The Six Mindsets of Leadership

One of my favorite movie scenes occurs in The Paper Chase. Professor Kingsfield (played excellently by John Houseman) is addressing his first-year students at Harvard Law School. He tells them:

“You came here with a mindful of mush, and if you survive, you will leave here thinking like a lawyer.”

I would love to give a similar speech to my leadership students:

“You came here with a mindful of mush,

and if you survive, you will leave here thinking like a LEADER!”

I just don’t think I could pull it off with a straight face.

Despite my lack of acting ability, I do think there are certain things that are necessary for the development of effective leaders. I call these the six mindsets of leadership.

In the next several posts, I will be explaining these. These are the core issues that I seek to develop in my students and my executive coaching clients.

Here’s the Big Idea:

Leading effectively in the context of an increasingly dynamic and diverse environment requires the development six leadership mindsets.


Do you have the mind of a leader?