Skip to content

It Starts with the Mindset

SpeakerMitch Weisburgh
In briefAI summary — tap to read

Mitch Weisberg presents techniques for developing a "mind shifting" approach to transform how we interact with others and navigate conflict. By learning to recognize when we're stuck in survival-mode thinking and activating our resourcefulness and resilience, we can turn adversarial relationships into collaborative opportunities and create lasting solutions to complex global and personal challenges.

Key takeaways

  • Our brains naturally default to survival instincts and fixed mindsets, shutting down resourcefulness, empathy, and critical thinking; learning to interrupt these patterns unlocks our full potential.
  • Complex global problems require different problem-solving approaches than simple or complicated ones—simple issues need quick fixes, complicated issues need analysis, and complex issues require iterative experimentation and learning.
  • Effective conflict resolution relies on communication techniques like mutual interviewing and nonviolent communication rather than arguing with facts, logic, or punishment.
  • Shifting from adversarial to collaborative relationships happens by understanding conflict styles, grounding ourselves in the present moment, and finding joy and playfulness even in difficult situations.
  • If five million people learned mind-shifting techniques, they could collectively address major challenges including violence, education, climate change, healthcare, and youth mental health.

About Mitch WeisburghMitch Weisberg is an educator and author who teaches three courses on mind shifting and has written a book on the subject, integrating insights from cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, and other fields to help people develop resourcefulness and resilience.

AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.

Meeting for the Week of Jan. 27, 2025

This Meeting at a Glance:

Program: It Starts with the Mindset

Speaker: Mitch Weisburgh

Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday, our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!

To properly attend this meeting, please:

  1. Read and watch the content below in its entirety.

  2. Complete the attendance survey.

Everyone is encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.


Message from our president

Mike - Head - 4-10-24.png

Welcome our members, fellow Rotarians, friends, and guests. Thanks for joining our weekly meeting!


So. California Wildfire Disaster Relief Link


Weekly Funny with Shags

We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!

The Two Men Standing by the Door

Six-year old Angie and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had enough. "You're not supposed to talk out loud in church."

"Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.

Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door? They're hushers."



Inspiration

This is another video we shared in our club's first year, a decade ago. It's called The Power of Words, and might challenge you to think what words you use to describe what inspires you about serving others.


Learn something new

Bitcoin Explained

My rule regarding any investment is that if I can't explain how it works to a 4th grader, it's probably too complicated for my risk-of-loss comfort level.




📬 Are you receiving the Members-Only Weekly Bulletin?

Our Club News and Member links are now on the Members Only ClubRunner Site and are emailed weekly as a Club Bulletin. Please make sure your email address is current on ClubRunner.

Members, be sure to read our Weekly Club Bulletin, which is sent separately to your email address from ClubRunner each Monday. In it, you will find updates and information about what our members are up to, club activities, projects, Happy Dollars, news from District 5170, and various ways you can support The Rotary Foundation. We also send your Dues notices using ClubRunner email.

Our Weekly Bulletin, sent every Monday, provides club information. To stay informed, please ensure your email is current on ClubRunner and add mailservice@clubrunner.ca to your address book so it does not go into Spam.


Program: It Starts with the Mindset

Speaker: Mitch Weisburgh

We bring you a new program every week on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education and how they contribute to service to others.

Why does it seem that so many issues just don’t seem to be getting any better? We think of issues with healthcare, climate change, pollution, education, standards of living, immigration, inequality, and more - does the list end?

Our speaker, Mitch Weisburgh, contends that no real progress in any of these areas is going to happen until we have a critical mass of people who understand mindsets and what he calls "Mindshifting." Since 2018 Mitch has been curating concepts and techniques from diverse fields, including psychology, neuroscience, business strategy, education, coaching, economics, cognitive science, and military strategy, among others. He will show how this comprehensive set of Mindshifting tools can be the foundation for real progress and transforming the world. Mindshifting is how we can learn to enroll each other instead of enraging each other.

Mitch Weisburgh co-founded Academic Business Advisors in 2005, which helps organizations that want to make a difference reach more students in US schools, and started various nonprofit organizations in education such as Games4Ed and Edchat Interactive. Since 2018, Mitch has been creating content and teaching Mindshifting and Sensemaking and has started a Mindshifting Community for educators.

Mitch writes a newsletter at Mindshifting Educators about ways to inspire the mind to learn, centered on his goal is to grow a critical mass of people who understand the Mindshifting techniques, and who can be resilient and resourceful in the face of obstacles, adversaries, and unintended outcomes.

Members and guests, please welcome Mitch Weisburgh!

Find Mitch's Mindshifting Newsletter at:
https://blog.mindshiftingeducators.org/

Background info on Mindshifting and Mindshifting courses:
https://gamma.app/docs/Mindshifting-yxxkbmv122p5bzw?mode=doc

Short video: Stop Your Brain from Sabotaging Your Happiness and Success:
https://us02web.zoom.us/clips/share/a7su0KAZXEmUo22aXuUGGms5cU6acyzOxhgy1xtGpzUosDVv6JMKpPS4InRTJMUgy_wXaD4i9f5k5gOllzbrvi_N.JF6hRArXRiIMTqST

"You can't? Maybe you can!" short video:
https://youtu.be/4giFVzTDAUg?si=j1xMQqv0I-lZFtU3


Our Three Podcast Series

Our main program speakers are available as podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week, they are available on Spotify and Apple podcasts.

Or you can click below for this week’s speaker:

The Weekly Rotarian

Inspiring Solutions for a Better World

And our original podcast, featuring some of the best of our previous speakers, is still available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Development Success Stories

Our third podcast features success stories about economic development from around the world. It is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or you can click below.


Upcoming program recording schedule

All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.

Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).

If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.

The attendance survey

Attendance for this meeting closed on Feb 3, 2025 Pacific, once the following week's meeting was posted. You can still attend the current meeting, or submit a makeup form if you need this week credited.

Comments

Questions for the speaker, or thoughts on this week's meeting — members and guests welcome. Commenting closes Feb 4, 2025 Pacific.

More meetings on similar topics.