How to Develop Creativity and Critical Thinking as a Skill.
- Russell Cullingworth
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
It should be no new revelation (it's been talked about for many years) that creativity and critical thinking are two of the most important skills for business leaders and professionals.
In a 2010 Global Study of over 1500 CEOs from 60 countries and 33 industries, creativity was identified as the most crucial factor for future success (1)
In the last 10 years, the pace of change has accelerated rapidly.
Now, sixteen years after the IBM study, artificial intelligence (AI) has added another layer of urgency. AI is capable of summarizing vast amounts of information, and producing convincing answers in seconds. Unfortunately, it can also fabricate facts, invent sources, and present incorrect information with complete confidence.
That means creativity and critical thinking are no longer just a nice skill to have. They are essential. You may be thinking "we already know this", and yes, that might be true - this isn't new information - but here's the real question that education hasn't quite been able to answer:
How do we develop creativity and critical thinking as a skill?
Despite spending nearly twenty years in formal education - and often another thirty or forty years attending conferences, seminars, webinars, workshops and continuing professional education - we've become remarkably good at acquiring knowledge, but surprisingly poor at developing these higher-level executive skills.
Think back to your years in primary school. How often were you rewarded for asking difficult questions instead of giving the right answer?
In secondary school, success was largely measured by memorizing information, following instructions and performing well on standardized tests. There was certainly some creativity, but usually within carefully defined boundaries. The goal was often to arrive at the expected answer rather than discover a completely different one.
College and university aren't much different. Students consume lectures, complete assignments, write exams and demonstrate mastery of existing knowledge. They learn what is already known exceptionally well. But relatively little time is spent exploring uncertainty, wrestling with ambiguous problems, or imagining entirely new possibilities where there may not be a single correct answer.
Even continuing professional education, which many professionals are required to participate in every year, largely follows the same model (I've attended professional training and development sessions for many years). What happens?
An expert stands in front of the room and imparts information and knowledge.
Slides (oh so many slides) are presented.
Mnemonic frameworks are explained (the five P's or the three C's).
Cases are presented and reviewed.
Some discussion, interaction or participation happens.
Everyone leaves with more information and knowledge.
BUT information and knowledge aren't the same as improved thinking skills.
Listening to someone explain critical thinking doesn't actually develop critical thinking. Watching a presentation on creativity doesn't make someone more creative.
There's no question that knowledge is important, no question about it. But just knowing more doesn’t automatically make you better at anything... and let's not forget that AI has already made information and knowledge infinitely accessible - for everyone!
That’s really the issue here. Creativity and critical thinking aren’t about how much you know. They’re about how you use it. They’re performance skills.
And like any performance skill, they get better with practice. The same way musicians improve by playing, athletes improve by training, pilots improve by flying, and surgeons improve by operating.
It’s all about deliberate practice. Putting yourself in situations where you have to think, make decisions, get feedback, reflect on what happened, and then try again.
There’s actually solid neuroscience behind this. Your brain doesn’t change much just by passively watching or listening. It changes through experience. Every time you actively generate ideas, weigh options, question assumptions, or mentally walk through tough decisions, you’re strengthening those neural pathways. Over time, they get faster, stronger, and more automatic.
Which is why just consuming more information rarely changes how we think. If it did, the people who know the most would always be the most creative, the best decision-makers, and the strongest leaders. But we all know that’s not how it works.
The people who consistently make better decisions aren’t necessarily the ones with the most knowledge. They’re the ones who’ve spent the most time actually practicing judgement, creativity and critical thinking.
So maybe it’s time we stop asking, “How can we deliver more content?” and start asking a much better question…
How can we give people more opportunities to practice judgement and decision-making, and to experience the consequences in a safe and risk-free environment?
Russell Cullingworth, CEO ProDio
Ask me about Decision Rehearsal™
ProDio has developed a neuroscience-backed approach to facilitated, audio-driven mental simulation experience where your leadership team steps inside a high-stakes scenario and experiences the messy human reactions, second-order effects, and unintended consequences before they're real.
PR Newswire, "IBM 2010 Global CEO Study: Creativity Selected as Most Crucial Factor for Future Success" https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-2010-global-ceo-study-creativity-selected-as-most-crucial-factor-for-future-success-94028284.html
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