The biggest obstacle to critical thinking is a leader's ego
Why critical thinking is the leadership skill AI can't replace, and what it actually takes to develop it.
When was the last time a colleague told you you were wrong, and you thanked them; and meant it? When was the last time you said "I don't know" in a senior meeting, without feeling shame or fear? If these situations make you uncomfortable, you're not alone.
The ability to think critically begins with the willingness to experience discomfort without immediately defending yourself from it. To assess your own capacity for critical thinking, start with one question:
Am I willing to be wrong?
If the honest answer is no, what follows isn't critical thinking. It's confirmation bias in action. You've already chosen the conclusion and you're now building the case for it. This is how big decisions often go wrong.
Your critical thinking capacity is limited by your emotional state.
Most organisations treat critical thinking as a cognitive skill. In practice, it's just as much about managing your emotions, because it's emotions that often cloud our own judgement. The vast majority of leaders we work with don't lack intelligence. What they lack is sharp awareness of when their emotional state is biasing their thinking in the moment.
Whenever you feel stressed, defensive, fearful, frustrated, or angry, your ability to think clearly is compromised. When your nervous system is in survival mode, you cannot access the executive functions required for critical thinking. You can only react.
Critical thinking is conscious thinking.
Critical thinking requires the capacity to perceive reality with as little distortion as possible. There are two levels to it.
| Level | What it is |
|---|---|
| Level One | is becoming more aware of your own thoughts and biases. This is important, but it's surface level. Because often, when our emotions take over, the last thing we think about is, "which cognitive bias might be at play here?" |
| Level Two | is where the actual transformation happens. It's about addressing our deeply rooted fears of being wrong, being disliked, or losing control. To cultivate level two critical thinking, we need to focus on improving our intellectual humility: the capacity to be wrong without shame. |
The three main obstacles to level-two critical thinking.
Recognise which of the three affects you the most:
The need to be right
We value being right over finding the truth. This is confirmation bias in action; selecting evidence that supports what we already believe.
The need to be liked
We value recognition from the group over expressing a difficult truth. Belonging feels safer than honesty.
The need for perfection
We often see covering up for a mistake as a safer approach than collectively learning from our mistakes.
So, how do you improve critical thinking skills in difficult situations?
Stay with the discomfort. Let go of the story.
Rather than avoiding the difficult emotions that naturally arise when someone challenges your beliefs, you need to learn to feel them in order to transform them.
Youcannotthinkcriticallyandprotectyouregoatthesametime.
Youhavetopickone.
Someone challenges your idea and you instantly feel the urgency to react and to explain why they're wrong. That's a signal. It's showing you that in that moment your self-created identity as someone 'who knows best' is attached to a certain idea. But if you can learn to stay with that discomfort without reacting and without suppressing it, it will quickly dissolve and you will be in a more neutral state. In that inner state, you can see things from different perspectives.
Critical thinking takes courage.
Leaders rarely make mistakes in their decision-making because they don't have the data. They fail because they have the data and aren't willing to look at it objectively. It takes radical self-honesty to uncover where you are likely biased. And questioning deep-seated assumptions and beliefs. It is a decision to choose what is true over being right. It also involves embracing uncertainty and the doubt that comes with it.
Challenge yourself and allow others to challenge you, too.
Lara Menke
Leadership Psychologist & Executive Coach, CAIA
Deborah Gehrmann
Business Psychologist & Executive Coach, CAIA
We work with leaders who are willing to question what they think they know.
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