Critical Thinking The Ultimate Key Success Factor.

Critical Thinking

The Ultimate Key Success Factor

Agenda

• What is critical thinking?

• How does the brain work?

• What are some of the critical thinking techniques that I can easily learn and use?

Why is critical thinking important?

• It is a means of improving your ability to learn • It can help you better understand what you read• It can help you to make more convincing

arguments• It facilitates communication• It can help you to address the three basic questions

Critical Thinking: SocratesFrom Socrates, we get great emphasis on argument and critical thinking. Socrates chose to make argument the main thinking tool. Within argument, there was to be critical thinking:

Why do you say that?

What do you mean by that?"To find yourself, think for yourself." -- Socrates

Critical Thinking: Aristotle

From Aristotle we get a type of logic, based on identity and non-identity, as well as on inclusion and exclusion.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -- Aristotle

Critical Thinking: Plato

From Plato we get the notion

that there is the "truth"

somewhere but that we have to

search for it to find it.

The way to search for the truth

is to use critical thinking to

attack what is untrue.“Knowledge is true opinion.” -- Plato

Critical Thinking: Belardo

“Critical Thinking is purposeful goal directed thinking.

It is an art of thinking about

what one is thinking about

in order to make it more

accurate, clear and defensible”

How Does the Mind Work?

Your Brain

“The brain is the organ of destiny. It holds within its humming mechanism secrets that will determine the future of the human race.”

-- Wilder Penfield (from The Second Career, 1963)

How do you Think? The Brain

“The human brain, then, is the most complicated organization of matter that we know.”

– Isaac Asimov (from the foreword to The Three-Pound Universe by J. Hooper and D.

Teresi, 1986)

Brain & Intelligence - Historical

• Aristotle believed that brain size was related to intelligence.

• Broca believed that cranial volume reflected intelligence, hence:– Women were inferior to men (smaller brain sizes)

– Non-Europeans were inferior to Europeans

• Broca’s work was superceded by the neuronal doctrine (Waldayer)– Neurons are the processing units of the brain.

The Brain: Complexity

Human

Jack Rabbit

“The human brain is generally regarded as a complex web of adaptations built into the nervous system, even though no one knows how.”

– Michael S. Gazzaniga (from The Mind’s Past, 1998)

The Brain: A Computer?

“The human brain is an amazing piece of engineering that allows us to process billions of bits of information within a compact, powerful, continuously changing computer that we carry on our shoulders our entire lives”

-- Nancy C. Andreasen

The Brain: A Network of Cells

“The adult human brain weights about 3 pounds and consists of about 100 billion nerve cells or neurons. These neurons are responsible for the transmission of information throughout the brain. The outer wrinkled mantle of the brain called the cerebral cortex contains about 30 billion of these neurons connected to each other by means of a million billion neuronal connections called synapses. The neurons communicate with each other via these connections.”

Neurons

“The brain evolves further than any other organ. Beginning as the simplest sort of connecting center for the nerves, it elaborates into a surpassingly complex

structure, with many levels of activity, and untold trillions of possible circuits”

– Wendell J.S. Krieg (from Functional Neuroanatomy, 1942)

Brain & Intelligence - Neurons• Current models postulate that intelligence and complexity

are the result of the properties of neurons and how they are connected.

• Not only the number of neurons but physiological properties of neurons are also relevant: channels, cable properties, and the type of synapses.

There are billions of neurons in our brains, but what are neurons? Just cells. The brain has no knowledge until connections are made between neurons. All that we know, all that we are, comes from the way our neurons are connected.

– Tim Berners-Lee (from Weaving The Web: the original design and ultimate destiny of the world wide web by its inventor, 1999)

Synapses

“The human brain is estimated to have about a hundred billion nerve cells, two million miles of axons, and a million billion synapses, making it the most complex structure, natural or artificial on earth”

-- Tim Green, Stephen F. Heinemann and Jim F. Gusella (from a paper in Neuron, vol. 420, page 427, 1998)

Functional Area of Brain

Brain Principles• Contralaterality

• The brain is divided into two mirror-image halves (hemispheres) when viewed from above.

– The receptive and control centers for one side of the body are located in the opposite hemisphere of the brain.

