“The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people who work toward a definite purpose in the spirit of harmony.” Napoleon Hill, business authority, defining Mastermind.

The term Mastermind was coined by author Napoleon Hill in his 1925 book The Law of Success. Like now, Mastermind groups were developed to help members receive advice from other group members. Billionaire tycoon Andrew Carnegie credited his great success to his mastermind groups. Hill, Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison stated that a Mastermind group could focus special energy on your effort—in the form of knowledge, resources, and spiritual energy. 

Appreciation, Growth, and Business in a New Strengths-Based Way 

To me a Mastermind group (MM) is a collective of people coming together, in a safe and welcoming atmosphere, sharing intentions, goals, concerns, hopes, dreams, and strengths in the spirit of caring for one another. A MM is about listening actively, and being respectful of group norms and guidelines. For me it is both personally and professionally inspiring. A MM can open you up to new ways of thinking and being in the world. It can help unleash your creativity, promote innovation, offer an opportunity to bounce your business ideas off fellow members, and introduce you to amazing people. With safety, support, and in the spirit of positive development, a MM gives you space to think aloud, helps you consider ideas and weigh options. Appreciative prompts to group members like one our MM facilitator Kellie Cummings (C'19) brought to light, “How can we help you think/plan/execute something important in the coming weeks?,” are invaluable. Uplifting questions like this challenge your thinking, spotlight your strengths, and offer a place for mutual support and accountability. In facing personal and chronic losses, the MM has offered me solace, while helping me to  clarify what matters most. Different from other close friends who support me, my MM encourages me around my business and my leadership goals.

During the Covid pandemic, along with business goals, the social support and bonding aspects of the MM have been key in reducing the risk of languishing. In the MM I participate in, we’ve spoken about our work, our callings, play, recreation, and rest. With encouragement from our MM group, Ming Fu (C ‘16) created cutting-edge innovation, inspiring start-ups and app development. Along with positive business, there are times we may share more personal parts of our complicated, complex, miraculous lives. There is healing in trusting. There is a collective joy in seeing and sharing positive changes : grants/fellowships sought and won, work promotions, social impact programs launched, advance degrees earned, and retirements. The MAPP MM offers an opportunity for the advancement of our Positive Psychology practices, businesses, teachings, and pursuits with our values and strengths front and center.  

There are different types and a variety of ways to MM. One group I attend, Writer’s Workshop, is led by Kathryn Britton (C’06). Over the years, in my bi-weekly group with Kathryn, Jaime Jenkins (C’10) and Lisa Sansom (C’10), I feel a symbiotic relationship. It’s also been a privilege to witness the growth and progress of our members. It’s been rewarding and humbling to read the brilliant words of my fellow authors and to see their bright trajectory. 

My participation in four different Mastermind groups (MM) has been a link to my wellbeing, along with my personal and business trajectories, and professional growth. I am deeply inspired by the connections and friends I’ve made in these groups. That fellowship has sustained me on some of the most challenging days, which many of us have been having.  With encouragement, I am persevering, and am writing two books, creating content, and developing three new University and business courses. I had felt stagnant, defeated. Within the MM structure, I now feel excitement and encouragement mirroring from fellow members. 

A Game Changer

In 2019, Caroline Adams Miller (C’06), Louisa Jewell (C’09), and Dr. Margarita Tarragona invited me to join their established MM. I admired these women/leaders, and had earlier written about each: Caroline as a model for my graduate course in “Entrepreneurial Journalism,” Louisa for Positive Psychology News and Margarita for the MAPP Alumni Newsletter. I had also presented with Caroline, Louisa, and Margarita at the Wholebeing Institute’s Embodied Positive Psychology Summit at the Kripalu Institute in 2016; our respective topics were Caroline on Goals and Grit, Louisa on Confidence, Margarita on the Narrative Approaches in Positive Psychology, and mine on the Power of Positive Movement. 

