Mainstream business schools finally catch up on thinking skills, but not quite enough
I've been criticizing the school system in Canada for over thirty years for not directly teaching cognitive, thinking skills (both critical and lateral or creative) as a seperate subject to all students (and not just in programs for gifted childen), This has resulting in a generation of mediocre thinkers, at best. The outstanding entrepreneurs are wonderful "meta-thinkers". They think about and are aware of their thinking processes, which most people are not.
One thoughtful colleague responded:
This is because (sadly) formal schooling is concerned primarily with the mere transmission of mediated data. Given the usual instructional materials and methods, about the only thought process that students CAN USE is memory. Your hockey question is atypical. Go through the final exams of most institutions from about grade 4 up thru 16, and you'll find that at least 80% of the questions simply ask, "How much can you remember?" It's a rare one that requires students to categorize, infer, hypothesize, generalize, synthesize, etc." see full post
Business schools such as the Rotman School at the University of Toronto should be applauded since they are now at least starting to focus on the need for and lack of "high quality thinking" in business. In my opinion though, this is only a "half way" measure and does not go far enough. Just as Total Quality Management (TQM) had it limits, so will the notion of "high quality thinking. In a fast paced, ever-changing business world, high quality thinking is unfortunately not good enough.
CEO's and entrepreneurs should be striving to be outstanding "unique or distinctive" thinkers and not just "high quality" thinkers or copycat thinkers --benchmarking what the competition did 5 years ago, so that maybe in 2-3 years we can catch up to where they were 8 years ago. It's like admitting: "I only want to be as good a thinker as my other CEO or entrepreneur peers and slightly better then most "mediocre" thinkers. Why not just teach cognitive skills in an MBA program? No one does that !
As I said in 1995:
"There seems to be an over emphasis on problem-solving, correcting faults, gaps or mistakes as part of the traditional appraoches to TQM / CI. IMHO, not nearly enough energy and time in LO is focused on being constructive. Opportunities result from looking forward and generating new concepts. The focus of most TQM / CI models is on the present or the past. Ie. How do I optimize my corporate intrinsic or operating assets. Some CEOs are now beginning to realize that maximizing Quality has its limits. You can only get ahead of the competition if your rival is less competent at quality then you are. Relying on someone elses incompetence doesn't seen to be a strong "pro-active strategic position" ---Walter Derzko Circa 1995
Tags: cognitive thinking rotman school formal schooling childen university of toronto instructional materials thought process thinkers thinking skills materials and methods business schools business world quality management thinker 8 years thirty years colleague peers 3 years entrepreneur