Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills

Section II Clarity

Clarity, the first and most important step in critical thinking, is about understanding the issue, problem, goal, or objective—the headscratcher that you're looking to solve. If you're not clear, you risk solving the wrong problem. For example, let's say you have to fix a customer problem. What happens if you don't have a clear idea of the problem that customer actually has? You might spend a good deal of time and effort attempting to solve something that wasn't a problem in the first place. Although your customer might really appreciate your effort, you haven't solved the headscratcher.

Here's a specific example: It's Monday morning at 11:00 am. You're in Los Angeles, waiting on a flight scheduled for an 11:30 am departure to Dallas. You have a business meeting that starts at 7:30 am on Tuesday. You hear an announcement: “Folks, we have a mechanical situation on the plane, so I'm afraid this flight is cancelled.” You and 200 other people make a mad dash to the customer service center.

After you wait in line for what seems like forever, the customer agent, who is unbelievably polite and empathetic, gives you the good news: “We've automatically booked you on the first flight out tomorrow morning.”

You respond, “That's just not going to work. I have a 7:30 am meeting tomorrow. Is there any way you can get me to Dallas today?”

The agent responds, “There's a flight through Chicago that leaves in 50 minutes. You can connect to a flight to Dallas at 5:30 pm, arriving ...