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answers. Anthony Robbins.

Good leaders also tend to have a creative bent that allows them to see
opportunities where others see obstacles. For example, one top manager

may see a customer response delay as a problem, whereas another critical
thinker would view it as an opportunity to improve the process to be more
responsive. The leader tries to take advantage of opportunities to benefit
the organization, its employees, its customers, its constituents, and its
stakeholders.

Based on this discussion of critical thinking, it is clearly not a separate set
of skills. It is an integration of analysis, effective communication, problem-
solving, decision-making, etc. Its goal is self-improvement leading to
improvement in the operation of the organization. Critical thinkers are
inquisitive and seek to find the why behind every problem. For example,

how did we as an organization get into trouble, and why did that happen?

However, although the problem-solving process is simple in nature, it is
difficult for people to implement. As Scott Peck writes in The Road Less
Traveled: … the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one.

Problems, depending upon their nature, evoke in us frustration or grief or sadness
or loneliness or guilt or regret or anger or fear or anxiety of anguish or despair.
These are uncomfortable feelings, often very uncomfortable, often as painful as any
kind of physical pain. 197 Effective problem-solving requires the courage to
confront these feelings, the commitment to do something, and above all the
willingness to assume responsibility for solving the problem.

Problems are only opportunities in work clothes. Henry Kaiser, American
industrialist.

People don’t problem-solve very effectively when they fear that the other
party is trying to make them change, or when they feel threatened, judged,

put down, or analyzed so that they will change. Such a climate produces
defensiveness and resistance to change. It also inhibits self-expression and
self-exploration, both of which are necessary for solving problems.

197 Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, New York: Touchstone, 1978, p. 16.

David Kolzow 189