BUSINESS SKILLS
CRITICAL THINKING
Time to think harder!
Die Denkfähigkeit, die den Menschen von allen anderen Lebewesen abhebt, entwickelt sich
auch im Geschäftsalltag zunehmend zu einer Kernkompetenz. BOB DIGNEN setzt sich in seinem
Beitrag mit kritischem Denken auseinander und zeigt, wie sich dadurch das Arbeitsumfeld
verbessern, Entscheidungen beeinflussen und die Leistung steigern lassen.
D
arwin’s theory of evolution, now
more than 150 years old, teach-
es us important truths about the
need for adaptation and flexibili-
ty in the face of a changing reali-
ty. And, as human beings, one of
our most important evolution-
ary advantages has been the ca-
pacity for complex thinking.
Putting these two thoughts together,
it’s easy to come to the thesis that suc-
cessful leaders should focus on evolving
smarter ways of thinking to deal with an
increasingly challenging business envi-
ronment. Indeed, the World Economic
Forum has consistently placed critical
thinking skills high on its list of essential
skills for the future world of work.
This article explores the nature of crit-
ical thinking. We look at how a conscious
and disciplined approach to thinking can
help you to take better decisions, perform
better and inspire better performance in
those around you.
1. Thinking about thinking
If you think about it, the process of think-
ing is a strange and intangible phenome-
non. It’s almost a reflex, like breathing. It
occurs whether we want it to or not. At
times, it’s frighteningly automatic. For
example, when we arrive at a destina-
tion in a car without any real awareness
of actually haven driven there. And how
many times do you say to yourself, “I wish
I could stop thinking about…”? Despite
our best efforts to prevent them, thoughts
can appear and reappear with maddening
persistence. On the other hand, think-
ing with concentration and focus can
34  Business Spotlight 6/2020
ADVANCED  AUDIO  PLUS
generate moments of creativity and in- bias [(baIEs] 
sight that are semi-magical. , Voreingenommenheit
The concept of critical thinking is mo- consistently
tivated by a desire to control and sharpen [kEn(sIstEntli] 
,  durchweg, immer wieder
our thinking. It has a long history and, as
with any term, a variety of interpretations. engage with sth.
[In(geIdZ wID] 
Stretching back as far as the Greeks and ,  sich mit etw. befassen
the Socratic tradition of enquiry, critical
essence [(es&ns] 
thinking represents an effort to engage , Wesen(skern)
more positively and precisely with real- expertise
ity — and to pursue a level of controlled [)eksp§:(ti:z] 
and conscious logical analysis that ena- , Sachkompetenz
bles sound conclusions and, ultimately, insight [(InsaIt] 
, Erkenntnis
better decision-making. Critical thinking
is a practice that involves not only analyt- intangible
[In(tÄndZEb&l] 
ical excellence but also emotional intui- ,  nicht greifbar,
tion, with the awareness that irrational schwer erfassbar
beliefs, fears and biases can be as signifi- occur [E(k§:] 
cant as data and logic in influencing our , stattfinden
thoughts. persistence
Many professionals believe that they [pE(sIstEns] 
,  Beharrlichkeit
already possess critical-thinking skills
pursue sth. [pE(sju:] 
simply because they are skilled at han-
,  etw. verfolgen
dling complex data in intelligent ways.
sound [saUnd] 
Professional training and expertise don’t , solide
remove the need for further developing
one’s capacity for critical thinking, how-
ever. If anything, they increase it. Par- A CONSCIOUS
ticularly in a dynamic, cross-border and
cross-disciplinary world, one person’s APPROACH TO
truths may not be another’s. So, while con-
fidence in your expertise may lead you to THINKING CAN
one answer, my expertise may produce a
HELP YOU TO
Illustration: FrankRamspott/iStock.com
very different conclusion. And then the
problems start.
At a more fundamental level, critical TAKE BETTER
thinking is an effort to engage with our
human essence. Throughout our entire
lives, we bring our own very powerful
DECISIONS
mental models to what we experience.
BUSINESS SKILLS
Disciplined
thinking: a
critical skill

