Clear Thinking ...

What is Clear Thinking?

Clear Thinking

Everybody thinks they’re a clear thinker.

But we see costly Thinking Errors reported in the media every single day.

And you may only find out that YOU have made a major Thinking Error after the results.

Examples from our research:

• Gerald Ratner • SAP • Shell
• ITV Digital (21 Thinking Errors)
• Millennium Dome (flawed concept)
• Iraq invasion/exit (twice!)
• BP (Beyond Petroleum???)
• Toyota (“Beyond Competence”)
• Maths teaching in schools …

Clear Thinking is a Process

... a process for maximising Success and avoiding costly Thinking Errors

It requires precision, logic, insight, enquiry, imagination, and awareness of emotions and likely impacts
whilst working through a stage-wise Thinking Process.

But Unclear Thinking may only become apparent after things have gone badly wrong.

Our research into “Why Strategies, Plans, Projects, Innovations, & Communications go wrong” points to Unclear Thinking as the main cause of failure or underperformance. Thinking Errors were often obvious … in hindsight.
The Credit Crisis
and Recession
was caused by a systemic GroupThink		 We were able to identify the precise Thinking Errors made by planning teams, and the exact stages in the planning process they were made. ITV Digital was a £billion project failure - we counted 21 avoidable Thinking Errors. GEC-Marconi’s demise was due to a failure by the last Leadership team to engage Contingency Thinking (“What could go wrong?”) and Controls Thinking - Lord Weinstock’s strengths.
What is ½ ÷ ¼ ?
Many maths teachers got this wrong in a trial

Maths education is poor in the UK because they don’t teach concepts - what the concept is and how it should be articulated - in this case the concept of division and how best to express this calculation in spoken words. We've tried this little sum on many professionals and most get it wrong. Yet as soon as we express it as "How many quarters are there in a half?" they instantly get the right answer.

In fact, very little time is spent in schools or universities teaching pupils how to think – the single most important aid to learning any subject at any level.
Clear Thinking is a
stage-wise Process
that requires
several different
Ways of Thinking
(Thinking Styles)		 For example, when working through a Business Thinking Process such as Problem Solving or Strategising, you need to engage a range of different Thinking Styles:

  • see or ‘read’ a situation accurately, and understand the concepts
  • identify the real problem, issues, opportunities, barriers, or challenges
  • analyse the root causes of problems or barriers to progress
  • visualise the future, your options, then decide SMART-STAR goals
  • create practical ideas for solutions or means to achieve objectives
  • evaluate your ideas and select the best
  • plan how to implement the best ideas
  • visualise what could go wrong, especially how people will react
  • communicate your plan to all who could influence its success
Clear Thinking needs
flexible thinking,
and thinking about
HOW you should think
at each stage		 To maximise success - and minimise errors - you need to deliberately engage specific ‘ways of thinking’ (Thinking Styles) at each stage in a particular Business Thinking Process (as shown above). Some Thinking Styles are polar opposites, eg Creative v Analytical Thinking, or Risk v Opportunity Thinking. So it is essential to think flexibly, switching easily and quickly between Thinking Styles.
  How to Think Clearly             
Clear Thinking Training
Clear Thinking Leadership
4-stage Clear Thinking Process
Clear Thinking Teams
Clear Thinking Competencies
Have a Demo Email us for an introductory discussion and demonstration of our 4-stage Clear Thinking Process applied to any aspect of your business.