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Benefits

CRITICAL THINKING: The Essential Leadership Skill 

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Course Details

Critical thinking is a fundamental cognitive process that enables us to objectively analyze, interpret and evaluate information so as to make more informed decisions and better solve problems. It involves reason and logic, the ability to question assumptions as well as the ability to recognize our own biases. Critical thinking is absolutely essential in a world filled with information, disinformation and divergent opinions. Critical thinkers see things more clearly and avoid being misled or deceived. It is our primary defence against "spun" messages.


A number of recent studies have identified critical thinking as the number one requirement for successful leadership in the twenty-first century, yet there is also growing evidence that many current and emerging leaders lack this quality.

By taking responsibility for your own critical thinking practices, you are taking action to more effectively adapt your approach to the decision-making and problem-solving challenges you will face. Excellent critical thinking skills enable you to comprehend and engage complex subjects while discerning valid arguments from fallacious ones

Enhanced Decision-Making

 

Critical thinking enables leaders at every level to recognize the impact of their decisions on the organization as a whole as well as their individual team members, thereby ensuring a greater alignment with organizational goals and objectives.

Reduction Of Cognitive Biases


Critical thinking supports self-awareness, the first aspect of emotional intelligence. It can help you recognize and challenge cognitive biases that often hinder clear judgment. It can better enable you to overcome confirmation bias, groupthink and the availability heuristic, that is, determining the likelihood of an event based on similar past events. 


Critical thinking helps us think more independently. It enables us to make logical and well-reasoned decisions based on evidence and objective analysis rather than emotion or “gut” feelings. It encourages the consideration of all relevant factors and the evaluation of possible consequences, leading to more informed decisions.

 

Critical thinking is vital because it enables individuals and teams to more effectively identify and diagnose problems as well as produce innovative solutions.


Specifically, in the Critical Thinking and Influential Management Course, we will focus on the following:


CRITICAL THINKING - THE ESSENTIAL
LEADERSHIP SKILL 


  • Defining critical thinking, reasoning, and logic
  • Why improving your critical thinking skills is so vitally important
  • Developing intellectual self-defence
  • Explore key concepts in logical and critical thinking
  • Developing an understanding of the 'Elements of Thought,' and identifying how these parts work together in reasoning
  • How to think clearly, identify fallacies and construct effective arguments

  • Develop best practices for presenting your arguments to others to secure buy-in
  • Distinguish between automatic thinking and manual thinking
  • Immunize yourself against the influence of bad arguments, propaganda and psychological manipulation
  • How to think clearly, identify fallacies and construct effective arguments
  • Understand the typical barriers to critical thinking and how to overcome them.
  • Skills for becoming a more penetrating thinker - so as to rationally persuade others

  • Focus on the different bases of influence, identifying how

THE ROLE OF FORMAL LOGIC IN RATIONAL THINKING

  • Defining critical thinking, reasoning, and logic
  • Why improving your critical thinking skills is so vitally important
  • Developing intellectual self-defence
  • Explore key concepts in logical and critical thinking
  • Developing an understanding of the 'Elements of Thought' and identifying how
    these parts work together in reasoning
  • How to think clearly, identify fallacies and construct effective arguments

  • Develop best practices for presenting your arguments to others to secure buy-in
  • Distinguish between automatic thinking and manual thinking
  • Immunize yourself against the influence of bad arguments, propaganda and psychological manipulation
  • How to think clearly, identify fallacies and construct effective arguments
  • Distinguish between automatic thinking and manual thinking
  • Skills for becoming a more penetrating thinker - so as to rationally persuade others


INFORMAL LOGIC: IDENTIFYING AND REFUTING 'LOGICAL FALLACIES'


  • The 'Tu Quoque fallacy' - an invalid attempt to discredit your argument by answering criticism with criticism -- without presenting a counterargument

  • The ' Straw Man fallacy is when your opponent oversimplifies or misrepresents your argument (i.e., setting up a straw man ) to make it easier to attack

  • The 'False Dilemma Fallacy' misleads by presenting complex issues in terms of simply two inherently opposed sides. I

  • The 'Poisoning the Well fallacy occurs when irrelevant negative information is presented ahead of time to discredit your argument. Poisoning the well represents a preemptive ad hominem attack against you.

  • 'Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc,' this fallacy is committed when an argument claims that because one event followed another, it was caused by or analogous to it.

  • 'Confirmation bias,' is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values and ignores contrary information.
  • The 'Equivocation fallacy' occurs when the context is an argument, and the conclusion depends on shifting the meaning of an expression while treating it as if it remains the same.

  • 'Appeal to Authority,' this fallacy Insists that a claim is true simply because a valid authority or expert on the issue said it was true, without any other supporting evidence.

  • The 'Appeal to False Authority fallacy' uses an alleged or an unidentified as evidence in your opponent's argument.

  • 'Argumentum ad ignorantia.' This fallacy occurs when you argue that your conclusion must be true because there is no evidence against it. This fallacy wrongly shifts the burden of proof away from the one making a claim.

  • 'Red Herring,' In this fallacy your opponent redirects the argument to another issue to which they can better respond.

  • The ' Begging the Question fallacy' is any form of argument where the conclusion is assumed in one of the premises.


BULLSHIT: HOW TO RECOGNIZE IT AND HOW TO COUNTER IT

  • Recognize bullshit whenever and wherever you encounter it.

  • Old school bullshit vs. new school bullshit

  • The Importance of skepticism in a data-driven world

  • Forensic data analysis: Spotting bullshit in the wild

  • The bullshit we have been taught in order to "make it" in contemporary society

  • How to recognize "bullshit" addresses, fake news, clickbaiting and misleading advertising

  • Calling Bullshit: Fighting for Facts in a Post-Truth World

  • The difference between a liar and a bullshitter

  • Finding the line between deserved criticism and targeted harassment


  • Selection, sampling and volunteer statistical biases


  • Understanding the ‘Will Rogers Phenomenon’


  • The Base Rate Fallacy


  • Data graphics: Powerful tools for misleading audiences

  • Defeating implicature


  • Calling paltering bullshit

  • Denying ‘Occam’s Razor’

  • Hitchens's and other epistemological razors

  • Carl Sagan: ‘The Fine Art of Baloney Detection’
 
  • Distinguish between automatic thinking and manual thinking

  • Learn the 6 steps to follow for every problem you solve or decision you make

  • Develop competence in anticipating and preventing problems before they occur

  • How effective problem-solving techniques can diffuse defensive behaviours and get people on common ground.

  •  Utilize your newly acquired critical thinking and problem-solving skills to increase your influence

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