critical thinking Archives

The Transformation Plateau: Why Change Stalls in the Messy Middle

The Transformation Plateau: Why Change Stalls in the Messy Middle Issue 241, December 4, 2025 The early enthusiasm everyone on the team had was palpable. Six months ago, leaders announced a sweeping digital transformation initiative with all the fanfare that major change initiatives deserve. The town hall was packed, Slack channels were full of employee chatter, and everyone seemed optimistic. Executives spoke passionately about the future and the problems being solved. Early adopters volunteered eagerly for pilot programs. The organization’s…

Kevin Novak

December 3, 2025

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Is Critical Thinking at Risk of Extinction?

Is Critical Thinking at Risk of Extinction? Issue 191, December 19, 2024 We are tackling a topic that is a recurring theme in everything we write, including our book, The Truth About Transformation. Critical thinking is becoming an endangered skill along with practical know-how, common sense problem-solving and basic thinking skills. These tools are more important than ever for all of us caught in the crossfire of global geopolitical, geo-economic and cultural asynchronies. We have largely defaulted to thinking on…

Kevin Novak

December 19, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Brain Rot, Attention Spans … and You

Brain Rot, Attention Spans … and You Issue 190, December 12, 2024 If you are anything like us, reading that Oxford University identified “brain rot” as the word of the year, we took a pause to consider the implications. Then of course, we felt compelled to weigh in given its correlation to managing change and transformation as well as understanding a market, customers and a workforce. We have been reeling toward shorter attention spans, higher levels of distraction, an explosion…

Kevin Novak

December 11, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Will AI Replace You?

Will AI Replace You? Issue 185, November 7, 2024 One of the most popular debates of 2024 is what AI won’t replace. Is it me? Is it you? Is it all of us? Is it none of us? Surely you can think back to movies that projected what a possible future might look like as technology becomes more immersed in all aspects of our lives. Science fiction often isn’t fiction, but rather prediction. In real life, some of us will…

Kevin Novak

November 7, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Is Centrism an Opportunity?

Is Centrism an Opportunity? Issue 171, August 1, 2024 When was the last time you thought about centrism? It seems almost quaint in our increasingly polarized public discourse. William Butler Yeats wrote The Second Coming in 1919. The poem has been cited for over 100 years as a cautionary voice for things falling out of balance, evocatively described in the first stanza. Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre…

Kevin Novak

August 1, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Independence Day 2024 Reads: Become an Independent Thinker

2040’s Independence Day Reads: Become an Independent Thinker Issue 167, July 4, 2024 We’ve all got summer reading lists. Ours is understandably eclectic. In celebration of Independence Day, we thought it timely to share a selection of our most popular newsletters; what they have in common (no surprise) is independent thinking, which is a useful skill in our admittedly confusing times. If the recent presidential debate showed room for improvement in critical thinking and credibility, our readers put those themes…

Kevin Novak

July 4, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Looking Ahead: 2024 Runway

Looking Ahead: 2024 Runway Issue 162, May 30, 2024 We know that the second half of 2024 starts in a month, but we want to get a jump on what to pay attention to for the rest of this tumultuous year. As we move into summer mindsets to rest and restore, it’s a good time to process and plan for when fall arrives. Being mindful of what lies ahead ensures an ability to adapt our approaches and solutions, recognizing so…

Kevin Novak

May 29, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Why Strategic Re-Think Is Today’s Prerequisite Strategy

Why Strategic Re-Think Is Today’s Prerequisite Strategy Issue 158, May 2, 2024 Although it seems counterintuitive in today’s dynamically changing marketplace, many organizations still live, breathe, and sometimes die by their static three- or five-year strategic plans. It takes so much work and time to develop these long-term plans, often structured more as a laundry list of aspirations, that they are hard to let go of. This multi-year term model is often disconnected from the actual capability or capacity of…

Kevin Novak

May 2, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Are We Playing Monopoly as a Society?

Are We Playing Monopoly as a Society? Issue 153, March 28, 2024 Big tech has been taken to task repeatedly often without a complete understanding of who they are, what they do and how their business model functions. For many, it seems elusive to understand their motives, wrapped up in proprietary strategy. And frankly, just about no one (certainly not the average individual) can figure out what they’ve been up to and what their intentions are. Are they out to…

Kevin Novak

March 28, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Unintended Consequences: Decision-Making and Economic Interconnectedness

Unintended Consequences: Decision-Making and Economic Interconnectedness Issue 151, March 14, 2024 We’re entering the fray in the debate on the economy. And central to this debate is a refresher focused on our inability to make connections, see patterns and anticipate how micro and macro trends can radically and consequentially compromise our approach to solving real or perceived problems. In solving what we see as immediate problems (low wages, inflation, price-gouging, lack of skilled workers and migration as examples), there are…

Kevin Novak

March 14, 2024

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