James Drogan

In Back to School I discussed my decision to take up graduate school.  I just finished my first seminar on Theory and the International System (i.e.,  the theory of international relations).  It was well worth the time.  I read people I've never read before, received some interesting insights from my peers, improved my research and writing skills, met a dignitary from Singapore (who was very helpful on the practical application of theory), and now I am in the process of creating a new teaching module about how international relations affects the supply chain.

I've a bit of time off over Thanksgiving and will start the second seminar, Economic and the International System, on December 7.

To my students, prepare for a new and interesting point of view.

"It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so."  Will Rogers

I've come across a video and a podcast over the last several days that bear directly on critical thinking.  The  discussions below below concern accuracy, precision, assumptions, bias, and allowance for the unknown, all factors that tend to bedevil critical thinking.

In the first, the McKinsey Quarterly talks "with Kenneth Knight,  the national intelligence officer for warning for the United States. Knight shares lessons learned from a career spent analyzing and preparing for the unknown.  He spoke with the Quarterly in June 2009. We began our interview by asking if the task of understanding threats has become more complex."  The video of this, courtesy of The McKinsey Quarterly, can be found here.

The second podcast comes from Bloomberg. "Michael Mauboussin, chief investment strategist at Legg Mason Capital Management, talks with Bloomberg's Tom Keene about his book 'Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition.'''  The podcast of this, courtesy of Bloomberg, can be found here.

This item from Bob Sutton fits into the context of Ethics, Critical Thinking, and Communications.  You will also find a relationship with the second of Drogan's Laws.

I posit, and Bob seems to confirm, that

Intuition = f(Wisdom + Facts).