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A500.5.3.GA System of Thinking

Deciding to pursue a degree at an institution of higher learning is a serious undertaking that can have several different motivations. For some adult learners, furthering their education is about maximizing earnings; for others, education is about expanding their mind. A student of Leadership Development can fall into either camp. A student who is focused on absorbing the entire body of information about organizational leadership is interested in learning information with the hopes that the new knowledge can help them in the future or in their career. A student interested in learning how to think like a leader may look instead at their studies as an exploration into the systems of thinking that a leader may employ. Each motive for learning will lead to different outcomes and, more importantly, different levels of understanding and capacity to think things through. In Learning to Think Things Through G.M Nosich provides a distinction about the differences between these two ways of approaching learning and reasoning within a discipline (2012).

There are vast quantities of information available in scholarly databases to help inform the student of leadership development, however, if a student learns to think like a leader, they will not have to refer to the body of knowledge if they forget something they have read. Referring to that body of information and reflecting on it critically is important to gaining an understanding of the discipline. On the other hand, if the student forgets a particular concept, they can use a leader’s system of thinking to reason out what a leader would do or say in most any circumstance. In order to do this, the student must analyze the logic, vocabulary, and fundamental and powerful concepts of the field. Beyond simply reading to memorize, reading to understand the logic and vocabulary of a discipline helps empower the student with concepts needed to articulate thought about the discipline and helps the student assume the discipline’s point of view. Understanding concepts that are foundational and powerful to the discipline of leadership, concepts that underlie all ways of thinking about being a leader help orient thinking in a way that a leader would (Nosich, 2012).

As a student of leadership, I will still spend much time studying the body of information about leadership, but I will approach it from a different angle. In the past I have taken the body of information at face value without analyzing the point of view, implications, questions at issue, and assumptions that go into the reasoning that the systems of thinking are composed of. In an attempt to exercise my now constantly questioning mind I will not take anything at face value and instead critically analyze the information presented to me. Utilizing the elements of reasoning, along with a strong understanding of the fundamental and powerful concepts within the discipline, I can reason myself through any situation as a leader would (Noisch, 2012). This approach is different from how I’ve studied in the past as I’ve never been as curious, questioning, and critical as I am now.

 

References

Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the curriculum (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Paul, R & Elder, L. (2020). The miniature guide to critical thinking: Concepts and tools. (8th ed.) Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. 


A500.5.3.GA System of Thinking
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