Hi Rex,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I’ve become a firm believer in the idea of a growth mindset (see Mindset by Carol Dweck). The emphasis isn’t on “being good” (or “smart” or some other trait), but rather on continuously getting better. Another nice framing of this idea is the agile retrospective, especially when prefaced with the “Prime Directive.”

Embracing a growth mindset is the best way I’ve found to reconcile skill improvement with being compassionate with myself and others.

I don’t believe in the existence of “mediocre people.” I believe in people who may choose different areas to focus their time. If we assume a certain baseline of cognitive ability, sufficiently motivated people given a supportive environment are capable of learning the necessary skills to do great work. This comes back to the growth mindset. Combining the right set of motivated people to make up a successful team takes skill in leadership.

We also may have different definitions of success. If a team is “prickly” in that they treat each other unkindly, then I don’t consider that a successful team.