The Art of Active Thinking

"Responsibility is not given; it is taken." — Peter Drucker

"Chance favors the connected mind." — Steven Johnson

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what makes someone an amazing team member in a fast-growing, dynamic startup environment filled with opportunities, challenges, ambiguity, and occasional chaos.

Of course, there are the usual critical qualities:

? Integrity

? Skills (Studies going back to 1968—and still relevant today—show a 10x productivity difference between top and average developers.)

? Positive energy and commitment

But there’s one defining trait that separates good contributors from true game-changers. It’s not just about skills or experience—it’s about how they think.

I call it The Art of Active Thinking. (NOT A COMMON TERM BECAUSE I JUST MADE IT UP—BUT I LIKE IT AND HOPE IT GOES VIRAL. ??)

IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH AN ORDER-TAKING APPROACH?

Active Thinking is the opposite of an order-taking mindset:

• "You asked me to do this—here it is."

• "Just tell me exactly what you want, and I’ll do it."

This approach works well in structured, well-defined, and predictable environments—like mowing a lawn, fixing an appliance, or adding a feature inside an already well-defined software framework.

But when a role requires innovation, problem-solving, and figuring things out as you go, this approach fails miserably.

In a typical startup environment, clear instructions often don’t exist. A team of diverse skill sets comes together around a shared vision, working to create new products, features, or strategies.

A team member with an order-taking mindset slows progress, relying on detailed instructions at every step. But when tackling complex, ambiguous, R&D-heavy challenges, detailed instructions are created incrementally—through collaboration. Every step requires generating an idea, testing it, recalibrating, and repeating the process.

Trying to work with someone who lacks initiative is like pushing a ball through the mud—it moves a little with every push, but it has no momentum of its own and stops the moment you stop pushing.

SO, WHAT MAKES ACTIVE THINKING SO EXCITING? ??

This is where The Art of Active Thinking comes to the rescue.

Anybody who has mastered it doesn’t depend on detailed instructions. Instead, they will:

? Generate ideas & prototypes and offer them for collaboration

? Evaluate and build on others’ ideas

? Move across multiple directions (it’s OK to hit a dead end in one area and pivot to making progress in another)

Active thinkers don’t just "do their job"; they act and think as if they own the place, as if they were spending their own money to generate the best returns.

This must be done with humility—because creative people can solve the same problem in multiple ways. The goal isn’t for one individual idea to win, but for the best idea for the company to succeed.

WHAT DYNAMIC COMPANIES SHOULD DO ABOUT IT—AND WHY?

A company’s job is not just to find Active Thinkers, but also to nurture, reward, and treasure that mentality.

Each organization will find its own best ways to do this, but some universal approaches include:

? Open communication

? Brainstorming culture

? Clear communication of priorities (WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IN A DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT, THEY OFTEN CHANGE!)

? Giving teams the ability—and time!—not just to execute tasks, but also to brainstorm, experiment, and recharge (preferably while having fun!)

The Art of Active Thinking has always been a critical differentiator for companies that leaped ahead in the past. Today, it’s even more critical, as rapidly evolving Generative AI can boost Active Thinking, helping teams develop ideas faster than ever before.

The next step is to act on it—because, as Arnold Glasow said:

“An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.”