The Growth Catalyst: How Learning Leaders Model a Growth Mindset

Let’s start with an observation. 

The old hypothesis of leadership was built on the “leader as expert.” This was the leader who had all the answers, the one who had seen it all before. For a time, this model worked. But in today’s environment of rapid, constant change, we’ve observed that this model creates bottlenecks, burns out the leader, and disengages the team.

A new, more effective hypothesis is emerging: the leader as the “chief experimenter” or “lead learner.”

This is the leader who, instead of having all the answers, has the best questions. They understand that their most critical function isn’t to mandate continuous improvement from a memo, but to model it with their own observable behaviors.

This is the very essence of a growth mindset in action. The greatest contribution a modern leader can make is to create a culture of learning, and that culture starts with them.

If we want to build a “lab” filled with curious, growth-oriented people, we have to start at the entry point: our hiring process.

This requires a fundamental shift in our talent hypothesis. For decades, the dominant experiment was “Hire for past skills.” We used the resume as a historical document, a record of what a person already knew.

But what is the half-life of a technical skill today? In some fields, it’s less than two years. The “known” becomes obsolete faster than ever.

This is why learning agility is becoming the top hiring priority for high-performing organizations.

We define learning agility as a deep, observable curiosity. It’s the willingness to unlearn old models, learn from new experiences, and—most importantly—apply those lessons to novel, unfamiliar situations. It is the “how-to-learn” muscle.

This new hypothesis changes our hiring questions. We’re shifting from:

• “What do you know?”
• …to “How did you learn that?”

We’re moving from:

• “Describe your expertise.”
• …to “Tell me about the last time you were wrong and what you learned from it.”

We aren’t just hiring for a set of skills; we are hiring for the potential to acquire any skill.

So, if we hire for learning agility, how do we activate it? We need a framework, a reliable model for understanding how growth actually happens.

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) provided a brilliant one with the 70/20/10 model. It’s a hypothesis for how human beings truly learn in a professional environment.

It posits that our development is a blend of three types of learning:

• The 10% (Formal Learning): This is the “Download.” It’s the unidirectional transfer of content. It’s the book, the lecture, the podcast, the webinar, or the certification course. This is the “what”—the new idea, the spark, the catalyst.
• The 20% (Social Learning): This is the “Dialogue.” This is where we make sense of the 10%. It’s the back-and-forth dialogue where we discuss the idea with peers, mentors, and our leaders. We debate it, question it, and connect it to our work.
• The 70% (Experiential Learning): This is the “Lab.” This is where learning becomes behavior. It’s where we play and practice, experiment with the concepts, and put it into action. This is the messy, “stretch-zone” work where true integration happens.

Now, here is the observation that reveals our greatest opportunity:

Many organizations have built a strong foundation with the 10%. We buy the books, pay for the courses, and provide the content. But we often stop there. The greatest opportunity for amplifying our investment in our people lies in activating the other 90%. We’re funding the download, but we’re not always creating the space for the dialogue or the lab.

This brings us to the core of the Learning Leader. If you are a leader, your team is watching you. They are gathering data on what you actually value, not just what you say.

If your team only sees you recommend a book (the 10%), they’ll assume learning is a solitary, theoretical activity. To build a true learning culture, you must visibly model all three parts of the framework.

This is the answer to the question, “How are we modeling?”

This is the easiest step, but it requires being public.

• Instead of: Reading a book on leadership in private.
• Do this: Say in a team meeting, “I’m starting a new book on team dynamics, and I’ll share any interesting insights.” Or, “I just listened to a podcast on client communication. I’m putting 30 minutes on my calendar to take notes.”

Why it works: You are signaling that learning is a normal, active, and current part of your job—not something you did 10 years ago.

This is where you model intellectual humility and curiosity.

• Instead of: Announcing a new “best practice” as a final decision.
• Do this: Bring your 10% learning to the team as a question. “I read this article (10%) that suggests a new way to run sprint planning, but I’m not sure how it applies to our specific team. What’s your take on it? Where are the holes in this idea?”

Why it works: You are explicitly inviting dialogue and co-creation. You’re shifting from “leader as expert” to “leader as convener.” You show that ideas are meant to be debated and improved, creating psychological safety for others to speak up.

This is the most powerful and vulnerable step. This is where you model growth.

• Instead of: Only trying new things that you know will work.
• Do this: Announce your experiment. “Based on our discussion (20%), I’m going to try running our next project meeting differently. I’m experimenting with a ‘silent start’ for the first 10 minutes. It might feel different, but I’d love your feedback afterward.”

Why it works: This is the ultimate act of modeling a growth mindset. You are giving your team explicit permission to “play and practice.” You are showing them that it’s not just okay to experiment—it’s expected. You are modeling that “perfection” is not the goal; “learning” is.

Once you have established your own pattern of modeling, your next step is to activate this same 70/20/10 cycle in your direct reports. This is how you inspire and encourage them to own their growth.

This happens in your daily interactions, especially in your 1:1s.

Your 1:1s are the most potent “lab” you have. Shift the conversation from being purely tactical to being developmental.

• Move from just asking, “What’s your status?”
• …to also asking, “What did you learn this week?” or “What experiment did you run?” or “What’s a small “test” we could run on that project?”

A leader’s job is to be a “resource broker” for their team’s growth.

• To fuel the 10%: “I’ve protected your calendar on Friday morning so you can complete that certification module.” (Protecting time)
• To fuel the 20%: “That’s a great insight from the course. Who else on the team can you share that with? I’m setting up a 30-minute call for you and Sarah to brainstorm this, because she’s facing a similar challenge.” (Making connections)
• To fuel the 70%: “That’s a fantastic idea. How about you lead the next phase of that project? It’s a safe-to-fail experiment. I’m here to support you, but I want you to own it.” (Giving autonomy and safety)

This is the most critical component of the “lab.” In a scientific lab, an experiment that doesn’t produce the expected outcome is not a failure—it’s data. It tells you what doesn’t work, which is just as valuable as knowing what does.

When your direct report’s 70% experiment doesn’t go as planned, the only response from a Learning Leader is:

“That’s fascinating. What did we learn? What’s our next hypothesis?”

This single shift—from “Why did this fail?” to “What did we learn?”—is the key to unlocking profound psychological safety. It’s the soil in which a true growth mindset culture can flourish.

The old model of leadership is no longer sufficient for the world we live in. A leader’s true legacy isn’t the work they did; it’s the learning culture they built and the potential they activated in others.

The Learning Leader’s most vital function is to be a catalyst.

You are the one who creates the psychological safety and provides the structural support for curiosity to thrive. You don’t just build a team; you build a living, breathing lab—an environment where everyone is empowered to learn, experiment, and grow together, starting with you.