“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” – George S. Patton
There are days when I think HR has me on speed dial.
I’m serious. On most occasions, it’s because I’ve said something interpreted as unnecessarily blunt, offered feedback that might have come across as criticism, or delivered a verbal Heisman to a proposal or idea that lacked any degree of thought. While I preach the 3Bs – Be Brief, Be Brilliant, Be Gone – in practice I sometimes lean a little too hard into their evil twin – Be Blunt, Be Brutal, Be Unapologetic.
In this particular instance, a group of us were chatting in the hallway when someone veered in our direction to join the discussion. Drive-by debate is a common form of discourse, and we were postulating on the underlying cause of a certain issue. As is often the case with him, he tossed in a “close the book” answer that lacked any basis in fact. When another colleague challenged him, he responded in typical form: “It’s the truth. I know.”
On any other day, I could have walked away and left it. But I chose violence… in my own way. “‘Trust me, bro.’ isn’t proof of anything. Your ‘truth’ is bullshit.” His jaw dropped, his eyes got wide, and he turned on his heel and stomped off for HR.
The Cliffs of Reason
I wish this incident was a one-off. It’s not. It happens every day in the workplace, during town halls, and online. Reasoned debate – rooted in Aristotelian logic and rhetoric – has gone the way of the mechanical typewriter: a romantic notion of days gone by, nostalgic reminiscences to be shared among old college professors in threadbare cardigan sweaters.
While the advent of social media often receives much of the blame, it is more of a symptom than a cause, an outward sign of a much deeper and more serious wound. Peel back the bandage to get beneath the surface, and there are typically five root causes to the decline of reasoned debate:
1. Decline of critical thinking education.
Teaching critical thinking skills requires an abundance of patience, practice, and persistence. In a world of distractions, it’s often easier to choose the road that offers fewer challenges.
2. Social dynamics.
Socially, there are two factors at play. Social media, which by design encourages oversimplified and often sensational claims, and echo chambers, where individuals feel safer encountering perspectives that reinforce their own beliefs. Mixed together – shaken or stirred – you have a toxic cocktail of social dysfunction that defies critical thinking.
3. Information overload.
In a world where access to information is instantaneous, people are deluged by a flood of conflicting facts, opinions, and outright lies. This inevitably leads to cognitive fatigue, which makes it that much harder to think critically and form reasoned, logical arguments.
4. Proliferation of false and misleading information.
Misinformation and disinformation are the flavor of the day. People purposely flood the zone with false and misleading information that erodes trust in sources and stymies our ability to construct fact-based arguments.
5. Rise of polarization.
Divide and conquer. The exploitation of divisive issues often leads people to prioritize group loyalties over logical reasoning. The inevitable emotional response stifles healthy, constructive debate and thoughtful discourse.
Even if educators might shy away from difficult subjects and conversation, you don’t have to follow their example. Social media might be a cul-de-sac that lures in critical thinking and slowly strangles it, but you can spend your time elsewhere. And just because your relatives want to debate politics and religion during family gatherings doesn’t mean you have to participate.
The Thinking Habit
Fortunately, not all hope is lost. Critical thinking – like many things in life – is based in habit. And if you believe what James Clear wrote about in his book, Atomic Habits, all you need is a plan and 66 days to get your head right.
In a 2019 Harvard Business Review article, Helen Lee Bouygues wrote about the three simple habits that underpin critical thinking. “The good news is that critical thinking is a learned skill,” she noted. “Cultivating these three key habits of mind go a long way in helping you become better at” thinking as deliberately and thoroughly as you could.
First, question assumptions. We make a remarkable number of assumptions each day, all of which allow us to make decisions in the moment. What if those assumptions are wrong? When do we revisit those assumptions? And do we walk those decisions back if our assumptions are flawed? Those answers assume even more weight when the consequences of our decisions are greater. But, regardless of those consequences, we rarely change our decision-making processes. We simply don’t question our assumptions.
Second, reason through logic. Listen closely when someone poses an argument. “Ask yourself: Is the argument supported at every point by evidence? Do all the pieces of evidence build on each other to produce a sound conclusion?” Whether I agree or not, I’ll listen to a well-framed, credible, fact-based argument. By the way, “trust me, bro” is not evidence.
Third, seek out diversity of thought. “It’s natural for people to group themselves together with people who think or act like them.” When I assemble student groups for my business strategy course, I purposely mix them by gender, ethnicity, major, and other demographics. I call it the “band method” – you won’t find too many successful bands that have five drummers and no guitar, bass, or keyboard players – and it’s intended to ensure the diversity of thought necessary for the critical thinking outcomes the course is designed around.
That all sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? But, as Bouygues points out, “they’re rare in practice, particularly in the business world, and too many organizations don’t take the time to engage in robust forms of reasoning.” As I often tell my students, “Idiocracy wasn’t meant to be a documentary.” Put down your phone, close the social media tabs in your browser, and pick up an actual, physical book. Read, think, debate. Build your critical reasoning habit.