6/2020 Business Spotlight 35 

 This injects seemingly neutral facts and
events so powerfully with personal mean-
ings that we are regularly led to confuse
objective and subjective realities.
So, for example, as the first snow falls
in winter, you may experience joy and
nostalgia at the thought of a wonderful
family Christmas. I, on the other hand,
may experience anxiety at the thought of
travel disruption and lost business. As re-
cession looms, you may respond with op-
timism and a desire to invest due to your
entrepreneurial flair. I may reflect with
pessimism on the need to control costs.
Improving one’s ability to manage and
step away from one’s own mental model
is a never-ending process.
2. Jumping to conclusions
In everyday professional (and personal)
life, this challenge is evident in the way
that we jump so quickly to conclusions
about others on the basis of very limit-
ed data. This is a cognitive risk that was
examined in the “Ladder of Inference”
model, developed by American Chris
Argyris, a former professor at Harvard
Business School, and later popularized
by American systems scientist Peter M.
Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline.
Argyris made clear the ways in which a
reasonable and accurate assessment of
other people and their behaviours de-
pends on our ability to observe situations
accurately, to interpret fairly the data se-
lected and observed, and to exercise the
self-control needed to arrive at emotion-
ally neutral conclusions.
The following example makes this
clearer. If I enter a meeting room at 8.58,
and see you arrive at 9.20 (my observable
selected data), I can easily interpret this
data as meaning that you are late. I may
conclude with some irritation — because
I worked so hard to arrive on time — that
your professionalism and reliability are
highly questionable. And this might seem
like a fair first assumption, based on the
data I have at my disposal.
But had I arrived earlier, for example,
at 8.45, I would have seen what really
happened. You had got to the meeting
early at 8.50 and had explained to the
chairperson that you urgently needed to
help a colleague who needed transport to
the hospital for a sick child. I would then
have seen you leave the meeting room
at 8.55 and then get back by 9.20, having
36  Business Spotlight 6/2020
managed the emergency in an extraordi-
narily short time. All this extra data would WE OFTEN JUMP
have stopped me from making inaccurate
assumptions about what had happened TO CONCLUSIONS
and would have led to an entirely differ-
ent conclusion about my colleague. ABOUT OTHERS ON
This simple example illustrates the fact
that, in a complex business environment, THE BASIS OF VERY
where there may be many more “un-
known unknowns” than we can imagine, LIMITED DATA
we need the commitment and tools to
slow down our thinking, process more
data in a more reasoned way, challenge
some of our spontaneous interpreta- anxiety [ÄN(zaIEti]  jump to a conclusion
, Besorgnis [)dZVmp tu E kEn(klu:Z&n] 
tions and values with which we judge sit-
,  vorschnell einen Schluss
uations or colleagues, and come to more assessment [E(sesmEnt] 
ziehen
, Beurteilung
rounded conclusions. This is the promise KPI (key performance
of critical thinking. assumption [E(sVmpS&n] 
indicator) [)keI pi: (aI] 
, Annahme
, Leistungskennzahl
breeding ground
3. Developing your critical thinking [(bri:dIN graUnd] 
ladder of inference
[)lÄdEr Ev (Inf&rEns] 
