Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices
- William James
In a world drowning in data and awash with bullshit, critical thinking just might be the most important skill marketers need.
In this workshop Carl Davidson will draw from behavioural science and cognitive psychology to demonstrate some of the flaws in our everyday ways of thinking, and provide some tools to sharpen your critical thinking and problem solving mindset.
In the process, you’ll see why critical thinking is rare (it’s much harder than you’d expect) and why most organisations make it much harder still.
You’ll learn why we’re all wired to think like lawyers rather than scientists, and why David Ogilvy was right about how evidence gets misused.
The workshop will then introduce a range of tools to unleash your critical thinking, nurture your scepticism, and supercharge your decision-making acumen.
It will benefit anyone with an interest in improving their thinking and decision-making skills, or in improving those skills among the people they work with. If you work with knowledge on a daily basis then this is the workshop for you.
Online Course structure
This workshop is also offered in an online format. An 1.5-hour live session will be held once each week over 4 weeks. The facilitator will present that week's topic live online with other participants. There will also be activities and resources to support your learning.
Learning outcomes
Part one: Bad news, you're not as smart as you think you are
- Heuristics, shortcuts, and why everyone is smart in hindsight
- Why your unconscious biases are invisible to you (but no-one else)
- The better educated you are, the less thinking you’ve probably been doing
Part two: Why learning organisations aren't real
- The inertia of the status quo and compliance
- How evolution has made deference a survival skill
- The special problem of thinking in groups
Part three: Why everyone can be a more critical thinker
- Fixed and growth mindsets
- Thinking about your thinking
- Shining a light on your own thinking processes
Part four: Channeling socrates - and borrowing and borrowing his critical thinking toolkit
- Scientific thinking, hypotheses, and falsification
- How to build a compelling argument by thinking about counterfactuals
- Making sure you’ve identified the right problem
- How to ask the right question
- Establishing the burden of proof
Facilitator
Carl Davidson
Chief Curiosity Officer, The Curiosity Company
Carl is a social scientist, insight strategist, psychologist by training, his professional life has been spent at the interface of behavioural science, organisational performance, and business strategy.
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Marketing Association of New Zealand is an AMI Partner.
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*This course qualifies for 12 CPD points under the AMI’s Certified Practicing Marketer program.