It was a thrill to be invited to join in a MM with these wonderful women. After meeting virtually for months, Caroline invited us to meet in-person for 3 days at her home in Bethesda, Maryland. During our time together, we invested in ourselves, and each other. We worked, played, ate, laughed, (I) cried, and we all bonded. We practiced classic Positive Psychology applications like Best Possible Future Self Exercise, and explored with activities like free writing to clarify values, setting measurable intentions, offering feedback, videotaping, podcast interviewing, technology skills building, and sharing marketing resources. Caroline led our exciting congratulatory call to our friend, Dr. Lea Waters, to applaud her invitation to the Member of the Order of Australia: that honor is the highest recognition for outstanding achievement and service! 

This in-person MM time, just prior to the Covid pandemic, laid down for me a foundation for growth, resilience, goodness, and inspiration. We have continued to meet over the pandemic and produced two webinars to help people cope with stress, and to lead people toward hope and flourishing. We have celebrated birthdays together, shared successes, supported each other during losses, and have created a bond of friendship I will always cherish.

We all reached some of the key business and life goals we set. I personally was able to get traction around my writing and speaking goals, including developing and taping a new course, “Moving with Joy,” directly from my MM experience with Louisa, Margarita, and Caroline. 

Around the Mastermind Group, Caroline Adams Miller wrote and published her newest book, How to Start, Run, Participate in, and Benefit from a Women’s Mastermind Group.  #IHaveYourBack Mastermind Success Groups for Women. Though MM groups were initially founded by men, women are embracing and thriving in MM. Caroline states, “Women (are better) known for their ‘tend and befriend’ responses to females who need nurturing, friendship, and compassion, but unknown for taking a ‘believe and achieve’ position that supports the dreams, ideas and successes of other women who are ambitious, bold and successful.” 

In her book, Caroline shares her passion and appreciation for women, and “encourages women to support women in their individual goals and dreams, despite cultural, linguistic, and psychological barriers.” Caroline offers tips, tools, valuable research, and thought-provoking inspiration about women and mastermind groups. Caroline believes in bringing women together in an organized way on a regular basis to share wisdom and strength so that members have the safety to articulate and cultivate passion, purpose, and persistence while also supporting other women at the same time. I can gratefully attest to that goodness, and to the value of the MM.

Following is more MM information, including a brief “how to,” in case you’d like to start a MM of your own. Caroline Miller’s website also describes how to create Women’s MM if you would like to learn more about this specific MM.

More About How to Mastermind: The Nuts and Bolts

A Mastermind group is a small group, usually up to about ten people, who gather regularly in the spirit of fellowship, mentorship, camaraderie, sharing, and caring. One of the purposes of the MM is to help its self-directed members navigate challenges, chart a new course, and solve problems using the MM’s collective knowledge and experiences. 

A MM agrees upon the agenda, goals, approaches, timelines, frequency, and format of its meetings. Meetings can be face to face but, especially now, are often virtual. The planned meeting agenda can be structured or more impromptu as members’ concerns need to be voiced. The MM members support each other by sharing skills, perspectives, resources, and experiences. There is a spirit of appreciation for and among the MM members I’ve had the privilege of knowing. 

The MAPP Alumni MasterMIND group started in 2016 under the leadership of Mary Newman (C’16), followed by Lisa Sansom (C’10), Lara Kallander (C ‘18), and Sharon Danzger (C’18), leading the early MM charge. They have inspired excellence, including with setting guidelines and a structure from which the following is modeled.  

Structure: A Mastermind in Action

Here’s a sample one-hour monthly MM:

• Check in and warm welcome

• Quick overviews/concerns

• Centering, Breathing, Affirmation and Imagery, or Positive Rhythmic Movement 

• Sharing high point moments and innovation

• The “Agenda:” Each person contributes. If people need “more time,” the time allotment is respectfully divided so those who feel the need can hold the floor a bit longer. 

• Call to Action and Closure

In one MM, Katy Sine (C’19), Positive Voices, led breathing and centering exercises that, for me, were a high point moment of the day. 