In this section, we provide some tips for , Nährboden
,  Leiter der Schluss-
you and your organization that will help commitment folgerungen
you to develop your critical-thinking [kE(mItmEnt] 
loom [lu:m] 
,  hier: Bereitschaft
skills and improve your decision-taking. ,  sich abzeichnen
core [kO:] 
nostalgia [nQ(stÄldZE] 
, Kern; hier: zentral
a) Create a critical-thinking culture. ,  [wg. Aussprache]
Organizational cultures that punish disposal: have sth. at
outcome [(aUtkVm] 
one’s ~ [dI(spEUz&l] 
failure and reward only success, as op- , Ergebnis
,  etw. zur Verfügung
posed to creative efforts, are poor breed- haben public arena: put sth. into
ing grounds for alternative and critical the ~ [)pVblIk E(ri:nE] 
disruption [dIs(rVpS&n] 
,  hier: etw. in eine
thinking processes. Leaders who posi- ,  Störung, Unterbrechung
öffentliche Diskussion
tion themselves as experts, who focus too dumb [dVm]  einbringen
strongly on KPI-driven management pro- , dumm
surface sth. [(s§:fIs] 
cesses and who prioritize the known and entrepreneurial ,  hier: etw. erkennbar
[)QntrEprE(n§:riEl]  machen
the achievable, may be undermining their
, unternehmerisch
team’s ability to perform open and critical thrive [TraIv] 
(denkend)
,  gedeihen, erfolgreich
analysis of their environment. On the oth- flair [fleE]  sein
er hand, critical thinking can thrive when , Talent
undermine sth.
“dumb” ideas are welcomed, when people inject sth. with sth. [)VndE(maIn] 
are explicitly encouraged to “waste” valu- [In(dZekt wID]  ,  etw. untergraben,
,  hier: einer Sache beeinträchtigen
able time on unlikely outcomes and when
etw. verleihen
discussions are designed to challenge core visible [(vIzEb&l] 
irritation [)IrI(teIS&n]  , sichtbar
mantras. , Verärgerung
b) Surface your assumptions. Identify-
ing false and dangerous assumptions is
A critical thinker should be…
the first target of critical thinking. When
you ask people how to deal with assump- ⋅⋅⋅⋅ curious
⋅⋅⋅⋅
sceptical
tions, they often believe that the solution humble
⋅⋅⋅⋅
is to avoid them. Assumptions are ever- open-minded
present, however. Our brain necessarily able to admit to being wrong
⋅⋅⋅⋅
courageous in taking initiatives
works by methods of categorization and willing to face challenges
⋅⋅⋅⋅
classification. So, a smarter solution is aware of their personal biases
to put your assumptions into the pub- able to take criticism well
lic arena, to surface them, making them willing to disagree openly
visible and available for examination. In bias [(baIEs]  humble [(hVmb&l] 
meetings, for example, this means say- , Voreingenommenheit , bescheiden
ing things such as “I’m assuming that…”
BUSINESS SKILLS
 CASE STUDY:
A CRITICAL SALES PITCH From: jhansen@urto.com
To: igottard@hgm.de
Ina Gottard and Paul Jameson work for HGM,
a creative agency in Berlin that specializes in Dear Ina
creating marketing campaigns for national and
international brands in fashion retail. They are Many thanks for your time last week and for
planning a first meeting with URTO, a Düsseldorf the presentation. Unfortunately, we feel your
subsidiary of an American parent company in approach is not aligned to our needs and we
New York that Ina and Paul already work with. have decided to work with another agency.
Read the conversation they have while pre-
paring for the meeting with URTO, and the sub- Very best regards
sequent email from the Düsseldorf client. Then Joanna
answer the questions below.

