Insightful Thinking

What is at the heart of economic and cultural progress? While science and technology are important, they are not the fundamental driver. The answer is the possession by a significant number of people with insightful unbiased questioning minds who have a willingness to listen to others who may have different views.

While technology with its continuous flow of new gadgets is a tool for improving our quality of life, material products can eventually become redundant. The ability to be insightful, objective, to know when a different approach is required to solve a problem, are skills that will last forever.

Revans’ Learning Equation
To be prepared for life beyond school, to advance socially and vocationally, requires you make the most of your education. Take the opportunity to learn; to discover.

There are various ways we learn. The late English physicist Reg Revans who studied at the Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge under Lord Rutherford when there were five present or future Nobel laureates – believed in the principle of “action learning”; that we learn best with and from each other when tackling real problems. Reg defined learning (L) as comprising two ingredients in his simple equation.

L = P + Q

Program knowledge (P) provides the foundation for vocational life, acquired from the study of academic disciplines. Knowledge is essential for solving discipline puzzles where there is a known hidden answer – known to the teacher, but not the student. Students benefit from “teacher directed” learning to comprehend foundation mathematical, scientific, literacy laws and principles. Many are hierarchical. You cannot master “discipline problem solving” if you haven’t mastered the basic foundation knowledge of the discipline. Some of this can involve rote learning (mathematical tables, laws of physics, chemistry, basic grammar). In the teaching of history, while students acquire factual Program Knowledge, insightful thinking helps identify when propaganda and activist ideology intrudes to influence or attempts to control one’s thinking about their heritage.

In the workplace beyond school, there is a need for puzzle experts – people who understand the laws of their discipline, who have mastered and can apply a mathematical formula without making mistakes. Professions as diverse as engineering (applied science), astrophysics (theoretical science), accounting / actuary (practical application of numbers), rely heavily on programmed mathematical, scientific and IT knowledge. Without such understanding, complex constructions, space travel and corporate financial planning would not be possible.

Trade occupations also require students to have mastered basic discipline mathematical knowledge – arithmetic, percentages, fractions, ratios, divisions, multiplications, geometry, and in some cases a basic understanding of physics and chemistry. Without such knowledge you cannot be a reliable carpenter, builder, plumber, or electrician.

Questioning Insight (Q) is essential for solving problems where there is no known answer – neither to the student nor the teacher. After your education, when you enter an occupation there will be plenty of “disciplines specific” puzzles to solve that will require insight, however you will also be confronted with problems that are not discipline related, with no obvious solution to be found in a manual or textbook; where there are opportunities to grab that are not discipline specific.

Inquisitiveness and insightfulness are crucial and fundamental for solving these problems, being innovative and exercising enterprise. The questioning mind of a reformer/innovator will want to know why. It will not merely accept something that doesn’t make sense even though it may be in an academic textbook, rulebook, company manual, or government regulation.

The possession of savvy inquisitiveness, guided by an insightful questioning mind, helps you to recognise when rational intuitive thought is required and when a little counter-intuitive or divergent thinking will come in handy. “Inquisitiveness” encourages you to question the relevance of what currently exists. “Insightfulness” is knowing how to identify a problem correctly, to know what is the “root cause”, knowing the right questions to ask, knowing where to look for answers, and being thorough in your investigating.

Challenging Beliefs
A methodology for inspiring “insightful thinking” must not be about dictating “what you should think”. It is about opening one’s eyes to a “way to think” where emphasis is on objectivity and impartial cost/benefit analysis. Too often today, “critical thinking” can degenerate into collective outrage rather than being analytical. Debate on policies such as climate change, race, cancel culture, gender identification, virus infections can degenerate into one prejudice/ideology confronting an opposite prejudice/ideology.

It can take courage to speak up if the “group” has an opposite view, particularly a political or social ideological view. Nevertheless, you should not be afraid to express your thoughts. That is intellectual cowardice. Facts must outweigh emotions in authentic problem solving/critical thinking. If they don’t, you lose your intellectual independence. Who would want to do that?

While some are willing to challenge ideas that involve personal/moral/social beliefs, we are often not so willing to challenge the findings of scientists (physical or social) when conclusions are said to be based on observational evidence. While in most cases a scientific argument will withstand challenge, an authentic analytical thinker does not operate on the principle of “unconditional belief”.

