INDEX

9 Dot puzzle, 160, 172

A

Abductive Thinking, 164–171

checkerboard illusion, 165

exercises, 171

getting started, 170

old dog, 166

Takeaway, 171

Absolute truths, 86, 90, 93, 100–101

Absorption capability, 192, 195, 197

Accuracy, 195–196

Agreement, 124, 150, 153

Always a way, 24–26

Ambiguity, 30–32

Anaya, Ivan Fernandex, 104

Answer, 51, 82

I don't know, 39

knowledge, 33, 41

perspectives, 137

Thinking Coach, 74–78

Think Outside the Box, 160

Triangular Thinking, 136–140

Why?, 36

Anticipatory Thinking, 57–61

exercises, 61

getting started, 60

a miss, 63

Takeaway, 61

what's next?, 59

Applications, 58, 68, 77

Approval, 153, 181–182, 187

ASAP, 183

Assumptions, 110–113

automatic mode, 110, 112

bad, 119

conversation, 127

critical thinking mode, 110

invalidate, 39, 112, 118, 150–151

Takeaway, 113

validated, 145

Automatic mode, 5–6, 8, 19, 62, 88, 110, 112, 124

Automatic thinking, 1, 4, 19, 84, 108, 120

B

Bacon, Sir Francis, 33

Because!!, 34, 39–41

Beliefs, 89, 107–109, 121–122

change, 107

different, 107

filter, 105, 114

ideological, 109

Takeaway, 109

values, 104–105

Benefits, xv, 1–2, 7, 9–11, 79, 196–197, 205

Better mousetrap, 155

Biases, 7

Boeing, 59

Boundaries:

beyond, 172

box, 159, 161

knowledge, 39

outside, 161

Box:

boundaries, 161

inside, 161

outside, 155–156, 159–163

premise, 161

Triangular Thinking, 138–139

Brain:

changes things, 166

hides information, 8

makes things up, 6, 99

throws things out, 5–6, 99

Bucket, 23–27, 99–100, 204

empty, 23–26, 100

exercises, 26

filled, 23, 108

getting started, 25

Takeaway, 26

Business problem solving, xiii

C

Change, 141–146

acknowledge, 145

exercises, 145

getting started, 144

helping people accept, 143

Takeaway 145

Checklist:

decision criteria, 187

decision maker's, 180

Clarity, 16–17, 19–82

am I done?, 81

getting started, 79

practice, 80

summary, 79

Takeaway, 82

Clear HeadScratcher, 17, 120

Components, weight, 120

Conclusions, 17, 83–154

Assumptions, 110–113

Beliefs, 104–109

exercises, 126

Experiences, 99–103

Facts, 90–93

getting started, 124, 176

jumping to, 119

Observations, 94–98

personalities, 120

premise, 85–89, 114

putting it together, 114–127

right, 121

summary, 176–177

Takeaway, 126

Conclusions and Innovation, 155–175

Abductive Thinking, 164–171

Impossible Thinking, 172–175

Outside-the-Box, 159–163

world of, 156

Confidence, 87–88, 117, 122

change, 141–143

less, 126, 141–142, 153

persuade, 151, 153

stronger premise, 89, 117, 130

triangular thinking, 138, 140

Confusion, 29–30

Consequences, 47–48, 57, 63

Consistency 132–135

exercises, 135

getting started, 134

Takeaway, 135

Constraints, 23, 40, 173

Context recognition, 5

Controllability, 191, 193, 195, 197

Conversation, 25–26, 33

assumptions, 122, 125

decision, 187

impossible, 172

need, 52, 54, 56

observations, 95

premise, 123–124

risk, 201

so what?, 44

upside-versus-downside, 189

vision, 71

what else?, 62

Cooperation, 54

Counter observation, 150

Creating Solutions, 176–177

Creativity, xi, 23, 207, 209

Credibility, 128–131, 148, 176

exercises, 131

getting started, 130

lose, 129

Takeaway, 130

Criteria, 186–188

decision maker's, 187

exercises, 188

getting started, 187

Takeaway, 188

Critical Thinking:

application:

list of business functions, 11

list of business issues and goals, 12

list of day-to-day activities, 14

benefits, 7

definition, 3

process, 9, 16, 33, 74, 81–82, 176

when to use, 10

Cube, 137–138

Customer calls, 8, 47, 87, 111, 115, 134

Customers, 21, 37, 45, 58–59, 134, 144

D

Dates, 97, 183–184, 186, 201

Decision maker, xiii, 179, 182–187, 198, 200–201

Decisions, 82, 179–202

act, 17, 28, 131, 179, 188

Criteria. See Criteria

getting started, 201

Risk. See Risk

skills, 9

summary, 200–202

time-dependent, 183

time-independent, 183

Who-Need-When. See Who-Need-When

Deductive reasoning, 85–86, 90

Disagree, 106–108, 147, 153

Downside, 191

E

E-mails, 15, 25, 30, 80, 204–205

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 155

Empty Your Bucket. See Bucket

Error, xiii, 125, 144

Estimates, 136–139

high-confidence, 138, 140

Executives, 204

Exercises:

