Critical Thinking

and
The Creative
Personality

Key Questions
How

do creative people differ?

What
Can

makes someone creative?

anyone be creative?

Do

you need special skills and

characteristics to be an entrepreneur?

Are

entrepreneurs born or made?

Schumpeters Entrepreneur
The

instrument of change, the agent who

introduces innovations: new products, new
ways of manufacturing, new sales
techniques, new types of equipment
Creative disruption, technologies or
innovations that change the world...........
Innovation is not new!

The Cultural Diversity

Entrepreneurs are:

Female

Immigrant

Socially oriented

Family oriented

Rurally based

Young and old

Life style oriented (hobby/part time)

Serial Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurial Personality
Chell, Haworth and Brearley (1994)

Opportunistic
Innovative
Creative
Imaginative
Ideas

people
Proactive
Agents of
change

The 10 Ds (Bygrave, 1997)

Dreamers

Devoted

Decisive

Details

Doers

Destiny

Determined

Dollars

Dedicated

Distribute

Entrepreneurs
Experience

success and failure

Feel good about themselves, their work
and the potential rewards
Enjoy a challenge
Take pride in their work
Find their work invigorating/energising/
meaningful
Think the unlikely, do the unreasonable

Desirable and Acquirable Attitudes

(Timmons)

Commitment

and determination

Leadership
Opportunity
Tolerance

obsession

of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty

Creativity,

self-reliance & ability to adapt

Motivation

to excel

The Personality Approach

Observations are that:
Entrepreneurs

are not homogenous

Gender,

age, social class, nationality and

education make a difference

Environment

and cultural influences must also

be taken into account

Entrepreneurial

decision making is based on

the interaction of many factors (motivations,
stage in life cycle, personal economic context)

A Model of the Entrepreneurial

Process ( Source: Moore reproduced in
Bygrave, 1994)
Personal
Achievement
Locus of control
Ambiguity tolerance
Risk taking
Personal values
Education
Experience

INNOVATION
Environment
Opportunities
Role models
Creativity

Personal

Sociological

Personal

Networks
Teams
Parents
Family
Role models

Entrepreneurs
Leader
Manager
Commitment
Vision

Risk taking
Job dissatisfaction
Job loss
Education
Age
Commitment

TRIGGERING
EVENT

Organisational
Team
Strategy
Structure
Culture
Products

IMPLEMENTATION

Environment
Competition
Resources
Incubator
Government policy

GROWTH

Environment
Competitors
Customers
Suppliers
Investors

Bankers
Lawyers
Resources
Government policy

An Economic-Psychological
Model
Source: Davidsson (1995)
PERSONAL
BACKGROUND
Gender
Vicarious
experience
Education
Radical change
experience
Age

GENERAL
ATTITUDES
Change
Compete
Money
Achieve

CONVICTION

INTENTION

Autonomy
DOMAIN
ATTITUDES

SITUATION
Current

Payoff

employment

Societal

status

contribution
Know-how

Do entrepreneurs just behave

differently, because they think
differently ......
............and if so, why ?

Critical Attributes for Success

(Brannick 1995)
Numerical

ability 1%
Verbal ability 3%
Professional marketing qualification 5%
Computer literacy 5%
Imagination 17%
Observational powers 18%
Personal judgement 24%
Ability to get on with others 27%

Entrepreneurs Cognitive
Processes (Palich & Bagby 1995)
Entrepreneurs

do NOT perceive
themselves as being more predisposed to taking risks than
managers
Entrepreneurs interpret equivocal
data in a more positive way than
managers
Strengths versus weaknesses
Opportunities versus threats

Entrepreneurs Cognitive
Processes (Palich & Bagby 1995)
What

each man wishes, that he

also believes to be true - Demonsthenes

Entrepreneurs

categorise situations
as having strengths and
opportunities, because the positive
attributes, are more salient to them

Conclusions
The

identification and exploitation of

opportunities is a complex and
interactive process
The entrepreneur is just one of many
contributing factors
They can however be the critical
catalyst that spots the opportunity and
begins the process of firm creation

So what is an
Entrepreneur?
Who

is the entrepreneur ? may

be the wrong question
Why successful entrepreneurs
think the way they do, might be
better?
Thinking processes can be taught,
so we can all be entrepreneurs if
we learn how to develop and
evaluate opportunities

What is Critical
Thinking?

Market
growth

Market share

H
igh Low
H
ighS
tarsQ
u
e
s
t
i
o
n
m
arks
LowC
a
s
h
D
o
g
s
cow

Figure 4.12a The original Boston Consulting Group Matrix (BCG)

This matrix is (in my

opinion):
Subjective,

so needs analysis
Useful for small and large
organisations alike
Relatively easy to apply, but improves
with discussion and feedback
Helps to determine overall positioning

This matrix is (according to

Zufan, 2000) identified as:
Objective
Mainly

applicable to large
organisations
Difficult to apply
So, what someone else says or writes
is not always agreed, accurate or
easily determined - who is right,
who is wrong and why?

