Course Description

Our decisions have consequences, but our decisions are prone to common biases in our thinking and to misunderstanding about the cause-and-effect relationships on which we make our decisions.

This course will teach you how to improve your critical and systems thinking skills, applying analytical tools for better evidence-based decision-making. You will learn the basics necessary to assess real-world problems, including how to use simple business modeling tools.

Related Courses

• All Professional Development Courses
• All Courses

Who Should Attend

This course should be attended by all decision-makers who are responsible for successful outcomes in their business such as managers of product development, sales and marketing, operations, and strategy development.

Attend and You Will Receive

Participants who successfully complete this course will receive a certificate of completion from NC State University.

Attend and You Will Learn / Expected Outcome

Expected Outcomes

You will learn how to improve your analysis of problems through thinking skills to form better decisions.

Attend And You Will Learn

• The basics of thinking: analytical, systems and critical
• How to identify, construct, and evaluate arguments, including premises, assumptions, and conclusions
• Common biases in thinking that lead to poor decisions and how to overcome bias
• Introduction to causal loop diagrams and how to use them to map your assumptions of cause and effect
• Introduction to stock-and-flow models and how to use a free online tool to build your own models from your causal loop diagrams
• Applying the insights above to real-world examples

Notes / Additional Information

• By 2022 the skills required to perform most jobs will have shifted significantly.
• Skills growing in prominence include analytical thinking and active learning.
• Human skills such as creativity, originality and initiative, critical thinking, persuasion, and negotiation will likewise retain or increase their value, as will attention to detail, resilience, flexibility and complex problem­ solving.

The Future of Jobs Report 2018 by the World Economic Forum

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