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This book gives professionals and business people the essential tools to become better thinkers and decision-makers. It sets out simple methods and techniques to avoid poor decision making by developing our conceptual, creative and critical thinking skills, along with ways of incorporating them within our daily lives.

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In 2007 with the credit crisis well under way the RBS board, after meeting 18 times, went ahead with the Pds. 47bn takeover of ABN Amro, which wrecked on of the World´s biggest banks. Other large, established companies have taken similar disastrous decisions: Lloyds Bank, Lehman Brothers, Daimler-Benz, Samsung, Wang, Quaker. So why do successful professionals and business people make such poor decisions?
This book not only explains why, but how we can avoid it in our own professional and business lives. It shows readers how they can make better strategic decisions by developing their conceptual, creative and critical thinking skills that are rarely, if ever, taught in formal education. You will learn how to use these skills to tackle the most difficult of all the decisions we have to make, those involving complex moral problems. You will also learn to incorporate these skills within your normal professional lives. Simple methods and techniques teach professionals and business people how to become better problem solvers/decision makers by developing their creative, conceptual and critical thinking skills

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Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: ORIGINAL IDEAS Reprogramming our Thinking Asking the Right Questions Generating Ideas PART II: STRUCTURING OUR IDEAS Causal Thinking Conceptual Thinking Analysis 1: Second Order Thinking Conceptual Thinking Analysis 2: The Three-Step Technique Conceptual Thinking: Synthesis PART III: CREATIVE THINKING Problem Solving 1: Analogies Problem Solving 2: Adapting Structures PART IV: CRITICAL THINKING Thinking with Arguments 1: The Components Thinking with Arguments 2: The Connections Thinking with Evidence 1: Describing It Thinking with Evidence 2: Drawing Relevant Inferences Thinking with Evidence 3: Drawing Reliable Inferences Thinking with Language 1: Clarity Thinking with Language 2: Consistency PART V: MORAL THINKING : A CASE STUDY Moral Thinking 1: Generating Ideas Moral Thinking 2: Structuring Ideas Moral Thinking 3: Designing Solutions Moral Thinking 4: Evaluating Solutions Conclusion Glossary Index

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Bryan was educated at the universities of Kent and Sussex. He holds a PhD in moral philosophy from the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is currently engaged in research into moral thinking and the Holocaust, and teaches philosophy at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Philosophy, How to Write your Undergraduate Dissertation, How to Write Better Essays and Thinking Skills for Professionals.

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