• Hemispheric Specification– Each hemisphere specializes in different manners of

processing information and maintains different abilities.

– The percentage of each hemisphere used varies by individual.

Left & Right BrainLeft Right

Visual, focusing on images, patterns Verbal, focusing on words, symbols, numbers

Intuitive, led by feelings Analytical, led by logic

Process ideas simultaneously Process ideas sequentially, step by step

'Mind photos' used to remember things, writing things down or illustrating them

helps you remember

Words used to remember things, remember names rather than faces

Make lateral connections from information Make logical deductions from information

See the whole first, then the details Work up to the whole step by step, focusing on details, information organized

Organization ends to be lacking Highly organized

Free association Like making lists and planning

Like to know why you're doing something or why rules exist (reasons)

Likely to follow rules without questioning them

Source: http://painting.about.com/library/blpaint/blrightbraintable.htm

http://painting.about.com/library/blpaint/blrightbraintable.htm

Left & Right Brain Cont’dLeft Right

No sense of time Good at keeping track of time

May have trouble with spelling and finding words to express yourself

Spelling and mathematical formula easily memorized

Enjoy touching and feeling actual objects (sensory input)

Enjoy observing

Trouble prioritizing, so often late, impulsive

Plan ahead

Unlikely to read instruction manual before trying

Likely read an instruction manual before trying

Listen to how something is being said Listen to what is being said

Talk with your hands Rarely use gestures when talking

Likely to think you're naturally creative, but need to apply yourself to develop your

potential

Likely to believe you're not creative, need to be willing to try and take risks to

develop your potential

Source: http://painting.about.com/library/blpaint/blrightbraintable.htm

http://painting.about.com/library/blpaint/blrightbraintable.htm

Intelligence• Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience and adapt to the

surrounding environment. Some well-known intelligence theories are:• Spearman’s Monarchic Theory of Intelligence

– General factor (g) present in all intelligences– g is the ability to see relationships between things and manipulate these

relationships (this is required for problem solving)– Different problems require different abilities to solve them– Based on correlations

• Cattell’s Fluid Intelligence/Crystalized Intelligence– Thought g was made up of two intelligences– Fluid Intelligence (the ability to reason and use intelligence; it declines at age

20)– Crystalized Intelligence (acquired skills and knowledge from past problem

solving and application in specific domains; it increases with age)

• Gardiner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences– Eight different types of intelligences– People have varying levels of skills/intelligences

Source: http://comp.uark.edu/~todegar/PSYC2003/intelligence.html

http://comp.uark.edu/~todegar/PSYC2003/intelligence.html

Gardiner’s Multiple Intelligences

Source: http://www.gigglepotz.com/mi8.htm

Intelligence Strengths Likes to: Learns by:

Verbal-Linguistic

reading, writing, telling stories, memorizing dates, thinking in words

read, write, talk, memorize, work at puzzles

reading, hearing and seeing words, speaking, writing, discussing and debating

Math-Logic math, reasoning, logic, problem-solving, patterns

solve problems, question, work with numbers, experiment

working with patterns and relationships, classifying, categorizing, working with the abstract

Spatial reading, maps, charts, drawing, mazes, puzzles, imaging things, visualization

design, draw, build, create, daydream, look at pictures

working with pictures and colors, visualizing, drawing

Bodily-Kinesthetic

athletics, dancing, acting, crafts, using tools

move around, touch and talk, body language

touching, moving, processing knowledge through bodily sensations

Musical singing, picking up sounds, remembering melodies, rhythms

sing, hum, play an instrument, listen to music

rhythm, melody, singing, listening to music and melodies

Interpersonal understanding people, leading, organizing, communicating, resolving conflicts, selling

have friends, talk to people, join groups

sharing, comparing, relating, interviewing, cooperating

Intrapersonal understanding self, recognizing strengths and weaknesses, setting goals

work alone, reflect, pursue interests

working alone, doing self-paced projects, having space, reflecting

Naturalist understanding nature, making distinctions, identifying flora and fauna

be involved with nature, make distinctions

working in nature, exploring things, learning about plants and natural events

http://www.gigglepotz.com/mi8.htm

Knowledge

“Knowledge is a gigantic and ever-growing sphere in space and time, made up of millions of interconnecting, crisscrossing pathways”

