Meria, Melody M.

BSCOE 3-5

Elevate the Way We Think: A Review of HBR Guide to Critical Thinking

There will always be an inevitable change as we rapidly move forward. People will gain
ample information from different perspectives, but how will they process this information and
apply it to a real-life problem or situation? With critical thinking, this information can be processed
by solving complex problems, navigating issues and situations, and making a well-informed
decision. Indeed, critical thinking has become indispensable and is needed for an applicant to land
a job.

Throughout the book entitled "HBR Guide to Critical Thinking", it mainly encompasses
different elements of critical thinking written by professionals. They used a comprehensive
structure to list the framework for honing this skill. Moreover, the book delves deeply into the
ways in which a person can understand and implement important skills such as gathering data from
different reliable sources, analyzing this information in a critical way, and seeking information
from various perspectives.

The former part of the book addresses having the right mindset when solving a problem in
terms of business challenges and scenarios. This implies that collaboration can help people create
innovations for new business ideas. In addition, it discusses how to question assumptions by taking
a stop and think, reason through logic by setting emotions aside, and diversifying thought by asking
for other perspectives.

Furthermore, the book also indicates that people should be careful in making haste
decisions because that would later create collateral damage. With that, people should balance it
out by having a reflective urgency or a rapid reflection on the scenario. We must take note of
urgency and decisiveness to avoid having counterproductive habits.

The reference also shares the importance of investigating anomalies in a business, as it

implies that anomalies may lead to new business insights. In addition, a part of the book
emphasizes the significance of providing hard evidence when making business decisions. For
instance, they implied that assumptions should not be based solely on experiences, feelings, and
status. These two points are critical in running a business as problems are just around that business
holder and its employees must be mindful of.

On the bottom-line, the book widely encompasses scenarios happening in businesses, yet
these principles may extend beyond the corporate world. In such cases, it can be applied
academically or even for personal improvement. It may be difficult to implement thinking
critically, but as stated in the book, it needs to be practiced or exercised. Guaranteed that after
having a grasp of this book, there will be changes in perspectives on how we think and analyze.