Critical thinking in business and personal decision-making

¶ … business and my personal life. Critical thinking entails the evaluation of communication, information, observations, and arguments, and I believe that I critically evaluate these things to come to a good interpretation of the issues being addressed. For example, I do not take things at face value, but I question them, attempting to look at them from all angles before I make a decision. As an example, if I am told a task should take me X hours to complete, I assess that with my own evaluation of what methods I will use to complete the task, I do not simply accept the idea that someone else knows how long it will take me to complete the assigned task.

Critical thinking is also about determining judgement about a claim, and having the confidence in your decision that allows you to reject or accept that claim. It is necessary in almost all aspects of life, because we hear information every day that forces us to make some type of judgement or assessment of the claim, from television commercials to politicians handing out their ideas. Critical thinking allows us to make reasoned, rational judgments, rather than simply accepting what we hear as the truth. For example, a supervisor might tell their staff members that management did not like to see employees wearing jeans in the workplace. However, when questioned, management denied ever seeing that as a problem, and the real truth is that the supervisor does not approve of jeans. Critical thinking -- logically looking at the problem and seeking alternatives and interpretations helps lead to this conclusion. The evidence shows that this particular manager never wears jeans, while staff in other departments often wear jeans to work.