⋅⋅
Paul: So, Ina, what do you think? How should we Questions
approach the client in Düsseldorf? What assumptions did Ina make when develop-

⋅⋅
Ina: My idea would be to leverage our rela- ing her strategy for the meeting?
tionship with New York. After all, if we’re What do you think of Paul’s behaviour during

⋅⋅
good enough for the parent company, we the discussion?
should be good enough for the subsidiary, How could Paul have helped Ina to apply more

⋅⋅
don’t you think? critical thinking to her approach?
Paul: Hmm, you think? Why do you think Ina’s pitch was unsuccessful?
Ina: Absolutely. And I know quite a few senior
people in the US, so we have excellent ref- You will find our feedback on page 41.
erences. And with most strategies aligned
these days, it makes sense to have the aligned [E(laInd]  leverage sth. sales pitch [(seI&lz pItS]  subsidiary
same creative agency. ,  aufeinander abgestimmt [(li:vErIdZ]  , Verkaufsgespräch, [sEb(sIdiEri] 
Paul: OK. ,  etw. als wirksames -präsentation , Tochterunternehmen;
assumption: make an ~
Ina: What I’ll do is put together a pitch with a Instrument einsetzen Niederlassung
[E(sVmpS&n]  senior exec
few examples of our work for New York, ,  eine Vermutung parent company [)si:niEr Ig(zek] ifml.  testimonial
and some testimonials from the senior anstellen [(peErEnt )kVmpEni]  ,  obere Führungskraft [)testI(mEUniEl] 
execs there. That should do the trick. , Muttergesellschaft , Referenz
Paul: You’re sure this is the right approach? do the trick subsequent
Ina: What can go wrong? [)du: DE (trIk]  ifml. retail [(ri:teI&l]  [(sVbsIkwEnt] 
,  Erfolg haben , Einzelhandel , nachfolgend

or “How safe is it to assume that…?” Surfacing and creates challenges in professional life. It can lead to adopt [E(dQpt] 
exploring assumptions like this can quickly take us errors if past expertise fails to match a new and emer- ,  etw. an-, übernehmen
along a journey of discovery of diverse experiences, gent reality. In other words, “what got you here may argue sth. [(A:gju:] 
levels of expertise, beliefs, values and systems of log- not get you there”. High levels of confidence can ,  etw. diskutieren

ic. It can be useful to define the terms that we com- also lead to conflict when experts with equally valid body of knowledge
monly use at work, too. For example, we might ask: versions argue and defend their views rather than [)bQdi Ev (nQlIdZ] 
, Wissensspektrum
“Do we really understand the same thing by the term enquire and collaborate. Tolerance of uncertainty,
clarify sth. [(klÄrEfaI] 
‘quality’?” or “So, what exactly is a ‘project’ for you?” humility regarding the limits of one’s knowledge,
,  etw. (ab)klären
It is also helpful to focus on and surface under- and an openness to new impulses and ideas are all
dismiss sth. [dIs(mIs] 
lying interests. This is particularly relevant during essential qualities for critical thinking. ,  etw. ablehnen
moments of innovation, because holding on to tradi-
embrace sth. [Im(breIs] 
tional solutions can sometimes obscure a customer’s d) Develop data competence. A lack of data can eas- ,  etw. akzeptieren; auch:
real needs. This has been highlighted recently with ily undermine effective critical thinking. When we sich etw. zu eigen machen
the rise of virtual training in response to the global have limited data, we struggle to take the best deci- emergent
pandemic. Historically, virtual training has been dis- sions. There are a number of potential solutions: [i(m§:dZEnt] 
, entstehend
missed by face-to-face trainers as an inferior learning ➻ Define in advance how much data is necessary
process (see also pp. 26–27). But the recent Covid-19 to take an informed decision. enrich sth. [In(rItS] 
,  etw. anreichern;
crisis has revealed that the core interest of learners ➻ Enrich your current data with new data from hier: unterfüttern
is not, in fact, to travel to a training room but to learn unfamiliar sources.
Illustration: FrankRamspott/iStock.com

humility [hju(mIlEti] 
useful information. If this can be achieved within a ➻ Widen your intellectual base so that you can , Bescheidenheit
virtual delivery mode, then this mode can quickly draw insights from different bodies of knowledge. obscure sth.
become adopted. ➻ Ask multiple questions to uncover unseen [Eb(skjUE] 
,  etw. verdecken
information.
c) Embrace uncertainty. Being confident that one ➻ Rank data according to its quality and impor- reveal sth. [ri(vi:&l] 
,  etw. (auf)zeigen
is in possession of the truth, the right answer or the tance in order to clarify its influence on any
correct analysis is admirable in many ways. But it also decision.

BUSINESS SKILLS 6/2020 Business Spotlight 37