Post by valerie on Feb 5, 2016 17:24:25 GMT
On any given day I will ask a person to think outside the box. Critical thinking is not always a simple, single way of thinking. It does not always fit neatly into one word, or even a few simple words. I find that sometimes you have to claw or sift through the fog of the problem, use your experience of the situation and your observation to come to a solution. Sometimes, critical thinking does not require much analysis as we are apt to think . Critical thinking however requires thought, insight and an action.
Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos I think has excellent critical thinking skills. Much of his skill requires thought, insight and foresight, but at times he uses just a mere feeling that may result from his own experience. At 23 Hsieh had created Link Exchange ( online company) and when offered 1 million dollars for his company he decided to forgo the offer. Yes, the thought of that much money was heady, but he felt there was more he could do with the company. A while later he was offered 2.65 million dollars by Microsoft. If Hsieh was erratic in his decision making, did not carefully consider the information presented to him, and did not understand the health of his company and what it offered, his company would have been sold for less.
Hsieh, almost overlooked Zappos( online Shoe Company) when the idea was brought to his attention. He had what Malcom Gladwell, in the book,” Blink” would have referred to as a snap judgment or first impression( which can be necessary at times). Yet, again we see where Hsieh relied on his ability to be insightful. A skill that is necessary for a critical approach. He observe the online trend for shopping, relied on sound data and sales projection to help him heavily invest in the dream of Zappos. When the company floundered financially, he relied on his intuition, his gut feeling, the passion he felt for the company’s future success and the belief in the team’s ability to make the company great. Hsieh literally poured every penny he had into Zappos.
What occurred after, was a systemic and methodical and deliberate approach to move the company to a place of financial health. Hseish often asks, what can they as a company do better? How can they solve the issues they were having? How can they attract new customers and how can they make their current customers return? Through a series of questions, Hsieh discovered many things they needed to do. He ensured that staff knew what needed to be done. He made great customer service a priority. He made a hand out that everyone got when recruiting the right staff. He maintained that a healthy work culture made work a fun place to be. He encouraged his staff to sacrifice time and money short term so that long term goals could be met. In the long term, Zappos had sales of over 1 billion dollars. Zappos was later acquired by Amazon for 2 billion dollars and Hsieh stayed on as the CEO.