Science clearly guides us towards being objective when interpreting physical events. The scientific method is an essential tool for enlightenment. Nevertheless, while based on observation, some scientific beliefs can be based on a false premise not recognised by the researcher. Sometimes they can even be skewed due to being driven by dogmatic ideology (left or right)

Remember that scientific laws and theories are governed by the principle of the “working hypothesis”. There is always the chance new scientific evidence may be uncovered. The commonly announced statement that “the science is in” can sometime cause you to miss other options, or fall prey to activism.

Be warned. Extreme right and extreme left activists are not necessarily driven by a search for truth. They can both aim to turn you into a “follower” rather than an “independent thinker”. Have the courage to step back and think for yourself.

Principles for Insightful Thinking
I have nine principles to facilitate insightful thinking. Three are illustrated below. The others are covered in the FREE book “Inspiring Insightful Thinking”. See end of article for details.

1 Thoroughly Define the Problem
“If you think you understand a problem make sure you are not deceiving yourself.” Einstein

Fourteen generic factors to check for identifying and solving problems: People, Systems, Rules, Data, Materials, Technology/infrastructure, Organisations, Natural elements, Other living species, Timing, Culture, History, Geography, Finance. The more detailed the definition of a problem, the better the chance of finding a solution. A recognition of options will spur divergent thinking.

2 Do Not Confuse a “Strategy” for the Fundamental “Outcome”
It is important to recognise the way you frame a problem may limit your capacity to think insightfully. If you frame a desired outcome in terms of a strategy, you narrow your thinking.

You must commence by focusing first on the desired end point for the client. Think of the problem divorced from any particular strategy/tasks.

Example - *Is reducing CO2 emissions a fundamental desired “outcome” or a “strategy”? The fundamental desired outcome is not reducing/eliminating CO2 emissions by increasing the % of renewables, nor building more carbon capture coal-fired power stations. These represent strategies and tasks. The desired outcome is to prevent and/or protect living species from natural disasters from “out of trend” changes in climate.

3    View the Total Picture
“In the realm of thought majorities do not determine.” Robert Green Ingersoll

With climate change, start with the initial source of energy – the Sun. Any variations in energy output, any variations/fluctuations in the distance between Earth and Sun? Has there been a slight occasional tilting of the Earth on its axis? If any of these are the main cause, you would evaluate adaptation strategies rather than renewables or carbon capture from coal-fired power.

If the Sun is not the important factor, then the second “outcome” mission opens your mind to several strategies that could be compared against each other on cost and effectiveness - renewables, outer space satellites capturing solar energy and transmitting it to Earth, nuclear, soil capture, lower emission coal-fired power stations, gas, green hydrogen (if safe and not cost prohibitive), and so on. If, however, the Sun and outer atmosphere is the real culprit, Governments could be spending $billions on intermittent energy from renewables, possibly harming economies beyond repair.

Rather than rely almost essentially on climate scientists who concentrate on carbon emissions, you could look through different eyes. Bring together an inter-disciplinary team comprising solar physicists, atmospheric physicists, oceanographers, geologists, volcanologists, botanists, foresters, economists and so on, as well as climatologists. Invite a group to your school.

Six Other Errors to Avoid
Allowing past experiences or dogma/ideology to dictate your thinking. Not examining flow-on effects from proposed solution; using flawed data; viewing problems and solutions only through the eyes of your discipline; assuming problems can be solved by more of the same; rigid adherence to existing, rules, beliefs, methods (Even Einstein and Stephen Hawking made mistakes). All these are illustrated in the FREE book “Inspiring Insightful thinking” listed below.

Download free e-book – “Inspiring Insightful Independent Thinking” by Roy V Gilbert here or at https://linktr.ee/roygilbert

Roy V Gilbert was, in 1976, recruited as Director of Recruitment and Staff Development, the Victorian Public Service Board. He designed a “Prof Revans' action learning” course on problem-solving for senior executives. Participants were required to apply the methodology in their department to identify and tackle problems. This program resulted in the 1978 National Pathfinder HR Award for “Innovation in Management”. Used the same methodology when running a program for Senior Executives from all Departments of the Commonwealth Public Service

In 1985 he began a career as a self-employed consultant on policy and strategy reform in both the public and private sectors. This included international assignments evaluating programs for three International agencies – The World Bank (including a review of a National Department of Education); Inter-American Development Bank (Small Business and Private Sector Division); preparation of a manual on “problem-solving” for Central European staff at the United National Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

In 2005 invited to be an adjunct Professor of Education at Edith Cowan University to teach problem-solving methodology to Diploma of Education students studying to become school teachers.

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