<p dir="ltr">Today's leaders must manage sophisticated global value chains, navigate rapid technology shifts, strategize to stay ahead of competitors, and thwart attacks from cyber criminals while keeping their diverse, aging workforce engaged and innovating. Creativity and innovation result from people's work and are now business assets paramount in the change process. Understanding how to foster these skills in working professionals has implications for education, business, and governments around the world. The problem addressed by this study supported both practical challenges and research limitations to fills gaps in existing research while expanding the understanding of growth mindset, interest in AI, and innovative thinking to support addressing the shortage of working professionals with innovative thinking skills. These are often called durable skills, required to compete in the rapidly changing global marketplace and to ensure long-term employability. Thinking skills such as flexibility, creativity, and innovation are attracting global attention as leaders face international competition and rapid technological change.</p><p dir="ltr">The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to explore if growth mindset is related to innovative thinking in working professionals, and (b) to explore whether a growth interest in artificial intelligence impacts innovative thinking in working professionals. An exploratory research field study of working professionals participated in the research. Participants were recruited via LinkedIn. A total of 298 responses were included in the analysis. A weak positive correlation, though not significant (p=.05) was found for growth mindset and innovative thinking. The strongest, significant relationship found a moderate positive correlation between interest in AI and innovative thinking. Another significant finding was that individuals with a high interest in AI generally ranked higher in innovative thinking than those with a solely a high growth mindset or low in both. Individuals high in both had the highest overall innovative thinking.</p><p dir="ltr">This study provides researchers and practitioners with a new understanding of innovative thinking, growth mindset, and interest in AI in working professionals while contributing to research literature topics, including leadership, human resource development, business, talent management, psychology, and technology. It has practical implications in teaching and learning and skills development of working professionals in business. Applying a survey tool that could be used in the workplace in 10 minutes, a practical, cost and time-effective tool has been demonstrated to provide valuable individual insights on innovative thinking and mindset. Further, as organizations strive to improve competitiveness and integrate artificial intelligence, this study found that individuals with growth mindset and growth interest specifically in AI demonstrated higher innovative thinking scores than those low in both, suggesting that growth mindsets matter in innovative thinking - a component vital for long-term employability and global competitiveness - and may offer insights into future hiring. One of the fundamental aspects of using GenAI is the ability to formulate solid questions and be willing to experiment. These are two critical aspects of innovative thinking. This study found that questioning had the strongest significant positive correlation with a growth mindset while experimenting had the strongest significant positive correlation with growth interest in AI.</p>