-- James Burke

Learning• Learning is a process by which we acquire new knowledge• Learning occurs by creation of neurons and associations

between existing neurons.• If you stop learning your overall mental capacity and

performance will decline. This is because of the weakening and eventual loss of brain networks

• Over varying periods of time you’ll notice a gradual but steady decrease in your mental agility if you do not nourish and enhance these networks

“Whenever you read a book or have a conversation, the experience causes physical changes in your brain. It’s a little frightening to think that every time you walk away from an encounter, your brain has been altered, sometimes permanently.”

-- E. Roy John (from Mechanisms of Memory, 1967)

Attention

• Attention is a Limited Mental Resource– Neurons fatigue in 3-5 min. of sustained activity

– Recover, but become inefficient in a few cycles

• Brain tunes off when only factual information is provided to it

– Key to stay focused is to stimulate different parts of the brain

– Critical thinking spreads neuronal load across the brain

“Attention is the spotlight that our brains use to identify stimuli within the context of time and space to select what is

relevant and to ignore what is irrelevant”

“The Cocktail Party Effect”

• In a classroom or any public situation (i.e. a cocktail party), it is important to filter out the important and non-important information.

• Filtering or Selecting– Mental process of eliminating distractions or

unwanted messages

• Differences between sight and hearing– Sight selection can be focused with eye movement

– Hearing selection is more cognitive

Information Processing Model

Long-Term Memory

Sensory Memory

Short-TermWorkingMemory

AttentionStimulus

Information

ResponseRevised information processing model adapted from Neisser (1976).

Source: Mark H. Ashcraft, (2002) Cognition

Memory• We are our memories

• It is the process by which we retain knowledge over time – Episodic Memory

– Semantic Memory

• Memory is established in multiple stages– Short Term

– Long Term

• Memory is not perfect

“Memory is the most important function of the brain; without it life would be a blank. Our knowledge is all based on memory. Every thought, every action, our very conception of personal identity, is based on memory… Without memory, all experience would be useless.”

-- Edridge-Green, 1900

The Magical Number 7

• Problem– Large amounts of sensory information can be experienced

– Large amounts of information can be stored long term

– Transfer of information between sensor to long term memory imposes “severe limitations on the amount of information that we are able to receive, process and remember”

• Basically, the limit of information that can be processed easily into short term memory is 7 plus or minus 2.

“The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information”

-- George Miller. (1956)

Improving MemoryWhat do you do when:

• You are introduced to someone new?– Recycle the name for a few seconds, or

– Use it in conversation and try to find a mnemonic connection

• You are reading text?– Process words at a simple level of understanding, or

– Search for connections and relationships that will make the material more manageable

“You know you’ve got to exercise your brain just like your muscles”

-- Will Rogers

“The more you use your brain, the more brain you will have to use”

-- George A. Dorsey

Brain Exercise

Sleep and Learning• Research has shown that:

– Learning a new skill and then sleeping will lead to better performance3

– What is learned when awake is replayed and rehearsed when asleep2

– Quality of sleep matters2

– At least 6 hours of sleep improves performance2

• It is better to study and get a good night’s sleep before an exam than to cram the whole night!

“Sleep affords the opportunity, within certain limits, for the brain to act of itself, and dreams are the result”

-- Edward Clarke (from Vision: A Study of False Sight, 1878)

1 http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleeponit.html

2 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/02/health/main514038.shtml

http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleeponit.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/02/health/main514038.shtml

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/02/health/main514038.shtml

Can Learning be Enhanced?

• Key to increasing your mental abilities is to increase your cognitive skills.– Cognition refers to your ability to attend, identify and

act.

– It also refers to thoughts, moods, inclination, decisions, and actions

– It includes alertness, concentration, speed, learning, memory, problem solving, creativity and mental endurance.

Thinking Styles• Every thinking style has its strengths and its weaknesses. The first step in

using your strengths is understanding and accepting them. Stop thinking that you are different or think differently. You are what you are and you think in your own style.

