Inside Small Business » 2008

You Can be a Great Critical and Creative Thinker

Inside Small Business | February 20th, 2008

Hazel Wagner

Brain power, the ability to think critically and creatively, to be able to think well in teams, and to recall the right information and/or to know how to find it, are the most necessary ‘assets’ for your business.

In a Forbes article, Alexander Tabarrok* stated “As India, China and other countries become wealthier, companies will increase their worldwide R&D investments. Most importantly, as markets expand, companies and countries will put to work the greatest asset of all for the betterment of mankind: brain power.”

In business we need to be able to apply both critical and creative types of thinking. We also need to work in teams where we multiply brainpower by thinking and generating ideas together.

Critical thinking includes reading, listening, and observing with an open as well as skeptical mind. If you think you know what someone is going to say, you often aren’t listening. If you are waiting your turn to speak, you aren’t listening. If you have made up your mind about the subject, you aren’t listening.

Thinking critically requires two steps:

1. Having an open mind so you can really pay attention.

2. Asking questions and checking assumptions and statements because you want to know, not because you want to prove the other person wrong.

Creative thinking includes being able to explore possibilities that are not the obvious, proven methods or answers. It requires being comfortable with being wrong because, if you always have to be right, you will be afraid to take any chances. Risk is part of creativity. But without creativity you cannot find ways to move ahead with innovation that others will want to buy.

Quantity is even more important than quality of ideas during initial stages of idea generation. What may seem like a crazy idea at first may have the germ of a great idea. The more ideas you have to consider, the more you have to sift through and explore new combinations.

Effective brainstorming techniques will help your creativity index grow. To learn about many ways to successfully do brainstorming, go to http://www.brainstorming-that-works.com.

Critical and Creative Thinking is not an oxymoron!

Hazel Wagner (PhD, MBA, CMC, NSA member) is a Speaker, Author, Consultant, and Brainstorming Coach. She is the founder of B9D, Inc. a consulting company and Brainiance Business Books. More commentary can be found on her web sites www.brainstorming-that-works.com, www.hazelwagner.com, www.brainiance.com, and www.b9d.com, and in her Brainstorming-Blog. She can be reached at hazel.wagner@b9d.com.