Abductive Thinking, 171

Anticipatory Thinking, 61

Change, 145

Conclusions, 126

Consistency, 135

Credibility, 131

Criteria, 188

Empty your bucket, 26

Facts, Observations, and Experiences, 101

Facts and Observations, 97

Impossible Thinking, 175

Influence and Persuasion, 154

Ingredient Diagram, 70

Inspection, 31

Need, 55

Outside-the-Box, 163

Risk, 199

So What?, 49

Thinking Coach, 78

Triangular Thinking, 140

Vision, 73

What Else?, 64

Who, When, and Need, 185

Why?, 42

Experiences, 99–103

bucket, 23

Takeaway, 101

F

Facts, 90–93

absolute truth, 90

Credibility, 129

Takeaway, 93

Filter, 105, 114

Focus, 18, 23, 31, 54, 69, 73, 143, 149

Foundation, xiii, 88–89, 114, 157

Framework, 2, 7, 9, 16, 20

G

Getting Started:

Abductive Thinking, 170

Anticipatory Thinking, 60

Change, 144

Clarity, 79

Conclusions, 124, 176

Consistency, 134

Creditibility, 130

Criteria, 187

Decisions, 201

Emptying your bucket, 25

Impossible Thinking, 174

Influencing and Persuading, 151

Ingredient Diagram, 69

Inspection, 30

Need, 54

Outside-the-Box, 162

Risk, 198

So What?, 46

Thinking Coach, 77

Triangular Thinking, 139

Vision, 72

What Else?, 63

Who, Need, and When, 184

Why?, 40

Goal, 1, 12, 79, 177

of HeadScratchers, LLC, xii

Impossible, 173

manager's, 206

personal, 55, 206

setting, 15, 30, 40

of a team, 52

of Think Smarter, xi

Thinking Coach, 74, 76

Group, 28–29, 31, 44, 54, 69

Guess:

Abductive Thinking, 166–167, 170–171

educated, 164

H

Headscratcher, 1, 10, 16–17, 21, 36

Headscratchers, better, xii, 209

HeadScratchers, LLC, xii–xiii

www.headscratchers.com 209

Headscratching, 3, 41

I

Ideas:

Abduction, 171

Disagree, 125

Ingredient Diagram, 65

Innovation, 157

a jump, 120

necessary, 51

Thinking Coach, 74

What else?, 64

Impossible conversations, 172

Impossible thinking, 172–175

exercises, 175

getting started, 174

Takeaway, 175

Inductive reasoning, 85–90, 120–121, 155, 159, 165–168, 171, 176

Influencing and Persuading, 147–154

difference, 147

exercises, 154

getting started, 151

premise to influence, 149

premise to persuade, 149

senior management, 147

Takeaway, 153

Information, 5–6, 8, 95, 120

conflicting, 132, 138

credible, 130

Ingredient Diagram, 65–70

exercises, 70

getting started, 69

productivity example, 68

Takeaway, 70

Ingredients, headscratcher's, 66

Innovation. See Conclusions and Innovation

Inspection, 28–31, 63, 71, 75, 204

e-mail, 30, 205

exercises, 31–32

getting started, 30

goal setting, 30

meetings, 30, 80

Takeaway, 31

K

Kallet, Michael, 209

Knowledge, 145

Abduction, 164, 167

Consistency, 129

ignorance, 19

is power, 164

Why?, 33

L

Learning, 6, 145

M

Meetings, 14, 25, 30, 33, 41–42, 46–47, 61, 80

Memories, 23–25

Metrics, 194

Misinformation, 129–130

Mitigation strategy, 193

Mutai, Abel, 104

N

Necessity. See Need

Need, 50–56, 173, 183, 193, 195

exercises, 55

getting started, 54

great teams, 52

survival, 53

Takeaway, 55

No-brainer, 169–170

O

Observations, 94–98

additional, 112, 143, 145

contradictory, 118

Credibility, 129, 150

missing, 123

Takeaway, 96

weighted, 150

Outcome, 10, 87–88

bad, 191, 194

Outside-the-box, 159–163, 174

9 dot puzzle, 160

exercises, 163

getting started, 162

Takeaway, 163

What if? and What other?, 161

P

Partiality, 3, 6–7

Pattern recognition, 4–5

Personalities. See Conclusions

Perspectives, 8, 23, 60, 109, 139

Persuading. See Influencing and Persuading

Plato, 50, 85

Prediction, 93, 194

Preeminent Metrics, 194

Prejudices, 7, 105–106

Premise, 84, 85–90, 93, 96, 101, 109, 114, 117–123, 125–130

Assumptions, 110–113

Change, 141

components, 84

Consistent, 132

Credible, 128

Deduction, 85

inconsistency, 132–133

Induction, 86

Influence, 149

Persuade, 149

weaker, 118, 120, 132, 150

well-thought-out, 204

Probability, 81, 122, 189

Probability of downside, 191, 194, 196

Problem:

right, 55

strategic, xiv

technical, 169

unclear, 18

wrong, 19, 21, 83

Problem solving, 16, 55, 72, 81, 176–177, 204, 207

improving, xi

speeds up, 19

Process, 7, 18

Puzzle, 9 dot, 160–161

Q

Quality problem solving, xiii, 19–20, 28

R

Ramifications, 47

Reasoning. See Deductive reasoning; Inductive reasoning

Reconcile disagreements, 106, 108–109, 122–123

Reversibility, 193

Risk, 189–199

evaluating, 190–191, 198

example, 194–196

exercises, 199

Factors, 190

Absorption capability, 192

Controllability, 193

Downside, 191

Ignoring statistical downside, 192

Mitigation strategy, 193

Necessity of the upside, 193

Preeminent Metrics, 194

Probability of downside, 191

Probability of the upside, 192

Reversibility, 193

Upside, 192

getting started, 198

Takeaway, 198

Role of Thinking Coach, 74

Root cause, 34, 37–38

triangulate, 139

Rules:

Beliefs, 106

done with clarity, 81

Facts, 91

Thinking Coach, 76

when to use Critical Thinking, 10

S

So What?, 43–49

exercises, 49

getting started, 46

lessons learned, 48

Takeaway, 48

your company, 45

your product, 45

your so what, 45–46

Socrates, 85

Solutions, 7–8, 16–17, 19. See also Conclusions

best, 122

higher-quality, xi

innovative, 7, 26, 176, 204

Outside-The-Box, 155, 162

paradigm-changing, 155

Statement, initial, 86–89

Strength of premise, 143, 153. See also Premise

Suggestions, 203–206

Critical Thinking, 204

executives, 204

individual contributors, 204

supervisors, managers, directors, 204

Summary of Clarity, 79

Summary of Conclusions, 176

Summary of Decisions, 200

Survival, 53–54

T

The Takeaway:

Abductive thinking, 171

Anticipatory thinking, 61

Assumptions, 113

Beliefs, 109

Change, 145

Clarity, 22, 82

Consistency, 135

Credibility, 130

Criteria, 188

Critical Thinking, 9

Decision maker, 184

Empty bucket, 26

Experiences, 101

Facts, 93

Impossible thinking, 175

Inductive reasoning, 89

Influence and

Persuasion, 153

Ingredients, 70

Inspection, 31

Need, 55

Observations, 96

Outside-the-box, 163

Premise, 126

Risk, 198

So What?, 48

Thinking Coach, 77

Thinking Smarter, 207

Triangular Thinking, 140

Vision, 73

What Else?, 64

when to use, 15

Why?, 41

Because!!, 40

I don't know, 39

Root cause, 38

This versus That, 36

Team:

great, 52

problem-solving, 76

Techniques, xi, xiii, 6, 20, 28, 125, 149, 156, 176, 203

Critical Thinking. See Contents

Think Smarter Takeaway, 207

Thinking Coach, 74–78

exercises, 78

getting started, 77

role, 74

Takeaway, 77

ten rules, 76

To-do list, 17–18, 42, 55, 61, 185, 188

To-dos, 16, 36, 83

Tool set, 4, 7

Track record, 137

Triangular thinking, 136–140

exercises, 140

getting started, 139

Takeaway, 140

Truth, 86, 90

U

Upside, 190–193, 195–196, 199

Decision, 193

V

Value proposition, 45, 48

Values. See Beliefs

Variables. See Ingredient Diagram

Vision, 71–73

conversation, 71–72

exercises, 73

getting started, 72

Takeaway, 73

W

Warning system, early. See Preeminent Metrics

What Else?, 62–64

brainstorming, 63

exercises, 64

getting started, 63

Takeaway, 64

Who-Need-When, 181

exercises, 185

getting started, 184

Takeaway, 184

Why? 33–42

Because!!, 39–40

drill down, 37

exercises, 42

getting started, 40

I don't know, 38–39, 41

Root cause, 37–38

summary of Takeaways, 41

This versus That, 34–36

World of Conclusions, 156