Critical Thinking Quote (1)

"For myself, I found that I was fitted for
nothing so well as for the study of
truth; as having a mind nimble and
versatile enough to catch the
resemblances of things and at the
same time, steady enough to fix and
distinguish their subtler differences"
Francis Bacon (1605)

Critical Thinking Quote (2)

Critical thinkers: distinguish between
fact and opinion; ask questions;
make detailed observations;
uncover assumptions and define
their terms; and make assertions
based on sound logic and solid
evidence
Ellis, D. Becoming a Master
Student (1997)

Two Components of Critical

Thinking

A set of skills to process and generate

information and beliefs, and
2. The habit, based on intellectual
commitment, of using those skills to
guide behaviour
It is contrasted with the mere acquisition
and retention of information alone,
(because it involves a particular way
in which information is sought and
treated)
1.

Critical Thinking
No

one is a critical
thinker all the time
everyone has blind
spots and tendencies
towards self-delusion
For this reason, the
development of
critical thinking skills
and dispositions is a
life-long endeavour

Critical Thinking
Allows:
Judgement of a sources credibility
Conclusions to be reached, as well as identification
of the reasons and assumptions behind them
Judgement of the quality of an argument, including
the acceptability of its reasons, assumptions, and
evidence
Development and defence of a position relating to
an issue
Appropriate clarifying questions to be asked
Experiments to be set up and experimental design
evaluated

Why be a Critical Thinker?

Better

grades: studies show that CT skills

are strongly aligned to academic
performance
Significant correlation between CT skills
and reading comprehension
Useful in the context of professional
practice
Those in more senior positions have
good CT skills
Leads to new insights, fresh
perspectives, new ways of thinking

Attributes Of A Critical
Thinker
Asks

pertinent questions
Can/does admit a lack of understanding or info
Has a sense of curiosity
Is interested to find new solutions
Is willing to examine beliefs, assumptions, and
opinions and weigh them against facts
Listens carefully to others and can provide
feedback
Seeks evidence to support assumptions and
beliefs
Can/does adjust opinions when new facts are
found

Core Critical Thinking Skills

Interpretation

Analysis

Critical
Thinking
Self-Regulation

Evaluation

Inference
Explanation
Source: Facione, P. A (1998)

Interpretation
Defined as comprehending and expressing
the meaning of a wide variety of
experiences, data, events, judgements,
procedures, beliefs, or criteria
Exercises to find examples of
interpretation
Read a persons intentions by checking
body language;
Distinguish a main idea from
subordinate ideas in a text;
Identify an authors purpose, theme, or
point of view.

Analysis

Defined as identification of the intended and

actual inferential relationships among
statements, concepts or other forms of
representation intended to express belief,
information, or opinions
Exercises to find examples:
Identify the similarities and differences
between two approaches to the solution
of a given problem?
Pick out the main claim made in a
newspaper editorial and trace back the
various reasons the editor offers in
support of that claim?

Evaluation
Defined as assessment of the credibility of statements
or other representations, which are descriptions of a
persons perceptions, experiences or opinions; and to
assess the logical strength of the relationships among
statements
Exercises to find examples:
Judge if two statements contradict each other, or if
the evidence supports the conclusions being drawn;
Recognise the factors which make a person a
credible witness;
Judge if a given argument is relevant or applicable
or has implications for the situation.

Inference
Defined as identification of the elements
needed to draw reasonable conclusions; to
form conjectures and hypotheses; to consider
relevant information and to deduce the
consequences flowing from data, evidence,
questions, or other forms of representation
Exercises to find examples:
See the implications of a position
someone is advocating
Conduct a controlled experiment
scientifically and apply the proper
statistical methods to (attempt to)
confirm or disconfirm an empirical
hypothesis

Explanation
Defined as a statement of the results of
ones reasoning; to justify that reasoning
in terms of the evidential, conceptual,
methodological and contextual
considerations upon which results were
based; and to present reasoning in the
form of cogent arguments
Exercises to find examples:
Construct a chart which organizes your
findings
Cite the evidence that led you to accept
or reject an authors position on an issue

Self-regulation

Defined as consciously monitoring ones

cognitive activities and the results deduced,
particularly by applying skills in analysis, and
evaluation to ones own inferential
judgments in order to question, confirm, or
correct reasoning or results
Exercises:
Examine your views on a controversial
issue with sensitivity to the possible
influences on your personal biases or selfinterest
Vary your reading speed and method
according to the type of material and
purpose for reading

Critical Thinking
Relevance to BCM lies in:
Evaluation and assessment of new ideas
Constructive criticism of the product/service
ideas in the context of the environment and a
changing market place
Avoiding criticism in the initial stages of the
exercise
Considering the views, opinions and beliefs of
all team members
Allowing for multicultural input and group
decision making