Kenji did, focus on the environment first.
Praise Wisely. Make a conscious effort to praise effort, strategy, and resilience rather than just successful outcomes. Say, "I saw how you handled that client's objection—that was a brilliant strategy," instead of just "Great job closing the deal."
Conduct a Premortem. When starting a new project, instead of just planning for success, hold a "premortem." Ask the team, "Imagine it’s six months from now and this project has failed. What went wrong?" This makes it safe to discuss potential obstacles and fosters a mindset of proactive problem-solving, not just performance.
TYING IT TOGETHER
Great teams aren’t found—they’re designed.
Building a team that thrives on challenges is an architectural endeavor. It starts by recognizing that interviews alone aren't enough, and that seeing a candidate's mind at work through practical assessments provides a much clearer picture (The Mindset Filter). This philosophy then needs to be systematically woven into every part of your talent acquisition, from the language in your job posts to the criteria on your final scorecards, creating a coherent and powerful signal of what you truly value (Weaving the Mindset Thread).
Finally, we must approach this with wisdom, understanding that mindset is a powerful tool but not a panacea. It's a quality to be cultivated in everyone, not a label to be slapped on a few, requiring us to build a supportive culture where it’s safe to learn and grow (The Growth Advantage and Its Caveats).
Take one of these more structural ideas and discuss it with your team. Could you implement a work-sample test for your next hire? What would it look like? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments. And as always, a summary infographic is waiting for you just below.
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