An executive who wants to become more adaptable needs an opportunity to practice changing a view. Reading about flexibility is a start, but the work becomes real when new evidence challenges a decision the leader owns.
Neuroplasticity provides a broad account of how experience can be associated with changes in the brain. It does not supply a guaranteed timetable for improving executive judgment.
Practice on an actual assumption
Choose a belief behind a current plan. State the evidence supporting it and the observation that would weaken it. Ask a colleague to develop a credible competing explanation.
When the evidence changes, record the update and its consequence. Did the team revise the forecast, reduce the commitment or investigate a new option?
This creates a learning record rather than another declaration about adopting a growth mindset.
Review the conditions for learning
People need information, time to examine it and permission to revise a position. An executive who is punished for changing a forecast may learn to defend it more effectively instead.
Make correction visible in your own work. Explain what changed your mind without presenting the earlier view as foolish or pretending you held the new view all along.
Adaptability can be assessed through those decisions. The business benefits from better updating whether or not anyone can demonstrate a corresponding change on a brain scan.
