Filomena Di Luise is a Programme Director of Oracle.
Today’s leaders operate in a world defined by velocity, uncertainty and constant change. Yet so many still lead as if stability were the rule, not the exception. They remain anchored to quarterly results, financial outcomes and metrics that offer the comfort of control. But control is an illusion. What organizations truly need now is a shift in mindset.
Traditional leadership skills are inadequate to meet the challenges of this moment. We are navigating a time when fear of failure, anxiety and competition shape behavior even at the highest levels. This makes it tempting to double down on what feels measurable and tangible. However, by focusing only on what can be tracked, many leaders lose sight of the people, purpose and possibilities that actually sustain growth.
It’s time to evolve leadership into what I call growship, a leadership style powered by the growth mindset.
From Control To Curiosity
Many leaders cling to the numbers because they provide a sense of order in a chaotic world. But behind that habit are the two powerful forces of speed and uncertainty. The speed of transformation creates pressure to perform, while uncertainty clouds our ability to plan for the future. Together, these forces drive people to cling to what they can measure, even when it limits their capacity to see what’s next.
The result is leadership that achieves short-term results but lacks long-term vision. Leaders feel productive, but not purposeful. They execute efficiently but inspire little innovation. The solution is found in curiosity.
A growth mindset allows leaders to move from control to curiosity, from perfection to progress. It’s an internal orientation toward learning, experimentation and continuous refinement.
What Growship Looks Like
I imagine growship as a living ecosystem, a planet that is continuously rotating. It’s the constant motion of self-reflection, experimentation and iteration. Orbiting this center are five main forces that nourish it:
1. Purpose Alignment: When company, team and individual purpose are aligned, leaders inspire commitment and compliance.
2. A Culture Of Innovation: Creativity and experimentation are part of the daily routine.
3. Agility: Be capable of changing with speed without the loss of stability.
4. Vision: Believe in an uncertain future, and have the courage to move toward it.
5. Emotional Skills: Self-awareness, empathy and psychological safety allow experimentation, failure and learning without fear.
When these forces come together, they generate the energy and resilience that today’s organizations need. Growship is about how we evolve ourselves.
Curiosity And The ‘Not Yet’ Mindset
Not everyone operates from a growth mindset naturally, but it can be developed. The first step is to choose curiosity over fear and to see change as thrilling rather than threatening. The second is the “not yet” mindset, believing that anything can be better and that what hasn’t been achieved simply hasn’t been achieved yet.
Curiosity and the “not yet” mindset turn uncertainty into fuel. Leaders who embody them provoke change. They examine processes, products and even successes and ask, “What could be better?” That instinct to explore without instruction is the signature of a growship leader.
Shifting From Fixed To Growth
While mindset is shaped by personality and environment, it isn’t fixed. I’ve seen people make the shift, but it takes practice and self-awareness. Embracing a growth mindset requires overcoming resistance to change. Many leaders, focused on delivering results, lose sight of the journey. Shifting that focus from outcomes to learning builds resilience.
And you have to leave space for experimentation. Convert failures into data, not losses. Every test, even those that fail, hones your insight into what works.
Lastly, you’ll have to build more self-awareness. Leaders must recognize the inner barriers that hold them back, including imposter syndrome—the insidious belief that we’re not truly qualified or deserving of our role. Once we confront that voice, we unleash the confidence to keep learning and developing.
Leading Through The Unknown
In times of turbulence, growship leaders use curiosity to overcome fear. They do not fight uncertainty. They study and learn from it. They see technology and change not as threats to their identity but as invitations to expand it.
We cannot stop transformation. What we can do is learn to move through it with awareness. Fear isolates. Curiosity connects. And in a connected ecosystem, leadership becomes a collective exploration rather than an individual defense mechanism.
Building Growship Organizations
Adopting growship entails structural as well as personal change. Three steps organizations can take to make this shift real include:
1. Facilitate Mindset Assessment
Evaluate leaders and all employees, not just on what they achieve but how they think. Understanding mindset helps identify who is open to growth and who may need support developing it.
2. Create Safe Spaces For Experimentation
Psychological safety comes before innovation. Start with pilot projects and low-stakes initiatives, and then scale up as confidence builds. Success in this space creates trust and curiosity across the firm.
3. Redefine Leadership Metrics
Hold leaders accountable not only to the bottom line but by their ability to drive innovation, purpose alignment and learning within their teams. Reward leaders who grow others, not just those who grow numbers.
These actions may seem idealistic, but they’re realistic in a world where flexibility is the new stability. Growship organizations turn uncertainty into opportunity because they treat curiosity as a strategy instead of a soft skill.
A New Standard For Modern Leadership
Every era defines leadership differently. Our current climate demands leaders who can think, feel and act in motion. Growship redefines leadership as an ongoing process of becoming curious enough to explore, brave enough to change and humble enough to learn.
When purpose and passion align, leadership transforms from performance management into human development. It becomes the art of nurturing possibility in ourselves, in others and in the organizations we serve.
Forbes Business Development Council is an invitation-only community for sales and biz dev executives. Do I qualify?