Thinking Style Attributes

Synthesist Enjoys conflict. Can come up with solutions to “unsolvable problems”. Look at problems from different perspectives. Come up with creative solutions

Idealist “Coaching” style of leadership and a “nurturer”. Work in supportive collaborative way instead of a highly structured, hierarchical manner.

Pragmatist Resourceful and creative. Problem solver and creator of solution. Take more risks than synthesists which are more innovative and with more potential gain.

Analyst Great troubleshooters and detail oriented. Deal best with factual information. Do things in a step-by-step manner and by thinking through problems.

Realist Provide practical solutions to problems quickly. Blunt. Good understanding of situations and how to react.

Source: http://sern.ucalgary.ca/courses/seng/693/W98/alang/minor.html

http://sern.ucalgary.ca/courses/seng/693/W98/alang/minor.html

Cognition: Critical Thinking?

• One demonstrated way to increase cognitive skills is to use a collection of tools and techniques that can be classified under the rubric critical thinking

• These tools were developed by philosophers and thinkers over the last three thousand years

• Business leaders do not relate well to these tools

Critical Thinking

• We propose to introduce a Rosetta Stone for Critical Thinking which will be more orthogonal to the managerial mindset

Classical Critical

Thinking

Bloom’sTaxonomy

Applied Critical

Thinking• Syllogisms• Truth Table• Chain Arguments• Inductive Reasoning• Deductive Reasoning

• Experimentation• Reasoning• Communication

• Cognitive• Affective• Psychomotor

Blooms Taxonomy?

Critical Thinking

Why is critical thinking so important?

It can help you in your business studiesMarketing, Finance, Information Systems, etc.

It can help you succeed in important relationships

It can helpyou become a visionary

Employee

Entrepreneur

Basic Learning Skills

Critical Intellectual Traits

Asking the Right Questions

Critical Thinking


Bloom’s Taxonomy• Cognitive Domain: deals with the development of ascending levels

of intellectual abilities and skills.

• Affective Domain: describes levels of the internalization process of the learners’ interests, attitudes, values, appreciations and behavior.

• Motor Skills Domain: Deals with physical activity requiring coordination.

Critical Thinking


Bloom’s Taxonomy: The Cognitive Domain

• Knowledge: I can define it

• Comprehension: I understand it

• Application: I have used it

• Analysis: I know how each part works

• Synthesis: I can adapt it to other uses

• Evaluation: I know when to use it

Critical ThinkingBasic Learning Skills

Bloom’s Taxonomy:The Cognitive Domain• Knowledge

– It is rote learning ranging from the recall of specific facts to knowledge of conventions and theories…a rich vocabulary

• Comprehension– Encompasses meaningful integrated learning. At this level, the learner has made the

material part of his/her own frame of reference…ones own words

• Application– Application means that the person can employ the idea, theory, practice, etc.

• Analysis– Analytical skills enable the individual to discern unstated assumptions

• Synthesis– At this level the individual is able to adapt his/her knowledge to other uses

• Evaluation – Making judgments about the value or worth of something

Critical Thinking

Basic Learning Skills Bloom’s Taxonomy:The Cognitive Domain

In Finance: Net Present Value• Knowledge: I have heard the term before. Isn’t that a method for ranking

investment proposals.• Comprehension: The Net Present Value is equal to the present value of

future returns, discounted at the marginal cost of capital, minus the present value of the cost of the investment.

• Application : I used it recently to help make a decision concerning two investment proposals.

• Analysis: The equation consists of several factors: the net cash flows, the marginal cost of capital, the initial cost of the project, and the project’s expected life.

• Synthesis: I believe that this method can also be used as part of a method to determine the value of a firm’s intangible assets.

