It is that time of the year again, a new year is coming up: what goals and resolutions do you have for 2022? The MaastrichtMBA Women Business Network (WBN) is driven by getting the best out of ourselves, by learning from, and supporting each other.

Last Fall, the WBN had the honor of having Ms. Maggie Greenlee, Associate General Counsel at Collins Aerospace, as guest speaker. She gave an inspiring talk about the concept of “Growth Mindset”. Did you know that we all have a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, but that everyone can learn to shift into a growth mindset? Developing a growth mindset helps you understand, embrace and deal with challenges and changes. In current overly changing world and geopolitical landscape, a growth mindset helps you and your team become more adaptable and reach a higher level of achievement. A sustained growth mindset will continuously trigger curiosity, providing sense of progress and of getting better at what we do.

Our human operating system is driven by energy. Our energy level and our state of mind influences how we interact and how we approach certain situations. Higher mood states allow, among others, for perspective and common sense, whereas lower mood states will have a suppressing impact on these behaviors. Ms. Greenlee shared some interesting insights on the mood elevator and how these states can influence our mindset. For example, sometimes one can feel stuck, inflexible and with no space to grow. When facing change, a person in such low energy state, may initially be judgmental or defensive. By recognising the factors that are causing the situation and where one is in the mood elevator, it becomes easier to move upward and to help shifting from a fixed to a growth mindset. As shown in below diagram, being receptive, curious, asking open questions, show appreciation and enabling an open environment, are all key in the sustainment of a growth mindset.

Thank you Ms. Maggie Greenlee for this inspiring talk and the MaastrichtMBA Women Network wishes you all a prosperous growth mindset in 2022!

This article is written by On-Campus MBA students Fernanda Montiel and Kai Yin Or as a recap of a MaastrichtMBA Women Business Network (WBN) session. The MaastrichtMBA Women Business Network is an initiative of MaastrichtMBA students and established based on the need of community engagement among the female students of the MBA programme via networking support for personal and professional growth. MaastrichtMBA is an executive modular part-time MaastrichtMBA programme, has a Triple Crown accreditation and is aimed for professionals with at least 5 years of working experience.