Lesson 3: THE INTUITIVE NAD THE STRATEGICIC THINKER

INTRODUCTION:
How does one become prudent in a culture with overwhelming information and demands?
This chapter will present the intuitive and strategic thinking processes. It will show how one can come
up with a quick decision or conclusion without being partial but promoting the common good. It will
introduces as well the rigors of intuitive and strategic analysis and how both could work hand in hand.
TERMS TO DEFINE

 Intuitive thinking
 Strategic thinking
 Uncritical
 Selfish critical
 Fair – minded
MAIN IDEAS

 Intuitive thinking can be as powerful and accurate as analysis.

 Intuition can work advantageously in challenging trends and patterns of the 21 st century.
 Intuitive and strategic thinking work hand in hand.
OBJECTIVES

 Define strategic and intuitive thinking.

 Explain strategic analysis and intuitive thinking.
 Attain skill in strategic analysis.
 Use intuitive thinking in dealing with varied activities.

Strategic Thinking and Intuitive Thinking Defined

Greg Githens defines strategic thinking as the individual`s capacity for thinking conceptually,
imaginatively, systematically, and opportunistically with regard to the attainment of success in the future.
He continued by saying that strategic thinking employs mental processes that are conceptual
(abstractions using analogy to translate across contexts), systematic (composed of different components with
interfaces that interact to produce intended or emergent behaviors, pattern finding, and connecting situations
that are not obviously related), imaginative (creative ad visual), and opportunistic (searching for and grasping
new information and value propositions). The strategic thinker applies all of these cognitive processes in the
orientation toward future success.
Intuitive thinking is “quick and ready insight” (Webster`s New Collegiate Dictionary). Intuitive decision-
making is far more than using common sense because it involves additional sensors to perceive and get aware
of the information from outside. Sometimes, it is referred to as gut feeling, sixth sense, inner sense, instinct,
inner voice, spiritual guide, etc.
The following are some well-known people of intuition (Timeforchange.org):
 1. Albert Einstein (Theoretical physicist who is widely considered one of the greatest physicist of all
times; best known for the theory of relativity, Nobel Prize in Physics for his explanation of the
photoelectric effect and “for his services to Theoretical Physics”):
 The only real valuable thing is intuition.
 There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. There is only the way of
intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance.
2. John Naisbitt (Former executive of IBM and Eastman Kodak; American writer in the area of futures
studies; author of several international best sellers like Megatrends and Reinventing the Corporation):
 Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there
is so much data.
3. Alexis Carrel (French surgeon, biologist, and eugenicist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine):
 All great men are gifted with intuition. They know without reasoning or analysis what they need
to know
 Intuition comes very close to clairvoyance; it appears to be the extrasensory perception of
reality.
4. Henry Reed (British poet):
 Intuition is the very force or activity of the soul in its experience through whatever has been
experience of the soul itself.
 It is as if the intuitive sense acting through the soul is what makes the raw events into food for
the soul.
5. Immanuel Kant (German Philosopher):
 Intuition and concepts constitute… the elements of all our knowledge, so that neither concepts
without an intuition in some way corresponding to them, nor intuition without concepts, can
yield knowledge.
6. George Crumb (American composer of modern and avant garde music):
 In general, I feel that the more rationalistic approaches to pitch-organization, including
specifically serial technique, have given way, largely, to a more intuitive approach.
7. Robert Graves (English poet, scholar, and novelist):
 Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought and leaps straight
from the problem to the answer.
8. Lao Tzu (ancient Chinese philosopher):
 The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days
9. Anne Wilson Schaef (writer and lecturer):
 Trusting our intuition often saves us from disaster.

The question is not whether rational reasoning or intuitive decision-making is generally better. The question is
rather how both approaches can be best combined for best results and to avoid mistakes and prejudices.
ACTIVE READING
UNCRITICAL, SELFISH, AND FAIR-MINDED CRITICAL THINKING
A basic, though abstract, explanation for the differences between uncritical, selfish critical, and fair-
minded critical persons is given in the following brief characterization:
1. Uncritical persons – are those who have not developed intellectual skills; persons who are naïve,
conformist, easily manipulated, often inflexible, easily confused, typically unclear, narrow-minded, and
consistently ineffective in their use of language. They may have a good heart but they are not able to
skillfully analyze the problems they face so as to effectively protect their own interest.
2. Selfish critical persons – are skilled thinkers who do not genuinely accept the values of critical thinking;
persons who use the intellectual skills of critical thinking selectively and self-deceptively to foster and
serve their vested interest (at the expense of truth). They are typically able to identify flaws in the
reasoning of others and refute them and to back up their own claims with plausible reasons; by doing
so they have not learned how to reason emphatically within points of view with which they disagree.
3. Fair-minded critical persons – are skilled thinkers who do accept and honor the values of critical
thinking; persons who use the intellectual skills of critical thinking to accurately reconstruct the
strongest versions of points of view in conflict with their own and to question deeply their own
framework of thought. They try to find and correct flaws in their own reasoning and to be scrupulously
fair to those with whom they disagree.
BECOMING DIVERGENT
INTRODUCTION
Critical thinking requires one to reason independently based on standards of reasoning. Becoming
divergent means not conforming; it is moving away from what is expected. While it differs from the accepted
norm, it is expected to be responsible and accountable.
TERMS TO DEFINE

 Divergent
 Erudite
 Dauntless
 Abnegation
 Candor
 Amity
MAIN IDEAS

 Being divergent is essential in the 21st century world

 Music and films are vehicles to become divergent
 Shrewd triage requires divergent thinkers.
OBJECTIVES

 Discover being divergent and how to become one

 Apply the elements of reasoning in becoming divergent
 Analyze being divergent using film and music
 TRENDS, NETWORKS, AND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
NAME: ________________________________________________ YEAR AND SECTION:___________________
WATCH A VIDEO (THIS SERVES AS YOUR LONG QUIZ)
Watch the film “Divergent” then answer the following questions. (3-5 SENTENCES)
1. If you were one of the characters in the story, to which faction would you like to fit in? Why?
2. How do you find the five virtues? Do you think there should be move? What are those?
3. Are you divergent? Why do you think you are? Why not?
4. Do Erudites, Candors, Dauntless, Abnegation, and Amities exist in real life? Why? Why not?
5. Which character do you like most do you think that kind of character exists for real? Why?