• Evaluation: I know when to use NPV and when to use the IRR method

Critical ThinkingBloom’s Taxonomy & Action Verbs

Knowledge

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

KnowDefineMemorizeRepeatListRecall

RestateDiscussDescribeRecognizeExplainTellExpressIdentifyReport

TranslateInterpretApplyEmployUseDemonstrateDramatizePracticeIllustrateOperateSketch

AnalyzeCompareDiagramExperimentDifferentiateTestInspectDebateQuestionRelateExamineDistinguish BetweenCalculate

ComposePlanDesignProposeArrangeAssemblePrepareCollectCreateSet upOrganize

JudgeAppraiseRateValueReviseEstimateAssessSelectCritique

Action Verbs for Active Learning

Critical Thinking Basic Learning Skills

Activities for Using Bloom’s Taxonomy in TQM•

• Knowledge Level:List or record terms related to TQMList three functions of your job that relate to other departments in the organizationDefine the various acronyms associated with TQM (e.g., SPC, CQI)

• Comprehension Level:

Discuss the advantages of TQM with coworkersIdentify three departments that are customers of your departmentReview the major objective achieved in each training sessionIn a role-play, tell what you have learned in this session to your immediate supervisor

• Application Level: Demonstrate how four of the analysis tools could be used to locate quality problems in one activity of your work Dramatize how you would facilitate a meeting to introduce concepts of TQM to your department

Critical Thinking Basic Learning Skills

Activities for Using Bloom’s Taxonomy in TQM

• Analysis Level:Diagram a process flow chart of the activities for a task in your work

Differentiate those processes in your task environment that can be improved with TQM from those where TQM cannot be applied

Examine the present departmental activities and determine which one currently use TQM

• Synthesis Level:Prepare an article for the company newsletter describing TQM trainingDesign a proposal for policy changes reflecting TQM to be presented to top executivesCollect and compile data from department activities that support implementation of TQM

• Evaluation:Critique a present training program and revise it to suit the needs of your organizationEstimate a budget that would be necessary to implement TQM changes for your department.Rate the leadership in your department as to its readiness to implement TQM

Critical Thinking Can Help You Succeed in Important Relationships

Critical Intellectual Traits and the Affective Domain

• Receiving: Getting to 50%

• Responding: Seeing the Value

• Valuing: Understanding the Value

• Organization: Comparing Values & Making Sense

• Characterization: Practice & Consistency


Critical Intellectual Traits• Humility: Having a consciousness of the limits of ones knowledge. We should not claim to know

more than we know. It implies the lack of pretentiousness or conceit.

• Courage: This requires that individuals challenge what they learn rather than accept it at face value. This implies the need to look more deeply into various viewpoints that run counter to those that we hold. Willing to learn, to change, to unlearn, but to have the courage of right founded convictions.

• Empathy: Recognizing the need to put oneself in the place of others. It requires a consciousness of our egocentric tendencies to identify truth with our perception of previous experience and beliefs.

• Integrity: One must apply the same standards when looking at opposing points of view as when looking at their own arguments. Honestly admitting errors in ones thought and actions.

• Perseverance: Recognizing the need to employ intellectual standards in spite of the difficulties and obstacles this may present.The recognition that it may take time to make sense of confusing situations and to develop a necessary deeper understanding or insight.

Critical Thinking Can Help You Succeed in Important Relationships To be effective in business it is essential that individuals and

organizations focus on two primary objectives.

Improve Organizational Effectiveness:

What business should we be in?

Improve Organizational Efficiency:

Who are we in business with, and what must we do in order to gain a competitive advantage?


The Importance of Trust in Ensuring Efficiency & Effectiveness

Efficiency

“Trust should be viewed as an important component of social capital because low trust cultures incur a higher cost of doing business than do high trustcultures. Low trust cultures are simply less efficient.”

Francis Fukuyama: Trust:The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity

Effectiveness“If everyone cheated, trust would not exist. Every party to every transaction would be suspicious of everyone else and in such a system, people would spend valuable time energy and resources on protection and retaliation. Insuch a system, there would be no incentive to take risks and innovate.”

Magda Ratajski:Vital Speeches

Critical ThinkingThe Importance of Trust

All ethical systems are designed to ensure trust, and with trust, the

cooperation and collaboration necessary to ensure prosperity and survival.

• The Ten Commandments

• The Bill of Rights

• The Hippocratic Oath, etc.

Critical ThinkingThe Importance of Trust

An ethical system is a set of rules that helps guide behavior. Ethical systemsexist along a continuum ranging from those that focus on the ends (teleological), and those that focus on the means (deontological). They differon the basis of:• The extent to which they focus on the individual or on the broader society• The extent to which complete and accurate information is shared• The extent to which rules that guide behavior are universally practiced• The extent to which duty determines behavior

These four elements can be described as: inclusiveness, truthtelling,consistency and discipline. These are then the values that help ensure thatpeople share knowledge with their colleagues and build upon one another’sideas.

