Dividing Walls vs. House Walls symbolise Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset

CorporateNature No 136

Opportunities in life come and go. These opportunities are not equal for everyone. But while you cannot pick your parents or choose where to be born, you have control over using what you have. You can use your assets and skills productively or destructively. Would you choose to unite or to divide?

1. The Wall as a Dividing Barrier

Building a wall as a barrier is the epitome of negativity: its purpose is to divide, not to unite. Your wall may be guarding what you already have or blocking others from accessing what you have, but it will also be keeping anything new and valuable from coming to you from the outside. In the short run a wall may work to your advantage but in the long run it will limit your potential to reach out to the world and achieve more.

2. The Walls of a House

Building walls to support the roof of a building is an entirely different type of wall. The walls of a house also serve as a divider but they merely separate the inside from the weather conditions outside. The walls of a house create a hospitable place for a home or a family within them. A house also connects to the outside world through the gaps in the walls we call windows and doors.

3. Fixed vs. Growth Mindset

The difference between dividing walls and constructive walls is the same difference as between the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. The Chinese proverb says it all: 

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风向转变时,有人筑墙,有人造风车

"When the wind of change blows, some build walls, while others build windmills."

House (image source: Wikipedia) 

Dung beetles and Notepad apps remove all paraphernalia

 CorporateNature No 135

1. Dung Beetle

Dung beetles are known for collecting dung and rolling it into balls which they use for food or for breeding their larvae in it. By acting out this behaviour, they play an important role in nutrient recycling: removing waste and improving soil structure and fertility. They create a level playing field out of the diverse processes in life.

2. Notepad App

The humble Notepad app performs a similar role in the computer world. By removing all formatting, fonts and styles, the Notepad programme removes the distracting bells and whistles of the internet era. This allows you to concentrate on the ideas and real writing can flourish. It is a very egalitarian and meritocratic type of tool because it makes everything equal in format. 

3. Death: the ultimate leveller

People may be rich or poor while alive, but once they are dead they are equally dead and nothing else matters. This is a universal truth we often forget or choose to ignore: It doesn’t matter how much “crap” (material or otherwise) you accumulate in a lifetime, the outcome is all the same.

Dung Beetle (image source: Wikipedia)