On critical and creative thinking

Recently colleague remarked on how interesting it is that Americans spend an incredible amount of time thinking about our physical health and conditioning but frankly no time focused on our “thinking health” and conditioning.   He’s absolutely right.

When is the last time someone sat down and discussed not what to think about something, but rather “how” to think about something?

As a nation, I think our education system should spend time teaching our kids how to think.  They should learn how to both critically and creatively think about issues and problems – not just regurgitate facts from a textbook.  We could do a lot better on this front – and we need too in order to give our children the gift of curiosity as they grow up.

As leaders in business, we also need to ensure that we are fostering an environment that allows creative and critical thinking at work.  Business leaders need teammates that can think clearly, critically, and creatively to solve our difficult business problems.

There is a lot of work to do in this area.

Dan