ccept each other's differences? It is quite possible, and unfortunately quite "natural", to live an unexamined life, to live in a more or less automated, uncritical way. It is possible to live, in other words, without really taking charge of the persons, we are becoming, without developing, or acting upon, the skills and insights that we are capable of. However, if we allow ourselves to become unreflective persons, or rather, to the extent that we do, we are likely to do harm to ourselves and others, and to miss many opportunities to make our own lives, and the lives of others, fuller, happier, and more productive.On this view, as you can see, critical thinking is an eminently practical goal and value. It is focused on an ancient Greek ideal of "living an examined life (Shermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, 2000)." It is based on the skills, the insights, and the values essential to that end. It is a way of going about living and learning that empowers our employees and us in quite practical ways. When taken seriously, it can transform every dimension of work life: how we formulate rules, how we relate to our employees, how we encourage them to relate to each other, how we cultivate their speaking and listening skills, as well as their decision making skills. Of course, we are likely to make "Critical Thinking" a basic value in work only insofar as we make it a basic value in our lives. "Therefore, to become adept at contemplating critical thinking, we must become committed to thinking critically and reflectively about our own lives and the lives of those around us (Shermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, 2000)." We must become active, daily, practitioners of critical thought. We must regularly model for our employees what it is to reflectively examine, critically assess, and effectively improve the way we live and think....
