critical thinking the ultimate key success factor
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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• Broca’s work was superceded by the neuronal doctrine (Waldayer)– Neurons are the processing units of the brain.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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Basic Learning Skills
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
Basic Learning Skills
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 Thinking Can Help You Succeed in Important Relationships
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?
Critical Thinking Can Help You Succeed in Important Relationships
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
The Importance of TrustInclusiveness
“ 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
The Importance of TrustInclusiveness
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]
The Importance of TrustInclusiveness
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
The Importance of TrustInclusiveness
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.
The Importance of TrustTruthtelling
“ 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
The Importance of TrustTruthtelling
Examples
• Nixon and Clinton
• Donald Douglas of McDonald Douglas
• Scott Cook of Intuit
• Edmund Schweitzer of SEL, etc.
The Importance of TrustTruthtelling
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 Importance of TrustConsistency
“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
The Importance of TrustConsistency
Examples
• Wal-Mart
• Hubble Telescope
• MacDonalds, etc.
The Importance of TrustConsistency
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
The Importance of TrustDiscipline
“ 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
The Importance of TrustDiscipline
Examples
• Harvard Graduates
• Jack Welch
• The United States Marines, etc.
The Importance of TrustDiscipline
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
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