Terry Newell is currently director of his own firm, Leadership for a Responsible Society. His work focuses on values-based leadership, ethics, and decision making. A former Air Force officer, Terry also previously served as Director of the Horace Mann Learning Center, the training arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and as Dean of Faculty at the Federal Executive Institute. Terry is co-editor and author of The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work (CQ Press, 2011). He also wrote Statesmanship, Character and Leadership in America (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government (Loftlands Press 2015).
All in The Ways We Think
Our fascination with whether a president is up or down in polls leads to short-term thinking - and thinking biases - that may harm the nation’s long-term needs.
Using an analogy to make or defend a decision is an attractive device but risks several pitfalls in thinking.
The way we think about stopping mass shootings isn’t working. Seven common thinking traps must be overcome.
We do not need to be fooled by fake news. There are websites and thinking tools that help us spot it.
False information spreads rapidly in the digit age - and we often don’t know we’re spreading it.
Our opinions on public issues are often shaped by “experts.” But are they really expert? How can we know?
When we acknowledge that animals think and feel, we must face a number of moral and practical questions. A court case looms testing how much an animal is a “person” under the law.
The trial verdict on Kyle Rittenhouse is in, but our deliberation on how we think about this case is still needed.
When we “cancel” the freedom to speak, we damage the learning, debate and persuasion essential to a free society.
Faced with facts that contradict what we think, we often resist changing our minds.
We’re genetically primed to pay attention to “Breaking News” - what’s prominent or unusual, but that can block careful thought.
Not a failure of military and economic power, Afghanistan is more about sloppy thinking among American policymakers.
We’re not as rational as we think. Knowing that should make us more humble and can make us better thinkers too.
We are genetically designed to care about others. A healthy society needs to find ways to foster such caring because culture can get in the way.
Much of the work the brain does is below the level of our conscious awareness. It’s important to understand when this is helpful and when it may cause trouble.
We often stick with decisions for too long, often without realizing it. The “sunk cost” effect is psychologically understandable but can have damaging consequences.
Sloppy reporting on social media is damaging America. The way to stop its spread is better thinking.
We become emotionally attached to the things in our lives. They enrich and shape us, even if they are just things.
Conspiracy theories are prevalent - and dangerous - in America.. It’s important to understand what drives them.
