PREFACE

Thinking is the process that every human being uses to solve problems, make decisions, generate new ideas, and be creative. The goal of Think Smarter is to answer the question “How exactly do we get better at problem solving, decision making, and creativity?” Actually, the question is “If thinking is what we use to solve problems, then how do we improve our thinking with respect to solving problems?” The inspiration to write this book came from years of helping others answer that question.

People often ask me if it's truly possible to teach people to be smarter. The answer depends on how you define smarter. If it means increasing intelligence quotient (IQ) points, then the answer is probably not. But if becoming smarter means applying your IQ in a way that produces more successful problem solving and better decisions, then the answer is absolutely yes.

Critical thinking isn't about making people smarter; it's about using a set of tools and techniques to think in a more effective way. Critical thinking won't increase IQ points, but it will help people apply whatever level of intelligence they have in a way that produces higher-quality solutions. It raises the bar for everyone and improves both individuals' and organizations' overall performance.

Why I Wrote This Book

I had enjoyed a successful career in software development from the beginning of the personal computer (PC) revolution and then worked as an operations and technology executive in the rocketing Internet space. Then, in 2003, I found myself in yet another fast-changing business. I was a senior executive in a telecommunications company, sitting in a boardroom with 20 other executives during the first of a series of strategy sessions to create a five-year plan. A question was raised: What did we want to be five years from then? After a few jokes about running a beach and golf resort in Hawaii, the conversations began to coalesce around becoming a billion-dollar company. A very interesting line graph was drawn. Our revenue had been on the decline; the graph was decreasing through the then-current $400 million per year revenue but then made an abrupt upward slope to $1 billion. There were no discussions about being the best telecommunications company, developing unique solutions, having the fastest network, being the best in customer satisfaction, or being a profitable, great place to work. Rather, we determined that if we were to be a billion-dollar company, we would need to sell so much of this, sell so much of that, and sell it in this number of cities. There weren't any conversations about what we would have to do differently to change from a decreasing revenue stream to a very significant and aggressively growing one.

That was the moment when I sat back in my chair and asked myself a question: “I wonder if anyone in this room, including myself, is actually doing any real thinking?” Soon after that meeting, I started to think about thinking.

After doing a bit of research, I determined that there always seemed to be two ingredients present for successful businesses. The first was persistence. Companies that consistently do well embrace a statement I like: “There's always a way.” The second ingredient was quality thinking: real, hard, roll-up-the-sleeves, not-taking-anything-for-granted thinking. I've noticed throughout my own career that when people really think about something and ask questions—even when they know the answer—they tend to come up with new solutions to a problem, arrive at a new decision, or realize an innovation. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens often enough.

Although persistence is an important ingredient in success, I decided to focus my work primarily on thinking. In the autumn of 2004, I started a company I named HeadScratchers, LLC. The goal was to help people—not just executives, but individuals, supervisors, and managers as well—become better headscratchers, that is, better problem solvers, decision makers, and innovators. I wanted HeadScratchers to take a different approach from the traditional academic focus of logic, inference, and Boolean algebra many other thinking consultants offered. This was about business problem solving, in the real world, for people who needed a few good tools in their toolbox. Our target audience was business people who don't have the time or interest to understand the science of left brain/right brain, neurochemical stuff. The goal was to provide, train, and coach business people with skills they could use, on their own or with others, to be more thoughtful when tackling problems, making decisions, or innovating. This meant training with an interactive workshop, so HeadScratchers became a training, coaching, and interactive workshop company, focused 100 percent on the business use for critical thinking. In 2006, we rolled out our first workshop, “Critical Thinking for Problem Solving and Decision Making.”

Whom Is This Book For?

You might be wondering whether this book is worth your time. Consider this: thinking is the foundation of everything we do. Whether you're a novice thinker or an accomplished problem solver and decision maker, is it possible that you might pick up one idea, one technique, or one tool to use in your life—which would potentially lead you to look at an issue, goal, problem, or decision in a different way? If yes, then this book is for you. As a result, you might avoid an error, recognize an opportunity, or accomplish something a little faster or with higher quality.

Why You Should Read a Book Like This

Of course, I am biased and think you should read this book. To be honest, you would get something out of reading any book on problem solving, decision making, and critical thinking. Here's why: when you read a book related to thinking, it will result in your thinking, possibly about what you are reading related to thinking. In doing this, you will most likely pick up at least one thing, one idea, or one exercise you can incorporate in your day-to-day thinking. Your thinking will be different and improved.

So, why this book? Think Smarter isn't focused on theory. Rather, it contains real-world tools, techniques, and exercises, which makes a huge difference in your ability to apply what you read. We present numerous pragmatic, straightforward, business-related, implementable ideas with tons of examples. You won't have to translate from a neuroscience discussion to everyday real-world issues.

What should you expect from this book? You'll learn that critical thinking isn't difficult, and you'll learn how and when to apply it. You'll gain many ideas about where to apply critical thinking in your daily job, for both tactical and strategic problems and decisions. You'll obtain tools to add to your existing critical thinking toolbox and will figure out how to think outside the box—and how to get others to do so as well. You'll be able to distinguish automatic from manual thinking and ask questions that generate quality responses.

What I've Learned after Teaching Critical Thinking for Eight Years

• Everyone can be a critical thinker. Although some people are more inclined to think critically than others—and although some people become better at it than others—everyone can improve how he or she thinks when tackling problems.
• We need to be trained. We all have the ability to think critically, but like many skills, we need to be taught to do it.
• We forget to think. We're in automatic mode most of the time and just plain forget to tell ourselves, “Gee, maybe I should think about this a bit.” I teach critical thinking for a living, yet even I sometimes forget to use it when it would be helpful.
• We need to practice. It's like any new skill; if you don't practice it, you don't get good at it. Practice doesn't have to take long, often just a few minutes while you're conducting your everyday business activities. You just need to remember to do it (see previous bullet).
• You must have a need to learn this stuff. It might be based on a desire for self-improvement, more responsibility, or a promotion. You may have a crisis or an elusive goal to achieve. Maybe it's a corporate directive, or you're looking for a breakthrough, looking just to survive, or looking to do something very different. We'll talk more about need later.

How to Read This Book

You don't have to read this book cover to cover, nor completely in sequence. If you already know a little about critical thinking or understand why it's important and what the benefits are, you can start at Chapter 3, “The Framework and Tools.” Read that first, before any of the material in the sections for “Clarity,” “Conclusions,” and “Decisions.” After that, you can skip around or read in sequence. In the “Conclusions” section, read Chapter 15, “It's All about the Premise,” first, because everything else builds on that.

That's it; have fun.