COEUR - BCMBusiness Creativity Module

Critical Thinking and the Creative Personality

Carolyn McNicholasAberdeen Business School, RGU

Key Questions

• How do creative/ entrepreneurial people differ?

• What makes one creative/ entrepreneurial?

• Can anyone be creative/ entrepreneurial?

• Do you need special skills and characteristics

to be an entrepreneur?

• Are entrepreneurs born or made?

Schumpeter’s Entrepreneur

• The instrument of change, the agent who introduces innovations: new products, new ways of manufacturing, new sales techniques, new types of equipment

• Creative disruption involves technologies or innovations that change the world...........

Personality Traits Strong need for achievement (Nach) McCelland 1965

• high achievers • spend time considering how to do a job better or how to

accomplish something important to them. • They actively seek out opportunities to take responsibility and • They welcome feedback on their actions

Risk taking propensity• Medium, calculated risk takers• Avoid high and low risk situations • Ability to evaluate risk

Personality Traits • Locus of control Rotter 1966• desire to be in control of their own fate

• High internal LOC

• the achievement of a goal is dependent on their own behaviour

• Tolerance of ambiguity Schere 1982• have an open mind,

• respond quickly to change,

• need to know only the key facts

• have a flexible attitude

Personality Traits

• Desire for autonomy Birley and Westhead 1993

• high need for independence

• Smith 1967- fear of external control

• Determination

• Initiative

• Creativity

• Self confidence

• Trust

Personality Traits Chell, Haworth and Brearley

(1994) & Chell 2008

• Opportunity recognition/ Opportunistic

• Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE)

• Social competence

• Intuitive

• Innovative

• Imaginative

• Proactive

• Agents of change

The ‘Big Five’ based on Costa and McCrae’s (1992) model of personality structure

Neuroticism Anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, vulnerability

Extraversion Warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement-seeking, positive emotions

Openness Fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, values

Agreeableness Trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, tender-mindedness

Conscientiousness Competence, order, dutifulness, achievement-striving, self-discipline, deliberation Chell 2008 p.123

The Personality Approach

Observations are that:• Some personality traits can be acquired by people• Some traits eg high energy, emotional stability are

innate • Most entrepreneurs do not possess all of the ideal

personality traits• The validity and reliability of personality scales are

questioned

The Personality Approach

• Entrepreneurs are not homogenous

• Gender, age, social class, nationality and education

make a difference

• Environment and cultural influences must also be

taken into account

• Entrepreneurial decision making is based on the

interaction of many factors (motivations, stage in life

cycle, personal economic context)

Background of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are:

• Female

• Immigrant

• Socially oriented

• Family oriented

• Rurally based

• Young and old

• Life style oriented (hobby/part time)

• Serial Entrepreneurs

The 10 Ds Bygrave (2010)

• Dreamers• Decisive• Doers• Determined• Dedicated

• Devoted• Details• Destiny• Dollars• Distribute

Critical Attributes for Success Brannick 1995

• Numerical ability 1%• Verbal ability 3%• Professional marketing qualification 5%• Computer literacy 5%• Imagination 17%• Observational powers 18%• Personal judgement 24%• Ability to get on with others 27%• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tod1moy8VZM

Desirable and Acquirable Attitudes Timmons (2008) contd

Commitment and determination• Tenacity and decisiveness • Able to commit quickly• Disciplined• Persistent in solving problems• Willing to undertake personal sacrifice

Leadership • Self starter• Team builder and hero • Share the wealth • Integrity and reliability• Superior learner and teacher

Desirable and Acquirable Attitudes Timmons (2008)

• Opportunity obsession• Have intimate knowledge of customers needs• Market driven• Obsessed with value creation and enhancement

• Tolerance of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty •  Calculated risk taker• Risk minimiser/ sharer• Tolerant of uncertainty• Tolerant of stress • Able to resolve problems and integrate solutions

Desirable and Acquirable Attitudes Timmons (2008) contd

• Creativity, self-reliance & ability to adapt• Creative and lateral thinker• Ability to adapt and change; creative problem solver• Ability to learn quickly• Rely on own judgement & lack of fear of failure

 • Motivation to excel• Goal and results orientation• Low need for status and power • Aware of weaknesses and strengths• Have perspective and a sense of humour

Characteristics of Entrepreneurs Kaplan 2009

• Passionately seek to identify new opportunities

• Pursue opportunities with discipline and focus on a limited number of projects

• Focus on action and execution

• Involve and energise networks of relationships

Entrepreneurs

• Experience success and failure• Feel good about themselves, their work and

the potential rewards• Enjoy a challenge• Take pride in their work• Find their work invigorating/energising/

meaningful• Think the unlikely, do the unreasonable

So what is an Entrepreneur?

