How to Balance Lean Operations with an Abundance Mindset
How to Balance Lean Operations with an Abundance Mindset
How can entrepreneur Elon Musk, a man with relatively no political background but a successful entrepreneur, try to create systems in a government?
Elon Musk has a unique, perhaps untamed, quality, which is a bit daunting yet intriguing. You never know what he will do next; unpredictability makes him successful. He approaches his ventures with a seriousness that has led to significant achievements. As an entrepreneur who values efficiency and dislikes wasting time, I'm excited about the potential for reducing inefficiencies. This could mean changes in policies and personnel, likely saving money, but it will also have mixed effects on the economy. However, these impacts are probably short-term as advancements in AI and the shift in money flow away from traditional sources continue.
What are the key differences between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset?
A few nights ago, we did our first Generation Next call. For listeners who don’t know, inside the GTK community, we’ve started providing entrepreneurial support to kids and teenagers.
All of our members had their kids join—mostly ages eight and up. We had about 50 kids on that Zoom call, and it was a great experience. We talked about a growth mindset, which is the opposite of a fixed mindset.
How do I get an eight-year-old or an 18-year-old to recognize that trying something for the first time and being bad at it is okay? That they can improve with the attitude that next time, they’ll be better? Or that making mistakes in something they’re supposed to do is part of learning?
For example, just today, we were talking about marketing strategies that didn’t work as expected. But because I learned from those mistakes, I can now apply that knowledge elsewhere. I’m grateful for that lesson—it didn’t cost me money, and now I know how to do it better.
A person with a growth mindset takes those experiences and improves. But the fixed mindset you mentioned—whether in an employee or, worse, an entrepreneur—stalls progress. If a company operates with a fixed mindset, it’s either stagnant or declining. If it's not a big company yet, it never will be. That mindset keeps a business small, serving only the owner, like a solopreneur. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s not the same as building a full-scale business.
How do you continue to have an abundance mindset and live in abundance but still be lean?
The word that comes to my mind is prudence. Prudence, marked by wisdom or judiciousness, involves shrewd management of practical affairs and being cautious, discreet, thrifty, and frugal. While I'm not particularly fond of thrifty and frugal, they are part of prudence. It's not merely about being cautious or frugal; it embodies wisdom in managing resources. Sometimes, one might experience abundance, but it's crucial to be a good steward of those resources.
We live in a consumer-driven society where it's all about spending and replacing things quickly. How do we shift that mindset, especially for the next generation?
If I can get kids to understand that the objective isn’t to buy things but to buy time and freedom, then I can change their financial trajectory forever.
When I go into classrooms, I do an exercise with kids where they first earn money, then I collect 'rent' and expenses. What’s left, they usually spend on candy.
But I always have one kid be the investor. That kid doesn’t get to eat candy like the others. They invest instead.
Then I introduce the concept of return on investment—suddenly, that kid gets a giant pile of candy while the others have to go back to work to earn more. That’s when the lightbulb goes off.
If I can get a kid at eight years old to grasp investing first, rather than spending first, by the time they’re 25, they’ll be in an entirely different financial position than their peers.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.*
