Mental Mindsets And Models Paper

Running head: Mental Mindsets and Models Paper








Mental Mindsets and Models Paper

University of Phoenix
OI/361 - Innovation, Design, & Creativity for a Competitive Advantage





Mental Mindsets and Models Paper
Innovation, creativity and design all played key roles in the start-up and continued success of Netflix. Creative thinkers of all types worked together toimplement their ideas and eventually launch the company that has now put both Blockbuster and Hollywood Video out of business but not before brainstorming, working through questions, problems and varying mental models and mindsets of the individuals working on the project. This paper will discuss and explain how four steps that can change the mental models and mindsets of people can help Netflixin the future.
A mental mindset is a way that an individual person perceives the world they live in and how they make sense of that world and the overall perception. A mindset is invisible to people but it shapes how we see and understand the world. An example of mental mindset is one of parents that are religiously based and believe in the power of prayer. They deal with their sick child inthis way rather than getting medical help for their child. Forces like these govern a person’s mental mindset. Mental mindsets are created in life by the environment we are in or a person’s gene. These are deep perceptions to the world that can do unchanged if there is not communication or education. In the corporate environment like Netflix there is a mental mindset that is established in amission statement or in the companies overall goals. These are established early on in training in the corporation by training an overall philosophy, According to Page 4 on Netflix's 2009 Annual Report (last paragraph in the section "Dear Fellow Shareholders", Reed Hastings writes, "Our long-term goals remain unchanged. To be a great Internet movie service provider by combining Internet delivery withDVD’s by mail and to grow subscribers and earnings every year while continuing to invest in streaming." They have an established mission statement that states: Netflix: Our appeal and success are built on providing the most expansive selection of DVDs; an easy way to choose movies; and fast, free delivery. (Netflix website)
Corporations need to set a mindset in developing their company sothat all the employees will have a direction to follow. Even though each individual may be governed by their own personal experiences they still will have a clear direction of the company and its objectives overall. Mental mindsets can lead to some very defined hindrances such as not being able to view the big picture due to having micro management tendencies identifying this in oneself isimperative for growth.
Embracing change can be difficult when dealing with individual mindsets that make changing environments like technology or new business models to become difficult to get each individual on board. They have studied individuals and how observant to change they can be when task orientated at a ballgame the observers were tasked with counting the number of times that ball playerswith white shirts pitched a ball back an forth in a video. Most of the subjects were so engaged in the task at hand that they failed to notice the black gorilla that wandered across the scene and actually stopped in the middle of the field and beat its chest. This type of mental mindset is where corporations find opposition in change and they lose sight of the big picture at hand and anunderlying mental model may be holding the corporation back. A new model being developed will open opportunities for progress. In the case of Netflix the collaboration with WII and Nintendo Corporation has opened up a new market. Netflix developed a program where movies can be downloaded directly to the consumer via there WII system. In utilizing this new technology they not only raised their sales and...