5 Steps to Boost Critical Thinking for Everyone in the AI Era

How I discovered the secret: I was a junior in college in upstate New York prepping for a midterm exam in logic. You know: If/Then, And/Or statements. Luckily, I had aced the same course in high school. We even used the same textbook. So, I was bored. I blew off the test and headed to Toronto with some friends to spend a few lost days. While playing hooky, I stumbled upon the Ontario Science Centre.

It was filled with all sorts of cool interactive playthings, one of which was a maze with ping-pong balls poised above 12 channels. The objective was to get just one ball to drop to the bottom. The hard part was that each channel had gates that blocked the balls. To succeed, you had to figure out which levers would open which gates.

I watched two kids — fifth or sixth graders — fail once, twice… and on the third attempt, they walked away high-fiving each other to their success. Then it dawned on me. They weren’t playing a game. These kids were performing college-level logic! By figuring out which gates would open by flipping only one lever (an “Or” statement) and which channels needed two gates open (an “And” statement), these kids were taking the exam I had just skipped! Also known as: Binary programming with 1s and 0s.

The maze designer had created a critical-thinking environment that stretched the users’ thinking power, bringing out new levels of creativity and performance. And the kids had fun doing it!

The brilliance of the moment was an elegant interface. Grade-school kids were given a college-level problem that was designed in a way that they could instantly relate to, understand, get engaged by, and solve.

My Aha in that science museum was that anyone can solve any problem, any critical thinking challenge, if the interface is designed for them.

Democratizing critical thinking — making it easier, faster, better, more engaging, and fun — is no longer just for the realm of science museums:

• Jane McGonigal illustrated this in her 2012 TED Talk, Gaming Can Make a Better World
• Middle schoolers are doing global diplomacy simulations based on real-world scenarios developed by diplomats and historians
• Teacher John Hunter’s fourth grade students demonstrated their World Peace Game at the Pentagon for how simulations can solve real-world problems
• For decades, Root Learning Maps have been used to engage employees in upcoming changes
• And McKinsey recently rolled out McKinsey Solve , a game that’s part of their interview process, testing candidates’ problem-solving and critical thinking skills

From science centers, to the Pentagon, to McKinsey, to you: the key takeaway is…

5 Steps to Democratize Critical Thinking Opportunities for All

Democratizing critical thinking is no longer a nice-to-do-only-if-we-have-the-budget. It is an absolute-must-do if we are going to both humanize the AI Era, as well as leverage all the people-based brilliance in our organizations.

We must use AI to bring C-suite strategizing and critical thinking to the masses. If sixth-graders can do college-level logic, and fourth-graders can think systemically about world peace, surely our workforce can think through supply chain issues, drug manufacturing issues, resource management issues, customer satisfaction issues, pricing issues, and the rest?!

Principles for Getting Started

1. Design For, and Expect, Courageous Thinking

Not just bigger profits, reduced costs, and scalable efficiencies. C’mon, we’re all better than that. We’re in the AI Era, where anything and everything is possible!

2. Place Individual Choices At the Center of Designs

Once the courageous thinking is done, for implementation to succeed, individuals will need to make personal choices about personal changes they’ll need to make. Build those choices into AI Era critical thinking simulations. That will reduce the need for change management and greatly increase engagement and implementation speeds.

3. Design Brilliant Questions

The C-suite is used to making its own assessments and delivering the best answers/ solutions to the organization. The AI Era demands a new C-suite skillset: Delivering the best questions for the organization to explore and solve.

4. Reviewing Results: Outlaw Confirmation Biases

Too many leaders fail to leverage bottom-up courageous thinking because they’re comparing the results to preconceptions about what works, doesn’t work, as well as what’s needed and isn’t needed. To leverage the best of your people in the AI Era, that needs to change.

5. The AI Era Critical Thinking Journey Should Change People, Not Just Business

An amazing, bold, courageous critical thinking journey changes people. That kind of journey should change everyone involved. It leaves makes, makes an impact. And once it’s done, the goal is for everyone to leave something good behind.

Bill Jensen is a seasoned strategy and transformation executive, advisor to C-suite execs, globally-known keynote speaker, and author of nine best-selling leadership and change books, including Simplicity, Disrupt, Future Strong, and The Day Tomorrow Said No. Reach him at [email protected] .