I've been observing how people approach problems - there are commonly two types: problem-solvers and blame-shifters. This divide is evident in social media discussions, where some address issues, while others resort to personal attacks. I spoke with a professor who works on entrepreneurship and mind development on this over the weekend - according to him, those who shift blame lack maturity and have a limited and narrow perspective on life.

I’m reading a book on growth mindset vs fixed mindset by Carol Dweck. It emphasizes shaping intelligence through effort, embracing failure for growth. Fixed mindset individuals see abilities as fixed, avoid challenges, give up easily, nit pick and come with personal attacks. In contrast, a growth mindset believes in developing through dedication, embracing challenges, persisting in setbacks, and finding inspiration in others' success - the folks that talk about issues, not people.

Dweck also suggests exams validate a fixed mindset, limiting growth - especially when one has achieved that A, and assume there is nothing left to learn. Her study with school kids esp underserved kids introduced the concept of "not yet" for failures, encouraging persistence. This approach showed significant changes in how these kids continuously foster effort instead of quitting within a year

If you have some thoughts on what are the differential characteristics between the problem-solvers and blame-shifter, I’d love to know more

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

The easy and cowardly thing to do is shift blame aka pass the buck. I think it’s majority of people and cases.

I respect the person who actually takes responsibility and OWNS their error/failures. It shows bravery and maturity. And willingness to admit their mistakes and grow from it.

Exams and test scores are highly correlated with socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, class and home background of the students so there is bias.

Thanks for zap!

This rings true for me Pam

Those who can own a mistake - their own or one that they’re accountable for - and then shift straight into brainstorming how to prevent a recurrence, minimise future harms - often with a good laugh at themselves .. they’re all about moving forward .. they’re the type of folks i love working with 😊

Rarely, when you get whole teams of people like that, it’s unbelievably wonderful working together: anything is achievable 🔥

This is why the core of nostrocket.org is a problem tracker