{"id":24003,"date":"2015-04-02T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T09:09:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:09:51","slug":"forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/zh-hans\/blogs\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Forbes: Critical Thinking Skills Propel Organizations Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the unemployment rate remaining stubbornly high and job growth remaining dismally low, job seekers face a highly competitive market. With so few jobs and so many candidates, it\u2019s tough to make the cut and get ahead. Not surprisingly, many organizations face a similar dilemma: fighting an uphill battle to increase revenue and find a competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a recent&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/meghancasserly\/2012\/12\/10\/the-10-skills-that-will-get-you-a-job-in-2013\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forbes article<\/a>&nbsp;that focused on the top 10 most critical job skills to leverage in a job search, the top three included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Critical thinking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Complex problem solving<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Judgment and decision making<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, all three skills are so in demand that they are key characteristics sought in 9 out of the 10 most in-demand jobs of 2013. These skills are not only important for a job seeker, but are also critical to achieving success once hired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Businesses are increasingly benefitting from incorporating these skills into their employees&#8217; capability development plans as well. By developing their issue resolution and critical thinking skills, employees are better equipped to solve a company&#8217;s most complex problems and make impactful decisions. When you enable employees to tackle the organization&#8217;s most pressing needs, you increase their engagement. And when you increase engagement, you positively affect your company&#8217;s bottom line. Here&#8217;s proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several studies have recently proven a direct relationship between employee engagement and financial returns. According to a&nbsp;study by Kenex, the most engaged companies had five times higher total shareholder return over a five year period than the least engaged; and a 2011&nbsp;study by Towers Perrin found that companies with engaged employees had six percent higher net-profit margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps Daniel Pink, best-selling author of&nbsp;<i>Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,<\/i> puts it more directly: &#8220;Forty years of research tells us that if we provide more autonomy, allow people to work towards mastery and plug people into a purpose, people will perform at a higher level.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bottom line is this: effectively developing your employees&#8217; critical thinking skills will have significant impact on a key driver of engagement: intrinsic motivation. When employees feel ownership in how work is accomplished and believe that their thinking is making a difference, they are much more likely to engage beyond the call of duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, the benefit of investing in your employees&#8217; ability to think critically not only benefits them, but is a smart investment in your company&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This article dates from 2013. An updated version of this article can be found here:<br>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/blogs\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\/\">Critical thinking skills: a key driver of employee engagement<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the unemployment rate remaining stubbornly high and job growth remaining dismally low, job seekers face a highly competitive market. With so few jobs and so many candidates, it\u2019s tough to make the cut and get ahead. Not surprisingly, many organizations face a similar dilemma: fighting an uphill battle to increase revenue and find a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[163],"class_list":["post-24003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-and-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Forbes: Critical Thinking Skills Propel Organizations Forward - Kepner-Tregoe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Empowering employees to solve your most complex problems &amp; make impactful decisions positively affects your company&#039;s bottom line: here&#039;s how\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/zh-hans\/blogs\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forbes: Critical Thinking Skills Propel Organizations Forward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Empowering employees to solve your most complex problems &amp; make impactful decisions positively affects your company&#039;s bottom line: here&#039;s how\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/zh-hans\/blogs\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kepner-Tregoe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-02T14:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-21T09:09:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/shutterstock_1492614206.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Sza\u0142kiewicz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Forbes: Critical Thinking Skills Propel Organizations Forward\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-02T14:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-21T09:09:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":428,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/shutterstock_1492614206.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Learning &amp; 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