The Importance of TrustInclusiveness

“We must all hang together or assuredly, we will all hang separately”Benjamin Franklin July 4, 1776

Why is inclusiveness important?Cross Functional Teams

How do you know whether your organization practices inclusiveness?

How many of the following stakeholders are identified in your company credo?Policy Holders, Managers, Suppliers, Customers, Employees, etc.

In how many broad areas are employees allowed to participate?Setting goals, Making decisions, Solving problems, Making changes, etc.

How can you ensure inclusiveness?

Empower, Distribute responsibility


“ In matters of morality we are not judges about others, but nature

has given us the right to form judgements about others. She has

ordained that we should judge ourselves in accordance with

judgements that others form about us. The man who turns a deaf ear

to other people’s opinions of him is base and reprehensible.”

From The Lectures of Immanuel Kant


Johnson and Johnson Company Credo

“We believe our first responsibility is to doctors, nurses and patients,

to mothers, and all others who use our products and services.

We are responsible to our employees, the men and women who work

with us throughout the world.

We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work,

and to the world community as well. Our final responsibility is to our

stockholders.” [Bowie, 1987]


Examples

• Jethro’s Advice to Moses

• Johnson and Johnson Company Credo

• Wayne Huizenga and Waste Management

• Bob Gebo at AT&T

• Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People


Practices

• Distribute responsibility:– Process ownership at Chaparal steel has paid of handsomely. Workers at Chaparal

require 1.6 hours to produce one ton of steel whereas the industry average is 4.4 hours per ton.

• Seek first to understand:– Dell’s Direct Model means that they spend more time with the customer before they

actually make the product. This way hey know exactly what the customer wants.

• Encourage collaboration:– Honda and Rover benefited from their collaboration. Rover learned how to improve

quality and productivity, and Honda learned how to develop and market a luxury car, the Acura Legend.

The Importance of TrustTruthtelling

“Truth is the secret of eloquence and virtue, the basis of moral authority; it is the highest summit of art and life.”

Henri Frederic Amiel, 1883

Why is truthtelling important?Individual and Team Learning

How do you know whether your organization practices truthtelling?A falsehood ceases to be a falsehood when it is understood on all sides

that the truth is not expected to be spoken.

How can you ensure truthtellingAdmit your mistakes quickly and publicly.


“ If a man spreads false news though he does no wrong to anyone in

particular, he offends against mankind because if such practices were

universal, mans desire for knowledge would be frustrated. For apart

from speculation there are only two ways I can increase my fund of

knowledge, by experience, and by what other people tell me.”

From the Lectures of Immanuel Kant


Examples

• Nixon and Clinton

• Donald Douglas of McDonald Douglas

• Scott Cook of Intuit

• Edmund Schweitzer of SEL, etc.


Practices

• Admit your mistakes quickly and publicly:– Tom’s of Main produced a deodorant that actually made body odor worse. Tom’s

recalled their product and issued an apology. It cost $400,000 or 30% of their projected profits for the year. No loss of market share, in fact it went up.

• Humility is the best guarantor of truth and learning:– Self disclosure is important to open communication and learning. When students

approached strangers at an airport and tried to communicate with them, the more personal the messages they communicated, the more revealing the comments.

• Do not give the impression of stealth or impropriety: – Gerber baby Foods and the blue ceramic chip.

The Importance of TrustConsistency

“The secret of success is constancy of purpose”

Benjamin Disraeli, 1872

Why is consistency so important?

Behavior characterizes individuals as well as organizations.

How do you know whether your organization practices consistency?

Measure the number of complaints or law suits brought against the firm.

How can you ensure consistency?

Set incredibly high standards.


