The Critical Thinker #3 - No Motherhood Statements Please!

Perhaps it is because I am an English man living in Singapore, but I often sense that participants to my workshops feel that I’m a stickler for good English just because I am, well, English! It is true that I am sensitive to the quality of the English used, but it’s not because I have a hidden desire to be an English teacher. Nor am I a purist when it comes to grammar. In fact, I can speak Singlish – the local English dialect – as well as the next man (and over the Mahjong table to boot!)

No. The reality is that there is a direct link between the words we say or write and the thinking that’s going on in our heads, or not gone on as the case may be. Our words reflect our thought process. Muddled and unclear words indicate muddled and unclear thinking.

Worse still, even if we are good thinkers, we may be perceived as the opposite if the words we use to express ourselves are found in general, unspecific statements. Like many things in business, this is, of course, common sense after the fact.

So … to enhance our own ability to think clearly and critically, and to ensure we are perceived as doing so by those that count around us, such as customers, bosses etc., we must avoid “motherhood and apple pie” and get straight to the point. Talking of which, read more in the complete The Critical Thinker Issue #3.

To learn more about our day-to-day Critical Thinking processes, visit the Situation Management section of DPI Asia's website.

The Strategic Thinker Issue #2 : Obstacles To Strategic Thinking

Like most senior executives, you are putting in over 60 hours at work each week. How much of these 60-plus hours are spent on strategic – as opposed to operational – issues? Research has found that senior executives like yourself spend less than 10% of a 60-hour week on strategic matters. Hardly enough, especially in these challenging times. And we wonder why many of us consistently get caught off guard by “unpredictable” and sudden events – a certain legislation got passed “overnight”, a competitor has teamed up with another firm and introduced a disruptive business model, an significant client decided to take his business to the competitor across the road, the list goes on . . .

When was the last time you sat your management team members down, gave each one of them a clean sheet of paper, and insisted that they wrote down – in 2 or 3 paragraphs – where you were taking the business? If you haven’t done that before, we’d suggest that you do it soon . . . You might be in for a shocking discovery!

What are we getting at? Simply that there are several obstacles to strategic thinking in organizations that are totally in the hands of seniors executives. Read on by clicking reading our full article here.

It may be the best first step to achieving supremacy in your sandbox!

Visit the Strategic Thinking Process section of DPI Asia's website here.