What, if anything, are you thinking?  The workplace needs more 'thinking women and men'.  To toy with an idea and then develop an opinion towards it, creates thought in a space previously empty.  To go a step further and begin playing consistently in this space is what's termed, thinking.  And for the esteemed minority, those who seem to get a kick out of reasoning with an idea until they find meaning and significance, this is called 'critical thinking'.

Author and literary critic William Lyon Phelps believed the brain is susceptible to becoming lazy, "At a certain age some people's minds close up; they live on their intellectual fat." Successful brands require trimming brain fat and exercising intellectually in order to create ideas worthy of today's challenges.  Albert Einstein, one of histories greatest thinkers said, "We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive" and in the spirit of critical thinking he toyed a step further, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

The lack of critical thinkers is a global phenomenon.  Recently in a public lecture in Ghana, General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, Pastor Mensah Otabil ripped into the entire Country, "Ghana has stopped thinking; we talk loudly and think very little. This is a noisy nation with no clarity, so much heat but no light”. 

Like countries, families and individuals; the workplace will need leaders and employees alike to get off their intellectual couches and find the courage to think in order to build a culture conducive for innovation and global competitiveness.  To sustain a 'thinking culture' one must know their values and be open to new knowledge.  Values create the framework, and knowledge expands the thinking territory.

Take two steps further in your thoughts and let’s see where your thoughts transport you…

Fore more, read Timothy’s column in the Star Workplace, every other Wednesday.