Leadership Growth Mindset: How Growth Mindset and Leadership Go Hand in Hand

Many years ago I was working with a mid-level corporate leader. He was sharp, disciplined, and technically brilliant. However something still held him back. Every time his team failed or missed a target, he responded with frustration: “Why can’t they just get it right?”
He believed leadership meant knowing the answers and always being proven right.

However after months of leadership mindset training, his language changed. Instead of asking, “Why can’t they get it right?” he began asking, “How can we get better?”
That exact shift in mindset, is the beginning of a leadership growth mindset.
Leadership doesn’t grow through certainty. It grows through learning.

Understanding Leadership Growth Mindset

When many hear the phrase leadership growth mindset, they assume it’s about thinking positively or motivating teams. It’s deeper than that. It’s the belief that abilities can be developed through effort, feedback, and practice. It could be about decision-making, communication, or even emotional resilience,
Leaders with a growth mindset don’t try to appear perfect. They strive to improve. They don’t chase validation, they seek evolution. They understand that failure is feedback, not a verdict.
In today’s highly competitive world, this mindset isn’t an advantage,it’s a necessity.

Growth Mindset and Leadership: Learning vs. Knowing

I’ve observed an interesting pattern in corporate leaders. It is about their relationship with mistakes. Some fear them. Some deny them. And some rare people actually use mistakes to rise higher.

The difference? Their approach to learning.

A fixed mindset leader says:
“This is how I am.”
“My team should adapt to me.”

A growth mindset leader asks:
“How can I change to bring out their best?”
“What can we learn from this outcome?”

Growth mindset and leadership go hand in hand because leadership isn’t about being right. It’s about growing right. A leader’s learning appetite sets the learning curve for the entire team. When a leader stops evolving, the teams stagnate.

Thus, true leadership is not knowledge management. It is behaviour development.

Leadership Mindset Training in Real World Scenarios

Leadership isn’t shaped in classrooms; it’s tested in real situations. In my leadership programs, I often ask leaders to note their response during 3 moments:

• when someone disagrees with them,
• when they receive unexpected criticism,
• when plans fail despite effort.

These three situations reveal more about a leader than any résumé or appraisal.
Leadership mindset training focuses on rewiring habitual responses. It helps leaders build:

• curiosity instead of defensiveness,
• responsibility instead of blame,
• resilience instead of frustration,
• empathy instead of ego.

As leadership isn’t tested when things are smooth,it’s true test lies in when things break.

A Lesson from the Bhagavad Gita for Leadership Growth

The Bhagavad Gita has really important leadership lessons. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna doesn’t show Arjuna a shortcut to victory. He doesn’t promise that the war will be easy. He asks Arjuna to act with awareness and not attachment and focus on effort, rather than the outcome.

This is the essence of a growth mindset. The Gita teaches leaders:

Leadership is not about controlling results; it’s about mastering oneself to influence better results.
Leaders must grow internally before they can lead externally, just like Arjuna had to change his mindset before he could change his destiny.

How Growth Mindset Builds Future-Ready Leaders

The economy changes, technologies shift, structures reorganize,but leaders with a growth mindset survive and thrive. They stay curious, learn continuously, and help others grow.
A leader with a growth mindset:

• embraces feedback without fear,
• sees team potential,not limitations,
• encourages experimentation,
• values effort as much as achievement,
• guides with purpose rather than pressure.

They build cultures where people don’t fear failure, they fear stagnation.
This is the leadership of the future : leaders who build ecosystems of growth and
not of control.

Linking Growth Mindset to Personal Leadership Evolution

Leadership growth happens in shifts.
One changed question. One improved habit. One developed strength. One step
at a time.

Leadership is not a destination,it’s an ongoing journey.

Final Thought: Leadership as a Learning Identity

A career might give you a title, but only learning makes you a leader.
You don’t lead because you know more.
You lead because you are willing to grow more.
A growth mindset doesn’t make leadership easier,it makes it meaningful.
It transforms leadership from authority to agility and from control to contribution.For practical exercises and strategies that help you build clarity as a leader, you may find this blog helpful.
As I often remind leaders I work with:

And that discovery begins with the leader’s own mindset.

About Coach Girish Konkar

Cdr. Girish Konkar (Retd.) is a former Indian Navy Submarine Commander turned Leadership & Transformation Coach with over 40 years of experience across military and corporate arenas.
As CEO of Beyond Horizons, he blends experiential tools like NLP, Psych-K®, etc. with strategic insight to empower authentic, resilient leaders. He now dedicates his journey to guiding professionals and organizations toward purposeful leadership, growth, and lasting impact.