Critical Thinking
and
The Creative Personality
Key Questions

How do creative people differ?
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What makes someone creative?
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Can anyone be creative?
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Do you need special skills and
characteristics to be an entrepreneur?
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Are entrepreneurs born or made?
Schumpeter’s Entrepreneur
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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!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaE3E
aQte78
The Cultural Diversity
Entrepreneurs are:

Female
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Immigrant
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Socially oriented
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Family oriented
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Rurally based
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Young and old
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Life style oriented (hobby/part time)
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Serial Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurial Personality
Chell, Haworth and Brearley (1994)
Opportunistic
 Innovative
 Creative
 Imaginative
 Ideas people
 Proactive
 Agents of change

The 10 Ds (Bygrave, 1997)
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Dreamers
Decisive
Doers
Determined
Dedicated
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Devoted
Details
Destiny
Dollars
Distribute
Entrepreneurs
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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
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Leadership
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Opportunity obsession

Tolerance of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty
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Creativity, self-reliance & ability to adapt
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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
GENERAL
ATTITUDES
Change
Compete
Money
Age
INTENTION
Achieve
Autonomy
Education
Radical change
experience
CONVICTION
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)
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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
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 Strengths
versus weaknesses
 Opportunities versus threats
Entrepreneurs Cognitive
Processes (Palich & Bagby 1995)

“What each man wishes, that he also
believes to be true” - Demonsthenes
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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 share
High
Low
High
Stars
Question
marks
Low
Cash
cows
Dogs
Market
growth
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?
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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 CT
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
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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 source’s 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?
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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
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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
Ferrett, S. Peak Performance (1997)
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 person’s intentions by checking body
language;
 Distinguish a main idea from subordinate
ideas in a text;
 Identify an author’s 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 person’s 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 one’s
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 author’s position on an issue
Self-regulation
Defined as ‘consciously monitoring one’s cognitive
activities and the results deduced, particularly by
applying skills in analysis, and evaluation to one’s 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 self-interest
 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