• “Who is the entrepreneur ?” may be the wrong question

• Why successful entrepreneurs think the way they do, might be better?

• Thinking processes can be taught, so we can all be entrepreneurs if we learn how to develop and evaluate opportunities

Cognitive abilities Westhead, Wright & McElwee 2011

• Information acquisition and dissemination

• Intelligence, ability with information

• Sense making

• Unlearning

• Implementation and improvisation, autonomous behaviour, experimentation, reflection and action

Entrepreneurs Cognitive Processes (Palich & Bagby 1995)

• Entrepreneurs do NOT perceive themselves as being more pre-disposed to taking risks than managers

• Entrepreneurs interpret equivocal data in a more positive way than managers– Strengths versus weaknesses– Opportunities versus threats

Entrepreneurs Cognitive Processes (Palich & Bagby 1995)

• “What each man wishes, that he also believes to be true” - Demonsthenes

• Entrepreneurs categorise situations as having strengths and opportunities, because the positive attributes, are more salient to them

High Low

High Stars Questionmarks

Low Cashcows

Dogs

Figure 4.12a The original Boston Consulting Group Matrix (BCG)

Market share

Marketgrowth

What is Critical Thinking?

This matrix is (in my opinion):

• Subjective, so needs analysis• Useful for small and large

organisations alike• Relatively easy to apply, but improves

with discussion and feedback• Helps to determine overall positioning

This matrix is (according to Zufan, 2000) identified as:

• Objective

• Mainly applicable to large organisations

• Difficult to apply

So, what someone else says or writes is not always agreed, accurate or easily determined - who is right, who is wrong and why?

Critical Thinking Quote (1)

"For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing so well as for the study of truth; as having a mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things … and at the same time, steady enough to fix and distinguish their subtler differences…"

Francis Bacon (1605)

Critical Thinking Quote (2)

“Critical thinkers: distinguish between fact and opinion; ask questions; make detailed observations; uncover assumptions and define their terms; and make assertions based on sound logic and solid evidence”

Ellis, D. ‘Becoming a Master Student’ (1997)

Components of CriticalThinking

1. A set of skills to process and generate information and beliefs, and

2. The habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behaviour

It is contrasted with the mere acquisition and retention of information alone, (because it involves a particular way in which information is sought and treated)

Core Critical Thinking Skills

Critical Critical ThinkingThinking

AnalysisAnalysis

ExplanationExplanation

InterpretationInterpretation

EvaluationEvaluation

Self-RegulationSelf-Regulation

InferenceInference

Source: Facione, P. A (1998)

Attributes Of A Critical Thinker Ferrett 1997

• Asks pertinent questions • Can/does admit a lack of understanding or information • Has a sense of curiosity • Is interested to find new solutions • Is willing to examine beliefs, assumptions, and opinions

and weigh them against facts • Listens carefully to others and can provide feedback • Seeks evidence to support assumptions and beliefs • Can/does adjust opinions when new facts are found 

Hemispheres of the brain Ornstein 1896

The left side handles language, logic and symbols.• Information processing; step by step• Systematic thinking

The right side takes care of the body's emotional, intuitive and spatial functions.

• Information processing; intuitive• Unsystematic thinkinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spinning_Dancer

Right brain thinking Lewis 1987• ask if there is a better way of doing things;• challenge custom, routine and tradition;• be reflective – often deep in thought;• play mental games, trying to see an issue from a different

perspective;• realise that there may be more than one “right” answer;• see mistakes and failures as pitstops on the route to success;• relate seemingly unrelated ideas to a problem to generate a

solution; and• see an issue from a broader perspective, but have the ability to

focus on an area in need of change.

Critical and Creative thinkingKirby 2004

Conclusions

• The identification and exploitation of opportunities is a complex and interactive process

• The entrepreneur is just one of many contributing factors

• They can however be the critical catalyst that spots the opportunity and begins the process of firm creation

Entrepreneurial skills

• communication skills, especially persuasion;

• creativity skills;

• critical thinking and assessment skills;

• leadership skills;

• negotiation skills;

• problem-solving skills;

• social networking skills; and

• time-management skills.

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