“The first rule was never to accept anything as true unless I recognized it tobe evidently such: that is carefully avoid all precipitation and pre-judgementand to include nothing in my calculations unless it presented itself so clearlyand distinctly in my mind that there was no reason to doubt it.The second was to divide each of the difficulties which I encountered into asmany parts as possible, and as might be required for easier solution.The third part was to think in an orderly fashion when concerned with the search for truth, beginning with the things that were simplest and easiest tounderstand and gradually by degrees reaching toward more complex knowledge even treating as though ordered materials which were not so.The last was both in the process of searching and in reviewing when indifficulties, always to make enumerations so complete and reviews so generalthat I would be certain that nothing was omitted.”

Rene DesCartes


Examples

• Wal-Mart

• Hubble Telescope

• MacDonalds, etc.


Practices

• Choose a task worthy of your efforts: – The one thing successful companies have in common is a worthy purpose. This is the

company’s reason for being. For SONY it is “To have people experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public.

• Believe in yourself:– Drucker states that knowledge workers must believe in themselves. This way they take

serious, the need to keep learning, to constantly seek out new knowledge.

• Set your standards high:– General Electric, Monsanto Intel, etc. employ stretch goals. One company set a goal of

reducing hazardous wastes by 5%. Once achieved everyone slacked off. Monsanto set a goal of zero emissions. While scientifically impossible this stretch goal helped Monsanto striving for the best.

The Importance of TrustDiscipline

“Discipline is the soul of an army, it makes small numbers

formidable, procures success to the weak and esteem to all”

George Washington, 1759

Why is discipline important?

It ensures the other three values

How do you know whether your organization practices discipline?

Does your organization make public their performance toward their goals?

How can you ensure discipline?

Establish goals and make them explicit


“ Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to

put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love of

justice is above rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of

understanding is above their vanity and presumption; as they are disposed

to listen to the counsels of the wise and good in preference to the flattery of

knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite

be placed somewhere and the less there is within, the more there must be

without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of

intemperate minds cannot be free, their passions forge their fetters.’

Edmond Burke


Examples

• Harvard Graduates

• Jack Welch

• The United States Marines, etc.


Practices

• Know your limits:– Young companies must learn not to promise the market place too much. Brian Farrell,

CEO of THQ, a video game seller complained that if you grow at 15%, the first thing Wall street asks, is if you can grow at 25%.

• Establish goals and make them explicit:– Accountability should be seen as a tool that inspires a company and its employees to to

learn and work harder rather than a form of organizational policing.

• Make your goals and performance public:– In 1989, Dupont Chairman Edward Woolard publicly stated that they would reduce toxic

air emissions by 60%, carcinogens by 90% and hazardous wastes by 35%. They then announced that they cut these emissions and wastes by 605, 75% and 46% respectively. The moral—Measure what you do and report the results publicly.

Critical Thinking

Asking the Right Questions

• Who

• What

• Where

• When

• Why

• How

Critical Thinking

Asking the Right QuestionsManaging Conflict

• Who has conflict?

• What kind of conflict?

• Where is the conflict

• When is the conflict?

• Why is there conflict?

• How can conflict be resolved?

Critical Thinking

Asking the Right QuestionsManaging Conflict

• Who has conflict?– Workers, husbands and wives

• What kind of conflict?– Emotional, substantive

• Where is the conflict?– On the job, at home

• When is there conflict?– Working together, making a major purpose

• Why is there conflict?– Differences in values

• How can conflict be resolved?– Or in what ways can persons who interact with one another better achieve their mutual

objectives

Critical Thinking

Asking The Right QuestionsCutting Grass

• Who has grass?

• What kind of grass?

• Where is the grass?

• When does it need cutting?

• Why cut the grass?

• How can the grass be cut?

Critical Thinking

Asking The Right QuestionsCutting Grass

• Who has grass? – Homeowners, municipalities

• What kind of grass?– All kinds

• Where is the grass?– In yards, parks, golf courses

• When does it need cutting? – When its over three inches high

• Why cut the grass?– To control weeds, for a nicer looking yard

• How can the grass be cut?– Or, in what ways can grass be made to stop growing after it reaches a height of three inches?

Critical Thinking Asking the Right Questions

What FirmMust Know

What FirmKnows

What Firm Can Do

What Firm Must Do

Knowledge Gap Strategy Gap

Critical Thinking The Ultimate Key Success Factor.

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Transcript of Critical Thinking The Ultimate Key Success Factor.