Critical Thinking
“Although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is,—for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.”
Socrates
We all want to be less stupid – doing, saying, or thinking fewer things that we believe will achieve our goals but are grounded in a lack of clarity and understanding.
We need to recognize that we do not always know what we suppose we know. Our mental shortcuts, logical fallacies, biases, and our failure to see the world clearly get in the way.
By strengthening our ability for critical thinking, we can overcome these cognitive failures – or at least mitigate many. The awareness of their existence and knowing the tools we can use to combat them are vital first steps. Building on that awareness, we can proceed on a journey toward a more creative and rational goal of success.
The importance of critical thinking is not new. But it is increasingly recognized, especially in business.
Indeed, the Society of Human Resource Management found in 2024 that 77 percent of HR professionals believed critical thinking was a top skill that they sought in emerging professionals. Yet just slightly more than one-quarter believed recent graduates had the critical thinking skills needed to enter the workforce.
Today, of course, we have ready-made tools to support (or offload) our thinking. The efficiencies at work and the training it can provide are unparalleled in our history. But while beneficial to some, it cannot take the place of the human ability to create new and novel solutions. In fact, the reliance on AI may hurt as much as help in our pursuit for critical thinking and success.
“While GenAI can improve worker efficiency, it can inhibit critical engagement with work and can potentially lead to long-term overreliance on the tool and diminished skill for independent problem-solving,” a Microsoft study, 2025.
Courses & Lectures
- Critical Thinking: Introduction
- Critical Thinking and Strategy
- Critical Thinking and Writing
- Critical Thinking in Business – Why It’s Needed Now More Than Ever
- Critical Thinking in Business: Practice vs. Theory
- Critical Thinking in Business: How Can It Help?
- Critical Thinking for Business and Entrepreneurs
- Critical Thinking for Entrepreneurs: Workshop
- Critical Thinking for Students
- Critical Thinking: An Exploration in Modern Nursing
- Critical Thinking in Designing the Business Strategy
- Critical Thinking in Journalism