What is it?
Critical thinking is the ability to evaluate the truth of an argument and its premises by subjecting them to rational analysis. Great technical leadership relies upon the ability to think not just fast but effectively and accurately for each situation while taking into account the team who must execute those key decisions.
Why CTOs need it?
A CTO needs to be able to reason, understand and solve problems. Logic, analytical reasoning, and problem solving will help navigate today’s complex data environment. This is vitally important when not in possession of adequate data to make snap decisions.
Let’s get critical
- Leave judgments at the door – judgmental attitudes can create stagnant thinking and blockages to to new ways of doing things. Not only that they create discord and disunity especially if you do not want to try to understand another viewpoint
- Open your mind and be flexible – this is the best way to see things from a different and often better and fresher perspective. Flexibility = openness to change if and when needed
- Start constructive listening – it’s an invaluable skill which involves not just listening, but doing so without judgment. It means truly focusing on the speaker without trying to interfere or influence what they are saying
- Develop evidence-based beliefs – this is a process of recognizing the difference between beliefs and facts, just because you believe it, it does not make it true. Being able to change your beliefs can be tough but important when the given facts change
- Ask the right questions – to get the answers you need ask open-ended (freely speaking), close-ended (yes or no answers) or probing (detailed questions requiring specific details). Be sure to be broad enough to create dialogue but specific enough to for the person to know what you want to know
- Change your perspective – often it is easy to get stuck in a what it means for ‘you and your team or your company’ perspective but changing that to something new and with a broader scope is very useful. It allows creative thinking to flourish and generates viewpoints that might have been overlooked
- Use facts to back yourself up – data driven decisions are valuable because they are not muddied by emotions and prove a true or a false outcome. Using data provides the insight that is needed and can be presented visually to be more memorable
- Don’t overly rely on data – while data is a great quantitative way to authenticate, over reliance can lead to the “data fallacy” where misunderstanding the data can occur. Intuition and alternative opinions can help support your decision-making
- Get to know your cognitive biases and how to avoid traps – what are your personal thought patterns and how are you affected by positive and negative ones? This is important because they have direct implications on our safety, our interactions with others, and the way we make judgments and decisions