Mindset : The New Psychology of Success pdfdrive com

Invulnerable, Invincible, and Entitled
Iacocca, Dunlap, Lay and Skilling, Case and Levin. They show what can happen
when people with the fixed mindset are put in charge of companies. In each case,
a brilliant man put his company in jeopardy because measuring himself and his
legacy outweighed everything else. They were not evil in the usual sense. They
didn’t  set  out  to  do  harm.  But  at  critical  decision  points,  they  opted  for  what
would  make  them  feel  good  and  look  good  over  what  would  serve  the  longer-
term  corporate  goals.  Blame  others,  cover  mistakes,  pump  up  the  stock  prices,
crush rivals and critics, screw the little guy—these were the standard operating
procedures.
What is fascinating is that as they led their companies toward ruin, all of these
leaders  felt  invulnerable  and  invincible.  In  many  cases,  they  were  in  highly
competitive  industries,  facing  onslaughts  from  fierce  rivals.  But  they  lived  in  a
different reality.
It  was  a  world  of  personal  greatness  and  entitlement.  Kenneth  Lay  felt  a
powerful  sense  of  entitlement.  Even  as  he  was  getting  millions  a  year  in
compensation from Enron, he took large personal loans from the company, gave
jobs and contracts to his relatives, and used the corporate jets as his family fleet.
Even during bad years at Chrysler, Iacocca threw lavish Christmas parties for the
company elite. At every party, as king, he presented himself with an expensive
gift, which the executives were later billed for. Speaking about AOL executives,
a former official said, “You’re talking about men who thought they had a right to
anything.”
As  these  leaders  cloaked  themselves  in  the  trappings  of  royalty,  surrounded
themselves with flatterers who extolled their virtues, and hid from problems, it is

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no  wonder  they  felt  invincible.  Their  fixed  mindset  created  a  magic  realm  in
which the brilliance and perfection of the king were constantly validated. Within
that  mindset,  they  were  completely  fulfilled.  Why  would  they  want  to  step
outside that realm to face the uglier reality of warts and failures?
As  Morgan  McCall,  in  his  book  High  Flyers,  points  out,  “Unfortunately,
people often like the things that work against their growth….People like to use
their  strengths…to  achieve  quick,  dramatic  results,  even  if…they  aren’t
developing the new skills they will need later on. People like to believe they are
as  good  as  everyone  says…and  not  take  their  weaknesses  as  seriously  as  they
might. People don’t like to hear bad news or get criticism….There is tremendous
risk…in leaving what one does well to attempt to master something new.” And
the fixed mindset makes it seem all that much riskier.