REASON
Reasoning is at the heart of ‘getting to decision’, and is an essential component of productive dialogue.
Reasoning is what the Ancient Greeks termed Logos – an appeal to logic; a way of persuading an audience by reason.
Often reasoning is called ‘Critical Thinking’, Analytical Skills and Argumentation.
Reasoning is all about constructing and de-constructing arguments.
It is about building strong arguments, and identifying the weaknesses in arguments. Most business presentations you give or watch are making an argument of some form or other. A good proportion of your everyday conversations contain arguments.
Sadly, it is a fundamental skill that does not receive appropriate focussed attention in our education. Also, sadly, the words argument/arguing have become words mostly used to describe a verbal conflict between people. This is very inappropriate. You must leave those meanings behind if you are to become practically wise!
To accelerate your pursuit of practical wisdom, learn more by engaging with further material, guidance and resources in the Members’ Area.
A wonderful way to rapidly develop the vital capability of Reason is to engage with the Interactive Online Course “Critical Thinking” built and developed by Roy van den Brink-Budgen (https://ifthen.co.uk) and myself.
The course was custom built for Lancaster University Management School students. Many of my Lancaster MBA cohorts have engaged with the earlier versions of this course but the latest fully redeveloped, modernised and updated 2020 edition is now available.
Even if you have done it before, DO IT AGAIN – the more you practise, the better you get at this vital capability. Go to criticalthinking.guru to access the course.