The ecosystem of mindset and culture is extremely complex, as depicted in the preceding diagram, because of these factors:

Let's examine the key influencing relationships in brief:

Mindset influences culture: As stated earlier, culture is at the level of a group or groups of people. Hence, if most people in that group have a similar mindset, it is very likely to influence the culture of that group.

Culture influences mindset: The culture of the group to which an individual belongs is highly likely to influence their mindset if an individual has a belief that feedback is helpful for continuous improvement, but if they join a team which does not have a culture of feedback, then it is possible that the individual may suspend their belief while they are in the team. The contrary is also possible: the individual can influence the team and bring in a feedback culture in the team, as called out in the earlier point.

Culture and mindset influence behavior: The only outward reflection of both mindset and culture is through the behavior of people, individually or collectively. The behavior can be in the form of doing something or avoiding to do something.

Behavior is the only honest indicator of the prevailing mindset and culture: Many enterprises have explicit cultural statements (for example, we strive to satisfy our customers) prominently displayed and also formally agreed upon. However, if the behavior of the people in the company is otherwise, then it indicates that the real culture is something different.

Behavior influences outcomes: This relationship is relatively more linear than others, for example, if a team strives to satisfy the customer, then it is quite likely that the outcome will be a happy customer and the team therefore experiences a sense of fulfillment.

Outcome influences both mindset and culture: Outcomes, both positive and negative, will either reinforce the existing mindset and culture or influence the modification of the mindset and culture, for example, the outcome of a happy customer, and the team feeling good about it, is highly likely to reinforce the culture of customer satisfaction.

It is critical that people do not get mixed signals due to additional intervention, otherwise the impact on the culture can be nothing or even negative, for example, if the team has gone a little over budget to please the customer, with the consent of their immediate manager, but someone from the finance department sends a nasty email to the team about the overspend, the positive outcome will have lost all relevance in terms of making a positive impact on mindset and culture.

Business values influence both mindset and culture: Again, this is a relatively more linear relationship. Values may be stated explicitly or reflected through purpose, vision, and mission statements, for example, Apple Inc, has values of innovation and product excellence, which purportedly influence the mindset and culture.

The most important thing about values, as in the case of culture, is that they mean nothing unless they are seen in practice, for example, if the enterprise states that it values gender diversity, but its workforce comprises of 90% males, then that value is questionable and is unlikely to be reflected in the mindset and culture. It is possible that mindset and culture can influence enterprise values. However, this relationship is not material from the perspective of influencing mindset and culture and hence not discussed.

Leaders influence enterprise values: This relationship is well established and well understood. Leaders such as Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Steve Jobs of Apple, Lee Iacocca of Chrysler, and Jack Welch of General Electric are well known for significantly influencing values in their respective organizations.

Company values influence leaders: If the values are strongly embedded within the business, then a leader joining the company will be influenced by the values core to it. There are examples aplenty of "C-level" executives joining enterprises with well-established values, who left within a short period of time, primarily because they were unable to align themselves with the values, and consequently the culture, of the enterprise. Vishal Sikka quitting as CEO of one of the largest IT companies, Infosys, and the firm bringing back Nandan Nilekani, one of the co-founders who had stepped away from the company for quite some time "to bring the continuity of culture and values" is an example of a value and culture misfit leading to a leadership-level exit. [x]

Other influencing relationships, such as the influence of experiences, outcomes, and the physical environment, on leaders do exist and are also important. However, we will not discuss them in this chapter. The model is by no means comprehensive, as there could be many other variables which can impact mindset and culture, and those which mindset and culture influence. This is just a broad framework to bring some structure to the variables that impact and are impacted by mindset and culture. Enterprises may wish to modify this model or create another one, which better reflects their context.