Moshe’s Blog

How Leaders Stay Ahead with a Beginner’s Mind: The Art of Blending Experience with Constant Curiosity

Expert Leader, Beginner’s Mind

“Let’s approach this project with fresh eyes—imagine we’re stepping into this space for the first time.” This is one way to signal a shift towards a “beginner’s mind” approach to your business. Drawn from Zen Buddhism, beginner’s mind is the idea that the best solutions emerge when you let go of all thoughts of your expertise and desire for achievement.

Instead, you adopt an attitude of openness and curiosity, delighting in learning something new. You use your hard-earned expertise as a foundation to explore new possibilities, no matter how knowledgeable you are, not as a barrier to keep them out.

‘Beginner’s mind in an expert leader’ is a paradox that drives progress. Consider the eminently successful CEO who anonymously sits in on customer service calls, listening, learning, and understanding. Or the veteran software engineer teaching and learning at a hackathon full of enthusiastic young coders. Or the masterful chef stepping into the kitchen each day with the question, “What haven’t I tasted yet?” Here, expertise and a beginner’s mind combine to fuel innovation, not stifle it.

Your beginner’s mind is compassion in action because it excludes preconceived notions and judgments of how things should be. It is the mindset of the Amare love-powered leader, enabling you to foster the connection, trust, and innovation that your organization needs to thrive.

What might you do differently if you approached today’s problems as if they were completely new to you?

How can you use your existing knowledge as a tool for innovation rather than a comfort zone?

How might a compassionate beginner’s mind transform your leadership style?

8 Amare Ways to Cultivate a Beginner’s Mind

1. Know your triggers. Identify the top 5 or 10 situations that automatically move you to rely on how you’ve always done things and to shut out new possibilities.

2. Wonder out loud. Set the tone for your team by asking, “What else might be possible?” before finalizing explanations or decisions.

3. Assumption audits. Hold monthly meetings centered on new ideas in your field to identify and question underlying assumptions in your strategies and decisions.

4. Learn from the novice. Bring someone with less experience into your project meetings and encourage them to share their fresh perspectives.

5. Cultivate curiosity. Host a monthly ‘Curiosity Session’ where team members can present something new they’ve learned (related or unrelated to your industry). Start each session with a moment of silence for people to get present and open their minds.

6. Be a beginner. Commit to learning a new skill or exploring a new field every quarter, and apply that learning to your current work.

7. Teach to understand. Regularly teach a concept or skill you’ve mastered to someone else, which may reveal new insights that deepen your own understanding.

8. Document your results. Set aside time after each big decision to assess your use of “beginner’s mind” (or not) and what resulted.

The beginner’s mind is about seeing things anew, free from the bias of past triumphs or failures. It’s a mindset that encourages you as a leader to question the status quo, to innovate, and to connect with your teams and customers on a deeper level.

In this space, authenticity thrives, as you are not acting from a script but are genuinely engaged in the process of learning and growing yourself and your organization.

This is a journey marked by the humility of knowing that, no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn, more to understand, and more to love about the work you do and the people you serve.

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