I'm an employer myself, buy frankly the same can be said about most other employers. Critical thinking seems to be in short supply there as well.
Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
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Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#12There seems to be a trend in management towards an unwarranted belief in the effectiveness and importance of superficial quantitative analysis, and two complementary myths that go along with the trend: a) any number you can assign to something is significant; b) anything you cannot assign a number to is not significant.
Anyone approaching recruiting with this mindset is neither using critical thinking, nor likely to hire people who can.
Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#13Thank god the Wall Street Journal is encouraging critical thinking, and more importantly fostering the discussion by putting articles like this out for everybody to read /s On a more serious note, I don't believe this is true. In every place I've been, school, university, corporate jobs, the "critical thinkers" always got marginalised. This was the case even if they were truly nice people who cared - i.e. not abrasiv…
Don't mistake being a contrarian with being a critical thinker.
Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#14There seems to be a trend in management towards an unwarranted belief in the effectiveness and importance of superficial quantitative analysis, and two complementary myths that go along with the trend: a) any number you can assign to something is significant; b) anything you cannot assign a number to is not significant. Anyone approaching recruiting with this mindset is neither using critical thinking, nor likely to…
What gets measured gets managed.
Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#15Thank god the Wall Street Journal is encouraging critical thinking, and more importantly fostering the discussion by putting articles like this out for everybody to read /s On a more serious note, I don't believe this is true. In every place I've been, school, university, corporate jobs, the "critical thinkers" always got marginalised. This was the case even if they were truly nice people who cared - i.e. not abrasiv…
Creativity and critical thinking. In subordinate position it gets you labelled a dreamer, a weirdo, or an idiot.
In executive position, visionary, maverick, multidisciplinary thinker, etc.
You can only truly creative in a position with autonomy, so you either climb the ladder or start your own thing.
Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#16Thank god the Wall Street Journal is encouraging critical thinking, and more importantly fostering the discussion by putting articles like this out for everybody to read /s On a more serious note, I don't believe this is true. In every place I've been, school, university, corporate jobs, the "critical thinkers" always got marginalised. This was the case even if they were truly nice people who cared - i.e. not abrasiv…
Don't mistake being a contrarian with being a critical thinker.
Totally agree, and I would add that critical thinking leads quickly to positions that are not generally accepted.
Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#17It turns out that enforcing political correctness has costs.
Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#18The article, especially some of the examples, seems abusive to low-wage employees. How many of us would give a job description that said 'this is not a preparation for a slow motion contest' a second glance? The meat and potatoes of the article is mostly just complaints to be honest. A lack of candidates is always the go-to excuse for managers and executives when explaining poor productivity or vacancies. Job seekers…
I work for a >10,000 employee health care system as a physician. What I have seen is that the front line workers are considered disposable, and should be grateful for a job. The superstars ( always nice, compassionate, and excellent at their jobs) are not recognized by management and so when raises are given, everyone gets them, including the lazy ones. This disappoints the worker bees, and leads to incredible turnover and more frustration for us physicians. Unfortunately, a lot of the attributes of a great employee cannot be quantified on a spreadsheet so the MBAs running my organization have no clue how to compensate people. Instead, they just lump everyone in the same pile so the workers get frustrated bc they work twice as hard as the lazies, but make the same amount.
I've tried to talk to executives about this, but I think it's essentially to deaf ears - bottom line is the most important, so they can get their bonuses.
It leads to disenchantment and then, over many years, inability to get hardworking / intelligent people to enter front line professions.
Smart people will recognize that their hard work will never be acknowledged, so they switch careers. Others, who cannot get jobs elsewhere, or pivot, are stuck working there.
Not sure what the solution is, but it's just an observation.
Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#19Thank god the Wall Street Journal is encouraging critical thinking, and more importantly fostering the discussion by putting articles like this out for everybody to read /s On a more serious note, I don't believe this is true. In every place I've been, school, university, corporate jobs, the "critical thinkers" always got marginalised. This was the case even if they were truly nice people who cared - i.e. not abrasiv…
> In every place I've been, school, university, corporate jobs, the "critical thinkers" always got marginalised.
Because while they get things done, they challenge the status quo.
When I've worked for large companies, the #1, #2, and #3 products of the company were management politics. Actually shipping anything was #4, maybe #5. Critical thinkers looked at that and went "we could do better", and got punished for it.
Re: Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
#20Thank god the Wall Street Journal is encouraging critical thinking, and more importantly fostering the discussion by putting articles like this out for everybody to read /s On a more serious note, I don't believe this is true. In every place I've been, school, university, corporate jobs, the "critical thinkers" always got marginalised. This was the case even if they were truly nice people who cared - i.e. not abrasiv…
Don't confuse critical thinking with disruptive behavior. I often think the current approach is dumb, but I also accept I don't know everything. So, I generally just toss an idea out there, give it 15-30 seconds of support and move on.
People that dig in even if they are correct and I agree with them are much harder to work with. Further, doing something even if it's a poor solution is often better than continuing to look for the right solution.