Changing MindsetsFrom principle to practiceCaron Van Stroe05/17/2014In today's constantly changing world, it is important that organizations and their employees are capable of change and adapt to meet the needs of their consumers. As leaders, we must create ways to modify a person's mental representations in order to create changes in their behaviors and thoughts. “Changing Minds” by Howard Gardner addresses three factors of mindset change, the four entities, the six domains and the seven levers. This article will identify key messages from the book and provide examples of how Gardner's seven levers can be used in real-world situations. Today's world is constantly and rapidly changing. Organizations must be able to adapt and change quickly to meet the needs of their consumers and the environment. For organizations to change, the people within them must change. It’s about identifying ways to replace one mindset with another in order to create behavior change. Howard Gardner's book “Changing Mindsets. The Art and Science of Changing Our Own Minds and the Minds of Others” (Gardner, 2006) explores techniques and principles that can be used to facilitate successful change. This article will review the key messages and provide examples of the seven levers used in real-world situations. Gardner (2006) suggests that changing mindsets requires three elements: ; mental contents, the arena and the use of levers. Changing one's mind involves changing a person's mental content not only by disseminating the ideas for change through stories, but by providing the theoretical basis for change, the key concepts of change and ensuring that the skills necessary for implementation of change are supported and developed. The second piece talks about...... middle of paper...... how to provide care and the struggle to understand that there are better ways to do it. When asked why they do something a particular way, the common answer is "because that's the way we've always done it." Alternatively, when a change has been attempted, we are constantly faced with an "oh, we've done that before and it didn't work", which tells us that the intended change is doomed to failure. Perhaps by trying to implement change with this group of people, we could get their input, to minimize this resistance. The change in mentality is believed to be the result of a slow, almost unidentifiable shift in perspective. A key to changing mentalities is to produce this change in a person's mental representations. To inspire change in others, you must present the idea with enough frequency and variety that they understand it, remember it, and, most importantly, accept it..