Here's how you can enhance your critical thinking and decision-making skills as a leader.

If you want to be a better thinker, ask better questions. Questions that challenge your beliefs (what if I'm wrong?); questions that invert your assumptions (what if the opposite was true?); questions that introduce a new variable (what would happen if?); questions that help simplify the problem (where have I seen this problem before?); questions that reframe the opportunity (what kind of opportunity is this?)

I once heard a statement that stuck with me: People are not curious enough as they are scared of finding out they were wrong, and no one actually likes to be wrong. That's why curiosity actually needs a lot of courage, and we can only cultivate that by getting out of our comfort zones and being open to new challenges.

Evolution is only going to be driven by practising and actively challenging our own biases and search for challenge from people with different perspectives. Easy said than done, indeed, as we need to connect with them, put in the effort to understand where they come from and first of all facilitate a safe environment where they can fully express their thoughts.

Leaders: Sharpen Your Thinking with Powerful Reflection! Make every decision a learning experience. Here's how: Embrace Reflection: Don't just make calls, reflect on them. Analyze Outcomes: Review the process, results, and what you learned. Identify Patterns: See how your thinking influences choices. Refine Judgment: Continuously improve your decision-making skills. Reflection transforms experience into leadership wisdom. Become a master of it, and watch your critical thinking and decision-making soar!

Reflection is such a powerful tool. As the name implies, it's about reflecting your thoughts through the lens of another persons experience. Use the opportunities to end-to-end test your communication and adapt what you are sending to create the effect on the receiver that you expect.

Critical thinking is the ideal combination of thoughtful analysis of the facts at hand, and experienced problem solving. Rely on the numbers, seek input from those you respect, and lean on your career knowledge.

It's very difficult to challenge our current beliefs, especially if those beliefs have been successful and served us well. To analyze rigorously, we have to be open to the idea that good can be better. "If it isn't broke don't fix it" doesn't necessarily apply to thought leadership as the idea is to challenge/confirm conventional wisdom. Once the topic is confirmed, the next step is to harvest information that allows us to properly analyze our subject. That work can be done in a number of different ways through research. Once that research leads to conclusions, if revalatory, leads to publication and critical review. Good luck.

As a thought leader you are spearheading the trends based on early indicators - so adaptability is something you need to embrace - otherwise you get stuck in an outdated vision. I would say that innovation with AI accelerated by 10X!

We are too busy to engage in healthy debates, nonetheless to encourage them. And we have probably no clue, that inside those debates is where innovation lies. Debates should be integrated especially between thought leaders, as it could lead to better decisions and more alignment.