Have you seen sacred cows consume innovation, confuse issues and block growth? I have.
Wherever you hear the catchword critical thinking discussed, you find new definitions. The only part people seem to hold in common is that you should wield critical thinking to solve problems.
brainpowered tools
Have you noticed it works less well in reality? Sadlyt critical too often trumps thinking, and cynicism tends to toss toxins into the mix to prevent thoughtfulness of any kind. How so?
Critical thinking claims to challenge personal thought, yet often gets expressed in cynical put- downs stated in toxic tone. What’s supposed to be reflective change converts into blaming others. What claims to question assumptions, tends to deliver opinions as facts. What’s touted as diverse approaches, gets represented as one way to the top. What lifts banners to ambiguity comes off as hierarchies for guarding elite views at the top. 
Looking for critical thinking tools for a growth mindset?
In an era where innovation is craved, civility is rare, and diversity is paramount, a shift in approach would jump-start leadership and learning for mind-bending renewal. Renewal that treats people as capital, leaders as facilitators, knowledge as shared, classes as caring communities, and innovation as the engine to move us all forward together. 
Brain-powered tools for leading innovation offer more than “critical thinking,” at the Mita Brain Center. It also includes POSSIBILITY THINKING – where we:
- question possibilities
- target improvements
- expect quality
- move multiple intelligences as resources, and
- reflect on growth possibilities.
Here’s the skinny:
1. Rather than tell or deliver, brain-powered tools help to question and wonder.
2. Rather than critique for mistakes, brain-powered tools target improvements.
3. Rather than foster similarity, brain-powered tools expect quality differences.
4. Rather than talents at the top, brain-powered tools move multiple intelligences.
5. Rather than end with tests, brain-powered tools reflect in innovation celebration.
Mita Brain-powered tools all find roots in current theories yet must be expressed in tools that build innovation that raises motivation and achievement for all. Brain-powered tools are needed to open new job opportunities and sidestep traditions that cling to status quo stagnation.
What do you see, when people call for critical thinking at the core? Is it time to rethink critical thinking, and consider alternatives in brain-powered tools to lead a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. For instance, critical thinking relies on brain based tools for social and emotional health.
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Thanks Linda. Would you agree that discourse solve more diverse problems and opens unique segues when it includes multi-definitional nature of humans in general.
You make a great point about differences of meaning – yet acting as if only one existed. I did an extensive search for this post – to see how universities and well respected organizations were defining critical thought as a tool. Few defined it clearly and most omitted any definition. Yet all seemed to call for critical thinking as it it was the flour in toast.
Evidence in our lack of civility – which gets dubbed as intelligence by users, shows the danger of critical as negative sense of fault-finding.
How many dart throwers stop to think of it’s Greek roots carry the idea of making judgments based on standards.
Loved your notion of reading beyond any 1 definition. Parallel exists in Mita brainpowered approaches, where we lead in 5 unique ways which help to rethink the assumptions and reframe approaches to ensure they root in theories that include a wider expansion of perspectives.
While it may certainly be true that discourse about thinking tends to become personal and nasty, perhaps part of the problem is our failure to recognize the multi-definitional nature of language.
A great number of English words have mutliple meanings depending on the context. Look at the common words fire, load, and hike, for example. Critical is also a word with multiple definitions. Readers are expected to figure out from the context which one applies.
Critical is often used in the negative sense of fault-finding, but it’s Greek roots carry the idea of making judgments based on standards. In everyday parlance, critical can also be used as a synonym for crucial.
Because teach writers and writing teachers, I’m particularly sensistive to the need to read beyond definition #1 to be sure the meaning I know is, in fact, the one the writer intended me to apply.
Linda, many thanks for your concern on this topic too, and for your own work in the area of ethical leadership.
In my upcoming book written collaboratively with Robyn McMaster, for a newly design MBA leadership course, Lead Innovation with the Brain in Mind, I have written a full chapter of ethics at the core of all great leadership. It appears to me that while we all call for critical thinking – as it it were gold, and then pass around rocks – as if they were gems, we’re also missing the chance to be ethical.
Enjoyed your site at http://leadingincontext.com/ and look forward to learning more about your work.
By choice I collaborate all leadership with my senior VP (Dr. Robyn McMaster) and that too gives me a new perspective on the delights of leading together with another great soul! Great to meet!
This is a very timely post. I fully agree that a focus on “critical thinking” is part of what has led us to the place where many have forgotten the need to behave respectfully in the workplace. Thank you for bringing this issue forward and for explaining it in a compelling way!