We MAPP Alumni MM agree to respect and honor: 

• Group norms

• Confidentiality

• Commitment

• Awareness of airtime

• The need to ask before giving advice

• Not judgment

• Our attendance

Mastermind groups in the MAPP Community meet monthly on Zoom, and range in duration from one to 1.5 hours. A MM can be customized to meet the needs and logistical concerns of its group members; quarterly, weekly, and monthly meetings can all work. 

Mastermind Activities can include sharing expert views, ideas, personal insights, interesting and surprising Positive Psychology research findings, gaining clarity, receiving other’s feedback and perspectives, creating action ideas: coming away with an action plan, noticing and measuring positive changes over time.

A business project can more clearly come into fruition in a MM. It’s been exciting to have members come in with an idea or story seed for a goal (a book, an advanced degree, the development of a corporate workshop, vying for a promotion at work, creating content for a fellow business, developing wellbeing workshops to scale, developing a marketing plan, and sharing valuable resources for success). One MM member, friend, and facilitator, Joel Treisman (C ‘14) made a personal introduction for us to participate in another Harvard learning group development process, which was rich, timely, and invaluable.

The Role of the Facilitator: 

Group facilitation is an important skill that can help a MM group achieve their goals in an effective, constructive, and positive manner. Here are some facilitation guidelines: 

1. Choose a responsible facilitator who will create a safe and positive space, and lead effective, inclusive meetings; a Mastermind group facilitator can be a single member or rotated among the group, 

2. Create a welcoming, rich, and psychologically safe environment that is conducive to sharing, and embodies caring.

3. Ensure expected outcomes or objectives are clear.

4. Establish expectations and ground rules. 

5. Have an understanding in managing the group’s energy

6. Manage participation; encourage fairness among all members, and value varying communication styles. 

7. Offer supportive behaviors like active and constructive responding, and positive feedback. 

8. Build trust, honesty, and transparency.

9. Challenge the group; encourage accountability

10. Value positive growth, create bonding rituals, and foster goodwill in the group. 

Conclusion

In a MM, there is also the potential for building deep connections across domains: business, service, family, career trajectory, and cherishing heart/mind/soul friends over the long term. I am continually in awe of my fellow Mastermind group members. The groups have all been iterative, growth groups, where we as members support one another, and respect stated and implicit boundaries. My MM experiences have been a strengths-based opportunity to cultivate passion, purpose and persistence, to reach my business goals and dreams, while also supporting others, those I have truly grown to care about, at the same time.

References

Arnold, B. N., Friedrichsen, L., & Nishiyama, M. (2013, November). Creating your MasterMind: personal and professional development through mastermind groups. In Proceedings of the 41st annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User Services (pp. 123-126).

Bain, K., Kreps, T. A., Meikle, N. L., & Tenney, E. R. (2021). Amplifying Voice in Organizations. Academy of Management Journal, (ja).

Garmy, P., Olsson Möller, U., Winberg, C., Magnusson, L., & Kalnak, N. (2019). Benefits of participating in mastermind groups. Health Education and Care, 4, 1-3.

Miller, C. (2021). #IHaveYourBack Mastermind Success Groups for Women (self-published). https://www.carolinemiller.com/product/ihaveyourback-mastermind-groups/ 

Positive Voices: https://positivevoices.com 

Dr. Lea Waters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lea_Waters, https://www.leawaters.com

About the Author: Elaine O’Brien, PhD, MAPP 2008, earned a doctorate in 2015 from Temple University. Her dissertation was Kinesiology: Psychology of Human Movement, and attended the University of Oslo, studying “Positive Psychology Across Cultures.” Elaine presented with Drs. Chris Peterson, Yukon Zhao, and MAPP alumni at the 2010 China Positive Psychology Conferences. Elaine is a vanguard Health and Fitness Industry leader, member of IPPA’s Health/Wellbeing Leader Team, a USAID Resilience and Thriving Course provider, and new MAPP faculty member for Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Elaine’s passion is around building the power of connection, and helping people moving with intention, meaning and love: positive and transcendent movement.